Tag Archives: sugar

June 11, 2012 · 11:31

Is Sugar a Food Group?

You would think.

Before I delve into the wonderful alternatives and healthier substitutes for sugar, I would like to preface this by explaining the ways you are consuming sugar without knowing it. Some of the few: Anything made with bread. Sandwiches. Alcohol. Pizza. Macaroni and Cheese. Snack bars. These are “Simple Carbohydrates”. A common thread here is processed food/starches. These foods enter into our bodies and then are converted into sugar. And our bodies have to process it in the same way as a candy bar basically. After we complete a day of eating what we consider to be generally healthy food, we stretch our arms big and wide, and proud and say, “Yeah , a nice dessert should be in order after a day of conscientious eating.” And if you don’t know better, that seems totally logical. I did FOR YEARS! Often times by dessert time we have had more sugar than any other food group.

These simple carbs are processed. They are sneaky. We don’t know what they are doing TO us.

Sugar is addictive and poisonous.

I am really not all bearer of bad news. Really, I can be quite positive. But this blog is about good whole foods. Not poison. I love sweets! I spend a great deal of my time experimenting in an effort to enjoy without getting sick. We all get sick from sugar. All those nasty symptoms you feel on a daily basis can be attributed to sugar in most cases. Headaches. Colds. Stomach aches. diarrhea. Constipation.

THOSE AILMENTS ARE NOT NORMAL!

That bears repeating.

THOSE AILMENTS ARE NOT NORMAL!

From there it can grow into Hypo/Hyperglycemia. Diabetes. Cancer. Immune Depression. Adrenal fatigue. A host of others but we will leave it at that. For many, many people it has grown into those diseases. No thank you.

OOOOKKKAAAYYYYY.

Not all is doomed. Remember, whole real foods is the key here. And anytime we can REDUCE and IMPROVE the sweet intake, the less damage done.

This is about progress NOT perfection.

When we eat whole foods, we have a complete knowledge of how much sugar we are intaking. And when we prepare our own foods we know as well. Changing our eating habits is hard. It takes effort. We have to decide to make our decisions thoughtfully and with a purpose. I know for me, I have spent a good deal of my life just moving through life not giving thought to what I was eating, or where it came from or how it was processed. I was really ignorant to that information. That is not good. We are only on this train once. The trip should be awesome! Not short sighted.

HONEY
Whole food. Honey can substituted in almost all cases. It has many nutrients.
100% PURE MAPLE SUGAR
Whole Food. It can be substituted in almost all cases. It has many nutrients.

COCONUT PALM SUGAR
Whole food. Has been dried to a granule. It is granule like sugar and can be substituted in all cases. It very high in nutrients. It is unrefined. Organic. Has not been processed.

STEVIA
It is from a plant found in South America. It is very concentrated and is not good for baking. I sweeten drinks or hot cereal with it.

DATES OR OTHER DRIED FRUIT THAT HAS NOT HAD SUGAR ADDED TO IT.
Sometimes I bake cookies and the complete source of sweetener will be dates.

Those are the five I use exclusively. I reduce the amount called for always because I feel we WAY over sugar our foods. So If a recipe calls for 1 cup, I will reduce it to 2/3. If the recipe tastes sweet then next time I will reduce it down to 1/2 cup. If that is satisfactory, then I will keep it there.

The sweeteners I have discussed above, I use sparingly. They are not used on a daily basis. We try to enjoy a dessert once a week. Sometimes twice.

Sugars that talk a good line but I have learned are no- no are:

Agave – It is processed and has been compared to corn syrup in its processing.

Brown Sugar – is nothing but white sugar with Molasses added to it. It is NOT healthier than white. I think sometimes we think if something is brown, it is healthy.???? Like eggs. Brown eggs come from certain breeds. White eggs come from others. No difference.

All the “natural” sugars. – Turbinado. Sucanat Sugar. Florida crystals. They have all been refined and nutrients taken out. Molasses has been added to make it look natural.

I have added molasses to sugar to make brown sugar before when I didn’t have brown sugar. It is the same thing.

