The Secret to Prevent Diabetes with Maple Syrup

By Sandy Harris

Did you know that your favorite maple syrup is effective in fighting cancer and diabetes? According to the studies conducted by US researchers, there are strong evidences showing that maple syrup can substantially slow down the growth of cancer cells and can effectively reduce the risk of diabetes. 

The new research shows that your favorite maple syrup has thirteen active compounds that serve as antioxidants. These thirteen compounds were previously unknown. The discovery proved that maple syrup could be very effective in fighting bacterial infection, diabetes and cancer.

An Effective Solution for Diabetes Sufferers

Maple syrup contains high levels of phytohormone and abscisic acid. According to research, this type of acid is a natural defense in controlling diabetes and other metabolic syndromes. 

The acid is effective because it has the potential to encourage the release of insulin through the pancreatic cells. It can also enhance the fat cell’s sensitivity to insulin. The studies on maple syrup and its effects on diabetes have been reviewed by experts. The results of these studies were revealed before the American Chemical Society in San Francisco.

Maple Syrup as Your Best Chance against Cancer 

A study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food showed that maple syrup can significantly inhibit the growth of cancerous cells. This study was conducted by Quebec scholars. It seeks to prove the impact of maple syrup against cancer cells. 

Based on the Quebec research, the growth of cancer cells can be inhibited by maple syrup. Specifically, the syrup is very effective against brain, prostate, and lung cancer. Unfortunately, maple syrup has minimal impact against breast cancer growth.

Your Tasty Alternative to Fight Cancer and Diabetes 

Maple syrup can serve as your tasty alternative in fighting cancer and diabetes. There are many anti cancer foods today like blueberries, tomatoes, broccoli, and carrots. However, recent studies have shown that maple syrup is more effective against cancer compared to other anti cancer foods. Laboratory testing results also show that the syrup is more potent compared to the maple sap.

It is also ideal to use the pure dark syrup rather than the lighter syrup. Dark syrup has high color oxidation. This is the reason why darker maple syrup should be preferred. So if you want a better alternative to fight cancer and diabetes, then your favorite maple syrup is a good option. 

Reference: Journal of medicinal food. 01/02/2010; ISSN: 1557-7600, OI: 10.1089/jmf.2009.0029

About the Author

Sandy Harris writes for the diabetic appetizers blog, her personal hobby blog focused on tips to prevent, cure and manage diabetes using healthy snacks and recipes.

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Living Without Sugar – The Healthiest Way To Live Without Sugar And Still Enjoy Sweetness Of Food

You want to cut down on sugar to lose weight, or maybe you need to control your blood sugar because you have been diagnosed with diabetes. But how to live without sugar without giving up the foods and sweetness you love? Artificial sweeteners are generally safe if used reasonably but most of them do have some disadvantages. Natural sweeteners, on the other hand, contain less calories than table sugar but they still do contain calories. So, what to do?

There are basically 2 ways you can go, and you can well combine them:

• Giving up sugar and getting used to less sweetness
• Using naturally sweet foods to add sweetness to your meals

Giving up sugar
Our taste buds simply love sweetness, and it’s somehow addictive. We get used to a certain amount of sugar, and then we want more. By adding more and more sugar to our food, we forget how sweet some foods actually taste on their own. We eventually get to a point where we put sugar in many things that don’t need sweetness added, simply out of habit.

If you now want to give up sugar, it’s like healing an addiction. It will take some time and self-discipline. As you got used to eat more and more sugar, you now need to get used to not having it. If you battle to stop using sugar from one moment to the next, wean yourself gradually. Instead of putting three teaspoons of sugar in your tea, use only two and a half. Once you have gotten used to that, cut down to two spoons until you are comfortable with that, and so on.

In most recipes, you can reduce the sugar amount without problems or even cut it out completely, unless the sugar is an essential part of the recipe.

Naturally sweet foods
There are many fruits and also a few vegetables that have a naturally sweet taste. If you add them to your meals, you can eliminate the need for sugar. And did you know that if you heat up vegetables, they taste sweeter, especially when you roast them?

1. Examples for naturally sweet foods

• rasp-, black-, cranberries
• blue- and strawberries
• peaches, nectarines and apricots
• apples
• papaya
• melons
• sweet potatoes
• butternut
• corn
• red and yellow pepper

Try this, for example: Add a small apple, half a banana and a few grapes to your breakfast oats instead of your two tablespoons of sugar. It will be just as sweet and much healthier as you also get lots of nutrients. Dried fruit and apples are great in muffins, and just a handful of berries can do wonders to sweeten your yoghurt.

2. What to consider when sweetening with fruits and vegetables
You should though be aware of the fact that even fruits and vegetables can contain calories. Prefer fresh fruit and vegetables, as processed foods are often high in carbohydrates, and canned fruit often contains added sugar. Dried fruit is a great source of energy and nutrients, but it contains more calories than the same amount of fresh fruit. Therefore, if you use dried fruit, use only small amounts.

If you really have to watch your sugar intake very carefully, you should also limit foods that are high in sugar or carbohydrates, like these:

• bananas
• mangos
• cherries
• grapes
• pears
• figs
• carrots

At the bottom line, one can certainly say that the healthiest (and cheapest) way of living without sugar is to simply not use it and to rely on naturally sweet but healthy foods to add sweetness to your meals, instead of taking your refuge to natural sweeteners which still contain calories, or artificial sweeteners that may lead to unpleasant side-effects. Take your time to get used to this new style of eating, and remember that your chances of success are usually higher if you make changes gradually.

