Should we stop consuming sugar and consume these instead?

pinkcherrychef

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We all should know sugar is a health risk. To much can cause diabetes, high blood pressure, weight gain, cancer,yeast over growth etc. We also know replacing that wonderful sweet taste is very hard thing to do. The artificial sweeteners and some stevia products are even worse. Stevia is an awesome sugar replacement if you find a good natural real one. However stevia has that bitter after taste so some people just can't stand it because of that.

Luckily there is more then just stevia. There's coconut sugar really good source. There is date sugar and just plain dates. I love dates so tasty and sweet however the downside to them is they help you gain weight so be careful on your intake if you don't want to gain some pounds.

There is also honey an excellent very healthy source of natural sugar. It has amazing benefits and no bad after taste. The only issue with it is that you can't cook with it. Honey becomes toxic when you heat enough to a temperature that can be hot to your finger. So when it comes to honey don't cook with it and only put it in luke warm stuff.

Now there is also one of my favorites and that is molasses. Molasses has amazing benefits for you can even help you loose weight so I'm told. You can cook with it to any temperature it won't become toxic unless of course you burn it lol. I use it in baking in replacement of sugar. Me and my husband say it taste better then when I made the recipe with sugar. For me I use honey to sweeten my drinks(sometimes molasses depends on the drink) and I use molasses for everything else.

The only thing I use sugar now is my coffee. I only put a little in my coffee and that's all. Please always remember to use everything within moderation.
 
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Firstly, bleached White sugar is probably one of the most toxic ingredients one can use .. And Saccharin is genetically modified .. So both are definitely evils.

I am extremely accustomed to drinking my Espresso without any form of sweetners since time memorial ..

As far as baking goes, I do not bake much except during the Christmas Holidays when I help my two young grandsons bake cookies, and we employ Bio or Ecological (no chemicals or additives added and cane grown on natural lands) "Sugar in the Raw" and place it in a grinder to obtain a finer grain ..

I like honey and since Iberia is a fairly large producer, I do use it in my teas or herbal infusions ..

Molasses, Canada being the largest producer, and Spain not producing at all, it is highly prohibitive in cost .. It is approximately 48 Euros for a very small can or tin. It is not very popular here however, if combined with fresh squeezed lemon juice and cayenne dried pepper and some wáter, it is highly nutrious and a dietary weight loss method dating back to Doctor Edgar Cayce, who recommended it in his nutritional regimens. (The Association of Research & Enlightenment, Virigina Beach, Virginia) .. It is documented in his numerous books.

Dates: We prepare them in Moroccan Tagines or Tajines and in dessert Couscous and it is a very common ingredient in Moroccan Cuisine .. We enjoy dates, and figs and other dried fruits on ocassion ..

Have a wonderful New Year ..
 
There is also honey an excellent very healthy source of natural sugar. It has amazing benefits and no bad after taste. The only issue with it is that you can't cook with it. Honey becomes toxic when you heat enough to a temperature that can be hot to your finger. So when it comes to honey don't cook with it and only put it in luke warm stuff.

There is no scientific proof that this is true. Statements like this abound on the internet and I reckon we need to be cautious. The most analytic article I can find is this one: http://healthywithhoney.com/heating-honey-kills-enzymes-but-is-boiled-honey-toxic/ which concludes:
If not heated too much and for too long, honey is not toxic. It is definitely changed. Some good compounds decrease, others change a bit and others appear. With good features and bad ones. Mostly bad. But it doesn’t become toxic. You’ll not get cancer or other terrible disease, because you have once cooked roast turkey with honey. Or use it to make gingerbread.
 
I use it in baking in replacement of sugar. Me and my husband say it taste better then when I made the recipe with sugar.

I'm curious about this - I've used it in baking but not often as it has such a distinct taste that it masks the flavour of other ingredients. It certainly couldn't be used in a sponge cake...
 
I'm curious about this - I've used it in baking but not often as it has such a distinct taste that it masks the flavor of other ingredients. It certainly couldn't be used in a sponge cake...
I've used it for many things in baking chocolate cake, sweet cornbread, ginger bread cookies, coconut pound cake stuff like that. I don't know if Egypt's mollasses is different from other countries so whether it's just taste really good here and others don't I don't know. The molasses here is very famous and is made from sugar cane it has a sweet buttery sort of taste IMO. I use to hate molasses until I moved here. I don't buy the commercial store stuff I go to a specific shop it's one kilo and comes in a metal container. It's the good stuff not the cheap old stuff. It never masks the taste of anything I bake with it. It just makes it taste good. The only thing it does is turn the batter dark that's all.
 
Really o.O my mm use to hear so called doctors on tv say it's toxic and her health shows to.

