sugar in the raw

Posts: 11,532
3/15/13 11:49 A

It is delicious and I prefer it, but it is still sugar. So you still have to use it in moderation.

Personally I don't like any other sweetener besides sugar. Except for agave. The others just don't taste good.

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3/15/13 11:05 A

Sugar is sugar in terms of calories. The issue with white sugar is that it's refined. If you're trying to go more "clean and whole," there are options for raw sugar like suconat. I prefer local raw honey, which has healthy benefits. But really, it's the amount that you use that makes the big difference. I personally avoid artificial sweeteners - even those currently being billed as natural and only use natural sweeteners for the most part.

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3/15/13 10:41 A

It's just sugar. As long as you're accounting for it in your ranges, it's fine. There's no reason to avoid sugar, unless you have a sensitivity, just don't go overboard!

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3/15/13 9:57 A

I use green stevia powder or stevia extract. i don't use the purvia or truvia since they are highly processed. I will sweeten with fruit rather than sugar.

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3/15/13 7:57 A

I second the post below.

I was looking at the label on my cereal box the other day and one of the main ingredients was "dehydrated cane juice crystals." I thought that was one of the best euphemisms for sugar I ever heard. Then I read that it actually is a little tiny bit healthier than regular sugar, because a few of the natural good things are left in. But still....... it's sugar.

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3/15/13 7:40 A

Well, it's still just sugar -- mostly sucrose, with various impurities at higher levels than you find in table sugar (hence the brown color).

What it hasn't been is processed the way that table sugar is, to bleach it and to remove all those natural impurities. So if there's anything actually good for you in those, it's still there, and you won't have residues from processing chemicals and the like (if any). Vegans would prefer that kind of sugar since I believe part of the process for table sugar includes an animal product.

It has its place, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it good for you.

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3/14/13 11:42 P

It's still sugar, and as far as I know, it's not any better for you than regular sugar. I prefer the taste but as far as health goes, I don't think it matters.

If you do want to do some googling on this or other things and want reliable results, use Google Scholar. It mostly links to scholarly articles, which have been peer-reviewed and have sources, so it's definitely better than just doing a regular search where you can get who knows what.

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3/14/13 10:08 P

I have 4-5 grams of brown sugar on my Rolled Oats - prefer the flavour on it compared to other sugars. It is about the only thing that I add sugar to. I don't see sugar as 'bad' per se, but rather bad when we tend to indulge in the sugary, processed stuff regularly.

Kris

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3/14/13 9:53 P

I have heard that sugar in the raw is a good thing and then heard its a bad thing, I usually use 1 tsp of it in my cinnamon oatmeal to bring out the sweetness in the cinnamon, otherwise it has a pepper-y flavor. I try to use it in moderation (every other day.) Does anybody have any facts about sugar in the raw, I would just google it but I want actual opinions instead of trusting some unreliable website, who could be pushing the product anyway.

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