Sugar, Sugar, Sugar

SUGAR – it’s everywhere. Especially when it comes to the supplement industry, as many ‘energy bars’ currently on the market have just as much if not more sugar than most chocolate bars.

And when you get right down to it, sugar is sugar; all coming from either sugar beet or sugar cane. Be it brown sugar or white sugar, neither differs in terms of health value.

White sugar is the final result of processing and is 99.9% pure sucrose – a chemical with almost double the sweetness of glucose, making it distinctively sweet in comparison to other carbohydrate foods. When consumed in large quantities, sucrose can displace other nutrients in the diet, leaving the body very acidic and can be a major contributor to the onset of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and coronary heart disease, just to name a few.

The most common artificial sweeteners are asparatame (“Nutrasweet” or “Equal”) and sucralose (“Splenda”), which are often used by diabetics or those on a low-calorie diet. The problem with these alternatives, however, is that they have been proven to induce insulin resistance, deaden taste buds, and actually increase ones desire for sweets, often leading to weight gain and furthering ones chances of developing Type II, or adult-onset, diabetes. What’s more frightening is asparatame contains the molecule methanol (found in antifreeze) and is metabolized to form formaldehyde in the body.

Here is a list of a few great natural alternatives to sugar that you can use to sweeten the taste of your drinks or other foods:

Sick of all the sugar? Our products here at Staterra are lightly sweetened with Stevia, making it an awesome addition without the added sugar or chemical additives.