Spring was ushered in yesterday and it was glorious. Bright sunshine and warm air, no shirt sleeves needed! After the long drab damp gray winter we've had it was glorious indeed. Cheers to Spring! She promises to be a beaut.
Another sweet topic here: Agave Nectar
If you are buying it believing it is a healthier option, you may want to think again. I tried it, liked it, but did not like the high cost, so have not since restocked it in my pantry. Good thing too.
Turns out it is highly processed and does not remotely resemble the original plant. It has no nutritive value beyond providing calories...AND...worst of all in my book--the final product is mostly FRUCTOSE!!!
I avoid fructose. Why? It must be metabolized by your liver. Sugar/glucose does not. Fructose is metabolized in a way that your body is unable to get out the message that your are satiated, hence you will continue to eat. Sugar/glucose does not do that. For specific information about this google it.
Furctose should be avoided just like high fructose corn syrup/HFCS. But it is hard to avoid if you shop at the typical grocery store. It--as well as HFCS-- is added to almost everything. Some people think it is better for you than sugar/glucose. According to the facts I've read, they would be wrong. (I've found HFCS in canned kidney beans!)
Read your labels, and limit your use of any products that contain fructose or HFCS. You don't want to eat much sugar period, but it is better for you, by far, then fructose, HFCS, agave nectar, and even honey and maple syrup--both of which are also high in fructose.
I'm not implying these products are poison or that you should fear them--just avoid them like a bad egg if you are concerned about your weight and your health.
All fruits contain fructose, but the ones we eat most often have the highest amounts--like apples, bananas, oranges. The benefit though is at least the fruit has nutritive value as well as fiber. So get your fructose from your fruit, but don't overdo even that. A couple of servings a day of fruit are ideal...then bulk up on vegetables to meet your daily plant quota.
IF you've lived long enough--you'll remember that back in the day, when we weren't such a fat nation, soda contained no fructose, it had sugar/glucose. Nor was fructose or HFCS in the bulk of our processed foods. I personally believe there is a correlation between the advent of fructose/HFCS being introduced into our food supply and the increase in obesity. I'd bet the facts support that too, would I take the time to examine them.
Finally--and this is a whole other topic--back in the day our processed and fast foods contained palm oil and coconut oil which was discontinued when saturated fat became the bad boy. Sadly, those two oils were superior to their replacement--corn oil. And we were warned to eat 'oleo margaine', supposedly superior to butter. With the push to replace butter with margarine we ended up eating trans fat by the truck load. Today--we are being warned against that, and rightly so.
It is wise to listen to reason, but when 'reason' is funded by those who stand to make a huge profit if they are believed, we must seriously question the advice. It has always been and always will be:
caveat emptor..LET THE BUYER BEWARE.