13. A Visit to the Orchard

“And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth:’ and it was so.” Genesis 1:11

Have you been putting all your food in one of the places on the farm? Good.

Let's start a more detailed tour in the orchard. While standing there, you are surrounded by trees of many different sizes, from the towering walnut and apple trees to the short, almost bushy plum and almond trees. Along the fence you see bushes and vines. Everything has fruits of many different colors; bright orange oranges; deep red apples, cherries and berries; purple plums and grapes; brownish-green nuts, and green apples, grapes and olives.

Here is your first clue to eating healthy. All these good foods are VERY colorful. Cookies and chips are not (Yes, I know M&Ms and Skittles are colorful, too, but they don’t count).

Those things we usually call fruit (berries, citrus, apples, grapes, etc.) are high in vitamin C, and most of the B's. If you don't get enough vitamin C you will get scurvy, a disease where your cells don’t stick together so, if it is bad enough, you will bleed to death.

Do your gums bleed? You may have a low level of scurvy beginning. Some believe lack of C can also cause hardening of the arteries; Your arteries bleed because of a lack of C and grow stiff scar tissue.

Also, eating oranges has been shown to lower blood-pressure.

C has (finally) been proven to boost your immune system. It can help prevent colds and flues by making your natural army of sickness fighters stronger.

Most fresh fruits are high in fiber and water making it difficult to truly gorge yourself on them. They fill the tummy up quickly and the extra just "passes on through." More on fiber in a few minutes.

Do you eat enough fruits? I don't, but I am working on it.

Fresh is best. Straight from the tree or vine, but frozen, dried or canned in water are still good (frozen being best. In fact, if your food is trucked in from long distances, frozen may be healthier than fresh. Frozen food is picked at the peek of ripeness and nutrient content and is immediately flash frozen, preserving almost all of its nutrients. “Fresh” fruit and veggies are picked before they are ripe and are often shipped long distances, ripening on the way [without roots to add nutrients from the ground though]. They are often sprayed with wax to make them prettier. They may have been picked weeks before they reach your store, losing nutrients every minute of the way.)

You should have at least three servings of fruit per day (more is better, and at least one should be citrus or berries for the vitamin C).

Oh goodness, here we go with the scales.


No. I want to make things easy. I’m too lazy to do otherwise.

The amount you can comfortably hold in one hand is one serving. That would be one apple, one orange, half a cup or so of berries or grapes, or one cup of juice (though holding a cup of juice in your hand may be difficult unless you make sure you include the cup).

Dried fruit gets half that amount for a serving because you took all the water out when you dried it. Smaller people (children) need fewer calories, but since they have smaller hands, their servings are automatically smaller.

Trying to increase your fruit intake is not really hard.

Have an orange with your breakfast.
Add a handful of raisins or dried berries to your pancakes or fresh bread (just dump them in whether you use a mix or cook by scratch).
Serve a can of fruit with supper.
Eat a sprig of grapes or a smoothie (3 cups of fruit, 1 cup of yogurt or juice, a dash of honey) for a snack.

Plan it in. Breakfast and supper aren’t ready to eat until they have a fruit with them.

Just remember to only eat when you are hungry and quit when you aren't hungry anymore; before you get full. Don't change anything else for two weeks. Just add more fruit. Go slow, one fruit a day for a few days, then two per day for a few days and so on, so you don't shock your system.

How Sweet It Is

Sugars were in our orchard too. The bees need the trees to make honey, and this is where you would find the maple trees (Ok, not really. I would want mine in the pasture or front lawn because they are pretty, but that doesn't work with our health thing here). We will put the sugar cane and sugar beets here too.

“Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.” Proverbs 16:24

Honey

Honeybees go from flower to flower collecting the nectar which they process into honey in order to store it for later consumption (Sigh, Yes, Hubby, it’s bee vomit).

A beekeeper gets the honey by blowing smoke into the hive, which puts the bees to sleep, and then scraping the honey out. He has to work fast so he can be done before the bees wake up.

The honey is then run through a strainer and bottled.

Most of the honey you buy in the store is pasteurized in order to kill any bacteria.

Raw honey (UN-pasteurized) may contain trace amounts of some bacteria (so you don't EVER feed it to a child under one year of age) but it is actually very antiseptic. It is often used by herbalists to rub on a sore or injury to speed healing while preventing infection. It works because of the high sugar content, low pH and the presence of organic acids. Use it to treat cuts, scrapes and burns as well as to prevent scarring. Just rub a little honey on your wound. It will also cure a sore throat.

But of course that is not the point of this chapter. You want to know what kind of sweetener to put in your tea.

Raw honey contains:

• B6
• Thiamin
• Niacin
• Riboflavin
• Pantothenic Acid
• Calcium
• Copper
• Iron
• Magnesium
• Manganese
• Phosphorous
• Potassium
• Sodium
• Zinc

It has natural antioxidants such as vitamin C.

Using honey in your baked goods will keep them moist for a longer period of time than sugar. It is slightly acidic and, therefore, not conducive for bacterial growth.

Solomon said "Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones." He said 3000 years ago that pleasant words are as good for the bones as honey! The minerals contained in honey are the known bone builders of the world.

I believe honey is the first choice, healthiest sweetener there is. It won't cause the blood glucose levels of many diabetics to rise like other sugars will.

If at all possible use this in your cooking and teas.

Pasteurization destroys most of the nutrients in honey, but I still believe it is the healthiest.

Applesauce

Some people use applesauce in their cooking for a sweetener. Applesauce is made by peeling and coring apples; then cooking them down until they are a sauce. 

You could make your own. We have a few times, and it is interesting.

When buying applesauce be sure to read the label. Many manufacturers add sugar. If you are looking for the healthiest sweetener, you do not want to use applesauce with sugar in it.

The applesauce itself is high in fiber; as much as you will find in a slice of whole wheat bread or a serving of broccoli.

A medium apple contains approximately 150 mg of potassium, almost 5% of your recommended daily value, and has just 70 calories and no sodium. This makes applesauce a great sweetener for baking.

Maple syrup

Real maple syrup is made by drilling a hole in the side of a maple tree and collecting the sap that runs out, then boiling the sap down until it is thick.

Maple syrup contains fewer calories and a higher concentration of a few minerals than honey, primarily manganese, and zinc.

Again, read the label when you go shopping. "Pancake syrup" is NOT the same thing as maple syrup. Pancake syrup is really corn syrup with "artificial maple flavorings" -what ever that is- added. Unfortunately, though maple syrup is a great sweetener to use in cooking, it is expensive.

White grape juice

This sweetener is obtained by squeezing green grapes until you get all the juice out.

I would assume what we buy in the store is pasteurized (heated at a high temperature until all the bacteria is killed. Pasteurization destroys some nutrients but drastically increases shelf life, so all manufactures of most any product pasteurize just so there is less waste due to things spoiling on the shelf, and so they don't get sued for food poisoning).

It may be easier for babies to digest than other juices since it has a simpler sugar structure.

Red grape juice has all the same benefits as wine without any of the bad effects of alcohol. It contains the same powerful disease-fighting antioxidants, called flavonoids that are believed to give wine many of its heart-friendly benefits. Good stuff.

All the above sweeteners can be grown and processed on a small farm.

Agave Nectar

Agave is the plant Tequila is made from. However, the unfermented juice is 1.5 times sweeter than sugar, milder flavored than honey (with the darker varieties resembling maple syrup), and slower to digest. Many diabetics can use it when they can’t use sugar or honey. It is, however, a processed food. You can’t make it on your farm.

Concentrated fruit juice

I have heard of people using frozen orange or apple juice to replace all or part of the sweet in a recipe. This would give all the same benefits as the fresh juices as long as it doesn't contain sugar. Many frozen juices, however, do contain sugar. A lot of sugar.

Sugar (cane or beet sugar)

Sugar is made by harvesting sugar canes or sugar beets, squeezing the juice out, dehydrating the juice, then bleaching what is left until it is pure white. Though you could grow the sugar cane and sugar beets on your farm, you can’t make white sugar at home, especially from the beets which take more processing than the canes.

I think table-sugar is one of the greatest health evils of all time. Not too long ago doctors actually recommended people eat table-sugar. They don't do that anymore. Want to know why? There are actually more studies linking table-sugar to heart disease and cancer than there are linking fat to either (there just is no “fat” public relations firm, while the sugar PR group is very powerful).

America's consumption of table sugar has increased by 500% in the last twenty years while their consumption of fats has gone down. Yet heart disease continues to rise.

Table-Sugar raises the insulin level of the blood. The body uses insulin to keep blood-sugar at a constant and safe level. Insulin also promotes the storage of fat, so that when you eat sweets high in table-sugar, you're making it easier to gain weight. Complex carbohydrates (breads, fruit, and veggies) tend to be absorbed more slowly, lessening the impact on blood-sugar levels.

Table-sugar inhibits the release of growth hormones, which in turn depresses the immune system. This is not something you want to take place if you want to avoid disease of any kind.

Our disease fighting white-blood cells also need vitamin C to kill bacteria and viruses. Table-sugar changes into glucose in the digestive tract. Glucose is very similar to vitamin C in structure but not at all similar in action. So when our white blood cells go to absorb vitamin C, they will take in glucose leaving no room for sufficient amounts of C.

It only takes a blood sugar value of 120 to reduce the virus-killing power of our cells by 75%. So when you eat table sugar, think of your immune system slowing down to a crawl.

The cause of all disease is at the cellular level. Feed and care for the cells correctly and you will prevent disease, from the common cold to cancer. Table-sugar harms the cells at the most basic levels.

Table-sugar has been observed to worsen asthma, mood swings, personality changes, mental illness, nervous disorders, Diabetes, heart disease, gallstones, arthritis, and a whole lot more.

It takes enzymes, vitamins and minerals to digest sugar. Unprocessed sugars, such as fruit, come with the things necessary for that digestion. Table-sugar has had them processed out; so it steals nutrients from the body in order to digest it. When these vitamin stores are too low our bodies can’t use cholesterol and fatty acids correctly. This makes the blood levels of cholesterol and triglycerides too high because our bodies can’t take them out of the blood to use them. This not only raises your risk of disease from these chemicals being in the wrong places, (because your body doesn’t have what it needs to clean them out properly), it stores them as body fat making you obese. The American Dietetic Association and American Diabetic Association agree that sugar consumption in America is one of the 3 major causes of degenerative disease.

Cancer's preferred food has been shown in laboratories to be glucose (That is what they feed cancer in the Petri dish to keep it alive so they can find a cure for it. Hmmmm). When you eat table sugar your body turns it into glucose thus providing more food for any cancer cells in your body.

So, table sugars work like a secondary poison in your body. They rob you of the vitamins you already have in your system, prevent the absorption of any you might be eating, gum up the digestive process to prevent your body from kicking bad stuff out and then feed the very cancers that will kill you.

Oh, and they will rot your teeth. My sister-in-law, who is a dentist, says one of her teachers would not allow his children to brush their teeth or eat sugar. He showed the class x-rays of his grown children's mouths. Not a single cavity! She watched a video of an x-ray of a gorilla eating. As long as he ate natural food you could see the normal juices flowing down around and out of his teeth. When he was fed table sugar, the fluids began flowing the other way, pulling bacteria up into his teeth.

Dr. Weston Price, a dentist, traveled the world studying cavities as well as other health issues. He discovered that the more carbs a culture ate the more cavities and crooked teeth they had on average, and the addition of sugar was the worst of all the carbs (those people groups who only ate meat and dairy had no cavities at all! And interestingly, no digestive problems or heart disease.)

Avoid sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, glucose, and sucrose (all names for refined sugar) as much as you possibly can. In fact, any ingredient that ends in –ose is some sort of sugar.

The only good thing I can say about table-sugar is that because nothing but cancer can grow in it, if you cut yourself you can coat the wound in sugar and it will kill the bacteria just like honey will. Just don't eat it.

Table sugar does have the advantage that it is the cheapest of all home sweeteners, as well as much easier to clean up if it spills than, say, honey. Those factors do need to be weighed in when making your choices.

Table-sugar is an addictive substance. You will probably have withdrawal symptoms if you go off of it cold turkey; headaches, mood swings, fatigue, etc. They should last about two weeks. Than you should feel better than ever.

