After reading a few health journals and speaking with some friends who have forgone processed sugar for health reasons, I have tried to see if I too, can banish the white granulars from my diet of cakes and sweetened coffee.
In order for this pursuit to be successful, I reasoned, I needed to find 'sugar substitutes'. Living without sugar seems an impossibility (mainly because I am such a sweet guy myself). But sugar substitutes can be toxic to some bodies (for me, Nutrasweet gives me a headache like no other). So, heading off to my local health food market, I found two all natural sugar substitutes: Agave Nectar and Stevia.
Agave Nectar is a vegan sweetner that is meant to replace sugar, honey, and syrup. Stevia comes from the Stevia leaf and is 300 times sweeter than sugar. Both are great (use the latter with great care, too much of it and you'll have to climb down from your ceiling).
From my experience, I have found the Agave Nectar to be the best sweetner for my coffee. The Stevia leaves a slight bitter aftertaste. You can find these products and other healthy ones by visiting www.eatraw.com. The site is pretty fabulous and if you live in a town without a healthy store alternative, then this site is for you. Unfortunately eating more healthy is expensive, but still, replacing one's processed sugar consumption is recommended by most health conscience folks.
As for me, I can say with complete honesty, replacing my white processed sugar has been rewarding. I have found I have more energy and am less hungry. However, I am also eating less unhealthy foods, so my more energy could also be the result of that too.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Living Without Sugar
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2 comments:
Two questions and I'm not trying to be snide here:
1. If sugar itself is a natural sweetner (coming from the sugar cane) as are honey and many syrups, how are these other natural alternatives better? (I confess I don't read much on health.) and....
2. I thought coffee was bitter to begin with. Are you telling me there's something that makes it more bitter??
(Okay, so that last one was a little snide) ;)
Well, you're right, natural sugar is okay but the sugar we get at the store has been processed (in some sort of weird way) that makes it worse for us than what it would be like straight from the cane. The same goes for processed flour- the process used to make it last longer and to produce it in bulk is said to cause some people to have serious reactions to it.
The trick is finding something sweet that hasn't been processed (which is really tough actually). My friends who gave up processed sugar suddenly had their migrane headaches go away entirely. For me, I found that since I was eating so much of it, I found myself tired a whole lot of the time.
As for coffee, the sugar substitute I used could definitely be tasted (and it was a different taste than having coffee without any sugar). The agave syrup is best for the coffee (at least, its what I enjoy the most).
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