Sweet Options

It wasn’t until I became a dentist and started finding myself working on A LOT of children’s teeth, that I finally took a long hard look at the problems associate with over consumption of processed sugars. Not only was it an eye opener to learn of the kind of damage too much sugar can cause to a child’s dentition, but also the affects it can have on behavior, as well as the realization that most parents are either completely unaware or in denial about the amount of processed sugar their children consume on a daily basis.

The second big shock came when I had children of my own and realized the kind of battle we get sucked into as parents trying to win the war against processed and refined sugar. I am not completely opposed to a treat every now and then, however the frequency and ease of availability is what leads to big problems. It is everywhere, in nearly everything, and offered to your children by most everyone. Whether they’re at preschool, school, church, at a party with friends, not to mention every holiday, or at family get-togethers, someone has treats to share. It’s hard to refuse your child a gift from a well-intentioned friend.

Well when you go into battle, it’s always best to have a plan of attack and we decided that the best plan for us is to control the environments we can control and roll with the punches in the ones that we can’t. In our home we supply more healthful choices so that the kids have come to expect it from us, also teaching them  even at a young age, about these healthy foods and why we eat them. That way when we go out and if our children happen to eat something that we don’t feel is ideal, we are just grateful for all that we have, the freedoms that we enjoy and that we’ve given them the best chance of over coming any ill that they might experience from an unhealthy choice by feeding them nutrient dense foods in their home environment. We are hopeful that in the future, they will remember the things the’ve been taught and make good choices for themselves.

Don’t get me wrong, sugar is not all bad. The sugar that occurs naturally in whole foods like fruits is well tolerated by our bodies when we eat it in its whole food form and not in an extracted and highly processed one. This is because as a natural whole food, it comes as a complete package with fiber included as well as all the other vitamins, minerals, enzymes, antioxidants and other beneficial phytonutrients that the plant has to offer. The fiber is what helps to regulate the release of sugar into our blood stream so that we don’t get huge spikes all at once, which over tax our bodies’ ability to deal with the sugary overload time and time again. Even pure fruit juices, although very healthful in certain respects need to be consumed in moderation because they too can cause massive sugar spikes in the blood stream as they have this very helpful & regulating fiber removed.

So the question is what to do about sweets and which sweeteners should we use in cooking and baking? It really depends on what is being made but here is what we use and in what order of preference:

 

TIPS: 

• Dried fruit can be reconstituted in water, nut milks, or fruit juice (orange juice for example) for a concentrated sweetener
• Date Paste can be made quickly in a blender and then stored in the fridge for two to four weeks and used as a mild sweetener
• Fresh fruit can be blended to replace oil in recipes or it can be juiced and replace water in things like cakes instead of adding sugar.
• Although honey is not our 1^st choice for sweetening I am a big advocate of emergency preparedness & food storage and honey happens to be great for these purposes as it can be stored for a very long time if done properly. Sometimes we have to balance ideal health with the reality that in an emergency situation, ideal isn’t always possible and we just need to be grateful for food to eat and that we were as prepared as we could be.

If you have any great ways to use fresh fruits or dried fruits as sweeteners in recipes, we would love to hear about it in our comments section below. Thanks for stopping by!