March 12, 2008
I found a good website that provides recipes for desserts using substitutes for refined sugar. I love making dessert at home and can't give up my creme brulee or bread pudding entirely. I'm going to give some of these recipes a shot.
The two deleterious effects of eating refined sugar that I am particularly concerned with are that it depresses the immune system and jerks blood insulin levels up and down, which in the long term can cause type 2 diabetes, and in the short term, causes moodiness and cravings.
Did you know that honey is considered to be a refined sugar? It has more calories per tablespoon than white sugar as well.
The more I read about refined sugar, the easier it is to stay away from it. I still have cravings and have been using sugarless gum as a crutch. It's impossible to completely avoid eating sugar as it is an ingredient in the majority of processed foods (as sugar or corn syrup), but I'm doing well with limiting my intake of sweets.
My homemade energy bars have white sugar in them, so the next recipe change I will make is to substitute molasses for sugar.
Posted by megabeth at March 12, 2008 01:59 PM
I have seen the nasty smoke belching from a sugar refining plant and I have seen a beehive and I am in the camp of honey has to be the lesser of two evils. It is never used in the bulk quantities as cane sugar because it is expensive and not plentiful. They may have similar nutritional values but the nature of honey, its concentrated flavor and scarcity do set them apart. Honey abuse would not be good for you but it would also be more unlikely.
Posted by: A at March 13, 2008 06:47 PM
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