Paleo Guide to Natural Sweeteners: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Inflammation is an essential part of the body's healing system. Without it, injuries would fester and simple infections could be deadly. Too much of a good thing, however, is downright deadly.

Chronic low-grade inflammation is intimately involved most chronic disease, including Alzheimer's, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and autoimmune disease.  One of the underlying factors causing this increase in inflammation is our love affair with sugar.  We have been led to believe that if we switch to alternatives, we can go on with our sweet addiction and pay no health penalties down the road.  One of the very first things I teach patients to do is KICK THE SWEET HABIT!  If you go off sugar and all sweeteners for just 30 days, I promise you.... your body will adjust it's taste-meter so that a piece of fruit with have more flavor and sweetness than you've ever dreamed possible.  And if you do indulge in a glass of soda or something full of sugar, you just might spit it back out due to the sickening sweetness that your body had become accustomed to prior to your sugar detox.

But I do get questions all the time from patients... "If I do need to use a sweetener occasionally and sparingly... what are my best options?"  

Glad you asked!  So here's a Guide to Natural Sweeteners just for you...

The Good:  Natural - Use sparingly

• Stevia (organic green leaf or pure extract)
• Organic Local Raw Honey

The Fair: Natural - Use sparingly

• Dates
• Date sugar
• Coconut nectar
• Coconut sugar/crystals
• Fruit juice (only fresh squeezed, real, organic)
• Maple syrup 
• Palm sugar

The Bad:  Natural but recommend avoidance

• Agave
• Barley Malt
• Beet sugar
• Brown sugar/light brown sugar/muscovado
• Brown Rice Syrup
• Cane sugar or juice
• Caramel
• Carob syrup
• Corn syrup or solids
• Dextran
• Dextrose
• Ethyl Maltol
• Fructose
• Glucose/glucose solids
• Golden sugar
• Grape sugar
• High fructose corn syrup
• Lactose
• Levulose
• Maltitol
• Malt syrup
• Maltodextrin
• Maltose
• Mannitol
• Raw sugar
• Refiner's syrup
• Sorbitol
• Sorghum syrup
• Sucrose
• Xylitol (or other sugar alcohols, end in "-tol or -ose"

The Ugly:  Artificial - never consume

• Acesulfame K (Sweet One)
• Aspartame (Nutra-Sweet, Equal)
• Saccarin (Sweet'N Low)
• Stevia - white/bleached (Truvia, Sun Crystals)
• Sucralose (Spenda)
• Tagatose (PreSweet)

More on Truvia... the one you THOUGHT was ok

Is Truvia made from a leaf?  Well the answer is kinda, sorta.  Truvia has three ingredients:  erythritol, rebiana, and natural flavors.  Rebiana is made from the stevia leaf by soaking it in water.  Although Cargill whitewashes the process as similar to making tea, the truth is revealed in Coca Cola's patent where it outlines a 40+ step process that includes the use of acetone, methanol, ethanol, acetonitrile, and isopropanol.  I don’t know about you, but when I make a cup of tea, I’ve never used any of those ingredients.

The second fallacy of Truvia’s “guilt-free” naturalness is it’s main ingredient, erythritol.  Now while erythritol is a naturally-occurring sweetener found in many fruits, in nature it is present in such small amounts that Cargill manufacturers Truvia’s erythritol by chemically converting genetically modified corn into a food grade starch which it ferments to create glucose and then processes further to create erythritol.   All Natural?  Truvia sounds more like a GMO lab experiment than a sweetener straight from nature.  

But Dr. Jill, I need more carbs!

If you've gone Paleo and removed grains, legumes and refined foods from your diet, you don't have to let go of carbs altogether.   Here are some high carb delicious healthy veggie alternatives for you to munch on that are packed with nutrients...

1. Yam
2. Sweet potato
3. Parsnips
4. Cassava
5. Taro root
6. Plantain
7. Winter Squash
8. Onion
9. Beets
10. Carrots
11. Butternut squash
12. Rutabaga
13. Jicama
14. Kohlrabi or Purple kohlrabi (pictured)
15. Spaghetti squash
16. Turnips
17. Pumpkin
18. Zucchini

More references:

http://balancedbites.com/practicalpaleo

http://www.brucebradley.com/food/truvia-honestly-sweet-or-dishonestly-marketed/#sthash.q19Lnufg.dpuf

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristin-kirkpatrick-ms-rd-ld/dangers-of-sugar_b_3658061.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15328324

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23762544

Healthy Snack Attack! Paleo Safe Options on the go...

You've been asking for healthy snack ideas that are loaded with protein and low glycemic so this week I put together a bunch of my favorites, including travel and to-go ideas...Check it out!

Dr. Jill’s Favorite Healthy Snack Options...

