Honey vs. Sugar

I'm sure from reading these newsletters, you already know my stance that artificial sweeteners are pretty much one of the most evil things you can put in your body.This leaves many people confused about what to use to sweeten their tea and other food and drink.First of all, the less of any sweetener you can use, the better... if you can slowly over time adjust your taste buds to enjoy the natural taste of foods and drink without the need for heavily sweetening them, you'll see many benefits for your body.However, this leaves the question... If I really want to at least use a little sweetener, should I use sugar or honey?The easy answer is that honey is better for you than refined sugar. Keep in mind that they are both calorie dense and eating large amounts of honey will still make you deposit body fat.

However, refined sugar is a "negative" nutrient...it's literally devoid of nutrition and using it actually makes your body use up stored nutrients toprocess it.Honey on the other hand has many beneficial nutrients, enzymes, and antioxidants... raw honey is best as typical honey processing destroys many of the enzymes and antioxidants that give the benefits. I won't use any honey other than raw honey.

Also, honey has been shown in several studies to improve the body's ability to process glucose, whereas refined sugar negatively affects your body's ability to process glucose over time.In fact, I don't use refined sugar for anything at all. It's either raw honey, pure maple syrup (not fake corn syrup), or stevia for all of my sweetening needs. Those are better choices than processed sugar or artificial sweeteners.

Til next ezine issue...Don't be lazy, be lean.