It's Sunday, so that probably means it's just about time for me to go off the deep end. Having just been at the grocery store, this could get interesting. First, because the grocery store is far from my favorite place on Earth. Given the choice between sticking their finger in a light socket and an outing to the grocery store, 9 out of 10 young urban professionals such as myself would probably choose the funky new hairdo over shopping cart bumper car rage in Aisle 12. And yes, I know Safeway delivers. Ask me if I'm that organized to actually plan these things ahead of time.

Second, I will be the first to admit that grocery shopping with me is enough to make you wait in the car. To start with, although my memory is usually very good, I seem to have selective memorization skills when it comes to the list I typed into my iPhone just 20 minutes prior, and will take said device out about 52 times while in the store. This also means I will be criss-crossing the store making return trips to aisles I've likely already been down. What? See paragraph one, last sentence. And for goodness sake, it's not like this is IKEA where they put arrows on the floor. Not that I heed those much attention either, but I think I posted about that in 2003. Carrying on.

Most of my questionable grocery store navigation probably comes from my being distracted by picking something up, reading the label, and putting it back. Lather, rinse, repeat. In all fairness, I'm reading the label because I have a coconut / coconut by-product allergy -- in the "have been told to get an epi pen" sense, but didn't feel like waiting 2357275 (multiplied by the square root of Pi) years in Canada for a referral to an allergist and just haven't gotten on top of it yet here in Cali (Bubble, you didn't read that) -- and am usually deciphering the cryptic code used by the Unintelligable Ingredient Naming Secret Society to figure out if consuming said product currently in my hands will have me auditioning to be Benadryl's biggest fan. I would, however, like to add a side note here that a coconut allergy is actually a blessing in disguise, beacause it makes you incredibly aware of what's in your food, and helps resist a lot of temptation at Hallowe'en, Christmas, Valentine's Day and Easter.

Which does actually bring me to my point. Yes, gentle readers, I do have one. Sometimes it just takes me awhile to get there. And that point is?

What is up with the Pop-Tarts?

By that, I mean... what's up with the frosting? I realize I'm running the risk of being labelled and dismissed as "trapped in the 80s, get with the grocery store times girlie," but for real. As I was scanning the boxes of granola and cereal bars, it came to my attention that not a single variety of Pop-Tarts in the store came without frosting. Which, come on. It's already not exactly the breakfast of champions, but when did we, in our moment of breakfast-on-the-go weakness, lose our option of exercising the right to a frosting-free toaster pastry? Inquiring minds want to know.

(I am going to add here that no, I don't eat Pop-Tarts for breakfast. I was just in that aisle. And no, I'm not picking on Kellogg's... there is a greater point than this coming. Honest. Eventually I will stop rambling. XOXOXO.)

So, not having anywhere I needed to be just then, I decided I could take some time out for a few minutes and investigate some of the other products that I usually ignore in favor of my more usual "just-get-the-produce-and-poultry-and-run" style of grocery shopping. Onward to Special K bars. Which have some sort of frosting on top. The box boasts that it's only 90 calories per serving, but if we're going to start talking about calorie consumption and make it a marketing tool, then why not leave off the frosting altogether and make it an even more appealing snack?

In a society that's declared a battle against obesity, why on earth does so much stuff have even more completely unnecessary sugar added? And returning to Pop-Tarts for a moment -- which quite frankly, I do recall at one time being frosting-free, back in ye olden days of my childhood -- is it that the ones with frosting far outsold those without? Was it a decision prompted by consumer choice, grocery store sales, and greater profitability? Hard to say, but when you think of what it represents, kind of disturbing all the same.

I know -- just don't eat the Pop-Tarts. As a girl who rarely consumes fast food, who prefers apples to chocolate, who usually all but avoids soda and has fairly low-fat eating habits to begin with, this isn't really what I'm getting at. It's not really about the Pop-Tarts, but about the food choices available out there when you're not looking to eliminate absolutely everything bad for you out of your diet altogether, but simply seeking the balance of all things in moderation. So why is it that these "extras" are necessary? And is this merely but one example of the overlying problem?