Eating Dates & Honey

Not all sugars are equal, but even still (to some extent), sugar is sugar. I would watch out for these also.

Yes

Date Sugar is 40% sucrose, 30% glucose, 30% fructose. Is more nutritious for you. As it's ground up dates so you get what ever nutrients that are in dates. Is high in fiber. Could not find a listing for it's glycemic load everything points to being very close to table sugar. But then again I found this study. http://www.physorg.com/news135271801.html

Honey has a lower glycemic load it's about 38% fructose which is coverted to fat. Which may cause other problems.

The honey from different trees/plants also has different Glycemic index, for example Honey from Yellow Box trees in Australia (if I remember correctly is Low GI).

Fructose is low GI, but because of the way the body has to break it down it is not good to use as a sweetner in the quantities it is currently used.

Fructose when consumed as whole fruit, ie including the roughage it is in the correct proportions for our bodily systems.

Yes, dates and honey add to the sugar level. I f you want the Glycemic Index, you need more info. For "diabetic patients", the treatment, type, and severity is important, as we hope you are learning.

GA. I have seen my diebatic (since long) father-in-Law so active at the age of 75+, he take honey or dates in small quantity, do walk regularly and have a diet twice than me which comprise generally whole wheat bread, vegitables and fruits but negligible rice.

I am on the border. I take morning and evening walk of 3 Km each time. Do 1 hr yoga and breathing exercise. Totally vegetarian don't eat even eggs. I never touch sugar or junk food. At age of 70 yrs I am living active life. My last sugar count was 90 fasting and 130 Post lunch. Diabetes can be controlled with disciplined life.

How about Sugar Free powders, are they safe alternate to sugar?.

Sugar Free Powders, you asked....

I have been told that the chemicals contained therein for sugar alternative, over long periods of ingestion are poisonous.

This is, as it was explained to me, because the body cannot deal with these chemicals and a residual builds up in the liver and other organs.

As for the long term effects... not sure.... but if you think about it, if its man made, then its artificial, if its artificial, then the body will have problems dealing with it.

There are many papers that talk about de-toxin and free-radicals etc which are in essence poisons, so why add to it with the very thing you are trying to remove?

Now I've talked about it.. I'll do a little research and get back to you!

Thanks for your reply.

Once again, let's be careful to say which alternatives to sugar we are talking about.

Aspartame is known to be poisonous in the long term and should be avoided at all costs. Ditto saccarides (altough they are not poisonous) and Splenda. High fructose corn syrup is even worse.

Xylitol is a an alcohol-derived sugar and better than the junk listed above. It is okay to use in moderation and can be found at helath food stores and online.

Stevia leaf, powder and liquid is better than all of them. It is plant-based, natural and has no glycemic load at all becasue it is actaully an herb. It is much sweeter than sugar so a little goes a long way. If you just have to satisfy a sweet tooth, stevia is the way to go. Health food stores will carry it, and it is fond at many online stores.

I don't know for certain if it is safe for diabetics but google it and I'm sure you can find out.

You are correct, as I said "man made" alternatives... they are the ones to watch out for and avoid at all costs!

As others have psoted, dates are good for you in moderation. It is important to pay attention to both the type of sugar contained in the food, as well as other possible benefits. Just remember that because a certain item is good for you doesn't mean it's time to overeat it.

Honey is another matter. I have heard both sides of the argument but what is usually left out is this: refined honey sugars have been changed by the refining (heating) process. There are enzymes in raw honey that assist in metalbolizing the sugar into useful form instead of having it stored as fat, but they are destroyed by heating.

Once again, moderation is the key....but that nice clear loooking honey is not as good for you as raw honey with its enzymes intact. Raw honey doesn't look as pretty but it tastes better and is better for you. Put the Sue Bee Honey back on the shelf, go to a health food store or grocery (like Whole Foods in the US) and get pure, raw (uncooked) honey, preferably locally made.

I understand that raw honey CAN contain Botulism spores and should never be fed to infants. Evidently an older person can deal OK with the spores (not vegitative cells).

One centrifuge manufacturer's engineer explained at length to me that raw honey contain lot of wax particles and while processing it is precisely centrifuged to get rid of it. Because these wax particles when consumed with raw honey, gets deposited in arteries which may be reasons for its blockage neccessiating bypass sreguries.

Its hard to believe. His job is to sell as many centrifuse machines. May others can comment on it.

any wax particles you eat pass through the gut and pass on.....

Natural wax as produced by bees would not enter the the blood stream, but be passed harmlessly out.

It is cholesterol that causes the blockages... see the article below..

PRLog (Press Release) - Apr 03, 2007 - When you think of clogged arteries, high blood pressure, and heart disease, what do you think of? If you were asked to name a cause of clogged arteries what would you say? What would come to mind? Probably, cholesterol. Haven't you heard that over and over? Haven't you heard that high cholesterol, bad cholesterol, leads to high blood pressure and heart disease? Actually, it is a partial truth. There is more information available about the cause of clogged arteries.

What actually starts the process of clogged arteries is a lack of vitamin C or ascorbate. Technically, this is called subclinical scurvy. Tiny cracks form in the arteries due to a lack of ascorbate. The body uses cholesterol to bandage over and patch these cracks. This is a protective measure on the body's part to overcome the existence of these cracks. Otherwise, there would be internal bleeding. So it is not actually the cholesterol that starts the process of clogged arteries, it is the lack of ascorbate that begins the process of plaque being created in the arteries. Plaque is the name given to cholesterol as it builds up to cover the arterial cracks and then hardens in the arteries to form clogged arteries.

What can be done to clean clogged arteries? Give the body ascorbate. The body knows how to clean clogged arteries when given the proper substances. Buffered mineral ascorbates can be used to help heal the clogged arteries. There are other synergistic substances that can be used as well to help clean and restore clogged arteries. More information can be found about clogged arteries here.

http://www.advancedscientifichealth.com/newpweb_nsf_heartdisease.asp?SID=660334

for those that do suffer with type 1 or type 2, please follow this link

http://www.clinsci.org/cs/109/0143/1090143.pdf

I asked my mother about this one as she is a diabetic, and she told me that she must steer clear of dates and honey, I hope that this helps!

Spencer.