Sweet Alternatives: Salad Dressing & Sweetened Nuts

For anyone looking to healthify their life, there is one essential change which must be made: eliminate white sugar from your diet…altogether.  This can be hard, because white sugar is hidden in sweet and savory foods alike, often so much so that it is one of the first ingredients. 

White sugar (and brown sugar too, since it’s almost just as processed) is truly detrimental to your health. While naturally found sugar contains many healthful vitamins & minerals, the refining & bleaching process in sugar strips them all away.  However, your body needs them to metabolize the sugar, so it ends up stealing minerals from other parts in the body, like your bones & teeth.  When they say sugar rots your teeth, they mean it.

White sugar is also highly concentrated, which causes a peak & drop in blood sugar.  As you consume sugar your body begins to break it down and it gets in your blood stream – but you can only metabolize so much of it at a time.  When you’ve metabolized as much as you can, your blood sugar plummets, and whatever hasn’t been metabolized gets stored as fat.

Not scared yet?  White sugar interferes can increase the risk of coronary heart disease, suppresses the immune system, can contribute to eczema in kids, can affect the body’s mineral balance, promotes weight gain & obesity….I could go on and on and on. 

Why not try sweeten up a different way?  The two alternatives I use the most (besides raw honey & pure maple syrup, which I use as well) are sucanat and agave.  Sucanat (also called Rapadura) is like an unrefined brown sugar, and has 80% sucrose as compared to the 99.9% sucrose in white sugar.  Sucanat has a slighty earthier taste and does not dissolve as well, but I use it as a substitute in everything from coffee to chocolate chip cookies.  Another great alternative sweetener is agave nectar, which is concentrated cactus juice.  Agave has a low glycemic index and therefore hits the blood stream slower than other sweeteners, so the pancreas reacts with less panic.  It has a very sweet but neutral flavor, so you can add just a bit of it to whatever you’re making and it won’t alter the flavor profile. 

Below are two simple recipes which use agave as the sweetener – a Sweet Green Dressing & Agave Sweetened Nuts.  Get some fresh greens from your local farmers market and enjoy a sweet & healthy salad sprinkled with sweet-savory nuts & homemade dressing!  Your body will thank you for setting aside the white sugar.

Sweet Green Dressing

yields ¾ cup

 

3 teaspoons chopped mint

2 teaspoons chopped parsley

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon champagne vinegar

1 tablespoon agave

¼ cup water

½ teaspoon lemon juice

½ teaspoon salt

Add all ingredients to a blender or immersion blender.  Mix well, until smooth and creamy, adding more water if necessary.  Store in fridge for up to a week.

 

Agave Sweetened Nuts

1 cup roasted, unsalted nuts – pistachios or cashews work well

1 ½ teaspoon agave

½ teaspoon salt

pinch cayenne

 

Preheat oven to 375. 

Roughly chop nuts and mix well with remaining ingredients.  Spread out on a pan and bake for 5 minutes, stirring once so as not to burn.

Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes in the pan, allowing nuts to harden as they cool.  Sprinkle over salad or yogurt, or eat plain as a snack.