I've traveled coast to coast hawking and selling our delicious priority blended hemp seed food products. One of the most surprising thing for me in the beginning was discovering most people don't read food ingredient labels. Yes, you can call me ignorant. I simply had no clue people were so clueless to this important simple thing.

In growing up in the 1960's, my mother was a bit of a drill sergeant. If we purchased something packaged from the grocery store, reading the ingredients on the box was mandatory. I just figured, everybody did that. Its similar to growing up going to Catholic school, then finding out in your mid-teens that there's a thing called divorce. You just don't know any better because you weren't exposed to it.

If you're not a label reader, I'm encouraging you start. Take the time to read the ingredients of the foods you're about to put in your mouth. It's really not that difficult. Teach your children to pay attention too. If an ingredient is questionable as to what it might be, maybe you want to think twice about eating it.

Which brings me to the subject of SUGAR.

The other day I purchased a can of organic tomatoes from my local grocery store. Shame on me! I was in a hurry and didn't read the ingredients. I had mistakenly thought, organic tomatoes, what else could be in there?

Sugar! That's what! (It wasn't the first ingredient, but still unnecessary, and a wrong assumption on my part.) Yes, I was pretty aggravated, but it go to show you, you need to look.

Sugar is the other white powder and it has made its way into just about everything on our store shelves. Now I'm not talking about the sugar you get when you eat a banana; I'm talking the about the white granulated stuff.

Most people's taste buds have been conditioned to want sugar and many are now addicted to over eating it. If sweet is not present, their food has little flavor. Their brains have been conditioned to constantly crave it. It's become an addiction.

As a Nation, we're getting fatter, sicker and grumpier. It doesn’t take scientific studies to support this, just look around you. Obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and numerous other malnutrition diseases can be attributed to too much sugar. If you don't make a conscious effort to limit your sugar intake, it can take you over, (inclusive of artificial sweeteners and syrups that have been developed in Petri dishes).

Don't be fooled by the word "healthy". From granola & protein bars to cereal; to organic canned tomatoes to soda pop; take a moment to read the sugar content on the label. How many grams are in a serving? Make a conscious effort to pay attention to how much you're eating (or serving to your children), or avoid it all together. Most people are eating way more sugar than they realize; and substituting the fake stuff is no good either.

Lets do some 2nd grade math:

• One (1) teaspoon of sugar = 4g of sugar (not to bad)
• 16g of sugar = 4 teaspoons (it's adding up)
• 100g of sugar in 1-day = over 1 &1/2 pounds of sugar in 1-week (ouch!)

It may surprise you that you could be eating well over 100g of sugar in a day. If you happen to be working hard trying to follow a diet program by counting points, macros, or buying into some meal plan, do yourself a favor, pay attention to the sugar. Don't assume there's a green light. Look before you eat.

Lady Jane Gourmet Seed Co has a couple of protein bar mixes that put you, the consumer, in charge of adding your desired sweetener. This is to give you control for your individual dietary needs. We suggest using natural maple syrup or honey, but coconut oil can be substituted if you require zero sugar.

Check 'm out. Its a bonus they're naturally gluten free and free of  they soy.

 GalaxSEED Energy Bar Mix = an allergen free blend

Hempelicious HoneyNut Bar Mix = it does have dairy

#EatSomeHemp