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Healthy Sweeteners: What Are They And Why Should I Use Them?

The problem with "normal sugar"
First of all, I would like to put your heart at ease. It is not totally correct that sugar is unhealthy and making you fat. As with all other things, it’s a matter of how much sugar you eat. A bit of chocolate every now and then or a delicious dessert once in a while for a special occasion is not going to harm you. Trouble only starts when your sweets are taking over the ruling in your life, driving healthier and more nutritious foods out of your diet.

The problem is that if your diet contains too much sugar, your fat metabolism will change negatively. Our body needs calories to produce energy and those calories we take in either in form of fat or carbohydrates like starchy foods and sugar. Unfortunately, our body first has a tendency of first using the carbo-calories for energy and, if there is enough, rather storing the fat-calories as a reserve for times of undersupply that might occur. If you eat a lot of sugar, your body will meet most of its calorie need from the sugar you consume, with the result that many of the fat-calories will be stored in form of body fat and you pick up weight. If your sugar intake is low, your body won’t have a chance but to burn fat for energy.

Alternatives: Fruits and natural sweeteners
It is though a fact that sugar does not contain any vitamins or minerals and therefore does not benefit your body in any way. A great alternative, maybe the best, are fresh fruits. Besides the fructose they contain lots of vitamins, fiber and other nutrients. And because they fill you much quicker than sweets you are very unlikely to eat too much of them. Dried fruits, e.g. dates and raisins are also a good sweetener. Please notice that their fructose (fruit sugar) is more concentrated so you need to eat less to get the same effect.

Another alternative are the so called natural sweeteners. They are not necessarily greatly nutritious but these whole food sugars contain at least some nutrients like minerals helping your sugar metabolism. If we speak about taste, they offer you more different and more intensive flavors than white sugar. Doesn’t that make them worth a look? I’m going to give you a short overview over the natural sweeteners that you can find the easiest. Any large and good equipped supermarket should stock them.

• Fructose: A product derived from fruit sugar that looks similar to granular white sugar. It has little nutritional value, but it seems to cause less blood sugar level disturbance as sucrose (simple sugar). As it is more concentrated you need less (only about half the amount).
• Honey: Notice that honey is 20% to 60% sweeter than white sugar so use less. Try to use half or a third of the amount of sugar. Make sure you buy unpasteurized honey without added sugar.
• Maple syrup: It has twice as much calcium as milk. The best thing is to buy organic products as not all maple syrup is pure.

Here are some other natural sweeteners that sound great, but you might need to look around a while to find out where to get them:

• Agave nectar: A natural liquid sweetener, less viscous than honey. Because of its sweet but neutral taste it’s a good alternative for maple syrup or honey whose stronger flavor might interfere with certain recipes. Agave nectar is about 1 ½ times sweeter than refined sugar.
• Date sugar: It is not really a sugar but ground from dehydrated dates. These fruits are high in fiber and rich in any vitamins and minerals. Use it just like sugar for cooking and baking but not for sweetening beverages (it won’t dissolve properly).
• Frozen juice concentrates (e.g. pineapple, apple and orange): The ones in the supermarket have been pasteurized, but are still much healthier sweeteners than white sugar. They are great for salad dressings. If you have the time, you can make them yourself (see the link below).
• Molasses: The most nutritious in this group is blackstrap molasses, the residue of cane syrup after the sugar crystals have been separated. It contains much calcium, iron and potassium.
• Sucanat: Sugar Cane NATural, a product of intense flavor, made from evaporated sugar cane juice. It contains less sucrose than white sugar and more vitamins, minerals and other nutrients of cane sugar, thus it is highly nutritious. Sucanat can be used instead of white and brown sugar, just replace it 1-to-1.

You can change the amount of sugar in a meal as long as the sugar is not an essential part of the recipe. If you want to replace the sugar with a natural sweetener, follow these guidelines for best results:

• Cookies: Use dry, granular sweeteners like date sugar, otherwise you will have to add too much flour to make up for the liquid increase.
• Breads and pies: Liquid sweeteners like fruit juice concentrates
• Cakes: Sucanat, so that the original flavor won’t change much.

Helpful links

• http://www.livrite.com/sweeten.htm
• natural sweeteners, including a short description, how to use them and what you can use them for
• http://www.care2.com/greenliving/directory-of-natural-sweeteners.html
• information about natural sweeteners, their nutritional value and how to use them, including a chart of equivalents and a recipe how to make frozen juice concentrates
• http://www.freedomyou.com/recipes/natural%20sweeteners.htm
• Excerpt from” Whole Foods & Healing Recipes”, a complete guide to natural, delicious recipes. There is a direct link to purchase the book in paper form or as an ebook.

If you are on a diet and need to cut down on sugar, you might also be interested in this:

Naturally Sweet Desserts: The Sugar-free Dessert Cookbook, by Marcea Weber
It’s a book with various dessert recipes free from refined sugar and artificial sweeteners. I have not read it and most likely many of the recipes will not necessarily be as quick to make as we would like to, but maybe you still want to take a chance. After all, even people searching the net for quick recipes sometimes have time…
Check http://www.amazon.com/Naturally-Sweet-Desserts-Sugar-free-Cookbook/dp/0895294435, ask Google or your local bookstore.

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