Alternative Sweeteners

[Jax]

I thought I'd add a list of alternative sweetners for raw uncooking instead of that nasty white stuff called sugar ;)

Agave Nectar
Lucuma Powder
Fruit eg. dates, apples, bananas, mango powder
Carrots
Vanilla
Mesquite Powder
Stevia (http://www.rawinuk.com/showthread.php?t=159)
Yacon root
Brown rice syrup

Sweet Sensations tell you a bit more about some of these here (http://www.sweetsensations.uk.com/alternativesweeteners.html) and this (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/282449/raw_food_sweeteners_a_guide_to_sugar.html?cat=51) article explains some others.

Click on links below, then click on the text that appears and it will take you to Ethical One Stop Shop;
affiliate link to Agave Nectar* (http://www.ethicalonestopshop.com/eoss/160/affproddisp/disptype=2&recordid/14375)

affliate link to Lucuma Powder* (http://www.ethicalonestopshop.com/eoss/160/affproddisp/disptype=2&recordid/14352) - smaller size here* (http://www.ethicalonestopshop.com/eoss/160/affproddisp/disptype=2&recordid/14351)

affiliate link to Goji Berries* (http://www.ethicalonestopshop.com/eoss/160/affproddisp/disptype=2&recordid/14349)

affiliate link to Mesquite Powder* (http://www.ethicalonestopshop.com/eoss/160/affproddisp/disptype=2&recordid/14357)

affiliate link to Yacon Syrup* (http://www.ethicalonestopshop.com/eoss/160/affproddisp/disptype=2&recordid/14389)

[haverawcake]

My favourite sweeteners are mesquite, lucuma, yacon root, carob, vanilla pods and fresh and dried fruit. I do not use agave syrup as I am not that happy about its marketing and production, in fact I find the use of any concentrated syrups do not make me feel good. The Raw Food guru Gabriel Cousens recommends Stevia in his 'Diabetes Cure' diet. I personally do not like Stevia - it makes me feel rather strange. Although it is reported to have no side effects I find it gives me a strange headache and pains in my glands. Having researched this on the internet, I found other people reporting the same side effects. I also find that using high quality cold pressed coconut butter in recipes adds sweetness. For savoury raw recipes I like to balance out the bitterness of greens with red/orange/yellow peppers, tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes and carrots.

[Jax]

Unfortunately Agave seems to be attracting bad press now, personally I like it and will continue to use it! Here is an article written by Sweet Sensations in their latest newsletter that I think gives a very good unbiased view on the matter;

http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs001/1102813637493/img/29.jpgThe natural sweetener agave has been in the spotlight recently, with some people saying that they've changed their minds about it being a healthy sweetener. Personally, I'm sitting on the fence about this for a while, for reasons I explain below, but I also think it's important to keep you informed about these kind of developments.

It has always been known that agave is a fructose, but as it has a lower GI (glycemic index) than other forms of fructose, it has been seen as a healthier alternative. Now, some are saying that it has a high fructose content, perhaps higher than high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which, although still widely used in the health food industry, has long been regarded as a sweetener to avoid by many.

So is agave syrup actually worse than HFCS? Well, as ever, we are reliant on the advice of experts, and experts have been known to change their minds (including in this case). I think it's good that they are prepared to admit they might have been wrong, but I would also like to sound a note of caution here. For one thing, there are many different companies supplying agave out there, which may mean a big variance in the quality of agave. In addition, there could be a difference between the agave supplied to different countries. The articles coming out from people like Dr Mercola and David Wolfe come from from the US. How does their agave compare to that supplied to the UK and Europe for instance?

Then, one also needs to keep in mind the amount (of any sweetener) that is consumed. For instance, a friend of mine who lives in the UK but visits the US quite often, always notices how much sweeter US raw food dessert and chocolate recipes are when compared to British ones. How much does the amount of agave eaten have a bearing on its healthfulness?

I have another friend who is an experienced practitioner of nutritional therapy, and of another therapy called kinesiology, which she uses to assess which foods and supplements suit a person. In fact I profiled her in last month's newsletter - www.ellaowen.co.uk (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103343801992&s=934&e=001z7y9FFa0DAubMR40Xm3TaHVoLy-iG6zMTJfMQZ7f4W1ZeDOnRm7MoJ9YZ9Sb1kVZ53bz-siul_CrZtHDGr-IB3GSFA6vzkMy8pUJRHF6FgbaYnQTmB16Jg==). She says that for many years, in her sessions, agave has tested up as the sweetener most likely to suit the greatest number of people if they can't or don't want to eat sugar. This would indicate to me that agave can't be all that bad, espeically as Ella has no vested interest in agave being a healthy or unhealthy sweetener - she doesn't eat that much sweet food herself. Ella also made the point that any 'health' food that becomes popular gets a huge spotlight aimed at it. And any slight deviation from it being absolutely healthy can be given significance out of proportion to the problem.

I think that perhaps we have to remind ourselves that realistically no sweetener, however natural, is going to be the perfect health food. However much it's great to be able to have alternatives to sugar that are (hopefully) better for us, we still shouldn't be eating sweet food to excess.

I am slightly reluctant to give you the links to the articles I've read that speak against agave as I would prefer to have something to balance it with. But I'm sure some of you would like to read more, so here is one of them, by David Wolfe (with the other, by Dr Mercola, you have to join his site before you can read it):

http://www.sacredchocolate.com/agave-blues-david-wolfe (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103343801992&s=934&e=001z7y9FFa0DAtVEs-VfPFN1DV6muoVGroGQfxCTz8r8BGHLTwWJdvM-Yc3c_jOcW32aDVGMfJ3lhl_ri5plIAq7R93_zDneJyIMesvdC5 GixDpLZ8KyLOMj0ZghCmEEgzBp77YPEaGpz748CMtkmG1eg==)

If you feel you want to limit or cut agave from your diet, the David Wolfe article mentions some alternatives. He is very positive about xylitol for instance, and also mentions lucuma, coconut palm sugar and erythritol. Xylitol and lucuma are available from the Sweet Sensations online shop (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103343801992&s=934&e=001z7y9FFa0DAuGgZv8uTIsaNOyysi36MIzCZk8UuHeleq94 xtOr-WRxgW1HhdcWnrAGkE1PUgAqYuejKl-FgOU0LHeN0u3CUvnhbS55UL1-ZfReuUr0YPS-Thtrnr1Q8XD8uvxS3zdxGCnRYl88-Onfc29ddz0GvDb). I have yet to try the other two. As far as I know, erythritol is not yet available in the UK, and I will have to try to find out more about coconut palm sugar. If anyone has experience of either of these sweeteners, I'd be interested to hear it (liz@sweetsensations.uk.com).

[Jax]

The Fresh Network has decided to stop selling Agave, the link to their announcement is here (http://fresh-network.typepad.com/fresh_network_blog/2010/05/as-of-now-were-no-longer-selling-agave-syrup-heres-why-1.html) I haven't read any scientific quantifications in relation to this but would be interested to read any if anybody has any links to them, that's of course if they are unbiased and not funded by sugar companies, and look at the 'whole' issue.

This paragraph from The Fresh Network worried me; "Fructose is only good for us if consumed in moderate quantities and bound up with fibre, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients – i.e. the way it appears in nature, and the way we consume fructose when we eat whole fruits. When it comes in the form of refined, concentrated fructose (as in agave syrup and HFCS) it gets absorbed into the system in an uncontrolled fashion." In that how often does one consume a large amount of Agave on it's own, most raw dishes are served with fruits and nuts/seeds which would counteract this negative impact in relation to Glycaemic Loading.

The suggestion of using raw honey is fine, but not for everybody especially if they are following a vegan lifestyle. Again, personally I'll continue to use Agave, but will admit we don't use a great deal of it in our house as I've always viewed it as a 'sugar' anyway. It really is down to what each of us feel comfortable consuming, we all have differences in what we are prepared to tolerate and who's ideals we want follow. And with all 'superfoods' that burst onto the scene there will always be an argument against it by somebody - one comes to mind with spirulina and it being 'pond scum'.

[Raw Rob]

At Funky Raw I took the decision to stop selling agave a couple of months ago. Personally I've switched to raw honey (http://www.funkyraw.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=31) as I think this is probably the healthiest sweetener, but if you are vegan I would suggest Yacon Syrup (http://www.funkyraw.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=322) as a possibly alternative to agave. It's not raw, (but then again, maybe the so called "raw agave" isn't raw anyway), but it is processed at relatively low temperature and is low glycemic. It's not quite as sweet as agave, which is probably a good sign!

Rob