I've been really curious about the various claims made with so called "healthy" sweeteners. Are they real? Are these "natural" sweeteners really better for us? How do the different sweeteners really impact our blood sugar? One of my central themes when I work with clients is to teach them about the importance of balanced blood sugar. Fluctuating blood sugar leads to weight gain, can trigger migraines, depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders and can eventually turn into Type II Diabetes.

Obviously, I recommend that all of my clients steer clear of refined sugar as much as possible. White sugar is an anti-nutrient, stripping the body of energizing B vitamins and minerals, upsetting the bacterial balance that regulates digestion, suppressing your immune system, rotting your teeth out, wreaking havoc on your blood sugar which will lead to ups and downs in your mood.....need I say more? 

But what about the other alternatives? I never recommend chemical sweeteners such as aspartame and saccharin (nutra-sweet and equal). Splenda is also problematic. It is NOT a natural sweetener like they claim on the label. Splenda is made by attaching a chlorine molecule onto a sugar molecule. Supposedly it passes through your system undigested and is safe for diabetics. However, studies have shown enlarged livers and kidneys and shrunken thymus glands in primates given Splenda. The liver and kidney are detoxification organs and the thymus is our master immune system gland. I don't think any of us want to end up sick and toxic! 

Over the next few weeks, I'll be testing how various sweeteners impact my own blood sugar and I'll be sharing the results with you all! 

I'm hoping that I'll be able to draw some important conclusions based on my own observation and quasi scientific experiment. 

This morning, I started with Agave Nectar:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmNijQxoqvU