In 2012 researchers linked high blood sugar levels to an increase in colorectal cancer.  More recently they've discovered that many different cancer patients who consumed the most foods that produce high blood sugar had an 80% higher likelihood of dying during the 7 year study!  Remember, refined carbohydrates can turn to sugar as fast as eating a spoonful of it!   A Korean study also recently confirmed higher death rates from cancer patients with higher blood sugar levels.  According to Alternatives newsletter by Dr. David Williams, a recent study from Australia has shown how high blood sugar levels cause shrinking in the parts of the brain connected with memory and emotion.  Yet another example of the dangers of years of excess sugar and refined carbohydrates in our diet.  Sugar fluctuations become impossible for our bodies to control and cause age-related decline to the tune of researchers beginning to refer to Alzheimer's as type 3 diabetes! 

When there's too much sugar in your body it becomes overly acidic and prone to disease by creating an environment comfortable for pathogens.  If cancer or other disease is caused or exacerbated by a microbe, sugar is it's preferred food!  A body in an acid state will leech minerals from your bones in order to alkalize your blood, another of the amazing ways your body is programmed to naturally maintain its balance.  Dozens of health advocates throughout history have equated the addictive properties of refined sugar to that of heroin.  Plain and simple:  too much sugar coursing through our bloodstreams causes a boatload of problems!  Double those problems when wheat is in the picture, and quadruple them with added starches and toxic oils and chemical additives!

Unfortunately the sweet tooth of Americans has skyrocketed in the past decades (a 20 oz soda has almost 1/3 C of refined sugar!) so that a perfect sweet food such as a carrot or a beet or even an apple or an orange is no longer sweet enough!  Plus, these fruits lack the 'wheat-type' texture we've all become addicted to as well.  Baking our own Whole Food goodies ( REAL FOOD DIARIES for my Recipes!) allows us the opportunity to begin to adjust the sweetness level down a notch or two and learn to use some of the safe sweeteners we have available to us these days.  There are many artificial sweeteners on the market today.  Check Dr. Mercola's website mercola.com for some in-depth information on the dangers of so many of these.  While many manufacturers have begun to use the natural and safe sweetener, Stevia blended with Erythritol they have hidden ingredients in their 'natural ingredient' list, so I still stay clear of them.  I also don't prefer their taste.

Below I offer many different sweetener options to choose from.  Ideally, you should experiment with different ones and pick a few you enjoy working with the most.  Their price, like their tastes and cooking properties vary.  All of them, unfortunately, are more expensive than table sugar, but for health benefits, it's worth the extra cost!  I've found that a combination of Erthritol and Stevia best suits my baking needs and enables me to completely cut out or at least way back on the amount of sugar usually used in baking.  I prefer to use them separately and not to buy products such as Truvia or ZSweet because, as I mentioned, they have hidden ingredients under 'Natural Ingredients' in order for them to be able to patent their product.  Once CocaCola applied to use Stevia in their product line, the FDA suddenly decided to approve it for more than a 'nutritional supplement'.

This article makes some interesting points on Truvia,  http://www.livestrong.com/article/477429-problems-with-truvia/

ERYTHRITOL

This is my sweetener of choice right now!  Erythritol is a sugar alcohol that is low on the glycemic index and safe for diabetics.  It's classified as an 'unavailable carbohydrate' because it's not metabolized and is excreted unchanged in urine.  Because these zero calorie carbs are not used as energy by the body they don't raise your blood sugar, and unlike sugar, yeast and bacteria in the gut do not feed on it.  Erythritol is made by breaking down food starch (usually from corn) into glucose and then fermenting it until it is broken down into this sugar alcohol.  Because it is fermented it does not cause gassiness that Xylitol or other sugar alcohols can cause.  Xylitol, and all other sugar alcohols are made through a hydrogenation process.  Xylitol has been clinically proven to fight ear infections and improve the teeth and gums in many ways.  Erythritol is showing many of those same promising effects.

Erythritol is about 70% as sweet as sugar and is very easy to cook with.  You can also powder it yourself in you coffee grinder or Vitamix.  An added benefit is that baked goods stay fresh and soft longer.  Use it alone, or combine it with sugar or another sweetener.  It doesn't have an aftertaste, but does have a cooling affect that seems to be minimized by combining it with certain other foods.  I prefer the NOW Brand for taste and smaller crystals.

