Sugar Options
Sugar and I are not friends, not at all. Yes, I keep going back but I always regret it. If I could find a way to cut out 90% of the sugar from my life I know this would make living so much better.
When I eat something saturated in sugar, like a pastry or a piece of cake or candy, I get very sick. I get lightheaded and dizzy and often pass out. When I wake up after having passed out I have a hangover. I usually have to eat something immediately, which only makes me feel worse. I have a similar reaction to too many starches like pasta or cereal.
This is something I've gotten a lot of control over. I don't eat nearly as much sugar and white flour as I used to. I now prefer wheat bread over white. I now actually am not much of a fan of cake, I think all the times the frosting has litterally gone to my head eventually turned me off almost entirely.
I use a lot less sugar in my coffee than I used to. I'd say for an average coffee cup I used to put in 4 sugars. I sometimes use Splenda but I'm not that big of a fan, I'm trying to just use less and less regular sugar until I need barely any at all. I love adding flavor to my coffee.
I am however trying to find alternatives to sugar, other than fake sugar. I have found often plain fruit is sweet enough for me, I love adding raspberries to just about everything.
So what else do you use to add a little bit of sweet to something?
Hi there,
Have you tried using Agave Sugar – it tastes great and has a low GI. It comes in a sugar form and syrup.
Michelle
SA
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Robin Reply:
September 12th, 2009 at 11:29 am
@Michelle, never heard of that but I will have to check it out, thank you.
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Hi there,
Just thinking I should have left a link or something. This is a local producer in South Africa http://www.agavenectar.co.za/ I know it is definitely available in the USA and elsewhere as it’s been mentioned on few blogs I follow. At least this will give you an idea about what it is.
Hope this helps and that you find a solution to your sugar battle
Michelle
SA
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Robin Reply:
September 12th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
@Michelle, believe it or not i actually found some at my local grocery store. I’m not sure it was the same brand or whatever but it was agave.
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I’ve just started using Brown Rice Syrup – it’s similarly sweet to sugar, but it has a lower glycemic index, so your body converts it to simple sugars much slower
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Robin Reply:
September 12th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
@Allison (Eat Clean Live Green), thanks for the suggestion, i will keep an eye out for it.
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I was going to suggest agave, too. They sell the syrup at Trader Joe’s!
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Robin Reply:
September 12th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
@Barb, i found it at Hannifords, it’s a grocery store here.
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I probably use more sugar than I should, but at least I drink my coffee black! That counts for something right?
It was interesting to me that the less sugar I eat the less I crave it, and super sweet things are almost too sweet now a days. I never would have thought that possible!
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Robin Reply:
September 13th, 2009 at 9:41 am
@Diane Fit to the Finish, yeah, i’ve always been a big sugar person, i love everything with sugar but my taste for it is depleting the more i cut it out, which is a really good thing.
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Here’s a thought… If you have to sweeten your coffee to make it palatable, why not just stop drinking coffee?
I use a little bit of honey when I need to sweeten something, which is not often.
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You might also want to try Stevia which is usually in a white fine powder form near the supplements at Trader Joes. Also at Farm Fresh they sell the stevia in the form of a sugar packets, Truvia and another brand I forget. I use it in my green tea 2 times a day.
As for sweetening my coffee I recently cut my sugar down from 4 to two and holding strong. I have a hard time using anything else because coffee already has a little bit of a bitter after taste. I do love my morning coffee though. However, that’s the only time I use pure sugar so that is a good thing.
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