Artificial Sweeteners vs. Stevia: Which is the better no Calorie Sweetener?
One is an artificial substance created with chemicals, the other is sweeter than sugar it self. Both have zero calories. One of them is completely natural and another is a chemical concoction or even altered from of refined sugar. One is legal for sale and to be used as a food additive and one has been banned as a food additive by the FDA.
Artificial sweeteners are chemically processed sugar substitutes that are approved by the FDA despite numerous studies suggesting the harmful side effects of using these products; include turning into formaldehyde when broken down in our system; while stevia is a natural substance containing no calories, is 10 to 15 times sweeter than sugar, and some studies suggest that it may also improve diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and hypertension yet is banned as a food additive by the FDA. Stevia can be sold as supplement or supplement additive however since supplements aren’t regulated by the FDA the same way foods are.
So why would the FDA ban stevia as a food additive but allow harmful artificial sweeteners to be sold and used as food additive? I consulted the FDA’s website and found letter after letter of complaint sent to the FDA asking for explanation of why possibly cancer causing artificial sweeteners are allowed but not stevia. The only explanation I could find was that stevia was under review for toxicity despite the fact that it has been used for centuries around the world and is legal and widely used in many other countries including Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and Canada.
Some have suggested this ban is due to the governments tie with the artificial sweetener industry, which was originally banned in 1911 but was lifted between world wars to combat the sugar shortage to keep people at home happy, despite know that it does in-fact cause cancer in animals. With the popular use of artificial sweeteners in everything from sugar free gum to diet soda’s, some have suggested that there is corporate influence for keeping artificial sweeteners on the market and keeping stevia banned as a food additive.
So what is so great about stevia beside the fact that it doesn’t have any of the harmful qualities as artificial sweeteners? Not only does it have zero calories, is sweeter than sugar, is all natural, is safe for people with diabetes and hypoglycemia, it doesn’t cause your blood glucose to fluctuate which helps prevent heart disease and diabetes, there are over 200 studies proving it’s safety-despite what the FDA may say-and it can even be used to make sugar free honey when fed to honey bees. That’s pretty amazing if you ask me. Most importantly you can cook with stevia like regular sugar but in much smaller amounts and there are lots of stevia recipes to take the guesswork out of the conversion.
The only positive to artificial sweeteners I can find is that they have no calories. That’s it. The rest of the information I found was either playing down the results of studies showing that they are unsafe for human consumption or information from studies showing that they are unsafe for human consumptions and dates of banning and lifting of those bans of these artificial substances.
The best thing you can do is do your own research, and if you’re lucky enough to find stevia labeled as a supplement in a store try it, keeping in mind a little goes a long way. With obesity and diabetes on the rise, it’s smart to limit sugar in your diet for better health and stevia is the best way to satisfy your sweet-tooth naturally while cutting back on sugar.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Eat Your Veggies
Eat Your Veggies
I’ve spent almost 10 years in an on again off again relationship. I decided it was finally time to commit. There’s a lot that has to be given up, mainly beef, pork, poultry, fish and seafood. That’s right; I’ve finally converted to vegetarianism for good. But why would someone choose to not eat meat when it’s so accessible, you don’t even have to hunt the animal yourself like people once had to? That’s the exact reason.
Factory farms are one of the biggest reasons to not eat meat. “On today's factory farms, animals are crammed by the thousands into filthy windowless sheds, wire cages, gestation crates, and other confinement systems” (GoVeg.com). You can find an endless amount of horror stories about today’s farm animals from their birth until their death. Some animals don’t even make it to adulthood, “Every year, more than 100 million of these young [male] birds are ground up alive or tossed into bags to suffocate,” (GoVeg.com).
It’s hard to think about all the animals suffering, and most people put it easily out of their minds so that they continue to eat their favorite meals that have been fed their whole lives, that are familiar, that they’re used to. But with our growing population, factory farms have become worse and worse to feed our growing nations’ appetite.
Factory farming is bad for animals, bad for the environment, and bad for people. Think of the pesticides used on the foods that animals eat, if you know anything about bioaccumulation that means those pesticides end up in the flesh of the animals. Since the animals are in cramped conditions there is disease and infection among the animals, so farmers must treat them with drugs and antibiotics, which end up in you too. “Research has shown that vegetarians are 50 percent less likely to develop heart disease, and they have 40 percent of the cancer rate of meat-eaters” (GoVeg.com).
Another reason you may not want to support the meat industry is its effect it is having on our environment. Factory farms waste water, use one third of the raw materials used in the use are consumed by the farm animal industry, contribute to soil erosion, and raising farm animals creates more greenhouse gases than all of the cars and trucks in the world combines, adding carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide to the atmosphere (GoVeg.com).
