Do You Know About Agave?
Agave, Appetite & Fat Tissue
Agave,
like corn syrup, is high in fructose. Like corn syrup, agave bypasses
our natural appetite suppressor mechanisms, which can lead to
overconsumption. Additionally, the liver converts agave sugars directly
into fat tissue, bypassing the normal conversion of sugars into glucose.
For this reason, diabetics can consume agave without raising blood
sugar levels. Increased fat production, however, is hardly a solution
for diabetics.
Agave is a Highly Processed Food
Using
the word nectar to refer to agave sweetener may be misleading, as it is
not made entirely from the sap of the plant. Instead, starches in the
plants bulbous root are extracted, refined and highly processed. These
starches are strikingly similar to those in corn and rice used to make
high-fructose corn syrup and sucrose syrup.
Nutritional Content
Unlike
jaggery and molasses, the nutritional content of agave is negligible.
It also lacks the fiber of natural sweeteners such as raisins, dates,
and bananas. Unlike honey, agave syrup is cold and kapha provoking.
Honey, the only 'heating' sweetener, remains Ayurveda's sweetener of
choice for kapha dosha.
Want to buy a duck?
If it
looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it
probably is a duck. Although promoted by health stores, modern
sweeteners like agave syrup may simply sweep under the rug a sugar
addiction of epidemic proportions: we consume over 150 times the amount
of sugar than our ancestors only a hundred years ago.
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