Cosmic Cookies

The kids and I made these cookies today. I got the recipe from the Delicious Nutritious Frugalicious blog.

I made one batch using the recommended 1/3 cup but the cookies were so ginormous I downsized to tablespoonfuls and I liked that better. I might even make them smaller next time, because they are so hearty Eva didn't even finish one of the smaller ones. FYI they don't spread so you can space them closely on the cookie sheet.

I am really stuffed up right now so I can't comment too much on taste, but I love them based on the ingredients alone. They are practically guilt free! They make an excellent quick snack or road trip food.

I substituted plain unsweetened yogurt for the oil and slivered almonds for the pumpkin seeds.

2 1/4 cups oats
2 cups flour
1 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup shredded coconut, unsweetened
1/4 cup flax seeds
1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 3/4 cups dark chocolate chips or carob chips
1 1/4 cups raisins
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup oil (I used olive)
1 cup milk (use whatever kind you like... skim, soy, almond, etc)

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix all wet ingredients together in a small bowl. Mix wet into dry and stir until mixed - don't over mix.

Drop 1/3 cup of the batter at a time and form into cookies. Bake at 350 for 24 minutes or until lightly browned.

Easing Back Into Reality

Tomorrow Andrew goes back to work. But it won't be the return to the regular routine because Eva doesn't go back to school until Wednesday. We will miss him so much!!

I was thinking of taking them to play at Carl's Jr, a fast food restaurant. They have a great play structure and the kids have fun. The thing is that it's probably wrong to play there without ordering anything, and there is nothing there that I want to order!

Oh yeah, I don't have a car to go anywhere in. My van is in the shop to have, among other things, the coins removed from the CD player (again! This time Micah was the perpetrator).

Andrew made an amazing batch of chili con carne this afternoon. Chock full of good whole foods. Including 2 types of beans, which are slowly making their way into our regular diet. Now if I could only find tasty fish in this inland desert city....

Kids played beautifully together yesterday pretty much all day. It was spectacular. Today they turned their attentions back to us. Andrew did lots of crafts today, we both did some trampoline jumping. Micah helped me grocery shop. Eva helped Andrew with the chili a little- until she got distracted by the tv that I was using to distract Micah so he would let me finish my lunch.

Eva said the cutest thing the other day. "I shouldn't drink from a cup after Micah does because he's sick, and then I personally could get sick." Oo, I got a kick out of that one.

Eva is very excited to go back to school. She is disappointed that it's not time yet.

I am very excited that nobody has a runny nose (or worse) anymore!

A Review of "The Omnivore's Dilemma"

A fellow blogger just posted a review of my latest read, Michael Pollen's The Omnivore's Dilemma. She is mom to two boys about the same age as our kids, and a journalist by trade. She called it "most fascinating book that I’ve read this year" and "a great read for moms".

She also says "But the best thing is that the book doesn’t feel like a lecture – it’s just good storytelling that happens to be nonfiction."

Read her full review here.

As for me, I've finished the middle section of the book, which explores the food chain of an organic meal. The first section, which looks at an industrial, processed meal (which he discovered consists mainly of corn), astonished me. When I finished reading the second section, I closed the book gently and said to myself, "beautiful!".

The third and last section digs into the hunter-gatherer food chain. The author doesn't just investigate and interview, but actually gets his hunting license and learns how to handle a rifle so that he can hunt the meat portion of this last meal. I'm looking forward to reading the story of this meal and all that Pollen learned through the experience.

Cattle-fed Cattle

There is so much astonishing information in this next chapter of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" that I have to share again already (sorry to those who prefer more entertaining entries). Are you aware that many beef cattle are being fed not only copious amounts of corn, but also beef tallow? That is to say, ruminant herbivores are eating the fat of their own kind.

The economic logic behind corn is unassailable, and on a factory farm there is no other kind. Calories are calories, and corn is the cheapest, most convenient source of calories on the market. Of course, it was the same industrial logic- protein is protein- that made feeding rendered cow parts back to cows seem like a sensible thing to do, until scientists figured out that this practice was spreading bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), more commonly known as mad cow disease. Rendered bovine meat and bone meal represented the cheapest, most convenient way of satisfying a cow's protein requirement (never mind these animals were herbivores by evolution) and so appeared on the daily menus of Poky and most other feedyards until the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the practice in 1997.