You may be thinking, how much of a difference does it really make? All those little particles, the pesticides, the antibiotics, the steroids, add up. Think of all the meat you eat in a year, and if even a fraction of a percent of that is contaminated, you will end up consuming at least one meat sized portions of these contaminates a year. Does that sound very yummy? Hardly yummy at all if you ask me.
What are delicious though are fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and, if you choose, eggs and dairy products as well, all preferably organic. Organic products are grown without the use of pesticides or chemicals, which is better for you and the environment. Organic dairy and organic free range hen eggs are best as well. If you don’t believe it, try it for yourself. You can taste the difference, but you can also feel the difference in your wallet. That’s why organic is best when possible, but if you can’t afford these, not eating meat is a good first step towards eating all around better food.
What you eat is a personal choice. If you want eat food that is good for you, good for animals, and good for the planet, vegetarianism and veganism are two options you should look into. The more research you do, the more reasons you’ll find to make the switch to a healthier lifestyle.
I’ve spent almost 10 years in an on again off again relationship. I decided it was finally time to commit. There’s a lot that has to be given up, mainly beef, pork, poultry, fish and seafood. That’s right; I’ve finally converted to vegetarianism for good. But why would someone choose to not eat meat when it’s so accessible, you don’t even have to hunt the animal yourself like people once had to? That’s the exact reason.
Factory farms are one of the biggest reasons to not eat meat. “On today's factory farms, animals are crammed by the thousands into filthy windowless sheds, wire cages, gestation crates, and other confinement systems” (GoVeg.com). You can find an endless amount of horror stories about today’s farm animals from their birth until their death. Some animals don’t even make it to adulthood, “Every year, more than 100 million of these young [male] birds are ground up alive or tossed into bags to suffocate,” (GoVeg.com).
It’s hard to think about all the animals suffering, and most people put it easily out of their minds so that they continue to eat their favorite meals that have been fed their whole lives, that are familiar, that they’re used to. But with our growing population, factory farms have become worse and worse to feed our growing nations’ appetite.
Factory farming is bad for animals, bad for the environment, and bad for people. Think of the pesticides used on the foods that animals eat, if you know anything about bioaccumulation that means those pesticides end up in the flesh of the animals. Since the animals are in cramped conditions there is disease and infection among the animals, so farmers must treat them with drugs and antibiotics, which end up in you too. “Research has shown that vegetarians are 50 percent less likely to develop heart disease, and they have 40 percent of the cancer rate of meat-eaters” (GoVeg.com).
Another reason you may not want to support the meat industry is its effect it is having on our environment. Factory farms waste water, use one third of the raw materials used in the use are consumed by the farm animal industry, contribute to soil erosion, and raising farm animals creates more greenhouse gases than all of the cars and trucks in the world combines, adding carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide to the atmosphere (GoVeg.com).
You may be thinking, how much of a difference does it really make? All those little particles, the pesticides, the antibiotics, the steroids, add up. Think of all the meat you eat in a year, and if even a fraction of a percent of that is contaminated, you will end up consuming at least one meat sized portions of these contaminates a year. Does that sound very yummy? Hardly yummy at all if you ask me.
What are delicious though are fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and, if you choose, eggs and dairy products as well, all preferably organic. Organic products are grown without the use of pesticides or chemicals, which is better for you and the environment. Organic dairy and organic free range hen eggs are best as well. If you don’t believe it, try it for yourself. You can taste the difference, but you can also feel the difference in your wallet. That’s why organic is best when possible, but if you can’t afford these, not eating meat is a good first step towards eating all around better food.
What you eat is a personal choice. If you want eat food that is good for you, good for animals, and good for the planet, vegetarianism and veganism are two options you should look into. The more research you do, the more reasons you’ll find to make the switch to a healthier lifestyle.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Canadian Food Columnist Marion Kane:Savior of Cooking
Journalist Profile: Marion Kane
Everybody has one true love, and for Marion Kane, that love is food. Reflected in both her writing and her life, Marion Kane has been sharing her love of food with readers in Canada and her food loving celebrity friends and icons. Having just written her last article for the Toronto Star in August of 2007, Kane has given readers over 20 years of recipes, insight, and inspiration and invited readers to share thier passion for food with those around them.
More and more I see the death of what was once an honored special time shared among family friends: the home-cooked meal. The most recent evidence of this was when a friend excitedly suggested we bake cookies. We went to the store to get supplies, which I thought meant butter and chocolate chips or some kind of special nuts, but instead she headed for the refrigerated cookie dough section. Needless to say, I was mortified.
But Kane’s column was more than just about cooking, it was about life and provided real insight into the world of food in a way that only a journalist can. In her 20 years of column writing she interviewed many amazing people. She became friends with the late cooking legend Julia Child, shared an intimate lunch with actress Sofia Lauren, and corresponding with an ex-Mafia cook in the witness protection program who was working on a cookbook.
