Omnivore - At least 4 ways to avoid a sugar-free diet in Atlanta

Sugar, sugar everywhere. Why is the stuff so damn addictive? Why does thinking about cutting back sugar almost instantly provoke a craving for it? I recently saw the documentary Fed Up, which catalogs the horrors of sugar consumption. I was shocked. I was outraged. I left the theater and 90 minutes later, I was wolfing down my addictive Toffee Coffee Arctic Swirl at Zesto.

Here are a few sugary items I’ve eaten lately (all photographed with my iPhone):

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This may be the best sugar bargain in town these days: a four-piece sampler of desserts at Endive Publik House. It’s plenty for four normal people and just right for one sugar addict. You get ingredients like coconut cream, creme brulee, hazelnut chocolate cake, ice cream. Price: $6.

Worthy of the Mad Hatter’s tea party in Alice in Wonderland, this is a fat pod of sweet-potato brioche stuffed with walnut-praline sticky stuff. It’s from Ratio Bakeshop in Decatur.

I believe the Grant Park Farmers Market, across the street from me, has become the largest such market in town. I’ve been trying to determine if the majority shopping the Sunday event are humans or large dogs. (Tough Mudders and track runners in need of a place to practice hurdle-jumping should consider the opportunity created by random dog leashes.)

Anyway, I love Good Food Truck’s watermelon snow. The watermelon is turned into a gourmet snow slushy thing before your very eyes. I’m fond of this Ho Chi Minh City version awash with coconut-ginger-agave flavors and topped with spunky tapioca pearls.

And speaking of the farmers market, you’ll find hakurei turnips in great supply right now. They are at once slightly sweet and mildly bitter. You can ramp up the sweetness (and calories) by glazing them in butter and sugar. I picked up the recipe from Bon Appetit, but I played health-conscious cook and cut the sugar in half.