http://stayinghealthytips.com Staying healthy, detoxifying your body and home Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:40:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 http://stayinghealthytips.com/54/diabetes-prevention/comment-page-1/#comment-12 Dawn Swidorski Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:40:43 +0000 http://stayinghealthytips.com/?p=54#comment-12 Excellent info on food and diabetes. Thanks for sharing Excellent info on food and diabetes. Thanks for sharing

]]> http://stayinghealthytips.com/17/agave-concerns/comment-page-1/#comment-3 Linda Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:31:06 +0000 http://stayinghealthytips.com/?p=17#comment-3 donna, i'm wondering about your concern of the destruction of agave plants for the production of syrup. it's possible that it is not necessary to grow an agave plant for 20 years in order to harvest it. maybe a 3 year old plant can be harvested? also, this website shows photos of what looks to be an agave farm. http://www.rawganique.com/Food/raw-organic-agave-syrup.htm so it could be similar to eating a banana which has to grow for 2 years to mature. maybe the organic agave would appeal to you? donna, i’m wondering about your concern of the destruction of agave plants for the production of syrup. it’s possible that it is not necessary to grow an agave plant for 20 years in order to harvest it. maybe a 3 year old plant can be harvested? also, this website shows photos of what looks to be an agave farm.
http://www.rawganique.com/Food/raw-organic-agave-syrup.htm
so it could be similar to eating a banana which has to grow for 2 years to mature. maybe the organic agave would appeal to you?

]]> http://stayinghealthytips.com/17/agave-concerns/comment-page-1/#comment-2 Linda Diane Feldt Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:39:21 +0000 http://stayinghealthytips.com/?p=17#comment-2 Donna, One rule of thumb I use regarding processing is could I do this at home? High Fructose Corn Syrup, never. The structure of the corn is altered in ways I can not reproduce. And it has a profoundly negative effect on the body, which is tricked to think it is something it is not. The New York Times had a great article on the process. I'm not sure where my copy is, but it should be in the archives. It was about 3 year ago. Agave syrup I could make at home, as it requires filtration and low heat. It sounds similar to maple syrup actually. Honey is also similar, but the bees to the concentrating for us - fanning the nectar to reduce volume and create honey which is then self preserving. I've never directly observed the manufacturing process, but they claim to use no chemicals at all. There is a change in the sugars with heating, this happens with maple syrup as well. If you just evaporate it it never gets that same maple syrup flavor. Heat must be used. Some will keep the heat below 120 degrees (and call it raw) some go higher. It is then not considered raw. I looked into it because I was curious how the raw label was used. Also, the agave is pretty much a farm kind of plant. It is planted, and then harvested at 8-10 years. So there is a long term investment. Kind of like Christmas trees, but more useful. They have been farmed for Tequila for a long long time. This is just another use. I don't know where or why someone tried to convince you that this is a bad thing, but that fact alone - that the plants used are far younger - leads to questioning the rest of the story. As someone who does maple sugaring, as well as bee keeping, I know there are trade offs. But the resulting product is divine. I like the taste, the concept, and the low glycemic index for agave. It seems all good to me. I hope it is an area where we can begin to get fair trade information. That would be my primary concern. But if you like and use honey and maple syrup, my take it that it has very similar benefits and costs. Donna,
One rule of thumb I use regarding processing is could I do this at home? High Fructose Corn Syrup, never. The structure of the corn is altered in ways I can not reproduce. And it has a profoundly negative effect on the body, which is tricked to think it is something it is not. The New York Times had a great article on the process. I’m not sure where my copy is, but it should be in the archives. It was about 3 year ago.
Agave syrup I could make at home, as it requires filtration and low heat. It sounds similar to maple syrup actually. Honey is also similar, but the bees to the concentrating for us – fanning the nectar to reduce volume and create honey which is then self preserving.
I’ve never directly observed the manufacturing process, but they claim to use no chemicals at all. There is a change in the sugars with heating, this happens with maple syrup as well. If you just evaporate it it never gets that same maple syrup flavor. Heat must be used. Some will keep the heat below 120 degrees (and call it raw) some go higher. It is then not considered raw. I looked into it because I was curious how the raw label was used.
Also, the agave is pretty much a farm kind of plant. It is planted, and then harvested at 8-10 years. So there is a long term investment. Kind of like Christmas trees, but more useful. They have been farmed for Tequila for a long long time. This is just another use.
I don’t know where or why someone tried to convince you that this is a bad thing, but that fact alone – that the plants used are far younger – leads to questioning the rest of the story.
As someone who does maple sugaring, as well as bee keeping, I know there are trade offs. But the resulting product is divine.
I like the taste, the concept, and the low glycemic index for agave. It seems all good to me. I hope it is an area where we can begin to get fair trade information. That would be my primary concern.
But if you like and use honey and maple syrup, my take it that it has very similar benefits and costs.

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