[...]

Though the industrial logic that made feeding cattle to cattle seem like a good idea has been thrown into doubt by mad cow disease, I was surprised to learn it hadn't been discarded. The FDA ban on feeding ruminant protein to ruminants makes an exception for blood products and fat; my steer will probably dine on beef tallow recycled from the very slaughterhouse he's heading in June.

On Corn

I'm currently reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. You can watch his interview with The Hour's George Stroumboulopoulos here.

It's a fascinating read so far. The first section looks at industrial corn. I can't even wrap my head around all the information he relates as he traces the path of corn from the field through to the consumer. It has become downright ubiquitous.

Corn is what feeds the steer that becomes the steak. Corn feeds the chicken and the pig, the turkey and the lamb, the catfish and the tilapia and, increasingly, even the salmon, a carnivore by nature that the fish farmers are reengineering to tolerate corn. The eggs are made of corn. The milk and cheese and yogurt, which once came from dairy cows that grazed on grass, now typically come from Holsteins that spend their working lives indoors tethered to machines, eating corn.

Head over to the processed foods and you find ever more intricate manifestations of corn. A chicken nugget, for example, piles corn upon corn: what chicken it contains consists of corn, of course, but so do most of a nugget's other constituents, including the modified corn starch that glues the thing together, the corn flour in the batter that coats it, and the corn oil in which it gets fried. Much less obviously, the leavenings and lecithin, the mono-, di- and triglycerides, the attractive golden coloring, and even the citric acid that keeps the nugget "fresh" can all be derived from corn.

To wash down your chicken nuggets with virtually any soft drink in the supermarket is to have some corn with your corn. Since the 1980s virtually all the sodas and most of the fruit drinks sold in the supermarket have been sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)- after water, corn sweetener is their principal ingredient. Grab a beer for your beverage instead and you'd still be drinking corn, in the form of alcohol fermented from glucose refined from corn. Read the ingredients on the label of any processed food and, provided you know the chemical names it travels under, corn is what you will find. For modified or unmodified starch, for glucose syrup and maltodextrin, for crystalline fructose and ascorbic acid, ,for lecithin and dextrose, lactic acid and lysine, for maltose and HFCS, for MSG and polyols, for the caramel color and xanathan gum, read: corn. Corn is in the coffee whitener and Cheez-Whiz, the frozen yogurt and the TV dinner, the canned fruit and ketchup and candies, the soups and snacks and cake mixes, the frosting and gravy and frozen waffles, the syrups and hot sauces, the mayonnaise and mustard, the hot dogs and the bologna, the margarine and shortening, the salad dressings and the relishes and even the vitamins. (Yes, it's in the Twinkie, too.) There are some forty-five thousand items in the average American supermarket and more than a quarter of them now contain corn. This goes for the nonfood items as well- everything from the toothpaste and cosmetics to the disposable diapers, trash bags, cleansers, charcoal briquettes, matches, and batteries, right down to the shine on the cover of the magazine that catches your eye in the checkout: corn. Even in Produce on a day when there's ostensibly no corn for sale you'll nevertheless find plenty of corn: in the vegetable wax that gives the cucumbers their sheen, in the pesticide responsible for the produce's perfection, even in the coating on the cardboard it was shipped in. Indeed, the supermarket itself- the wallboard and joint compound, the linoleum and fiberglass and adhesives out of which the building itself has been built- is in no small measure a manifestation of corn.


On a related note, I stumbled upon a new movie called Food Matters. You can watch the trailer here. It's only $5 to watch it online so I'm going to check it out soon.

On Canola Oil

Canola oil has been getting a lot of good press lately. It is touted as one of the most healthy oils for cooking and baking. This is because of its high content of oleic acid, omega-3 and omega-6.

