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HEALTHY LIVING
Sugar Spice & Everything Nice By Theresa Tropin NFCA Volunteer It seems that no matter what we do these days, we are going to end up with the forbidden “c” word: cancer. Whether it be from drinking too much coffee, talking on a cell phone, living under power lines, breathing while in traffic, getting an x-ray, walking outside on a sunny day, using non-stick cookware, taking a shower, sneezing more than four times in succession (dramatization, of course), and from just about everything we eat. If we listen to everything we hear and believe everything we read, it would seem the only precaution would be to exist in a small darkened room breathing purified air 24 hours a day and eating only freshly grown, raw, organic food. Even with that sort of drastic measure, a good amount of people are apparently genetically coded for cancer. Where does it stop? For many people with celiac, it’s one of the first things that you hear when diagnosed. Left untreated, celiac can lead to other illnesses, including delayed growth in children, malnutrition, premature osteoporosis, and several malignancies, not to mention all of the issues with fertility, pregnancy and childbirth. Celiac also appears linked to a risk of other autoimmune disorders such as Type 1 diabetes and some forms of arthritis. After receiving this information six years ago, the one word that shook me to the core was “cancer.” Because of this, I actually welcomed changing my eating habits to avoid gluten. After a couple of years of being amazingly strict with what I was consuming, I started to get lazy. I was cutting corners primarily of a lack of time and/or lack of energy after working a long day. Not to mention I missed certain things that you just cannot replace such as Dunkin’ Donuts® Boston Crème. I started taking the easy way out and eating prepared gluten-free foods as a way of compensating. It’s no secret that many prepared gluten-free foods are not always the healthiest of choices (although in the past year or so that seems to be changing), but I lived off of them for a couple of years. What happened you ask? I gained weight. Yes, mostly from the desserts. This was where I started experimenting with gluten-free baking. If I was going to eat “bad,” why not make it a less fattening bad? In the interest of saving calories, I substituted my sugar with Splenda®, among other changes (i.e. skim milk instead of whole, apple sauce or coconut oil instead of vegetable oil, etc.). It worked. The baked items were just as good as using regular sugar, and I saved a ton of calories. We keep hearing that the big danger in America right now is simple and refined sugars. They come in many forms and, in addition to basic refined sugar, a very popular one is high fructose corn syrup. It was logical. I wasn’t using any of the “bad” sugars, I was using a product “derived” from sugar that was less fattening. So what was the problem? I started using Splenda® in everything. Yes, this is where the cancer tie comes in. Before I go any further, let me start by saying that I am not stating Splenda® causes cancer. However, I think we are all pretty aware that artificial sweeteners, in excess, are not part of a healthy diet, and the word “cancer” floats around all of their names like a black butterfly. I had become an addict and was starting to get concerned. Being on a gluten-free diet, the last thing you want to do is add to the never-ending list of items that you cannot or “should not” eat. I jumped on the Internet, knowing that there had to be something else out there that could satiate my sweet tooth without ingesting artificial, processed foods and becoming, as I like to call it, “fluffy”. Then, there it was – Agave Syrup (pronounced “uh-GAH-vay”). It is low-calorie and a 75 percent stronger sweetener than sugar. It is all natural and can be used for baking, cooking and anywhere else where you would normally use sugar or a chemical, artificial sweetener. It was time to hit the health food store. After sampling this syrup in my morning cereal and coffee, I was sold and the health benefits are fantastic. Agave syrup is derived from agave nectar which is obtained from the agave plant. The plants are in the same family as the blue agave, from which tequila is made…go figure. The agave looks like a cross between an aloe plant and a cactus and is grown on the hilly, semi-arid soils of Mexico. It is completely organic, doesn’t contain any chemicals and is produced by expressing the juice from the core of the agave, called the piña. After removing the leaves of the plant the core resembles a pineapple, thus the name. The juice is filtered to hydrolyze carbohydrates into sugars. The main carbohydrate is a complex form of fructose called inulin or fructosan. The filtered, hydrolyzed juice is concentrated into a syrup-like liquid a little thinner than honey. There are two types of agave syrup. Dark agave syrup contains many minerals and retains a natural and unique flavor with a slight hint of a vanilla-like aroma. Light agave syrup is further filtered to create a lighter color, free of natural solids. I found that the light syrup has bit of a smoother taste and seems to be more versatile for use in recipes, especially those where you don’t want the color to change. It is recommended to substitute ¼ cup of agave for every cup of sugar. I personally found that 1/3 cup works a little better. With regards to my tea/coffee and cereals, it seems 1 teaspoon does the trick! My next planned experiment is to substitute agave for the sugar in my annual jams. I can’t think of any reason why it shouldn’t work, and if that’s the case, the possibilities will be endless. Just because I’ve stumbled onto this “nectar of healthy living,” I obviously do not think that the big “C” is avoidable in my life. However, since the switch, I feel much healthier and more connected to my body – if that makes any sense. My biggest lesson in this episode is just because you eat diet foods, doesn’t mean you’re healthy. I always “knew” that, but now I finally understand why. |
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