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(After you read this, be sure to check out part 2, where I tried to be more clear and I listed the sweeteners in order from best to worst.)
As you all know by now, NO sugar is good for us, and I’d be much better off if I could kick the habit for good, but until then, it helps to know which ones are at least a little better than others. Read more below about your choices. (If I’ve got any of this wrong – it’s very late – feel free to comment and let me know!)
NOTE: In hindsight I don’t think this post was very clear, I’m adding a PART 2 soon with a “best to worst” list…
- Agave Nectar – Sally Fallon helps to clear up all the confusion.
- Maple Syrup – a good choice for a natural sugar and ways to use it.
- Dangers of Artificial Sugars – can artificial sugars make us fat?
- “Sugar alcohols” like Xylitol – the jury is still out, so I say better safe than sorry.
- High Fructose Corn Syrup – no surprises here in the disgusting category.
- I knew Rapadura had some nutrients, but I didn’t realize how many! Check out this great chart with sugar comparisons and which ones we should choose.
- Raw honey can be used for part of the sugar in a cookie recipe, or in this homemade hot fudge recipe.
- Dates are a healthy sweetener, like in this recipe for chocolate mousse.
- Sadly, “organic cane sugar” (not the same as “evaporated cane sugar”, which is more like Rapadura), really isn’t much better for us than regular refined white table sugar EXCEPT for the fact that you know you aren’t consuming genetically modified sugar, which is no small thing. (Have you joined the No-GMO Challenge yet?! Remember it doesn’t mean you have to be perfect at avoiding GMO’s, it just means you’ll help us raise awareness!)
- Read what Kimi says about coconut sugar.
- How to cure a sugar fiend from Kristen at Food Renegade.
- Why Cheeseslave avoids Agave Nectar & Xylitol.
- One more informative post from Scott about which sweetener to choose.
In the latest Wise Traditions, Sally Fallon gives these suggestions:
- If you want something sweet, eat a piece of fruit, not a candy bar labeled as a “health food”.
- Use sweeteners that are known to be safer. For uncooked dishes, unheated raw honey or dates work well. For cooked dishes or sweet drinks, a good organic maple syrup, or even freshly juiced apple juice or orange juice can provide delicious and relatively safe sweetness; dehydrated cane sugar juice or maple sugar may be used in moderation in cookies and desserts that contain nutritious ingredients and good fats such as butter, egg yolks and nuts.
- One should limit total sweetener consumption to less than five percent of daily calories.
- Many people do best by avoiding sweeteners completely.
Get Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats
***Visit FOOD RENEGADE for more “Fight Back Fridays“!
photo: Bolder in Boulder
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Julie 04.24.09 at 7:08 am
I’m lucky in that my brother in law gives us maple syrup from his trees in Vermont. This year he also gave me a recipe to try using maple syrup. It’s rich, it’s sweet, it’s GOOD—no it’s GREAT! I humbly submit this recipe and hope you will enjoy it as much as we did:
Maple Bavarian Creme
Heat 1 1/2 cups maple syrup just to the point where it starts to bubble. Take from heat.
Dissolve 1 packet of Knox brand unflavored gelatin in 1/3 cup cold water.
Stir the gelatin mix into the maple syrup. Mix well as the gelatin is quite clumpy (is that a word?) Allow this to cool to room temperature. Then stir in until well blended: 1 1/2 cups heavy cream. Pour into ramekins and chill until ready to serve. Makes 6 servings
I topped mine with toasted pecans. Very tasty. It would also be good with fresh berries on top.
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heather 04.24.09 at 8:20 am
Thank you for this post! Very helpful!
heather’s last blog post..King Tut and Terracotta Warriors
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Teena 04.24.09 at 8:47 am
I know to avoid HFCS and aspertame (sp?) on labels but what about the brown sugar or regular sugar in my cupboards? Is “raw” sugar better?
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Rosy 04.24.09 at 10:58 am
Brown sugar is just white sugar with molasses coating it. It is not better than table sugar. If you are looking for a great brown sugar try sucant, or rapandura, they haven’t had the molasses cooked out of it yet.
Try maple syrup for chocolate recipes, it is great to sweeten raw milk with raw cacao, the ultimate raw treat if you ask me.
The only raw sugar from sugar cane is evaporated cane juice, This should be made by squashing the cane and then letting the juice dry until it is crystallized. This is also very yummy! Try eating just a piece of sugar cane too. You just chew on it to get the juice out. When I was a kid I loved to do that.
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Kyle 04.24.09 at 11:11 am
Rosy – can you post like specific measurements for the chocolate milk? I know that can be hard to do because a lot of times you just do how much you feel like.
I’ve heard that blackstrap molasses are good for you too. Anybody tried that?
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Julie 04.24.09 at 12:39 pm
Kyle, yes, I have tried Blackstrap Molasses and it is good. I really like it, but it is a sweetener that has a strong personality–It’s great in molasses cookies or a gingerbread, or in rye breads. But, for other things it is overwhelming. It is high in iron, so if you need to build up the red blood count, it’s good to have on hand. Actually, it’s also good in coffee with lots of cream.
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FoodRenegade 04.24.09 at 12:41 pm
What a great post, Kelly! I love how many past articles you were able to link to. Your site is so informative, a veritable goldmine.
Thanks too, for participating in today’s Fight Back Fridays. This is just the kind of thoughtful post that will challenge & encourage everyone.
Cheers,
KristenM
(AKA FoodRenegade)
FoodRenegade’s last blog post..Fight Back Fridays — April 24th
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My Boys' Teacher 04.24.09 at 12:43 pm
Where does Stevia fall in your assessment?
My Boys’ Teacher’s last blog post..No GMO challenge
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Karen 04.24.09 at 1:11 pm
We were JUST talking about this in my natural chef class yesterday…since I have been told by Dr. Cowan (who wrote Fourfold Path to Healing with Sally Fallon) that I am to stay away form agave nectar for the reasons noted. And here I have been promoting it due to it’s low GI affects! Sucanat is the purest form of raw cane sugar (no molasses – it just hasn’t been as processed.) But alas, there really are no ‘healthy sugars,’ and I, like you, Kelly, hope to one day kick the habit.
Karen’s last blog post..Savor the Earth and Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
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Julie 04.24.09 at 2:09 pm
A great list! Good reminders for sticking to honey and maple syrup around here. I am wanting to try coconut sugar one of these days though.
Julie’s last blog post..How to Make Buttermilk
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JC 04.24.09 at 5:57 pm
Thanks for the breakdown of sugars. It was a hard habit to kick but now I’m off of refined sugars. I do indulge in maple syrup in my yogurt and honey in those irresistible carob chews but I think it is much better than the daily haagen-dazs I used to do (ew!)
The odd thing is that I had been off of refined sugar for 2 months and I was beyond craving it but when I stopped eating gluten all of a sudden I craved sugar (and mind you I was only eating sprouted or fermented whole grains at that point). I thought it was interesting. Now, 2 weeks later, I don’t miss the wheat and my sugar cravings are gone.
So, I think we can even venture to list refined carbs as a sugar?
JC’s last blog post..Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays
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Kelly 04.25.09 at 8:13 am
Thanks Julie, I’ll have to try that recipe!!
Teena, your question prompted me to add a list of best to worst in my post…
JC, without a doubt! They turn to sugar quickly inside us.
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Kelly 04.25.09 at 8:25 am
OK, I went to add the “best to worst” list and I ended up adding comments about each one and it got long, so I’m going to just add to this post soon and do a “part 2″!
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Rosy 04.25.09 at 11:53 am
Kyle,
I use one glass of milk, about 8oz. A eating teaspoon, not the set of spoons, of the cacao. And a dollup of maple syrup. Mix it all in the blender, and you are set for yummy town!
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Paula 04.25.09 at 11:46 pm
Would LOVE to know more about evaporated cane juice. Someone (was it you?) said it messes with adrenals. I would love to see a link here to information about it.
It is in the Enjoy Life chocolate chips which are GMO free as well as top 8 free. The only ones my son can have. And since I have been trying to go white sugar free, they are a good option for me right now. But I cannot afford to mess up his adrenals nor do I want to mess up mine. THANKS!! 
Paula’s last blog post..More Obedience Fun – NOTEBOOKING!
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Tami Lewis 04.26.09 at 11:32 am
i learn so much from your blog and am so blessed to receive this knowledge that i gave you an award.
check out my blog to see it!
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Gigi 04.27.09 at 6:54 pm
I was looking to find a cheaper ‘version’ of rapadura, and discovered that there I can buy a ‘mexican’ form of it here in AZ. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapadura.
I am reassured by its nice aroma, but it varies in its color.
At Food City (in the spices and bulk section) and Sprouts (in the little plastic cases next to the bulk) and the Guadalupe Farmer’s market (only tried one)
It is sold in the shape of a cone with a flat top. I suppose a tough food processor could chop it, but I have to grate it by hand since mine is wimpy. It is called pilloncillo and goes for about 1.30/lb.
I wondered if you or anyone here has heard of it and knows if it is worth my time (mineral-wise) grating it
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Janelle 04.27.09 at 7:52 pm
We love blackstrap molasses in our house! Our favorite way to eat it is mixing about 1:1 with really good butter, then simply spread on anything. My kids are 6 and 3 and they love it!
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Kelly 04.28.09 at 1:43 am
Paula, I haven’t heard that. I asked Ann Marie and she hadn’t heard it either.
Tami, thank you, I am honored!
Gigi, sorry, I haven’t heard anything about it, but I’d guess that the fact that the color varies is a good sign…?
Janelle, very interesting!
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Lauren 04.28.09 at 2:41 pm
So I just finished reading Nourishing Traditions and I must say WOW! what an incredible book! I think my brain is going to explode with SO much amazing information. So here is a question for you Kelly. I read a lot where you and Ann Marie interchange the words “Rapadura” and “Sucanat”. Before I read NT, I went to Whole Foods and they did not know what Rapadura was, but they had sucanat. I went ahead and bought the sucanat and have been using it ever since. However, while I was reading NT, Sally Fallon said NOT to use sucanat, that it was basically the same as refined sugar and that it should be avoided. What is your take here?
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Kelly 05.03.09 at 12:19 pm
Lauren, this link from part 2 answers your question (in case you didn’t see it already):
http://www.passionatehomemaking.com/2008/09/my-favorite-natural-sweeteners.html
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