What is canola? The name comes from "Canadian Oil, Low Acid". The canola plant was developed from the rapeseed plant, originally using traditional breeding methods, and more recently using gene splicing (genetic modifications, or "GM") methods. Today about 80% of canola crop is GM. Oil from rapeseed has a number of undesirable characteristics. These include high content of poisonous euricic acid, unpleasant taste, and greenish colour. It has also been linked to heart disease and other health problems.

According to the Weston A. Price foundation, my cookbook "Nourishing Traditions", and a few other internet sources, there are indications that canola oil is nowhere near as healthy as we are led to believe. That in fact it may be dangerous to our health. As a rule I am suspicious of GM foods and so I am inclined to believe these claims versus than those from industry which reaps great economic benefits from the sale and consumption of this crop.

Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions" states: It has a high sulfer content and goes rancid easily. Baked goods made with canola oil develop mold very quickly. During the deodorizing process [to remove the offensive smell caused by high pressure mechanical pressing] the omega-3 fatty acids of processed canola oil are transformed into trans fatty acids, similar to those in margarine and possibly more dangerous. A recent study indicates that "heart healthy" canola oil actually creates a deficiency of vitamin E, a vitamin required for a healthy cardiovascular system. Other studies indicate that even low-erucic-acid canola oil causes heart lesions, particularly when the diet is low in saturated fat.

It's difficult to wade through the conflicting and persuasive claims. But my gut says to be careful of a product heavily manipulated by man and claiming to be so ideal. Similar claims have been made about margarine (see my blog post about margarine). I encourage you to do your own research.

What should we use instead, then? The Weston A. Price Foundation recommends using traditional fats such as:

Butter
Beef and lamb tallow
Lard
Chicken, goose and duck fat
Coconut, palm and sesame oils
Cold pressed olive oil
Cold pressed flax oil
Marine oils

It recommends avoiding these "new fangled fats" which can cause cancer, heart disease, immune system dysfunction, sterility, learning disabilities, growth problems and osteoporosis:

All hydrogenated oils
Soy, corn and safflower oils
Cottonseed oil
Canola oil
All fats heated to very high temperatures in processing and frying


I welcome your comments on this topic!

Interesting Raw Milk Report

An NPR video about Raw Milk.

Government Responsible for American Obesity?

A ten minute ABC News Special Report called How To Get Fat Without Really Trying. Peter Jennings talks about the role of government in the obesity epidemic in the United States. I don't care for the way they blame government, because ultimately each individual is responsible for what he or she eats. However it is true that an alarming proportion of the items available on grocery store shelves have very little nutritional value, if any. Lots of "food for thought"* regarding subsidies, lobbying, and the ingredients of foods that have become staples in many homes.

*pun fully intended ;)

Raw Milk

As a kid I remember sometimes stopping at a farm on the way to the lake to pick up some raw milk. My Dad loved the stuff. I wasn't so sure because I was just used to the 2% we had in the fridge. But I don't remember anyone suffering any ill effects.

That memory plus Sally Fallon's- the author of my new cookbook- strong endorsement of raw milk has me interested. Did you know that the sale of raw milk is illegal in Canada? It is illegal to even give raw milk away. I just read a fascinating (and very disturbing) article about the "Milk War" centred around a farm in Ontario. Check it out here. You can read about the raw milk debate in the U.S. in this Wikipedia article.

I also found a video of an interview about raw milk which I found very informative and interesting.



What do you think?

Hydrogenation

I received my new cookbook, Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, and I can't put it down. I'm fascinated by the information, and it rings true to me. I'd like to share some exerpts from time to time. Today's exerpt is about hydrogenation. If you haven't already switched back to butter, it might make you think twice about margarine:

Hydrogenation

This is the process that turns polyunsaturates, normally liquid at room temperature, into fats that are solid at room temperature- margarine and shortening. To produce them, manufacturers begin with the cheapest oils- soy, corn, cottonseed or canola, already rancid from the extraction process- and mix them with tiny metal particles- usually nickel oxide. The oili with its nickel catalyst is then subjected to hydrogen gas in a high-pressure, high-temperature reactor. Next, soap-like emulsifiers and starch are squeezed into the mixture to give it a better consistency; the oil is yet again subjected to high temperatures when it is steam-cleaned. This removes its unpleasant odor. Margarine's natural color, an unappetizing grey, is removed by bleach. Dyes and strong flavors must then be added to make it resemble butter. Finally, the mixture is compressed and packaged in blocks or tubs and sold as a health food.

