Sugar, Sugar? No... Honey, Honey

You've probably seen some of the ads, like the one above from the Corn Refiners Association, trying to persuade you that high fructose corn sweeteners are "just as good" as sugar. I'll give them that. Like sugar, high fructose corn syrup causes a wide array of diseases in human beings, from diabetes, obesity and heart disease to osteoporosis, cancer and Alzheimer’s. These two response videos, alas, aren't on the hundreds of TV stations across the country the Corn Refiners have been flooding with their misleading barrage of ads:





The other day, as I was getting ready for sleep, I watched Cupcake Wars on the Food Network. It always puts me to sleep... and in the nicest way. Since I don't eat sugar or wheat or almost any of the crap the cupcake makers usually put in their creations, I was over the moon to see Allsion and Heather of Sweet Freedom Bakery in Philadelphia competing. Their cupcakes are completely health conscious: gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free, refined-sugar-free. And the judges agreed that all their stuff stood up and was scrumptious. A few days later I called them. It costs $90 to ship a box of cupcakes to L.A. Next plan: a neighbor told me about a bakery in the neighborhood, Sweets For the Soul that she thought may also be into healthy food. I could hardly wait to run over. And sure enough-- they had a gluten free something and a vegan something and something made without sugar. But when I asked if they had something with all those attributes rolled up into one, I got a nasty lecture about how they would never compromise taste for these crazy ideas (as I backed out of the empty store in horror).

Let me quote from Raw Truth by NY Times best-selling author Jordan Rubin in regard to sweeteners.

We’ve all seen the pink, blue, and yellow packets on restaurant tables. Stay away from those artificial sweeteners! Aspartame, saccharin, sucralose, and their sweet cousins are made from chemicals that have sparked debate for decades. Though the Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of artificial sweeteners in drinks and food, these chemical additives may prove to be detrimental to your health in the long term.

Many people have switched to raw agave as a sweetener. I am not in favor of using agave as a sweetener for many reasons, including the fact that it contains fructose as well as oligosaccharides that can lead to excess weight, gas, and bloating in some individuals. I also believe many agave products are mislabeled as raw when in fact they require significant heat during processing. There have been many rumors over the last few years that certain brands of agave have been “spiked” with high-fructose corn syrup.

The best sweetener you should be using is raw, unheated honey. Raw honey should always be labeled as unheated, preserving its rich storehouse of naturally occurring enzymes and bee pollen. If you are a vegan, make date paste from raw dates or try raw coconut sap nectar, which has a great taste and low glycemic index.

With agave-caused candida raging at epidemic levels in the raw food community, serious vegan chefs are turning to raw coconut nectar, and non-vegan raw chefs, like Juliano at Planet Raw in Santa Monica, are using only honey.

One more thing... donate to any candidate at Blue America today and we'll send you a free copy of Rubin's book, Raw Truth. Just add .01 to the donation so we know you want the book. All the candidates are enlightened progressives but the only one I talked about food with was Norman Solomon, who I recall being a vegan and very conscious about healthy eating. And Tony Mendoza was the intrepid Assemblyman who worked his ass off to make sure California became the first state in America to ban trans-fats in restaurants.