Corn syrup (Caro syrup)

Same as above except made from corn and not as dehydrated. This is classified as a white sugar, except it is now suspected that it messes up our hormones responsible for weight regulation and immune system functions worse than table sugar.

Dextrose

Known as glucose or corn sugar. It is made from cornstarch. See above.

Confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar)

Table sugar mixed with cornstarch and pounded to a powder.

Raw sugar or Turbinado

Unbleached, refined sugar. Better than table sugar, but not by much.

Sugar alcohols

Metabolized more slowly than sugar (though with only three calories per gram instead of four) or just passed on through undigested: sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol and some others that are less common. They are derived from fruit.

These are used in chewing gum and toothpaste because they are not converted into sugar in the mouth though they taste sweet. Xylitol has even been shown to fight tooth decay and help remineralize the teeth. On going research is suggesting they don’t affect blood sugar but do cause tummy problems (gas, bloating, sometimes diarrhea) in some people, especially when you eat too much of them.

Molasses

Ever wonder where all the vitamins God put in the sugar cane go to after man is through making sugar? That is what we call molasses. Molasses is separated from raw sugar during processing. Darker molasses and blackstrap molasses are superior in providing small amounts of some vitamins and minerals. This byproduct is high in:

• Iron
• Calcium
• Copper,
• Manganese
• Potassium
• Magnesium

Use it in your baking for a very distinct yet healthy flavor. Generally in America though, it is fed to cattle instead of people.

Brown sugar

Sugar crystals colored with molasses syrup. It has a few more minerals from the molasses than the white stuff, but not enough to call it “healthy.”

Rapadura

Dehydrated Cane Sugar Juice. It is relatively unprocessed yet tastes a lot like sugar. You can easily over do it like sugar though.

Fructose or laevulose

Used as a table-sugar substitute. Fructose does not require insulin to get into the liver and body cells. It is processed from fruit juice. It does not have as many bad effects as sugar but is still missing the life-giving vitamins, minerals, and fiber of the fruit itself or natural sweeteners. You can’t make it on your farm.

Saccharine (Sweet 'N Low)

OK I am going to admit something here; I have a very strong distrust of man-made foods.

All artificial sweeteners are man made in the laboratory.

I just don't think we can create things like food without messing it up somehow. If "tar parts" were good for us and God loves His children then why didn't He make them available before the late 1800's? Why did He deny all those people before that time, the pleasure of this sweet? This belief taints anything I say about artificial any-things.

I am finding conflicting reports on saccharine. First of all, a man accidentally invented it after running experiments on tar and not washing his hands enough before eating. Doesn't that sound appetizing?

I can't find information that explains in English (instead of scientist-eze) what exactly saccharine is. The little pink packet of stuff is a mix of dextrose (corn sugar), cream of tartar (grape extract), silicate (major component of sand), and saccharine. But no one seems to want to really explain what that last thing is besides "sweet."

The famous study that showed saccharine to cause cancer in rats was flawed. They fed those rats what would be the equivalent of sixty pounds per day to a human. I think if you ate sixty pounds of ANYTHING everyday it might cause cancer (if you didn’t explode first!)

However, there are some hints here and there that those that drink as many as two saccharin sodas a day do have a slightly higher risk of bladder cancer. There is no hard evidence, though. If you are diabetic or Hypoglycemic and can not tolerate honey (some diabetics and hypoglycemic can and some can’t) then you could use small amounts of Sweet N Low.

Aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet)

"A nonessential amino acid, C4H7NO4, found especially in young sugar cane and sugar-beet molasses.”

OK, so Equal comes originally from plants, but then it is totally changed on a molecular level in the laboratory to make it indigestible (thus it adds no calories).

“Some of the scientists and others working with the chemicals in the factory when Equal first came on the market contracted brain cancer, others simply disappeared when they began ‘getting sick’ – this was relayed to me by a former employee whose name I can no longer remember” Quote from an anti-aspartame website.

I found many studies saying aspartame is very, very, bad. The few that say otherwise can easily be discredited since the scientists that gave the good reports went to work for the NutraSweet Corporation shortly after the publication of their supportive reports.

