Almost everyone loves sweet things. I must admit, I make pretty good desserts. I've had lots of practice because I've been making them since I got my first Easy Bake Oven® when I was around seven years old...and I've been baking up a storm since! When my husband and I adopted a more healthful lifestyle, I knew sugar and sweeteners were going to be a big challenge to work around. I do not...I repeat...do NOT use artificial sweeteners, also known as non-nutritive sweeteners. Although I do not consume any type or brand of them, the two worst offenders are aspartame (Nutrasweet®, Equal®) and sucralose (Splenda®). They cause my husband and I raging migraines and I itch, feel like bees are stinging me all over and get very nauseated. I have had a migraine for as long as three days after consuming aspartame, so that tells me that it cannot possibly be a healthful choice for me. There is a lot of scientific evidence that these sugar substitutes have been linked to a plethora of health concerns including, but not limited to, migraines, neurological disorders, lowered immune system function (within 10 minutes of consumption), seizures, dizziness, numbness, diarrhea, bladder issues and weight gain. For more information and data on the side effects of aspartame (Nutrasweet®, Equal®), click on this link or, for sucralose (Splenda®), click here.
I have discovered a sweetener that is not only better for you than refined white sugar, it tastes amazing. It is Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Raw Blue Agave®. I love the fact that it is a natural sweetener, extracted from the heart of the agave plant. It is produced at low temperature and has a full sweet flavor with subtle molasses tones. Agave is a low glycemic index (GI) sweetener, so it is slowly absorbed into the body, preventing spikes in blood sugar. It is 25% sweeter than sugar, so you need less! Organic Raw Blue Agave is a perfect multipurpose sweetener that you can use wherever you would use table sugar. Sweet!
Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Raw Blue Agave®
Speaking of sweet things made me think of, not a something, but a someone...my husband! He knows how much I like root beer and he knows I'm a little bit, well...particular? persnickety? snobby? epicurean?, when it comes to my choice of root beer. I went to the fridge and quite unexpectedly found a four-pack of my all-time favorite root beer...Virgil's Microbrewed Root Beer®! This is no ordinary root beer, folks. This is gourmet micro-brewed root beer made with all-natural ingredients, herbs imported from around the world and unbleached pure cane sugar. It won the NASFT (National Association for the Specialty Food Trade) Outstanding Beverage Award...and it was a well-deserved win!
- carbonated water
- unbleached cane sugar
- anise from Spain
- licorice from France
- vanilla (bourbon) from Madagascar
- cinnamon from Ceylon
- clove from Indonesia
- wintergreen from China
- sweet birch from the southern US
- molasses from the US
- nutmeg from Indonesia
- pimento berry oil from Jamaica
- balsam oil from Peru
- cassia oil from China
Their slogan is: "So Rich and Creamy You'll Swear it was Made in Heaven." If Heaven has root beer, I can only imagine it would taste like Virgil's! Speaking of Heaven (and back to my sweet husband)...he is such a sweet guy, is so very good to me and is truly Heaven-Sent. Yeah, I know it's only root beer, but it is Virgil's Root Beer®! A sweet husband isn't sweet because of one thing...it's a million little things. And it's the little things that mean the most.