Food is the one thing that links everyone from glittering celebrities to people you’d run into on the street. That very thing happens to Kane frequently, all types of people stopping her on the street who read her column. From fire fighters to a little old Latvian woman who had fled a concentration camp there stopped her to tell her how much they loved her column and discuss their favorite foods and swap recipes like they had just run into an old friend from years ago. Being able to connect with that broad of an audience as a writer must be a really unique and fulfilling experience that most journalists would have a hard time achieving.
So to bring back an earlier point, home cooks are dwindling fast. Maybe here in the States it’s our lack of inspiration. Love or hate figures like Martha Stewart or Rachel Ray offer little inspiration in comforting, warm, homey, and social meals, giving short cut solutions or snobbish recipes that would only spark the interest of those who could afford expensive restaurants but will never take the effort to actually do it themselves. So here we are. Who will stick up for those of us in the middle of those who want to fake it and those who will never make it?
This is where talented, passionate journalists like Marion Kane are needed. Someone to remind us of the recipes our grandparents lovingly prepared for for our parents, and if we were lucky enough, for us as well. Someone to remind us that there is a whole world outside the take-out box. Someone to remind us that we are what we eat, and that food is to be shared and cherished among family and friends, not wolfed down when we get a spare moment for a bite to eat. Parents can cook with children, spouses can cook special meals together, friends can gather for a potluck style feast, and carefully planned and prepared dinner parties can become stylish weekend events once again with the right inspiration.
Although her days of writing are over at the Toronto star, Kane will soon be starting her own online blog on her website at marionkane.com. Hopefully she will continue sharing her love of cooking and life with readers across the web and inspire others to follow in her footsteps, bringing us back to the table, and rekindle our love of good home-cooked food.
To learn more about Marion Kane go to www.marionkane.com
Everybody has one true love, and for Marion Kane, that love is food. Reflected in both her writing and her life, Marion Kane has been sharing her love of food with readers in Canada and her food loving celebrity friends and icons. Having just written her last article for the Toronto Star in August of 2007, Kane has given readers over 20 years of recipes, insight, and inspiration and invited readers to share thier passion for food with those around them.
More and more I see the death of what was once an honored special time shared among family friends: the home-cooked meal. The most recent evidence of this was when a friend excitedly suggested we bake cookies. We went to the store to get supplies, which I thought meant butter and chocolate chips or some kind of special nuts, but instead she headed for the refrigerated cookie dough section. Needless to say, I was mortified.
But Kane’s column was more than just about cooking, it was about life and provided real insight into the world of food in a way that only a journalist can. In her 20 years of column writing she interviewed many amazing people. She became friends with the late cooking legend Julia Child, shared an intimate lunch with actress Sofia Lauren, and corresponding with an ex-Mafia cook in the witness protection program who was working on a cookbook.
Food is the one thing that links everyone from glittering celebrities to people you’d run into on the street. That very thing happens to Kane frequently, all types of people stopping her on the street who read her column. From fire fighters to a little old Latvian woman who had fled a concentration camp there stopped her to tell her how much they loved her column and discuss their favorite foods and swap recipes like they had just run into an old friend from years ago. Being able to connect with that broad of an audience as a writer must be a really unique and fulfilling experience that most journalists would have a hard time achieving.
So to bring back an earlier point, home cooks are dwindling fast. Maybe here in the States it’s our lack of inspiration. Love or hate figures like Martha Stewart or Rachel Ray offer little inspiration in comforting, warm, homey, and social meals, giving short cut solutions or snobbish recipes that would only spark the interest of those who could afford expensive restaurants but will never take the effort to actually do it themselves. So here we are. Who will stick up for those of us in the middle of those who want to fake it and those who will never make it?
This is where talented, passionate journalists like Marion Kane are needed. Someone to remind us of the recipes our grandparents lovingly prepared for for our parents, and if we were lucky enough, for us as well. Someone to remind us that there is a whole world outside the take-out box. Someone to remind us that we are what we eat, and that food is to be shared and cherished among family and friends, not wolfed down when we get a spare moment for a bite to eat. Parents can cook with children, spouses can cook special meals together, friends can gather for a potluck style feast, and carefully planned and prepared dinner parties can become stylish weekend events once again with the right inspiration.
Although her days of writing are over at the Toronto star, Kane will soon be starting her own online blog on her website at marionkane.com. Hopefully she will continue sharing her love of cooking and life with readers across the web and inspire others to follow in her footsteps, bringing us back to the table, and rekindle our love of good home-cooked food.
To learn more about Marion Kane go to www.marionkane.com
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