She goes on to talk about the trans fats component and its dangers. I'm sure this is nothing new to you since trans fats have been in the news a lot lately. The section ends with the following:

Altered partially hydrogenated fats made from vegetable oils actually block utilization of essential fatty acids, causing many deleterious effects including sexual dysfunction, increased blood cholesterol and paralysis of the immune system. Consumption of hydrogenated fats is associated with a host of other serious diseases, not only cancer but also atherosclerosis, diabetes, obesity, immune system dysfunction, low-birth-weight babies, birth defects, decreased visual acuity, sterility, difficulty in lactation and problems with bones and tendons. Yet hydrogenated fats continue to be promoted as health foods. The popularity of margarine and shortening over butter represents a triumph of advertising duplicity over common sense. Your best defense is to avoid them like the plague.

Shopping Heaven

It's looking up in the produce and fish departments, folks.

Turns out there is a produce truck that does the rounds of my neighborhood three times a week! And he has pretty good stuff. He'll come right to my door. Now that we have a routine, I know that I'll usually be here when he comes around. This saves me probably 5 or 6 shopping trips a month! I usually go twice a week because produce doesn't last me a whole week. Also I want to eat fish twice a week and it's so not-fresh already that I want us to eat it the same day I buy it. Today I also found a very nice nearby store that sells fresh frozen seafood. Hopefully it tastes as good as it looks. I had a very good purchase experience today so I am optomistic!

I did my produce shopping, seafood shopping, got gas and purified water (in #7 plastic containers, gah. Must find and install a purifier for the tap water asap) all in the space of about 45 minutes. By myself. What a treat!

Claudia is back this week so I jumped out to do my errands while Micah was sleeping, Eva was watching a movie, and Claudia was doing housework. Excellent arrangement, if you ask me. I feel so blessed!

Claudia's baby is only 5 weeks old. Can you imagine having to leave such a wee baby to go back to work? I guess there are a lot of women who do. Maybe some of you, dear readers. I didn't give Claudia any deadline for returning to work but her family needs her income so she/they decided it was time. Her mom is taking care of the baby.

No. Way.

I just peeked at the bottom of our water cooler bottle. Yep. It's a #7 plastic. The polycarbonate that contains BPA. Gahhh!

Now I will have to see about getting a water filtration system for our faucets so we can stop using those bottles.

Piloncillo: Scary Sugar Antidote

I am buzzing with excitement! I experience regular challenges to finding certain foods and ingredients here (don't get me started on the entire aisle devoted to cooking oil but no peanut oil, sunflower oil or coconut oil. Oh and not being able to find popping corn, just transfat-laden microwave popcorn).

But back to the buzz. I just figured out that an excellent sugar option has been right under my nose the WHOLE TIME!

I just ordered a cookbook/nutrition resource I am very excited about. It's called "Nourishing Traditions"

I was reading a sample chapter and saw an ingredient I wasn't familiar with, called rapadura. I looked it up and immediately thought of the brownish cones I see at the supermarket and know is used in a traditional sweet Mexican coffee drink called Cafe de Olla. Did a little more research and, lo and behold, they are one and the same! Rapadura/Piloncillo is unrefined evaporated cane sugar. Which means it doesn't have the same anti-nutritional composition as refined sugar. Additionally, it is apparently quite good for baking. And it's cheap. WHooohooo! SOOO exciting! I'm not going to be able to sleep now.

Bisphenol A

A headline from today's Globe and Mail is a fascinating followup to Melissa's comment on my Sad About Tomatoes post. It is: "Canada first to label bisphenol A as officially dangerous"

I wrote in my post about how canned whole tomatoes were significantly more tasty than the redish spherical objects (labelled "tomato" but not overly convincing) available in my local grocery store. Melissa agreed but avised that the coating inside aluminum cans contains BPA.

