The Sugar Connection
Our recycle bin is usually half full when we put it out every fortnight for pick up. . That is not too shabby for a family of seven. We generally prepare 3 meals a day and believe fresh is best.
What does this have to do with the topic of sugar? Since most of the foods found in boxes bottles and cans are loaded with sugar it stands to reason that if you reduce your recyclable load you reduce your sugar intake. Simple strategy that’s great for the environment and great for your health.
Sugar, Fructose, Fruit sugar, glucose, High-fructose corn syrup, Cane sugar, honey, there are numerous names for the same thing. Did you know we are probably only responsible for adding 25% of all the sugar we consume in our diets? That’s right. The majority of it is packed into the foods we purchase.
According to a study published in the Journal of Medical Investigation we eat approximately 141 pounds ( (64kg) of sugar each year. Sugar is used extensively in packaged foods to prevent spoilage, to retain moisture, to maintain texture and appearance and, of course, as a sweetener.
So what other sweeteners are out there that are wholesome and environmentally correct?
There are a few. I don’t normally use cane sugar. Even the organic unrefined ones, though it is a better option than the highly processed white sugar. Made up mainly of sucrose I find (as in fructose) that it goes through the system too quickly. This is where the sugar highs and lows come from.
Honey is 20-60% sweeter than sugar. I don’t care for honey because I feel it also reacts the same way as sugar. Though not all are highly processed and will have some nutrients intact, for me it still comes down to the type of sugar and how it works in the body. Some people have said that honey is a dehydrated “food” that will immediately begin to reabsorb moisture from the stomach and stomach flora. This will destroy the bacterial population indiscriminately, so both good and bad guys are wiped out. I firmly believe that a person’s health would improve a hundred fold if they have a healthy flourishing level of gut bacteria. So saying that, I won’t use honey for that reason alone.
Maple syrup is about 60% sucrose and it takes about 40 gallons tapped from a tree and boiled to make 1 gallon of syrup ready for market. There are minor nutritional benefits but more importantly be careful of what you may find in stores. Sugar, corn syrup and other sweeteners can be used to stretch out the more expensive maple syrup so confirm that you are purchasing 100% pure. Depending on the source maple syrup can be contaminated by paraformaldehyde which is used during the tapping process. Always buy organic. I use it in a few of my recipes but not often. I love the memory of myself as a kid living in Minnesota in the U.S. and walking through the forested areas behind our home and seeing the trees being “tapped”. We would boil small amounts of it in pans and throw it out onto the snow then chew on it as it hardened. A good memory.
Blackstrap molasses is a sugar that is also highly heated and processed. It is touted for its high mineral content. Being the final dregs of sugar production allows certain impurities to remain. These could be carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, phosphoric acid, bone char and chlorine. If you choose to use this product, only purchase organic and unsulphured brands.
Agave Syrup, true agave syrup is not filtered and is produced with minimal heat which keeps all the vitamins, minerals and enzymes intact. There is light and dark available with the difference being that the light syrup has been filtered to create a lighter flavour. Inulin is the complex form of fructose found in agave and is absorbed slowly into the bloodstream. Agave Syrup stores its energy as Inulin. Inulin is typically found in roots or rhizomes. There is no starch in agave syrup. Inulin bypasses digestion in the stomach and small intestine and is actually digested in the large intestine. Inulin does not harm gut flora, it actually feeds the probiotic bacteria in our digestive system. Agave is absorbed slowly and as a low GI sweetener it is generally considered safe for diabetics. Sweeter than sugar you can cut amount of sweetener asked for in a recipe by 25%.
Rice and Barley malt, either in syrup or powder form, are not as highly processed. They are processed by fermenting and/or sprouting techniques and are only about a third as sweet as sugar. They still have many of their nutrients intact as well as complex sugars that take much longer to digest than simple sugars. These sweeteners are primarily composed of maltose and are less destructive to the body’s mineral balance. I love the taste of rice syrup especially and our family spreads it on toast with “butter” and cinnamon or on pancakes or mixed in some of our favourite unbaked cookie recipes. If a sweeter taste is desired I may stir in a few drops of stevia liquid.