• Apple slices with 2 tablespoons of almond butter or sunflower butter 
• ½ cup hummus with fresh veggies (cucumber, celery, carrot, broccoli, bell peppers, carrots, etc…) 
• Make your own trail mix with combination of raw nuts, seeds (pumpkin, chia, sesame, sunflower), shredded coconut, raw cocoa nibs – serving ½ cup 
• Baggie of your favorite raw nuts: almonds, walnuts, pecans, cashews, macadamia nuts with ½ cup freeze dried berries 
• ½ baked green apple with cinnamon and ¼ cup coconut milk Organic Nitrate-free Turkey (Boar’s Head or Applegate) and guacamole role ups (2 slices turkey with 2 tablespoons fresh guacamole) 
• Tin or packet of wild salmon, sardines, or paté 
• Sliced avocado eaten with sea salt & spoon 
• 2 nori veggie wraps with shredded carrot, leafy greens, hummus & ½ avocado 
• 2 tablespoons of unsweetened sunflower nut butter sprinkled with cinnamon and/or raw cocoa nibs 
• 1 or 2 squares TCHO 99% dark chocolate with corner dipped in organic coconut butter 
• Protein “latte” = 1 serving espresso with 8 oz. of coconut/almond milk and scoop of chocolate or vanilla Thorne Vegalite powder 
• Homemade kale chips with 2 tablespoons of hummus or 2 sticks of gluten-free jerky (no yeast extract, please) 
• ½ cup sliced almonds and fresh berries in bowl with ½ cup of pure organic coconut milk (full fat version in can) - optional add organic cinnamon or raw cocoa powder. 
• Chocolate protein smoothie – 1 scoop chocolate or vanilla Thorne Vegalite blended with ice and coconut/almond milk (optional ½ frozen banana) and 1-2 teaspoons of raw cocoa powder 
• Chia cereal = 2 tablespoons chia + 1 tablespoon hemp seed mixed soaked in 4 oz of coconut milk or water.  May add few drops of stevia to desired sweetness or fresh blueberries!
• To-go packets of organic nut butter or coconut butter – Easy squeeze instant snack for purse or travel. (My picks= Artisana coconut butter or sunflower nut butter packets)

ENJOY!

A Quick Start Guide To Paleo Diet...

You may have heard the recent buzz about Paleo Diet... so what's all the fuss about?

There are far reaching health benefits to eating more like our grandparents would have eaten...   That means real food, not the packaged processed stuff that has become norm in the Standard American Diet, or SAD for short.

The Paleo Diet may be beneficial in reducing your risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease and many autoimmune and inflammatory conditions.   I frequently use the principles of the paleo diet to help patients re-learn how to eat healthy, maintain ideal weight, and feel fabulous!

You shouldn't be surprised to find a lack of packaged foods on the Paleo Diet menu. There were no convenience stores or super-sized grocery chains in the Stone Age.   And if you're one of the 31% of Americans who eats more packaged foods than fresh foods in your daily diet, it could be an adjustment.  What is amazing, however, are the profound benefits to your health that come from these changes.  If you suffer obesity, heart disease, high cholesterol, central weight gain, or autoimmune disease, like Hashimoto's thyroiditis, Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, or multiple sclerosis, you greatly benefit from eliminated all processed grains & sugar from your diet.  Plus you will not be eating two of the most common food allergens: gluten and dairy.  If you suffer from a leaky gut or gastrointestinal dysbiosis, the Paleo Diet will naturally restore the healthy microbial balance since there are no refined sugars or grains to feed the abnormal bacteria or yeast.

The Paleo Diet is basically this:  No sugar, No flours, No processed foods, No grains, no legumes (lectins), no dairy.  What you CAN eat is lean, clean (organic) unprocessed meats (chicken, fish, turkey, beef, bison, elk, lamb, etc), all fruits and veggies in moderation.  And coconut, nuts & seeds are to be eaten freely in unprocessed state.  If you need to make something special, almond or coconut "flour" can be used.

CORE PALEO DIET:

• Meat - GRASS-FED, not grain-fed. Grain causes the same problem in animals as they do in humans.  (bison, elk, buffalo are WONDERFUL red meats to incorporate)
• Fowl - Chicken, duck, hen, turkey…things with wings that (try to) fly.
• Fish - Wild caught fish (mercury and other toxins, like PCBs may be an issue in farmed fish)
• Eggs - Look for Omega-3 enriched eggs raised without hormones or antibiotics from free-range chickens
• Vegetables - As long as they’re not deep-fried, eat as many as you want.
• Oils - Olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil – think natural.  No soybeans oil or processed oils.
• Fruits - Have natural sugar, and can be higher in calories, so limit if you’re trying to lose weight.
• Nuts - High in calories, so they’re good for a snack, but don’t eat bags and bags of them.
• Tubers - Sweet potatoes and yams.  Higher in calories and carbs, so these are good for right after a workout to replenish your glycogen levels

What's not allowed when following the Paloe diet?

• Grains (including popular cereal grains such as barley, corn, oats, rice, rye and wheat)
• Beans or legumes
• Dairy products
• Refined salt
• Refined sugars or artificial sweetners
• Refined fats
• Canned or processed meats
• Soda and fruit juices
• All chemicals, additives, artificial flavorings, MSG, yeast.

Perhaps the most important thing about Paleo is it encourages you to get back to whole delicious real food!  It will allow you to feel better, lose weight easily and maintain muscle at any age.  I challenge you to give it a try for yourself for 30 days and see if it doesn't change your life!


More Resources for Paleo Diet:

http://paleophysiciansnetwork.com
http://www.marksdailyapple.com
http://www.westonaprice.org/