A Step in the Right Direction -- Getting Rid of High Fructose Corn Syrup

In Arlo Guthrie’s old song from the late 60s, you would have heard that you can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant, but not so anymore. On a recent trip to Half Moon Bay, my husband and I stopped off for breakfast at Alice’s Restaurant in Woodside. I was pleasantly surprised to find an excerpt from the Half Moon Bay Review dated March 23, 2011, entitled “Alice’s swaps corn syrup for real sugar.”

According to the article, the owners of the restaurant have gotten rid of all the traditional sodas such as Coke and 7-Up and replaced them with natural sodas that don’t contain high fructose corn syrup. The change was prompted by their concerns about the obesity epidemic. Not only have they put an end to high fructose corn syrup in their offerings, but they have replaced unhealthy foods with organic, locally sourced products. They’ve even brought in a pastry chef who uses organic flour and less processed sugar.

Though some of their other changes have resulted in a 30-40% increase in prices, their new natural sodas produced using beet sugar cost them half the price. Wouldn’t it be nice to see more businesses opt to go in this direction? By cutting into the profits of Big Soda, maybe it would force them to produce a better product, one that consumers will consider a special treat and not their sole daily intake of liquids.

So even if you can’t get everything you want at Alice’s Restaurant anymore, you can now get a better-for-you soda.

Sharron