Foods For Life

By Wendy Rae Zaritsky 

Sugars And Sweeteners: The average person in the Unites States eats 130 pounds of refined sugar a year. This translates to 31 teaspoons of refined sugar a day!

By contrast, at the turn of the century, the average American was eating 5-8 pounds of refined sugar a year.

Refined sugars are found in processed foods. Since refined sugars contain no vitamins or minerals, the body has to rob healthy cells of their vitamins and minerals in order to handle the sugar. B vitamins are especially exhausted in the assimilation of refined sugars. The ratio of calcium-phosphorous in the body is also adversely affected by eating refined sugars.

Fruit is a natural source of sugar and additionally furnishes fiber in the diet. In replacing refined sugars, do NOT substitute artificial sweeteners of any kind. From my reading, none of the artificial sweeteners are safe to eat and they give me a headache.

Try instead

Amasake is an Oriental whole grain sweetener made from cultured brown rice. It has a thick, pudding-like consistency. It adds sweetness, moisture and leavening to bake goods.

Barley Malt is sprouted barley that is made into syrup. Similar to the flavor of molasses, barley malt can be used as a refined sugar replacement in baking. In Europe it is ground up and used to feed the yeast when making bread.

Brown rice syrup is made from brown rice that is cooked down to a syrup that has an unusual taste. It adds a nutty flavor to recipes. It is made from brown rice, malted barley, and water. High in maltose (a complex sugar that is slowly digested) and complex carbohydrates, it is a desirable sweetener for baking.

Carob is a natural sweetener rich in B vitamins and minerals. It has a flavor reminiscent of chocolate but is a healthier ingredient for use in baking. Carob is available in powder, syrup and chips (similar to chocolate chips).

Date sugar is made from dried, ground dates. It can be used to replace brown sugar in baking recipes with date sugar. Reduce the oven temperature when you use it to replace brown sugar.

Fructose is a simple sugar like fruit sugar. It is twice as sweet as white sugar. Crystalline fructose works best for cold dessert recipes or for low temperature cooking.

FruitSource is a brand-name sweetener available at health food stores that replaces fats and sugars in recipes. It is a blend of carbohydrates from fruit and rice. Directions for use are on the bottle. It is light amber in color and 80% as sweet as white sugar.

Honey is a great natural sweetener, since it retains its valuable nutrients. Lower the baking temperature by 25 degrees when replacing honey for white sugar in a recipe conversion.

Maple syrup is one of my favorite sweeteners for baking. One hundred percent pure maple syrup goes a long way, in the same way honey does. It takes 10 gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of maple syrup.

Molasses is one of the by-products in the process of refining white sugar. It does contain a high amount of calcium and iron, potassium and B vitamins as well as many other nutrients.

Sorghum, a grain sweetener derived from the sorghum grain, it is similar to molasses.

Stevia Rebaudiana is an herbal sweetener taken from the bark of a tree. It is 150-400 times sweeter than white sugar and contains no calories. It can be diluted with water and used in a dropper bottle or as a dry ingredient in baking. It is available in both powdered and liquid forms at health and natural food stores.

ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS

Your body needs essential fatty acids to maintain its healthy functioning. Your body cannot make essential fatty acids so it depends on you to provide them in your diet. All oils are made up of fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, also known as Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs), are liquid even when they are refrigerated.

There are only two type of EFAs Linoleic (LA) and Alpha-linolenic (LNA). From these EFAs your body manufactures fatty acid derivatives and key hormones.

EFAs are referred to by these various names, including Linoleic LA, Omega 6, Vitamin F; Alpha-linolenic LNA, Omega 3, Vitamin F2.

EFAs are necessary for the proper functioning of many systems in the body. They are required for the normal burning of all fats by muscle tissue. Fats are the preferred source of muscle energy. In the absence of EFAs, the body resorts to higher levels of sugar burning during exercise, an inefficient process that leaves you exhausted and hungry for sweet foods.

EFAs have many other benefits.

• They are naturally anti-inflammatory, so they help ease arthritis

• They help increase prostag-landins production, especially important during menopause

• They boost the immune system

• They assist in metabolizing fats and boost weight loss

• They promote healthier skin and ease skin problems like eczema and psoriasis

WHOLE GRAINS

Processed grains have some of their nutrients, especially fiber, removed. Whole grains consist of the outer layer of the grain, the inner part of the grain, or Endosperm or bran, and the sprout. The outer layer of a grain contains B vitamins, minerals, and fiber. The inner part of a grain, or Endosperm, contains carbohydrates and proteins. The sprout that forms a new plant, called the "germ" in whole grains, holds the nutrients to form a new plant, rich in B vitamins, minerals and proteins.

Nutrition experts classify fiber as either insoluble or soluble in water. Insoluble fiber is called roughage. Researchers believe that roughage keeps the intestinal tract clean, lowering the risk of disease. Making simple dietary changes to increase the fiber and nutritional content of your diet is easy when you replace refined, white flours with an endless menu of whole grain choices. Grain flavors can change their guise as quickly as a writer changes scripts for actors. Cook whole grains one way and they are as creamy and as smooth as Clark Gable. Cook them another way for hot and spicy Jack Nicolson flavors.

To cook most grains, use two parts water to one part grain. Bring the water to a boil, cover the pot tightly, then reduce the temperature very low and cook for about 40 minutes without lifting the lid. This formula works for soft grains including barley, bulgur, cracked wheat and rice.

Wendy Rae Zaritsky, author of Foods for Life Essential Guidebook, helps to educate people in healthy lifestyle changes in eating. A wealth of information can be found at  www.heall.com/books/foodsforlife/index.html