Stevia, a small shrub native to South America, is extremely sweet, from 10 to 300 times sweeter than sugar depending on processing. It regulates blood sugar so it is safe to use by those with blood sugar imbalances. It has been shown to arrest the growth of plaque in your mouth and regulates blood pressure. A non-caloric herb, it is the only sweetener safely used for candida and yeast-type conditions. Many countries use it extensively with no known adverse reactions. A great sweetener, we use it in my husband’s chiropractic offices for the patients to sweeten their tea or lemon water while they wait and they all seem to like it. In summer it is sweetly refreshing in lemonade without the heavy hit of sugar to bring energy levels down.
Date sugar is simply dehydrated and ground dates. Not processed, just a good whole food with all of its nutrients intact. You can either use it as a powder or buy fresh dates and process in a blender with water to make a thick slurry which can be kept in the fridge and used as you would other sweeteners. It is especially nice in baked goods. Because it does contain all of its nutrients and fibre it metabolises slower than sugar and makes a good alternative.
Coconut sugar comes from the coconut palm and should not be confused with the date palm. It is produced from the coconut palm blossom where it is sliced, boiled, crystallised and ground. It is said to be the most sustainable sweetener. This sugar is mineral rich with a low GI and is becoming very popular. It has a rich full bodied flavour and is another favourite sweetener of mine in many different baked goods and a nice one to mix into your warm beverages.
There are several more not so well known sweeteners out there. Just do the research to find out how it breaks down in your body!
Knowing how sugar acts in the body is important in understanding why we should be conscious of how much and what kind we eat.
Sugar and Vitamin C are absorbed into our white blood cells in the same way. This is a problem when the sugar intake far exceeds your Vitamin C intake. Disease happens when the Vitamin C can not enter the cell walls because there are sugar (glucose) molecules there first. Vitamin C wanders around with no where to go and ultimately gets flushed out of your system. It’s funny, at the health food store I’ve seen lollipops being sold that are enhanced with Vitamin C to make them a “healthy” treat for the kids. But if you read the rest of the ingredients you will find organic cane sugar and/or honey. Great marketing but rather silly. In addition I’ve seen lots of powdered Vitamin C packages which are also loaded with sugar. In fact, When I first arrived in Australia I thought it was rather odd that the majority of labels I checked seemed to always have glucose, glucose syrup or glucose solids in it. I never thought that was a healthy addition in anything. But where Australia uses glucose, America uses high fructose corn syrup. Same thing, different name. Refined sugar works the same in your system.
White blood cells are fed by Vitamin C and they need continual concentrated amounts to maintain the body’s disease fighting abilities. Vitamin C is a critical food supplement that our bodies require for the proper health and production of white blood cells. Back in the 1970‘s Linus Pauling made this connection. That is why we have always been told to take vitamin C at the first sign of colds.
Now the term food supplement doesn’t mean I’m telling you to go to the store and buy bottles of tablets. Good food can do this far more effectively for you. Usually the only food supplements my family use are whole food supplements such as chlorella or spirulina. Supplements can be used if you have a critical condition that needs to be addressed, quickly. But it is not beneficial to take them for long periods of time. Laboratories will never be able to copy nature in all of its synergistic and energetic beauty.
Alright, so saying all this, one of sugar’s major drawbacks is that it raises the insulin
level, which inhibits the release of growth hormones, which lowers your immune response.
Another drawback? Premature aging of the skin. Yes, it’s true. There is a process your body goes through called glycation. It is a result of sugar molecules attaching to protein molecules and damaging them. One of the proteins most prone to this is collagen. This protein is essential for your skins support structure. The more sugar you consume the duller and more stressed your skin looks. This process speeds up as we age too. So the best remedy to dull complexion and wrinkles? Put the cookie down. And while your at it, avoid stopping off at the local coffee shop for one of their sugar laden hot drinks. Pure water or herbal teas are the drink of choice... I promise you won’t become a tree hugger over night if you do this. Not that that’s a bad thing. I like hugging trees.
Want another drawback to refined sugar intake? How about three. Violence, behavioral disorders and learning disabilities. There are many studies that have been shown the link poor nutrition and high refined carbohydrate consumption has to people with these issues.
Certain Prisons have removed sugar and other carbohydrates from their kitchens and have reported dramatic improvement in behavior.
There are great stories out there about individual schools and school systems that implement healthier food choices. One story stands out over and over how “problem children” who are given a more rounded nutrient rich breakfast and lunch not only behave better but look and feel better too. Go figure, good food choices equates to less cranky people.
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