Sugar

Well, not SUGAR, so much as its prevalence. Seriously - look at nearly any pre-packaged food.

Ever wonder why Americans, as a group, are so fat? As any expert will tell you, the biggest problems are diet and lack of exercise. The fact that every single food we eat contains ever-increasing quantities of sugar in an ever-increasing variety of chemical combinations is probably not helping.

Even McDonald's french fries contain sugar - they're sprayed with a (sugar-containing) mixture on the way out of the factory, because it gives them that golden color that we've come to associate with "correctly fried." Burger King does the same thing. So do dozens and dozens of food-producing companies.

Again: Go read the labels. If it ends in -ose, odds are better than good it's sugar¹. Sucrose and Fructose are two of the most common. And they're bad for you if you have too much - say "a little bit in every single food you consume."

It's enough to drive you out of the restaurants and into your own kitchen.

¹ My friend Geoff, who is a chemist, informed me this morning that all chemicals ending in -ose are sugars. Thanks, Geoff!