I hope, everyone is fine and enjoying springtime that due to hot Sahara winds extremely quickly warmed up. In our part of the world springtime brings the first traces of Monsoon - lately these traces have been quite vehement, which kept us indoors most of the time and made us decide to do something for our body and mind while we are "locked up". So, my beloved other half and I decided to both do a quick "makeover" at the beautiful Lanka Princess Hotel (www.lankaprincess.com).
While I am being tortured with peeling and water eliminating powder massages (but, girls, I never had subtler, smoother skin, I swear!) to fight the bumps on my thighs, my darling husband went on a 10 days Detox and has already lost amazing 5kg in a week! YAY!
Why am I telling you this? I don't know...oh, no, I actually do know! On my massage bed thinking about getting into shape for our swimming outfits made me think about SUGAR.
.......
SUGAR???????????? Seriously????
I am not only talking obesity here! There is a whole bunch of conditions that can be caused by sugar intake. Let me just quote Mr. Gary Taubes:
“The connection between obesity, diabetes and cancer was first reported in 2004 in large population studies by researchers from the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. It is not controversial.”
Sugar supports CANDIDA, a yeast overgrowth in your body, it acts more like a drug in our system. Refined sugar (and don't be fooled by the oh so healthy brown sugar, it isn't much better!) is the very healthy original sugar cane plant stripped of all its goodness and reduced to poor, unhealthy sucrose.
"But I cannot drink my tea/coffee black, I need something sweet in my muesli!"
Okay, okay! Following you will find 4 healthy alternatives to sugar. Read on....
Made from the agave plant (Tequila, remember...?) is 25% sweeter than sugar, so no worries about the higher calorie count and contains a dietary fiber (prebiotic), which nourishes healthy intestinal bacteria.
And this is the healthy derivat of sugar cane! With all the iron, vitamin B6, calcium, magnesium and a whole bunch of antioxidants in it! Go for it!
A ZERO CALORIE sugar substitute from the South American stevia plant, which is about 200 times sweeter than sugar and does not produce any insuline spikes in your body.
And last, but not least:
Same as with Olive Oil please be sure to get an "extra virgin" (coldpressed) one. The refined one you can leave on the shell just close to the sugar. Through honey you get a healthy dose of antioxidants and lower your cholesterol at the same time.
Nice side effect is that each of these sweeteners has a very different taste, so why not keep at least 2 of them in your kitchen and use them for your various purposes?
I never put sugar in my dishes, like is required for example in some Thai curries. In the Asian kitchen, Molasses nicely complements the taste. Molasses grilled Salmon - extremely YUMMY!
Honey mustard dressing for a nice bowl of salad anyone? Or buy natural, unsweetened Yogurt and put some honey over it. Green tea with some honey and soy milk - so healthy and tasteful for your breakfast.
Use Agave Nectar in all your bakery and add Stevia in your drinks or over your soaked oatmeal.
Enjoy your cooking!!!
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