According to the Globe and Mail article:

Bisphenol A, or BPA, is one of the most widely used synthetic chemicals in modern industry. It is the basic building block for polycarbonate, the see-through, shatter-proof plastic that resembles glass, and is also used to make the epoxy resins lining the insides of most tin cans, along with some dental sealants, sports helmets, and compact discs.

What makes it dangerous?

Independent researchers in dozens of studies have linked trace BPA exposures in animal and test-tube experiments to conditions involving hormone imbalances, including breast and prostate cancer, early puberty and changes in brain structure, particularly for exposures during key points of fetal or early neonatal development.

I have recently seen reading some disturbing information about plastic, especially the transparent Nalgene bottles. It's hard to know which sources can be trusted so I didn't want to jump the gun, but we immediately stopped using our Nalgene bottles. (I was very sad about this one because we had just purchased some cool Nalgene sippy cups for the kids). I have been steadily replacing our plastic containers with glass and enamelware. This really clinches it, though.

Peanut Butter Part II

I am on fire for my food processor! I finally found some shelled peanuts that don't have hydrogenated oils so I bought them to make peanut butter. Dumped the whole can in the food processor and in seconds it was ready to go. This batch is not as chunky as the previous one, but is a similar flaky texture, despite the oils in the peanuts and used in the roasting process, and the honey I added in the food processor. This is acceptable to me- because it was so fast and easy! But I do wonder why the natural peanut butter I've purchased in Canada was so different? One kind was nice and creamy and the other was super sticky. Mine is almost dry. Interesting. Maybe next time I'll add a litte olive oil to make it creamier.

Another food item I am thinking of making at home is yogurt. Of course we'll still have to buy the milk so at the end of the day I'm not sure just how much more 'natural' and less expensive it would actually be. We've made a step in the right direction already though. Andrew and the kids used to drink expensive strawberry Danone yogurt every morning. I worry about all the sugar and the colour it contains. Now I am buying plain yogurt and blending it up with a banana and some frozen fruit. Delicious, and no artificial colours!

NRG

I feel much better! Lots more energy today than last week. And Micah was up at 5 this morning. Whoohoo! I'll chalk it up to sugar withdrawal, then.

I'm expecting an enjoyable and relaxing week. Gymnastics is cancelled so our only commitment is Bible Study tomorrow morning. No rushing to make supper this week! I'm excited about that. And the very best thing about this week? Andrew has Thursday and Friday off!! SO looking forward to some awesome family time.

The Sugar Experiment Concluded

The Sugar Experiment is officially over in the sense that I am not quite so strict about avoiding every single source of refined sugar. However it lives on in what I hope is permanent change to my eating habits and attitudes. And hopefully those of my family as well! I am even less inclined to eat at fast food restaurants. I'm reading labels more than ever and will continue to actively search for alternatives and substitutes for refined sugar in my recipes and snacks. Yesterday I made the most delicious whole wheat pancakes yet, containing only a little bit of sugar, two mashed bananas, and frozen blueberries. We didn't even need syrup to enjoy them!

What it comes down to for me is the realization that refined sugar is not just nutrition-neutral. It is anti-nutritional! When we consume it, it actually uses up our nutritional stores. It is not food. Dictionary.com defines food as any nourishing substance that is eaten, drunk, or otherwise taken into the body to sustain life, provide energy, promote growth, etc.

Some final notes:

- I was very surprised to find that my energy level seems to have dropped rather than improved. I really thought I'd feel better. Maybe it is withdrawal?
- My teeth feel so smooth!!

Sugar Experiment Update

Oh, I am serious about this experiment. I passed on a delicious looking cake at the Circle of Friends meeting yesterday. And of course on the decadent chocolate cake, the brownies, and chocolate chip cookies (no exceptions this time, Mona).

Some observations about the effects of this experiment on my life:

- This diet is too extreme to be sustainable in the long term- unless I lock myself in the house or move to a community where everyone eats this way. Missing out on enjoying tasty food with others stinks! It is so socially satisfying to enjoy good food together with friends.