Some of the symptoms of aspartame poisoning include: Headaches/Migraines, (I get these when I drink too many diet sodas), Weight gain(! Isn’t that what we are trying to prevent by drinking the stuff in the first place?) plus

• Dizziness
• Seizures
• Nausea
• Numbness
• Muscle spasms
• Rashes
• Depression
• Fatigue
• Irritability
• Tachycardia
• Insomnia
• Vision Problems
• Hearing Loss
• Heart palpitations
• Breathing difficulties
• Anxiety attacks
• Slurred Speech
• Loss of taste
• Tinnitus
• Vertigo
• Memory loss
• Joint Pain

I have found this list in many places (though each author words it slightly differently of course) over the course of many years.

Aspartame metabolizes into a poison, (Formaldehyde!), and other dangerous chemicals (despite the claims of the manufacturers to the contrary). It is believed that it can trigger or worsen the following conditions:

• Brain tumors
• Arthritis
• Multiple sclerosis
• Epilepsy
• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• Parkinson's Disease
• Alzheimer's
• Mental retardation
• Lymphoma
• Birth defects
• Fibromyalgia
• Diabetes
• Thyroid Disorders

Aspartame is not sweet in itself. Equal Company puts Dextrose (sugar) and maltodextrin into it so that it tastes sweet.

NutraSweet is a brain drug that stimulates your brain so you think that the food you're eating tastes sweet. If you pay attention you'll notice that when using NutraSweet, everything you eat at the same time also tastes sweet! (Try this experiment: take a bite of hamburger, chewing slowly paying attention to how sweet it tastes. Then take a big drink of diet soda. Wait a few minutes to give it a chance to get to your brain. Take another bite of hamburger and see if it tastes sweeter than the first bite.) This brain-stimulating causes you to crave even more carbohydrates, especially sweet things. So you won't lose weight using aspartame.

Oh, and the chemical it turns into, Formaldehyde, is thought to cause cancer. Do I need to say more?

Splenda/Sucrolose

Splenda is made by fusing two molecules of sucrose (table sugar) and three molecules of chlorine (a poison used to kill bacteria). Some scientists say Splenda has more in common with DDT (bug poison) than with food on a molecular level. The manufacture’s own short-term studies showed that sucralose, (the chemical name for Splenda), caused shrunken thymus glands and enlarged livers and kidneys in rodents. Observational evidence shows that there are side effects of Splenda, including:

• Skin Rashes/Flushing
• Panic-Like Agitation
• Dizziness
• Numbness
• Muscle Aches
• Headaches
• Intestinal Cramping
• Bladder Issues
• Reduced Growth Rate
• Decreased Red Blood Cell Count
• Extension of Pregnancy
• Miscarriage
• Decreased Birth And Placental Weights
• Diarrhea

No one can say to what degree Splenda is affecting us. This chemical is still too new to know for sure. Many believe it to be the healthiest of the artificial sweeteners (earning an endorsement from the Center for Science in the Public Interest), but that isn’t really saying much.

Stevia/Rabina

A sweet powder (rabina) made from a South American herb (stevia), or a liquid tincture made from the raw herb. Gram for gram, it is 30-300 times sweeter than sugar (depending on who you ask) with few or no calories.

I have some of the dehydrated plant and it is very sweet to eat straight (with a slight grassy after taste) and I have a friend who is going to try to grow some in her vegetable garden. Over all, the least processed of the “artificial” sweeteners, though I’m not sure it shouldn’t be classified as a natural sweetener instead.

Stevia has been used by natives of Paraguay for at least 400 years and in Japan for 30-40 (where it makes up 40% of all sweeteners used).

Stevia has:

• Possible positive effect on triglycerides, cholesterol and obesity
• anti-inflammatory effect
• may help diarrhea
• negligible effect on blood glucose (i.e. safe for diabetics)
• used in South America to actually treat diabetes, but few studies to support this claim
• may lower blood pressure
• may treat heartburn
• may improve skin rashes like eczema and eliminate dandruff (http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2011/09/22/a-sweet-sweet-summer-what-are-the-facts-on-stevia/#tPb65EXBKDLkQpFw.99)

Some European studies have shown an affect on the male reproductive system from use of this product. When male rats were fed high doses (up to 1000 times/pound of body weight than what any human would eat) of stevioside for 22 months, sperm production was reduced and when female hamsters were fed large amounts of a derivative of stevioside called steviol, they had fewer and smaller offspring. These studies are old, though, and many consider them poorly done.

