The Sweet Truth About Sugar

Sug­ars have got­ten a bad rap recent­ly — and with very good rea­son. Processed /refined sug­ars direct­ly con­tribute to the devel­op­ment of Type 2 Dia­betes, can­cer, car­dio­vas­cu­lar dis­ease, obe­si­ty, excess bel­ly fat, exhaus­tion, acne, migraines, PMS, and more! In fact, researchers recent­ly dis­cov­ered that our brains respond to sug­ar the same way they respond to cocaine! And I think we can all agree that cocaine isn’t exact­ly part of a bal­anced diet!

Syn­thet­ic sug­ars, or sug­ar replace­ments, look awful­ly appeal­ing in those pret­ty lit­tle pink, blue, yel­low, and green pack­ets, but they real­ly aren’t much bet­ter. These sug­ars, found in diet drinks and oth­er sug­ar-free items, trick your body into think­ing you’ve had sugar…which just makes your body crave MORE sug­ar, and starts you down a nev­er-end­ing eat­ing and drink­ing spi­ral. In addi­tion, the chem­i­cals used to cre­ate the sweet taste are poten­tial car­cino­gens… not so sweet any­more, eh?

An easy way to think about sug­ar is to pon­der where it was made –- if it took a lab­o­ra­to­ry to cre­ate it, then it will take a lab­o­ra­to­ry to digest it… and our bod­ies just aren’t designed for that.

Don’t wor­ry, not all is lost! Before you think you are ban­ished from eat­ing any­thing sweet ever again, let me intro­duce you to a whole new world of nat­ur­al sug­ars to delight your taste buds… in mod­er­a­tion, of course!

1. Fruit: Fruits are filled with nat­ur­al, deli­cious good­ness, and can be found in abun­dance dur­ing the sum­mer sea­son. Enjoy them raw, throw them on the grill, add them to a smooth­ie, or purée and freeze them into a pop­si­cle. The possibilities
2. Dates: Believe it or not, dates can replace sug­ars in recipes, and can pro­vide not only sweet­ness, but also a major dose of nutri­tion. One bite of Deli­cious­ly Ella’s Caramel Choco­late Slices will have you rethink­ing the poten­tial of dates!
3. Coconut Sug­ar: This extreme­ly ver­sa­tile sug­ar is a 1:1 replace­ment for processed sug­ar and it has a delight­ful fla­vor, with a hint of caramel. The best news of all is coconut sug­ar has a low glycemic index, which is good news for your blood sug­ar. Check out this month’s Cool­ing Water­mel­on Slushie or Against All Grain’s Real Deal Choco­late Chip.
4. Ste­via: Found in pow­der or liq­uid form, ste­via is about 40 times as sweet as table sugar…so a lit­tle goes a very long way! Be sure to pur­chase pure, organ­ic ste­via as most of the com­mer­cial prod­ucts are actu­al­ly blends of ste­via and table sug­ar. Ste­via can have a bit of an after­taste, so it is best blend­ed into baked goods, like Choco­late Cov­ered Katie’s Unbe­liev­able Melty Gooey Brown­ies.

Organ­ic maple syrup, raw hon­ey, apple­sauce, sweet pota­to purée, and bananas are also great ways to add a lit­tle deli­cious­ness to your life. The pos­si­bil­i­ties are end­less to enjoy the sweet­ness of sum­mer… which one will you try first?