LUO HAN GUO or MONK FRUIT

A vine native to China, Luo Han Guo (also called Monk Fruit) has been used medicinally and as a sweetener in Japan for decades.  Like Stevia, it is much sweeter than sugar but again, when used in combination with say, Erythritol, it makes a delicious brown sugar tasting sweetener.  May only find online at this time and may also be prohibitively expensive.

LAKANTO

Lakanto is a product that has combined Erythritol and Luo Han Guo and has a sugar taste.  Easy to bake with, it can be used to replace sugar cup for cup.  Purchase online at bodyecology.com.

STEVIA

Also known as Rubiana, Stevia is an extremely sweet herb native to south America.  It's been used for decades in Japan and other countries but was banned from being sold in the United States as a sweetener (natural foods stores carried it under a dietary supplement label for years) because Monsanto (huge food and food poisoning conglomerate) held the patent on the artificial and dangerous sweetening, Aspartame (Equal and Nutrasweet).  for years, natural health advocates worked to bring Stevia to where it is now, finally being available on our store shelves as it should be.  The big companies are now making and promoting products like Truvia, but don't forget what may be hidden under their 'natural ingredient' list!  I'll write more on that in another post.

Stevia can have an aftertaste, and is 200-300% sweeter than sugar so it can be very hard to bake with.  It works well when it's used in combination with another sweetener.

JUST LIKE SUGAR CHICORY SWEETENER

Use 1-1 as a sugar substitute.  This zero-calorie sweetener is made from Chicory and Orange Peel and is high in a dietary fiber called inulin.  Inulin is a pre-biotic (good bugs feed on it) so it's beneficial for your digestive tract and is not digested in our body and does not raise your blood sugar.  Because this is so high in fiber it can cause gastric distress in some people depending upon how much is consumed.

XYLITOL

Like Erythritol, Xylitol is also a sugar alcohol however it has not been fermented so it can cause gastric distress and loosening of the bowels in many people, depending upon the amount you are able to tolerate.  For this reason alone, I prefer Erythritol.


COCONUT or PALM SUGAR

The juice of the coconut palm blossom is boiled into a thick syrup, dried and ground into crystals.  Nutritious, it has a similar taste to brown sugar (which is nothing more than refined sugar with a bit of molasses added back in).

DATES/DATE SUGAR

Date sugar is dehydrated and pulverized dates.  I often use whole, pitted dates in desserts or shakes, but date sugar or paste is a quick and easy substitute!  With lots of vitamins and minerals and fiber, it has the highest concentration of fruit sugars of any other fruit.  It's also the oldest known fruit and some historians suggest it was the date, rather than the apple that caused the troubles with Adam and Even, although I've also heard the pomegranate may lay claim to that!

DEHYDRATED SUGAR CANE JUICE

Rapadura is the commercial name for this sugar, which is better than table sugar because it retains its vitamin and mineral content.

SUCANAT or TAURBINADO SUGAR

Sucanat is actually a brand name for 'sugar cane natural' and is a less refined sugar than white table sugar.

AGAVE

Low on the glycemic index agave 'nectar' is derived from the Agave cactus and is delicious.  So delicious I think it's just too good to be true.  I use it very sparingly, if at all because there are so many contradictory opinions and claims I'm not sure if the juices is boiled down like Maple Syrup or if it's processed similarly to High Fructose Corn Syrup.  Truly 'raw' Agave manufacturers keep from heating the liquid above 118 degrees (the temperature at which the enzymes die) when thickening it.  I'd like to think at least this form of Agave is safe.  However, Agave is about 90% Fructose, which we are told is not good in large quantities. 

CONCENTRATED FRUIT JUICES

These juices such as a product called 'Fruit Sweet", are boiled down to syrup and are mostly composed of fructose so should be used sparingly.

HONEY and MAPLE SYRUP

Both are sweeter than sugar and contain lots of vitamins, minerals and amino acids.  Maple Syrup is made by boiling the sap of the Maple tree and we all know that bees make Honey which is best purchased in it's raw, unprocessed form.

YACON SYRUP

Similar to Molasses, with half the calories of sugar, this syrup is derived from the South American Yacon root.  It's considered a 'prebiotic', as it's high in fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) which feed the good bugs in the belly.

MOLASSES

This is what is produced when sugar is refined.  It contains the vitamin and mineral content that the refined sugar lost during processing.

SORGHUM MOLASSES or SYRUP

This syrup is made from the Sweet Sorghum Grain which is similar to Millet.  Its juice is boiled as with Maple Syrup.  It's lighter in flavor than Molasses and yummy.