SUGAR SWEET

There are moments when my professional interests - to promote our own relationship to health - and my passion for cooking seem to clash.  This happens particularly in the baking arena.

I love to bake.  My family and friends love to eat the things I bake.  On the other hand, most baking requires an essential ingredient - sugar.  And sugar, in both traditional and alternative medical worlds, is EVIL.

White sugar does not have any nutritional benefits.  High sugar & high fructose corn syrup consumption is possibly linked to many, many health issues including obesity, diabetes, raised blood sugar levels, high triglycerides, immune system suppression, decreased mineral absorption, premature aging, weakened eyesight, tooth decay, autoimmune disease, fluid retention, depression, hormonal imbalance, impaired metabolism, cancer risk, yeast infections, and kidney disease. 

And yet baking requires the use of sugar!  No sugar, no beautifully risen cakes.  No yummy brownies.  No fun.

The average American eats 1/2 lb of sugar & high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) per day - 150 lbs per year.  Much of that consumption is in processed foods, particularly sodas.

I do believe that  sugar consumption is out of control.  On the other hand, I believe that life is not worth living without an occasional indulgence.  I'd rather that indulgence be from a home-cooked, made-with-love brownie than from a can of soda!

Over the years, I've looked into baking with alternatives to sugar.  Please, please avoid agave - it is not the healthy sweetener it claims to be, but a highly heated and chemically processed product that is even higher in fructose that HFCS.  Also, avoid artificial sweeteners - sucralose (eg splenda), sugar alcohols (eg mallitol or erythritol) and aspartame (eg nutrasweet) - as they are highly toxic.  Some recipes can be made with raw honey or maple syrup, both of which have more nutritional benefits than sugar.  Organic evaporated cane juice (which is brown-ish in color and larger crystals than white sugar) is marginally better - it has some of the natural ingredients of sugar cane left in, and none of the pesticides found in commercial sugars.

However, sweeteners in baking are not there simply to provide a sweet taste, but to interact chemically with the other ingredients (namely the fat and flour) to produce a certain product. For many recipes, white sugar is, quite honestly, the only way to go!  I do find, however, that many recipes are too sweet.  I regularly cut the amount of sugar in a recipe by 1/4 - 1/3 (anymore and that chemical balance will be altered, and the texture and rise of the cookies and cakes will be changed).

As a health practitioner, I know that I should strongly endorse a 'no sugar' approach to eating.  In theory, I do.  I regularly have periods of time where I will eat no refined products, and believe this is a good way to improve my health and give a rest to my body physiology. I don't drink sodas.  I don't buy or eat processed foods.  I don't add sugar to hot drinks. However, I do believe in enjoying food.  Occasionally, this means using sugar to bake a cake - and then eating small quantities of that delicious cake!