I tend to discredit any form of commercial or agenda put forth on TV. Most are associated with selling a product. I tend to rely upon the saying, "Don't believe anything you hear/read and only half of what you see.":okay:
 
I've used it for many things in baking chocolate cake, sweet cornbread, ginger bread cookies, coconut pound cake stuff like that. I don't know if Egypt's mollasses is different from other countries so whether it's just taste really good here and others don't I don't know. The molasses here is very famous and is made from sugar cane it has a sweet buttery sort of taste IMO. I use to hate molasses until I moved here. I don't buy the commercial store stuff I go to a specific shop it's one kilo and comes in a metal container. It's the good stuff not the cheap old stuff. It never masks the taste of anything I bake with it. It just makes it taste good. The only thing it does is turn the batter dark that's all.

Maybe molasses in Egypt is different. The type we get in the UK is called Black Treacle and it is indeed, black in colour. It has a fantastic taste but it is very strong. I certainly couldn't use it in the ways you describe. I'm not sure how molasses tastes in the US but the UK version is certainly not sweet and buttery.

@ElizabethB , @medtran49, @CraigC, can you comment on how US molasses tastes and looks?
 
I very rarely use much sugar in anything. A 1 kg bag will last me about a year, and that includes baking the occasional cake! The only thing I use (brown) sugar in regularly is when baking bread, although I occasionally use it to make a sweet white sauce or custard. I use both black treacle and golden syrup when making gingerbread - that's probably about the sweetest thing I make all year, and then usually only at Christmas. In fact, this is the first time I haven't made any for 40+ years. I try to confine cakes etc to Christmas (and the occasional birthday treat), and I do like stollen. This time of year is a bit of a sugar overload for me.

A spoonful of black treacle daily doesn't go amiss though - it does contain a lot of useful vitamins and minerals, and honey with apple cider vinegar and water is good for the throat and, apparently, arthritis. Other than that, I very rarely use any of it. I find most foods and drinks taste fine without any added sweeteners; there are usually enough natural sugars in food to keep me going, and I never add it to tea or coffee or hot chocolate.

I would add that one of my medications contains four different sweeteners, two natural and two artificial, including the dreaded xylitol. I have to chew the stuff, and I hate it. It tastes absolutely disgusting, but needs must I'm afraid because, to me at least, the alternatives taste even worse.
 
Your brain is hardwired to expecting a certain amount of energy from sugar. When it doesn't get that, as it may from other sweetner sources, it'll demand more of whatever you're using instead of sugar.

The alternatives are worse, if you've already used sugar, than sugar itself(Whatever form).
 
@ElizabethB , @medtran49, @CraigC, can you comment on how US molasses tastes and looks?

The type we have in the house is Grandma's molasses, a brand that's widely available in our area. I pretty much use it just for collard greens to counter any bitterness. Not sure whether Craig uses it for any of his BBQ stuff or not. It was really sweet, thick, syrupy, very dark caramel, kind of almost burned, smoky end taste to me. Oh, it's almost black, fairly thick, but we keep in fridge.
 
The type we have in the house is Grandma's molasses, a brand that's widely available in our area. I pretty much use it just for collard greens to counter any bitterness. Not sure whether Craig uses it for any of his BBQ stuff or not. It was really sweet, thick, syrupy, very dark caramel, kind of almost burned, smoky end taste to me. Oh, it's almost black, fairly thick, but we keep in fridge.

It does sound similar to the black treacle we have here. Interesting that you use it with greens. That makes me think its not the same as I can't see UK black treacle working with greens. :scratchhead: Can you explain how you use it with collard greens?
 
It does sound similar to the black treacle we have here. Interesting that you use it with greens. That makes me think its not the same as I can't see UK black treacle working with greens. :scratchhead: Can you explain how you use it with collard greens?
According to the BBC, "molasses is a thick, dark, heavy syrup which is a by-product of sugar refining. It is far less sweet than syrup or honey and the darker the molasses, the less sugar it contains. Molasses has a slightly bitter flavour that is favoured in traditional North American recipes such as Boston baked beans and it also goes into the making of rich fruit cakes, gingerbread and treacle toffee". On their tin Tate & Lyle state "Lyle's Black Treacle® adds a distinctive rich, dark flavour to traditional recipes like Christmas pudding, parkin, treacle toffee and gingerbread. It also tastes great in savoury foods, try it as a glaze for salmon".

On the other hand, I have always thought that our very black treacle is more like blackstrap molasses in the US, and is much more bitter than ordinary molasses, which we in the UK do not normally use. Molasses and blackstrap molasses are not interchangeable. And, just to confuse everybody, my Mum always meant golden syrup when she said treacle, as no doubt did most other people in the UK. I still call golden syrup treacle and say black treacle when I want the black stuff :laugh:. Another case of two countries divided by a common language, methinks. :roflmao:
 
It does sound similar to the black treacle we have here. Interesting that you use it with greens. That makes me think its not the same as I can't see UK black treacle working with greens. :scratchhead: Can you explain how you use it with collard greens?

I don't really make traditional collard greens. I use Emeril Lagasse's recipe, which uses bacon, garlic, beer, cayenne, a bit of vinegar, and a bit of molasses. I've made them so much, just kind of wing it now and don't bother with the book anymore.

Grandma's is molasses and there is a product called blackstrap molasses that I have never used.
 
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