The sweetest thing......

Although refined white sugar is delicious, and comes in many irresistible forms, it is just like a drug. It gives us temporary pleasure and then it racks up the charges as our bodies pay the price. In nutritional terms, refined sugar contributes precisely nothingthat the body needs. Not only that - it isn't even vegan!

But there is hope for the sweet tooth! There are plenty of wonderful vegan sugar substitutes. I've listed the best of them below.

• Yacon Syrup – made from the roots of the Yacon plant, which grows only in the Andes, this rich, thick syrup is very sweet and has no glycemic index. This is a terrific natural sugar substitute - I use it in many of my vegan recipes and it's great with unsweetened or raw almond milk on cereal and oatmeal. Yum!

• Stevia – 50 times sweeter than sugar, no calories, no glycemic index, completely natural, widely used throughout Europe, Japan and South America. I know it sounds too good to be true, but it isn't! It's wonderful to sweeten tea and coffee and I use it in my high protein smoothie every morning! Stevia as a sugar substitute can be a bit tricky in baking because it is essentially a liquid and doesn't add volume, but there are several wonderful cookbooks devoted to the art of baking with stevia.

• Succanat or Turbinado – this is a great brown sugar substitute. It is made by pressing the juice out of the sugar cane plant and then dehydrating it. This means it still contains the molasses and minerals that give brown sugar its richer taste. Sucanat is technically not raw because it is generally dehydrated at temperatures above 115°, however it is certainly a great substitute in baking. I use it in myvegan brownies.

• Rapadura – This is the most raw form of sugar available and is considered acceptable by many raw food chefs. It looks and tastes much like Sucanat. Rapadura can be substituted 1:1 for sugar in baking, but it's much better used inraw desserts. Be prepared - the taste and texture will be different, but most people prefer this!

• Maple Syrup or Maple Sugar–  - Although it is well-known as a natural sugar substitute, it's not as well known that grade B is better to use if you can find it, because the minerals are still in it.

• Date Sugar – a great natural sugar substitute made from ground up dehydrated dates, so it still contains all the minerals and fiber of the fruit. This form of sugar is also commonly used in raw food preparation. It is not good in drinks because it doesn't dissolve well, but it works very well in baked goods.

Okay, here's the gross-out - part of the white sugar refining process includes running it through filters made of charred animal bones - YUCK!

You might think that its worst offense is that it causes us to pack on the pounds, but that is just the beginning of its evils. Sugar attacks the immune system and causes the pancreas to shoot insulin in huge amounts into the bloodstream.

Over time this continuous overtaxing of the pancreas causes it to overload completely, resulting in diabetes - a disease which, at this point, is becoming a national epidemic.

And chemical sweeteners are no better! Check out these unsavory facts:

• Sucralose, the main ingredient in Splenda, is sugar bonded with chlorine - you know, the stuff that's in bleach!
• Saccharin, a.k.a. Sweet 'n Low, is made from coal tar - eeww!
• Aspartame, mostly marketed as Nutrasweet, is without question one of the most dangerous substances that has ever been inflicted on the unsuspecting American public. Aspartame, when ingested, converts to formaldehyde, the chemical used for embalming corpses. Enough said.

There are some sugars that are not great but are a little less evil than white sugar. These are raw cane sugar, brown rice syrup, barley malt syrup, molasses, and blackstrap molasses.

Also, beware of the following "hidden" forms of sugar on ingredient labels: corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, malt, evaporated cane juice, and fruit juice concentrate. These will all send your pancreas into a tailspin in minutes.

While the each natural sugar substitute listed above is much, much better than refined white sugar, it is always best to use any sweetener in moderation. If you can't do moderation right now, try easing yourself down gradually. It takes a little time, but you really can get your tastebuds to adjust. When they do, you'll find that you are able to enjoy some of the more subtle flavors in these natural sweeteners and in all foods.

Agave Nectar

While agave (pronounced ah-GAH-vay) is best recognized as the plant from which tequila is made, it has also been used for thousands of years as an ingredient in food. The nectar made from the plant is known in Mexico as aguamiel, or "honey water." 

The Aztecs prized the agave as a gift from the gods and used the liquid from its core to flavor foods and drinks. Now, due to increasing awareness of agave nectar's many beneficial properties, it is becoming the preferred sweetener of health conscious consumers, doctors, and natural foods cooks alike.

Where Does Agave Nectar Come From?

Agave nectar (sometimes called agave syrup) is most often produced from the Blue Agaves that thrive in the volcanic soils of Southern Mexico. Agaves are large, spikey plants that resemble cactus or yuccas in both form and habitat, but they are actually succulents similar to the familiar Aloe Vera.

Agaves come in many sizes and colors — well over 100 species. Due to the Blue Agave's high carbohydrate content (which results in a high percentage of fructose in the final nectar), Blue Agave is the preferred species for producing nectar. Though there are other species used to produce agave nectars, such as the Maguey Agave, the premium nectars are produced from 100% WeberBlue Agave.

Honey - The argument for including honey in the vegan repertoire is based on the idea that it is inconsistent with other vegan practices, which kill more insects than are killed through beekeeping.

Any conventionally grown crop or vegetable that is consumed by vegans involves the killing of insects that might attack those crops through the use of pesticides - organic or not. More insects are killed to preserve crops than to produce honey.

In addition, those in favor of including honey argue that the inital decision to exclude it as a natural sugar substitute was made in 1944 when the British Vegan Society first put its charter together. That was before the natural honey bee population became endangered by global warming, pesticide use, and the destruction of habitats.

Beekeepers, who now migrate around the US to provide pollinators for crops in addition to harvesting honey, have become an essential part of our survival and the survival of bees. Vegan objections to honey, this side argues, do not address the larger concern of the decimated natural bee population and the eco system it supports.

As you can see, both sides have good points. They are presented here as objectively as possible to enable you to make up your own mind.

SO YOU SEE THERE ARE MANY NATURAL FORMS OF SUGAR TO SATISFIE YOUR SWEET TOOTH!!!!