- It is extremely challenging to find packaged food, such as crackers or cereal, that is transfat free, low or void of sugar, and doesn't taste like birdfeed. Especially in Mexico where the selection is much more limited than north of the border.

- This challenge forces growth and that is good! It is interesting to try new recipes and to search for alternatives to staples in our diet.

- I am hungry! If I snack after supper, it's an apple and maybe some carrot sticks. I have been going to bed hungry and waking up ravenous! There is no more filler in my diet and so I'll need to figure out how to replace the junk calories with real calories. I've lost a pound or two and that's fine but I'm not doing this to lose weight but rather to improve the quality of my family's diet and therefore our health.

- I thought I might feel more energetic, but so far, no noticable change. The two dust storms this week (another one last night- right after the cleaning lady was here, gahhh) might have something to do with it. I'm sure the body has to work a little harder to process all the junk in the air. Andrew is suffering right now.

- I still have the occasional craving for sweets, but now it is just in my head, not in my body.

Adventures in Peanut Butter

Good peanut butter is hard to come by in this city. Not just good in taste, but also in ingredients. Everything sold here contains trans fats! And most of it is full of sugar as well. Now, I have tried 'natural' peanut butter which is just peanuts and maybe some oil, and I know it tastes great. So I Googled "homemade peanut butter recipe". Looked easy enough! Almost all of the recipes called for 2tbsp of honey or peanut oil per cup of roasted peanuts. Pop them in the blender or food processor and voila! Homemade peanut butter. Keeps in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Since I don't have peanut oil in the cupboard I used honey. We had some whole roasted peanuts in the cupboard so I shelled a cup's worth. Eva helped me put the ingredients in the blender and away we went. Either the authors of the recipes know something I don't, or I have a sub-standard blender. It took longer to mix than it did to shell the peanuts!! I ended up adding some olive oil, which made a negligible difference in blenderability. I finally called it done well ahead of the 'creamy' stage. Our peanut butter was kind of crumbly, very chunky, and not very spreadable, as you can see above. That said, the kids and I loved it!! They both ate more toast than I've seen them eat, and they wanted more.

Conclusion: I will try again, this time with the food processor. Also with shelled roasted peanuts. Hopefully these changes will increase the smoothness and speed factors.

Further to Maple Syrup Mania: Scary Sugar

I have been doing some internet research about sugar. Now, I realize how important it is to confirm the credibility of resources when using the internet, and I can't tell you 100% that these are the best resources out there. However, I can tell you that I am seeing the same information over and over as I search, and that many of the statements are footnoted with references to journals and studies. Here are some of the things that I have read:

A list of "76 Ways Sugar Can Ruin Your Health" by Nancy Appleton, Ph. D is found on Dr. Joseph Mercola's website. The first six are:

1. Sugar can suppress your immune system and impair your defenses against infectious disease.

2. Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in your body: causes chromium and copper deficiencies and interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium.

3. Sugar can cause can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline, hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children.

4. Sugar can produce a significant rise in total cholesterol, triglycerides and bad cholesterol and a decrease in good cholesterol.

5. Sugar causes a loss of tissue elasticity and function.

6. Sugar feeds cancer cells and has been connected with the development of cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate, rectum, pancreas, biliary tract, lung, gallbladder and stomach.

Healing Daily.com links cardiovascular disease and cancer to the increase in average sugar consumption in the U.S.:

In the last 20 years, we have increased sugar consumption in the U.S. 26 pounds to 135 lbs. of sugar per person per year! [one site I found quoted 175lbs per person per year] Prior to the turn of this century (1887-1890), the average consumption was only 5 lbs. per person per year! Cardiovascular disease and cancer was virtually unknown in the early 1900's.

We might not realize just how much refined sugar is contained in foods that are staples to many Canadian and American diets:

...highly refined sugars in the forms of sucrose (table sugar), dextrose (corn sugar), and high-fructose corn syrup are being processed into so many foods such as bread, breakfast cereal, mayonnaise, peanut butter, ketchup, spaghetti sauce...

