The Need For Sugar
From his first bowl of cold cereal, Anton loved sugar. It became a constant part of his diet, and of his children’s’. It tasted sweet, gave him energy, when your sugar high fell there was always more, everywhere. Desserts were often the best part of a meal–certainly sugar was great for late night snacks. Half the content by weight of cereals back then was sugar. Observing his young children, he saw that it made them hyperactive. Sugar was not harmless.
Why did Anton eat what he did? He never thought about food. As a child, his mom cooked and he ate. There was meat, potatoes, a vegetable. And dessert. Before having children, he never thought about processed v. unprocessed. His whole life was processed. But he wanted his children to have better lives. Unprocessed lives.
And diets were getting far worse. For the first time in history, more children were obese than of normal weight. And weaning them off fast food was nearly impossible for most busy, cash-strapped parents.
His research into the historical dominance of sugar led to a startling theory: the need was implanted by aliens.
Anton contacted the aliens, in their ship orbiting the Earth. The aliens helpfully advised that centuries ago they implanted the need to eat sugar in humans–to energize them and speed their production. The aliens had always avoided sugar themselves—but humans could invent, create and then—sometime in the twenty-first century–like a child who has drank two litres of sugary pop, burn out. By now, the aliens had acquired a treasure trove of creations from humanity and were preparing to move on to other primitive planets.
Their sole interest was in new, odd gadgets. It was hard for aliens to create gadgets—it seemed silly, plus difficult with tentacles. However, humanity was being inherently silly and alone in having opposable thumbs.
Anton quickly informed the world. In response, around the Earth competitions arose to create the best gadget, with the aliens judging. Impressed, the aliens decided to eliminate the need in humans to consume sugars. They saw Earth as childish and clearly it had had enough sugar. They installed in humans a need for whole grains and unprocessed foods, and then left. However, they did allow a continued fondness for ice cream. All intelligent beings in the galaxy love ice cream, and it was against intergalactic law to deny it.