“In the laboratory, steviol can be converted into a compound, which may promote cancer by causing mutations in the cells' genetic material.”

“Very large amounts of stevioside can interfere with the absorption of carbohydrates in animals and disrupt the conversion of food into energy within cells.”

Of course, these studies were paid for, I have heard, by the manufacture of NutraSweet who would not want the competition of Stevia on the market.

On the other hand, in another study “The rats who received the stevioside weighed less than those in the control group. Considering stevioside has no calories, this makes sense. When the organs and tissues of the rats were examined under a microscope, there was almost no difference between those who were given stevia and those who were not. One interesting difference, however, was that the females who took stevioside had a decreased incidence of breast tumors, while the males displayed a lesser incidence of kidney damage. The researchers state, ‘It is concluded that stevioside is not carcinogenic in rats under the experimental conditions described.’ “ Excerpted from: “The Stevia Cookbook,” copyright 1999 by Ray Sahelian, MD and Donna Gates

And

“Acute toxicity was not demonstrated when separate 2 g/kg doses were administered to mice by oral intubation, indicating that a concentrated extract of stevia is less than 1/10 as toxic (acute) as caffeine.” (They found absolutely no traces of cancer or any other problems.) Gras (Generally Regarded As Safe) Affirmation Petition, Stevia leaves, presented on behalf of the American Herbal Products Association, April 23, 1992

But then, I have heard that these studies were paid for by Coke Cola who has an interest in making their sodas as appealing as possible to customers, and stevia would be a way to do that to the health conscious.

Some claim those in Paraguay use Stevia as a contraceptive. If this is true, it isn’t a very good one since they have double-digit birth rates (10 or more babies per woman where in America and Europe birthrates are, for example, 1.9-1.2 babies per woman.)

There are, however, some more recent studies showing there might be a change in the bacteria in the gut among Stevia users that reduced their immune system function.

That is a lot of “can” and “may.” We just don’t know yet.

I do know that Stevia is perfectly natural in its unprocessed state, but then so is poison Hemlock. What is available in the stores is mildly processed.

I am cautious but hopeful about Stevia since it is a direct creation of God and not a bunch of chemicals from a laboratory. It is logical to me that it could actually be good for you. I hope we will know soon.

The bottom line: If you use Stevia sparingly, it probably isn't a great threat to you; might even be good for you. But if Stevia were processed and marketed widely and used in diet sodas (which Americans drink by the gallon), it probably would loose all it’s good features, though it might still be better than any of the other white powders. We simply don't know enough yet. That's why there needs to be more testing.

Acesulfame Potassium/ Ace-K

200 times sweeter than sugar, this is the sweetener in Coke Zero. It is too new to know its affects yet, but preliminary studies say it may cause breast and lung tumors and may cause thyroid problems, but all we have so far are animal studies. We don’t know the long term affect of it on humans.

Neotame

Manufactured by the same people that give us Aspartame, this sweetener is chemically very similar. Neotame, however, can tolerate high temperatures without the chemical dangers of Aspartame. It is 8,000 times sweeter than sugar, meaning you need very, very little. This has also been approved by the Center for Science in the Public Interest . Since it has only been approved since 2002 we don’t really know its long term affect either.



You know, I think Americans just eat too many sweet things. It seems that we have grown to think everything has to be sweet (and sugar cravings are a symptom of diabetes). Did you know that some manufacturers even put sugar in their sweet corn? Maybe we should just look for ways to wake up our other taste buds; ways to enjoy other flavors such as salt, good-bitters, and sours and less sweet.




Conclusion- Use those sweets that God made if at all possible. The more man messes in things the more he messes them up.

“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
Proverbs 14:12, Proverbs 16:25

Just like in your life. If you try to make all our decisions based on your knowledge or what human experts say, you will mess up your whole life. If you base your decisions on what God says, everything will work out fine.