Vitality Magazine.com talks about what the term "refined sugar" means:

When raw sugar is refined, a lot of the minerals are lost, including 93% of the chromium, 98% of the zinc and magnesium. Even more minerals are lost when wheat is refined to make white flour, including 88% of the manganese, 87% of the chromium, 77% of the potassium and 60% of the calcium. Refined sugar and flour are also lacking in vitamins. A number of these lost vitamins and minerals are actually needed by the body to turn these foods into energy.

It also talks about the impact on our immune system:

Refined carbohydrates also inhibit the function of our immune system, which can decrease our resistance to opportunistic viruses such as colds and flu. Simple sugars increase our body’s production of adrenaline, putting our body into a state of “fight-or-flight.” This stress reaction can increase the production of cortisone, and cortisone again inhibits immune function.

... and on the proper functioning of our bodies' systems:

Since refined carbohydrates do not contain the vitamins and minerals needed to convert these foods into energy, our bodies must use their own stores in order to metabolize these carbohydrates. As our vitamin and mineral stores are depleted our bodies cannot perform certain other necessary functions as well as it should (such as the metabolism of fat, the conversion of cholesterol to bile acids to be removed from our bodies in our stools, or the burn-off of excess fat as heat or increased activity). As a result, our cholesterol levels rise, our metabolic rate slows down, fats are burned more slowly, and we have less energy, which makes us feel lethargic.

Is it possible to bake without refined sugar?

We can also make our treats more healthy by replacing white sugar with alternatives such as maple syrup, honey, brown rice syrup or molasses. These are still sugars and thus can cause the rapid rise in blood glucose, so consume these items in moderation. They do contain more of the vitamins and minerals lacking from white sugar including calcium, magnesium, potassium and some B vitamins, which means our bodies do not have to rely on internal stores to metabolize them. To replace sugar with maple syrup or honey use 2/3 to 1 cup maple syrup or honey for every cup of sugar, and add 1/4 tsp baking soda per cup of maple syrup or honey. For brown rice syrup try replacing 1 cup of white sugar with 1 + 1/3 cups of brown rice syrup, and add 1/4 tsp baking soda per cup of syrup. For molasses use 1/3 cup molasses for every cup of sugar, and reduce liquids by 1/4 cup per cup of molasses. It may take some trial and error but many baked goods can be altered to include healthy ingredients.

On Friday the kids and I made "sugar free" cinnamon buns. I replaced the sugar with maple syrup. I wouldn't say they were fantastic, but they were good enough we finished them all handily! I think they were actually lacking in the cinnamon department, not in sweetness. Will confirm that theory later this week with a new batch.

Global Healing Center agrees with the above sources and contains a long article which, among other things, also links the consumption of refined sugars with reduced brain function:

Excessive sugar has a strong mal-effect on the functioning of the brain. The key to orderly brain function is glutamic acid, a vital compound found in many vegetables. The B vitamins play a major role in dividing glutamic acid into antagonistic-complementary compounds which produce a "proceed" or "control" response in the brain. B vitamins are also manufactured by symbiotic bacteria which live in our intestines. When refined sugar is taken daily, these bacteria wither and die, and our stock of B vitamins gets very low. Too much sugar makes one sleepy; our ability to calculate and remember is lost.

All this information scares me and scares my sweet tooth! My favorite treats are the sweet ones. Many of the sources I've found on the internet would call me an addict. One site I found even talked about the similarities between the chemical structure of refined sugar to that of cocaine. Wild.

Every evening I would be driven to the cupboard for my sweet treat, generally chocolate. Well, I have given up chocolate for Lent. That business of it taking three weeks to kick a habit really is accurate! I am finally not craving it so badly.

Experiment time. I will eliminate as many sources of refined sugar as possible from my diet for the next week. Then I will evaluate how I feel. It's hard! It is tough enough to find ingredients as close to their natural state as possible to use in the controlled environment of our kitchen. Trying to stick to this when we are on the move and in social situations- even more difficult. But I will give it a try, and report back at the end of the week.