It's Just A Little Crush - Sunday, October 9th, 2011

No, this isnt gonna be a music review on Jenniger Paige's 1998 Top 40 hit of the same name, though I would like to say that didja ever notice that not only does she try to sound like Mariah Carey on some of her higher notes on that song, but out of all of her music out there, she does NOT sound like she does on that one-hit wonder in any of her other songs? Frightening, yet true. Regardless, this piece is gonna be about Crush soda-pop and what I enjoy about it as well as what I dont enjoy about it. Hey, there's good-n-bad in everything, even soda-pop.

Before I jump right in though, I'll be using the term "soda-pop" throughout this piece out of respect for the various geographical regions here in the United States. In the majority of the Midwest, we grew up calling soda, "pop"; yet, when I moved out here to the East Coast back in '95, I discovered they call it "soda" and folks out here are somewhat touchy about the use of that term. I found out rather quickly how much so. The first few times I asked for a "pop" shortly after moving to Boston, each restaurant or snackstand person responded by saying "A pop? What?? What the hell you talking about? I'm not gonna smack you...you mean you wanna soda, right?" No lie, that's exactly what happened.

There is one main reason why I love the Crush brand of soda-pops - they simply taste good! The most popular flavor, of course, is their famous Orange Crush, which I gotta admit is my favorite out of their entire roster of flavors, though I also love the Grape Crush flavor too. Soda-pop is like any other beverage out there, you can drink it any way you damn well please but I enjoy my Orange Crush best when you fill up your glass half-way with ice, pour it in and let it sit for a minute or two and then just sip away. I just made it sound eclectic - or is that eccentric? - but either way, trust me, just try it my way just once and you may be pleasently surprised...

Now as a diabetic, most people would automatically assume that I am speaking of the Diet-Crush line of soda-pops. Are you kidding me? Have you ever tired Diet Orange-Crush? It tastes like car radiator fluid with a twist of orange thrown in! Blecchhh!! Just like many of the other soda-pop companies out there, the flavor and taste of the Diet versions can, in most cases, be on the extreme opposite of the taste wheel, though if you ask any Diet-Coke or Diet-Pepsi drinkers out there what their soda-pop tastes like, they'll instantly claim "Oh, you cant tell the difference, it tastes identical to the non-diet version!" Yeah right, and I'm Gale Sondergaard's long-lost grandson....

Granted, it is generally believed that just because one is diabetic, one automatically drinks diet-soda-pop only and I suppose that's a result of society's way of viewing this particular disease; but, there is something that needs to be brought to the table concerning that statement. Just like with any other disease, diabetes acts both similiarly and differently in every individual - the way ones' glucose levels are affected by ones' various food--n-beverage intakes does indeed vary from individual to individual. As an example, a cup of ice cream or a half of a candy bar could literally wreak havoc on some diabetic's glucose levels, with an increase anywhere from 100 to 200 decimals on the meter. With me? Only 20 to 30 decimals, tops. Thats not to say I therefore consume ice cream and candy bars on quite a frequent basis, for even I know better than that. All it means is that healthy glucose levels depend on the individuals' dietary behavior, what type of diabetes they have and how well they manage it. However, this piece is not about diabetics and their glucose levels, it's about Crush.....

(Incidentally, not to get off subject, but in more than several of my past blog entries you probaly have already seen that I give a great deal of respect to the Coca-Cola company and there's a very good reason for that. Though most soda-pops do not affect my glucose levels dramantically whatsoever, there is one that does. In the dozen or so times I've come deathly close to slipping into a diabetic coma due to low blood sugar, every single time, Coca-Cola has saved my life. Literally. It is the only thing on this planet that will raise my glucose levels rapidly enough, via an increase of 120 to 130 decimals on the glucometer within 20 minutes of ingesting it. Now alotta folks out there actually piss-n-moan about that and say it's because of all the sugar that's in it, and it most definitely is, but we're talking about saving a persons' life here so I think in that regard, all the Coca-Cola naysayers need not be so quick to judge).

