The Food Guy: ; Too Much Sugar Not Too Sweet; Alternatives Can Produce Similar Results

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If you ever hear me exclaim, "I cant believe its not butter!" its because Im incensed, not pleasantly surprised like the actors you see in commercials. Im usually one to enjoy my food au natural - as in REAL butter and REAL sugar, not an artificial "butter-like spread." A little sugar isnt going to kill you, although downing multiple sodas and other assorted sweetened junk every day very well may. A new report by research firm Datamonitor finds that Americans reliance on sugar and sweeteners for energy consumption is more than twice the global average. Despite constant health warnings about the risks associated with excessive sugar consumption and obesity (heart disease, high blood pressure, increased risk of stroke, and the list goes on) U.S. consumers still take a whopping 17.1 percent of their total food intake through sugars and sweeteners. Thats nearly one- fifth of their entire diet. Scary stuff. If youre a slave to your sweet tooth, you need to wrestle control of it. If thats a losing battle, you may want to explore the idea of using natural sugar substitutes. Not chemical-laded artificial sweeteners, but the new crop of more natural alternatives on the market. If you cant go there, at least consider replacing sugar (or part of it) in recipes with honey or agave syrup natural sweeteners that have a less volatile effect on your bodys blood sugar. As for the naturally sugar-free sweeteners mentioned above, I was recently challenged by the makers of Ideal (a no-calorie sweetener made from Xylitol, a natural compound found in many fruits and berries) to bake several goodies, replacing all of the sugar with equal parts Ideal. I did and, tell you what, I really couldnt tell much difference in the finished product. These babies were pretty good, and the recipe for coffee cake saves about 40 grams of sugar, 50 grams of carbs and 110 calories per serving over a more traditional recipe. Recipes for the treats I enjoyed are included this week, but you can also find more at www.idealsweet.com.

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The Food Guy: ; Too Much Sugar Not Too Sweet; Alternatives Can Produce Similar Results

Not since I griped about bad restaurant service has one topic provoked so many passionate responses. This time it was my column on pizza dough you can buy in the Krog...

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