Monday, April 5, 2010

I'm Giving Up Sugar

I made the decision this weekend that Monday (today) I am going to give up sugar and gluten. The reason is that I have major ups and downs in my energy level and constant acid reflux. I've also been sick and sugar is an immune inhibitor. In the past I have given up sugar and gluten in order to lose weight and the side effect was that I felt wonderful.

This morning I had some coffee and sweetened it with agave syrup. My mother informed me that agave is just as bad as sugar.

Seriously!?!

I had to do some research. While agave is indeed better then sugar - it does cause blood sugar to rise.



OK next I looked at Stevia. Stevia is a plant - my mother used to grow it. It's not my favorite sweetener because it tastes a bit like aspartame to me. Stevia one of the few natural sweeteners that has the same characteristics as an artificial sweetener--it has no calories and will not elevate blood sugar, yet it is super-sweet. Stevia is approved by the FDA ONLY as a dietary supplement.

I think that if I use Stevia - I will chew on a leaf. The processing of it is sketchy.



There are so many artificial and natural sweeteners that I found on http://www.sweetsavvy.com

While there is a lot of good information on there - I've decided that for now when I want something sweet, I'll grab some fruit.

2 comments:

Mom's Place said...

What about Truvia?

yodasmith said...

I use SweetLeaf brand of stevia--both the powder and the liquid flavors and is GRAS (generally recognized as safe). It is also a rather pure brand of stevia unlike Truvia which is over 99% erythritol or PureVia which is over 99% (I think) erythritol and isomaltose.