Ever since we started our 100 Days of Real Food it seems like we have been getting a lot of questions about sugar and other sweeteners. Can’t we have sugar? Isn’t it 
natural? Yes, I suppose it is technically “natural” since it is made from the sugar cane plant, but it is also a highly processed version of this plant similar to how white flour is made from the wheat plant. If we are going to start classifying things in this manner we could also technically say high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is “natural” since it is made from corn. And despite the mixed research on if HFCS is really worse for you than good ol’ white sugar, according to Michal Pollan, it just happens to be “a reliable marker for a food product that has been highly processed”.
A sweetener like honey can also be considered natural and somewhat “processed”, although the work is done by bees out in nature as opposed to in a factory. All of these (as well as other sweeteners) are high in energy and low in nutrients, although an alternative like honey or maple syrup might be slightly better in the nutrition department. According to Michael Pollan the moral of this story is that “sugar is sugar” and “organic sugar is sugar too.” In processed food there are “now some forty types of sugar used” including:
barley malt, beet sugar, brown rice syrup, cane juice, corn sweetener, dextrin, dextrose, fructo-oligosaccharides, fruit juice concentrate, glucose, sucrose, invert sugar, polydextrose, sucrose, turbinado sugar
There are also the sweeteners you can find in the grocery store baking aisle such as:
Splenda, Equal, agave syrup, corn syrup, molasses, maple syrup, Sweet-n-Low, brown sugar
No matter what kind of sugar you decide to use we think there are a couple of key takeaways:
- Consume any and all types of sugar in moderation mainly trying to reserve them for special occasions.
- When it comes to store-bought foods avoid those “that have some form of sugar (or sweetener) listed among the top three ingredients” according to Pollan.
- Given the choice go with a natural option like honey or even white sugar as opposed to the artificial stuff like aspartame (or Splenda).
As far as our 100 Days of Real Food rules go, we chose honey and 100% maple syrup as acceptable choices because they are made in nature and less often found in highly processed foods. This rule has resulted in us having to make from scratch anything we eat that contains a sweetener. Trust me when I tell you, I have searched high and low for a store-bought product containing 5 or less ingredients and honey or maple syrup as the sweetener. One may exist, but I have not found it. So this rule greatly helps us not only reduce, but also regulate our consumption of “sweets” since we have to make everything ourselves.
I’ve been wondering about “raw” sugar. Is that still just considered “sugar” and not any better than the white sugar?
Raw sugar is actually a little less processed than the typical white sugar so therefore it does have a “trace” amount of nutrients. So I suppose it would be slightly better, but either way it is still very much a sweetener that overall is high in energy and low in nutrients. So it should be treated just like any other sweetener including white sugar, brown sugar, honey, etc. I hope that helps!
This one helped me with a lot of interesting facts about sugar: http://simpleorganic.net/whole-cane-sugar-a-better-way-to-sweeten/
You are the second person to share this site…thank you!
I’ve been doing all of our starch baking from scratch but have been baking with organic evaporated cane juice. This is a no no on your list however. How does the honey change the baking of things like muffins/waffles/breads? What about rapadura? I’d love some insight!
I have never used cane juice and it is a “no-no” because it is refined and therefore very similar to sugar. It is also on the “no” list because it can be found in a lot of store-bought processed foods. Since I have never used it I am not 100% sure of the consistency although I imagine since it is called “juice” it must be somewhat of a liquid. I think using honey instead would change things in some recipes, but not all. In recipes that just call for a small amount of sugar I have substituted honey (which is obviously a very different consistency from sugar) and had no issues. So I think those recipes would work just fine it is the ones that call for larger amounts (like sweets) where it would probably be more trial and error for you to substitute.
What about Sucanat? It’s dehydrated cane juice, more like coarse grains of sand than fine sugar. This is a sweetener that is often called for in the baked “treats” in my Clean Eating magazine.
Based on my research Sucanat appears to be slightly more processed than honey and maple syrup (which are “processed” in nature) and a little less processed than white sugar. So I guess it would fall somewhere in-between as far as the amount of processing goes. I will say that whether it is this product or maple syrup or raw sugar or refined sugar that all sweeteners are basically high in calories and low in nutrients and should all be used in moderation no matter how processed they are though. Here is a little more detail of how Sucanat is made: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucanat
Based on my research Sucanat appears to be slightly more processed than honey and maple syrup (which are “processed” in nature) and a little less processed than white sugar. So I guess it would fall somewhere in-between as far as the amount of processing goes. I will say that whether it is this product or maple syrup or raw sugar or refined sugar that all sweeteners are basically high in calories and low in nutrients and should all be used in moderation no matter how processed they are though. Here is a little more detail of how Sucanat is made: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucanat
What about molasses? Would you consider it as an acceptable sweetener? I thought it would be a good substitute for brown sugar but I’m new to this…help?
Molasses is sugar cane juice that has been boiled so I would say it is definitely more processed than something like honey or pure maple syrup. Pretty much all sweeteners are the same though in regards to being rather high in calories and low in nutrients therefore all of them should be used in moderation (whether they are highly processed or not).
maple syrup is boiled also. down to about 1/40 th of its original quantity. the sap is what comes straight from the tree and could not be used for sweetening. read up on it. i believe that molasses would be acceptable if maple syrup is.
also what about date sugar (ground dates) and date molasses?
Yes you are right about maple syrup.
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I am wondering why you do not mention Stevia. It is a plant with sweet leaves that can be dried and ground up like a spice. I’ve actually grown the plant myself. That seems about as unprocessed as you can get, even though you can buy it packaged. Plus it has very few calories, if any.