Molasses – is a “waste” product from the processing of white can sugar.

The following recipe is wonderful. I have taken a recipe that is predominately whole food. I have cut ingredients to reduce sugar impact. And they are delightful.

**Please note that I will never share a recipe with you that I have not shared with others and have received rave reviews.

The ingredients will surprise you. And the results will even more!!!

BROWNIES

Preheat oven 325 degrees.

1 16 oz. jar salted almond butter. organic.

2 eggs

2/3 cup raw honey (the recipe calls for 1 1/4 cup. I reduced it as low as 1/2 cup. not satisfying enough. found satisfaction at 2/3 c. )

1 T Vanilla

1/2 c. cocoa powder. organic. The only ingredient should be cocoa.

1/2 t. sea salt

1 t. baking soda

1 cup of dark chocolate chips. organic. I use about 2/3 that. Find the darkest chips you can find. They will be the purest in form. ***** Remember when stuff is taken out, stuff is added to take its place.

1 cup of walnuts or pecans. organic (IF you can buy raw, soak them in salt water over night and dry them in lowest temp in oven until crispy , usually about 24 hours. I do this will all nuts and make about 3 lbs at a time and always have them on hand. This process removes harmful enzymes within the nut that wreaks havoc on our digestive system. )

Blend each ingredient before adding the next.

Place in 9 x 13 glass or ceramic pan. Bake 35-40 minutes.

Please let me know what you think of them!! I would be interested in feedback.

God bless,

Karen

6:38 am Wake Up Call – US GOVT.

While you may think that this farmer gets up at 5 a.m., I am here to tell you that is not the case. Not until those goats that have been pregnant since September drop their kids in my lap. Then I will need to get up at the crack of dawn. Actually, I have been “nesting” since September in anticipation of the delivery. Trying to get rest before the sleepless nights. Wait….I already don’t sleep at night. I have noticed the goats seem to have been ordered bed rest. They aren’t movin’ much this last week. Maybe soon!

As I was contemplating getting out of bed at 6:38 the phone rang and the caller id read: US GOVT. (Isn’t funny how that is always in caps? ) So my first thought, of course, being the mommy that I am, was that they were calling to tell me that my son, who is in the ARMY, had done something wrong or something had happened to him. That is just where your mind goes when an office of authority calls you. No…..It was the US POST OFFICE in my little itty bitty town telling me that my chicks were in and come get them. Thank goodness that my boy is safe! He is. He is on a pass this weekend having a ball not too far away from here.

When you order chicks on-line they come in the mail when the chicks are 1 day old. They have enough nutrition stored up in their little bodies (One of God’s miracles among millions of others) to keep them flyin’ for a couple of days.

They are alive and WELL! And yes, they were hungry and were able to distinguish between the water, food and bedding. Quickly, I might add.

We have somehow ended up with 64 birds here. “How did this happen?”, the rooster said to the hen. We don’t know. But this gaggle of 26 that showed up here this morning are meat chickens. Did you know that the chicken you buy at the store might be as young as 9 weeks? They very well could be younger than that. I never would’ve thought… We will keep ours for 12 weeks and that is o.l.d. We are going to provide them a feed that is lower in protein to slow the growing rate down. What happens to these poor chickens when they are allowed to grow too fast, which is the case in ALL commercial outfits, is their legs break under the weight of their bodies and they cannot walk. ugh. Dont want that to happen. We are just venturing into meat territory and I don’t want anything scary to happen. It is scary enough just raising the stuff!

Speaking of meat chickens, ever get tired of the same ol’ same ol’ barbecue chicken? This is a wonderful change that DOESN’T INCLUDE SUGAR OR CORN SYRUP which is in almost every bottle of BBQ sauce:

This sauce is probably enough for 1 whole chicken.

1 stick Melted butter

a couple of T. Worcestershire sauce

lemon juice of 1 lemon

2 or 3 garlic cloves minced

melt and mix all together on stove top and baste chicken on the grill. YUMMY.

Have a SUPER holiday weekend!