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

So, when choosing something sweet to eat, pick a fresh, whole fruit.

Frozen is a close second choice (and in some cases, beats out fresh).

Dried or canned are your second choices.

Try using pure frozen fruit juice or apple sauce to sweeten your baking.

After that, raw honey is the most natural sweetener (you can and do eat it straight from the hive).

After honey would come maple syrup, molasses (what is leftover from processing sugar), or probably raw Stevia.

Then brown sugar.

Raw sugar is better than white, and I really believe white is better than the chemicals.

The exception to all this is those with sensitivities to real sugars, such as diabetics and hypoglycemics. They may not be able to tolerate any real sugars of any kind. For these people, I am glad we have the artificial sugars for very occasional treats.

Pick Splenda, or Sweet N Low over NutraSweet. I (pre-diabetic) actually rotate which artificial sweeteners I use to reduce the risk of any of them. When I drink coke (once or twice a week), I pick Coke Zero (ACE-K) when I can, and try to do ice tea with the pink stuff if Zero isn't available. I'll take sugared cokes over nutrasweet ones, due to the headaches, but I pay for it with my reactions to sugar.

At home I use honey, maple syrup, raw sugar and stevia, though only sugar in my coffee (don't really like coffee any way and its the only sweetner I can stand in it.)

In restaurants I use the pink or yellow stuff in my tea. This should greatly reduce the risk of any adverse effects of any of them.

Favor the fruit if you can though because they are much healthier. God gave us these wonderful, ready-made desserts for our own enjoyment. He just added enough nutrients to make them healthy too.

The Rest of the Orchard

“And I have given you a land for which ye did not labor, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and olive yards which ye planted not do ye eat.” Joshua 24:13

There are some trees in our orchard that are not in the same category as other fruits nutritionally. Avocados, coconuts, nuts and olives are high fat foods, though they are the fruit of the tree (cucumbers are the fruit of the vine, for comparison. "Fruit" is the seed bearing organ.) They are not in the same class as the other fruits (they don’t have as much natural sugar), but are good treats. They are high in fat, but it is good fat.

Yes, there is such a thing as good fat. These fats have fat soluble vitamins (such as E) and are easily digested by the body. They help your hair, skin, and nails to be shinny and strong – prettier.

They have not been linked to heart disease like some fats have.

Nuts, and to a lesser degree olives, are also high in protein, so when you eat them only some of the calories come from the expensive fat type of calories. Studies have shown that people that eat a lot of nuts have less trouble with their weight than people that don't. And the more nuts they eat the lower their weight. Aim for adding one handful a day to your diet. You can eat them straight or throw them into your cooking, (stir fry, baked goods, some meat dishes and put them on salads instead of croutons).

Check the label on any prepared coconut you eat, though. Many manufacturers add sugar.

Olives are a special fruit. 

They are very high in fat and many scientists originally thought they were very bad for you because they look like the bad fats on a molecular level (saturated).

But people in the Mediterranean region eat large amounts of olive products and almost never have heart disease.

What gives?

Turns out the human body thinks olives are carbohydrates! So you use them like a fat, but digest them like a carb. Olive oil is one of the best fats around.

As much as you can, use olive oil, animal fats, or butter (more on that later). Extra virgin olive oil is simply the oil that is squeezed out of the olive (the same as orange juice is what comes out of an orange when you squeeze it). No processing. (Watch out for "extra light olive oil." It doesn't have as strong of a flavor, but it has been processed and lost the benefits of the extra virgin stuff).

Nut oils are your second best fats to add to your cooking because they are processed the same way as olive oil.

Same for canola oil.

Veggie oil, soy bean oil and corn oil are cooked and bleached. Their molecular structure is actually changed (hydrogenated – pumped full of hydrogen gas) so they will not spoil as fast. These are the ones that clog your arteries.

Avoid them.

Read labels. Once again, eat the foods as close to how God made them as possible when you have a choice;

• olive oil instead of Crisco oil, 
• fresh nuts instead of chocolate coated nuts, 
• fruit off the tree instead of fruit pie, 
• a spoon of honey instead of a Twinkie. 

God knew what He was doing when He made this world and provided these foods for us.