Thread: you are what you eat..natural sweeteners

I had an excellent talk with a Russian oncologist at one of my Thanksgiving parties (about cancer, inflammation, sugar, etc) anyways long story short she had me try this Agave Nectar..I can say that I am a total sweet tooth and I was very impressed.

Here's a list of other natural sweeteners.

Natural Sweeteners – Eating Healthy and Natural Sweeteners

I put it in coffee and it's fabulous.

Agave nectar is my saviour.

Love agave nectar.

I love it too! and I really love that I can get it at Costco in a two pack.

I get my agave nectar at Trader Joe's and yes, I love it.

My husband has been urging me to experiment with sweeteners. I've made rhubarb pie using agave nectar and nobody could taste the difference. My Type 1 diabetic friend was delighted to discover it didn't throw her blood sugar out of whack the way normal sugar does.

Bill has asked me to quit using agave nectar (even though he was the one who originally urged me to try it) because of what he read in the book [i]Sweet Deception[/b]. According to that book (which I have not read myself), the product quality of agave is irregular and undependable. So Bill threw out the agave nectar he had bought for me and is now asking me to experiment with stevia instead.

The stevia he bought me comes in a liquid form. So far, I've used it only once. I made an apple pie, and used 1 teaspoon of stevia to sweeten the pie instead of the 3/4 cup sugar that I normally use. I didn't tell anybody ahead of time (except Bill) that I'd experimented with stevia when I made the pie. After everyone ate it, and offered the usual compliments (including the sincerest one of all, reaching for another piece) Bill couldn't contain himself any longer and told them I'd used stevia to make it. Everyone was surprised - they all emphatically said they wouldn't have guessed I'd used an alternate sweetener.

I'll humor Bill by experimenting more with the stevia, but so far I've used it only the one time.

wow I'm interested in trying out Stevia as well..thanks for posting this

I had also read some not so favorable things about the agave. Am hoping to consult further with this doctor and ask more questions

I used to use Stevia but became not a huge fan of it in comparing the flavor and user-friendliness of agave nectar. I find it has a somewhat "chemical" taste and harder to substitute amounts (for me).

So many other things we eat have questionable quality so I'm not going to throw out the baby with the bathwater (no disrespect to your hubby, Shira).

I love agave nectar. It tastes like honey, has a low glycemic index and it doesn't require a lot to sweeten coffee or tea. I just use one teaspoon to sweeten my tea and it does the trick.

I need to cut back on sugar and try my hand at using agave nectar instead of sugar when baking.

Stevia is great, but be careful with the amounts you use daily. My BF takes it to treat high blood pressure so we have always had it around. I started using it to sweeten my tea (I drink A LOT of tea, like 6-7 cups a day) and after a few days I was dizzy all day. Especially when bending over. I was complaining about it while making tea and my bf was like, so how much of that stevia have you been using? Turns out I was dropping my blood pressure by using too much.,r:;

There's been a bit of talk about lo han guo lately - I subbed a story about some company that had patented a new extraction process.

I feel pleased that I stopped routinely adding sweeteners to drinks about, hmm, 30 years ago. It doesn't mean I don't ingest far too much sugar/crappy faux sweeteners, but the fact I'm not putting anything in my tea and coffee does, I think, make a difference.