Summer treats

We are concerned about our sugar intake here at the LeBaron household. Research indicates that refined sugar (whether in the form of table sugar or high fructose corn syrup) is terrible for your body, causing all sorts of problems from obesity and diabetes to depressing your immune system. This lecture is one that I feel is descriptive and accurate, albeit quite long, and I would advise anyone concerned about their nutritional well-being to watch it when you get a chance. That being said, it's hard to find drinks and treats for the summer that aren't loaded with sugar. Kool-aid, Capri Sun, soda, and commercial Popsicles are just sugar water. Even commercial juices like Juicy Juice and Capri Sun Naturals are not good, because the "juice" they use is highly refined and there is no fiber left. But water gets old pretty quick, and who wants "water-pops"? My husband, who works out in the heat most of every summer day wants to drink something that replaces the salts he loses in his sweat, but I don't want to buy him Gatorade, because of the sugar thing, as well as the cost. What's a mom to do?

I've done a little research and found a couple of alternative sweeteners that we use to help reduce our dependence on traditional sugar. The first item we use is powdered stevia. I use stevia to boost the sweetness of cooked items like oatmeal and farina, as well as in things like yogurt smoothies and our hot morning drink, Kafree Roma (no, not coffee.) Stevia does have a unique flavor that does not lend itself to being the only sweetener in an item. It's better as a supplemental sweetener because it has sort of a one-note flavor and it can be bitter if you get too much of it. But stevia helps me cut way down on the sugar content of things that we expect to be sweet. I usually buy it in 1 oz. jar, but a serving of 1/16 of a teaspoon is plenty to sweeten a cup of drink, so you don't have to use much at all. I usually use 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon at a time. An ounce of powder lasts several months at our house.

The other product I have found is dextrose (which is also known as glucose.) You may know that glucose is half of the sweetness component of table sugar (sucrose.) The other half is fructose, which is really the bad guy in the entire sugar business. So when I found out that I could buy glucose by itself, I was very anxious to try it. I bought a 50lb. bag from Honeyville Grain online. It costs about twice as much as table sugar, and is not nearly as sweet, so you end up using more than you otherwise would. It is more of a powder, so it doesn't even act like sugar in recipes. I'm working on developing recipes that I can use the glucose/dextrose in, but it's taking me a while. You also have to bear in mind that dextrose/glucose is still a nutritionally empty food. It's still tons of calories without any nutritional benefit, so you still need to be sparing with it's use, but it's great for those times when you really need to have a sweetener. Like when your husband wants Gatorade.

Here is my recipe for homemade Gatorade, which we are calling Dexterade for now (I would like to come up with a better name. LeBaronade? Nah.) You can buy potassium chloride under the brand name Morton Salt Substitute. I buy it in an 8oz. bottle from NOW foods, in the supplements section.

Homemade Electrolyte Replacement Drink (Maybe Summerade?)
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2 pkg. Kool-aid mix (or other unsweetened punch powder)
1-1/2 c. dextrose
1/4 tsp. stevia
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. potassium chloride
1 gallon water

Mix well.

For popsicles we use juice (real juice like orange juice from concentrate or home pressed apple juice), milk flavored with jam or fruit puree, yogurt smoothie, banana smoothie, half-strength pudding (2x milk), and rarely leftover soda. The kids love these and eagerly make the popsicles each morning so they are frozen by the time afternoon playtime comes around.

All in all, we hope to keep our sugar consumption down, because there will be times that soda or punch will be the only drink available, and there will be treats at parties, etc. I just do my best and try to remember the old adage, "God grant me courage to change the things I can change; the serenity to accept the things I cannot; and wisdom to know the difference."

Here are a couple of articles regarding sugar.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/04/20/sugar-dangers.aspx

http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/sugar.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/health/20brod.html?scp=3&sq=jane%20brody&st=cse (Interesting comment on advertising's effect on kids sugar consumption.)