However, there is only one thing which I dont like about the Crush soda-pop line that needs to be addressed because I have a feeling I'm not the only soda-pop afficiando out there who has experienced it. Oh and by the way, checking out the Crush Company's website. www.crushsoda.com, really didnt help me find any resolve concerning the following issue, though this week I may try to call their toll-free number (1-800-696-5891, here in the US) to get further answers.

The main issue I have with the Crush brand of soda-pop concerns the availability of their various flavors and how that availability varies from region to region here in the States (by the way they also have a Canadian-Crush division too). For myself and other kids in the midwest regions of the US, we grew up only having or knowing of Orange Crush and Grape Crush, with the latter only coming into its own right after the famous Grape Ne-Hi company dwindled right off the American markets in the 1980's. Or so I assume cause after 1980, we couldnt find Grape NeHi anywhere in the areas where my family lived. Yet when I went back to the midwest for a family visit during one of my more recent Christmas vacations, I noticed in their supermarkets that you can now purchase Strawberry Crush and Cherry Crush, the latter apparently being introduced only a month or two before I went back for that particular visit. 

Naturally, one would assume that it's all an issue of supply-n-demand - what consumers like/purchase in one area of the country, may reflect totally different from what those consumers in another area may purchase. I think there's a great deal of truth to that because here on the East Coast, only the following flavors are available - Orange, Grape, Diet-Orange, Strawberry and Cherry.

Yet - and get this - there are OTHER flavors of Crush which I never even knew existed until I visited the company's website - Lime, Peach and Pineapple. Yet another flavor that I didnt know existed till I saw it the week before I moved back from Connecticut - Blue Raspberry! But, when visiting the company's website, you will see no mention of the Blue Raspberry flavor so one of two things are happening - either that flavor was introduced in the Connecticut area as a trial product or, the folks at Crush simply arent keeping their website updated on a continual basis. Either way, I personally found all of this rather interesting to say the least.

By the same token, I cant imagine what the Lime and Peach flavors of Crush must taste like but they do sound good. As for Pineapple, I do like the fruit itself but in various flavored products such as soda-pop? I dunno, I mean, Pineapple-flavored Lifesavers have tasted nasty to me ever since I was a kid so I'm just not sure about a soda made with that ingredient. But, to each his/her own.

In a perfect world, my only wish would be that the Crush soda-pop brand would make ALL of its flavors available to ALL regions of this country, because I really do think they're short-changing the success levels of some of their products by not doing so. Granted, I am in no way a market research analyst by any means, but as a consumer I do like trying out new products to see if they're to my liking or not. After all, that's one of the greatest things about life - we may not always get to make every single decision about what's gonna happen in our lives, but it's a very comforting feeling knowing that when it comes to what goes into our bodies (now, now, think clean please!) we do indeed have full-n-total say-so regarding that.

With that being said, I think anyone's soda-pop consumption level should be just like any and everything else we humans drink and/or eat - in moderation; because, even though it's not said nearly enough in this world, as much as I love the Crush soda-pop line, the Coca-Cola company and so on and so on, the bottom line is this - and I take the liberty of capitalizing it so further emphasis is bestowed on the fact itself - THERE IS NO NUTRITIONAL VALUE IN SODA POP OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER. NEVER HAS BEEN AND MOST LIKELY, NEVER WILL BE. That truly is the most ironic thing about the actual marketing battles-n-wars that have been fought both within the soda-pop world and right outside of it - there is not one human being on this planet who technically speaking could not live without soda because it simply does not have one single nutrient in it. Not one. In addition, consuming soda-pop can actually be very harmful towards your overall health. It's rather quite simple folks. We, the human race can survive without soda-pop of any kind but the real question is, do we want to? Choices. Ah, one of the many things I love about life and being able to write about it. Thank you for reading.

 

Posted via email from Luctor Et Emergo