God bless,

Karen

Spit that has Legs

Way back when in a life not too long ago, I learned there was a thing called Candida.

Remember the song? Candida? “We can make it together” sung by Dawn and Tony? I liked that song. But then I read about this other thing called Candida. Not so much a song but a scary monster. She and I did make it together for a long time but it sucked. I’m getting to the point here….Candida (Candida albicans) is a fungus or a yeast overgrowth that attacks different parts of our body and makes us feel really lousy. We all have yeast in our bodies and it should not cause problems UNLESS it gets out of hand. The out of hand part is fed by sugar. Yep. Yeast feeds on sugar. Thus sugar cravings. The more yeast we have growing in our bodies the more we will crave sugar.

What a little darlin’ you are!

The symptoms of this unfortunate event can be literally devastating, affecting :

THE WAY YOU FEEL

Inability to focus, Poor memory, Brain fog, Irritability, Anger, Dizziness, Depression, Crying spells, Panic attacks, Low libido, Persistent extreme fatigue, Hyperactivity, Cravings for sweets and alcohol, Insomnia, Poor coordination.

YOUR DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

Acid reflux, Bloating, Flatulence, Nausea, Diarrhea, Constipation, Stomach cramps, Indigestion, Burping after meals, Mucus in stool, Hemorrhoids, Itching anus.

YOUR SKIN

Acne, Cysts, Hives, Night sweats, Psoriasis, Eczema, Dermatitis, Fungal infections of the nails & skin, Athlete’s foot, Body odor.

YOUR MOUTH

Thrush (white coating on tongue), Swollen lower lip, Halitosis, Metallic taste in mouth, Bad breath, Canker sores, Bleeding gums, Cracked tongue.

YOUR RESPIRATORY SYSTEM

Persistent cough, Mucus in throat, Sore throat, Sinus congestion, Chronic post-nasal drip, Flu-like symptoms, Hay fever symptoms, Sinusitis, Asthma.

YOUR EYES AND EARS

Eye pain, Itchy eyes, Sensitivity to light, Blurred vision, Bags under eyes, Ringing in the ears, Ear infections.

YOUR GENITO-URINARY SYSTEM

Recurring yeast infections, Recurring UTI’s (urinary tract infections), Cystitis (inflammation of the bladder), PMS & menstrual irregularities, Fungal rash.

YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM

Frequent colds and flu, Allergies, Sensitivities to food, fragrances and chemicals.

YOUR WEIGHT

Inability to lose weight, Water retention, Weight loss.

OTHER SYMPTOMS

Headaches, Heart palpitations, Chronic body pain and/or joint pains, Muscle aches and stiffness.

How many of the above symptoms are a part of your everyday life? If you were able to say yes to over 5 then you may want to explore this further. If you have over 10,then it definitely is an issue. I had darn near every symptom. The sad fact here is that many of these symptoms have become normal and expected aches and pains in our daily routine. Doesn’t have to be! And shouldn’t be. Remember, God made us to thrive and be balanced.

So there is this really cool thing you can do to test to see if you have Candida. It really worked for me. But then again, I was basically a yeast ball.

When you get up in the morning, before brushing your teeth, drinking or eating, fill a clear glass with water and spit in the water. Let it sit for a few minutes. Notice what your saliva does. Does it sink? Sit on top? If your spit forms legs and the legs slink down into the water or get cloudy that would indicate that there is a yeast overgrowth in your body. If it sits on top, that would indicate a normal saliva sample.

What now, brown cow.? …..Yeast is alive. It feeds on sugar. So to get rid of it, we must starve the little darlings. All those above symptoms if ignored can fester, get worse and possibly lead to REALLY bad stuff. 79-97 percent of cancer patients are found to have Candida. It just is not good to have too much of the stuff living in your body. It is a living fungus.

In coming posts, I will go into detail about how to go about ridding our bodies of those highly destructive toxins.

God bless,

Karen

Tag Archives: sugar

Is Sugar a Food Group?

6:38 am Wake Up Call – US GOVT.