We Like It Raw - Latest Comments in Agave and Marketing

Re: Agave and Marketing

Borntoadorn — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 13:07:25 -0000

My husband and I decided to start sweetening our morning espresso with one tablespoon of Agave. Within DAYS we both started getting tooth sensitivity but did not correlate it. It wasn't for about two weeks that one morning we both commented on how sensitive our teeth had become. My husband immediately said...the only thing we've done different is switch to Agave. Agave is giving us tooth sensitivity. Boy was he right! I Googled it and found Dr. Mercola's article. Too bad I didn't read that when he published it because I regularly read articles on his website. It seems like only Dr. Mercola has any information about Agave causing tooth sensitivity. Thanks Dr. Mercola and bye bye Agave.

Re: Agave and Marketing

Alkalize — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:44:27 -0000

It's very acidic. It seems to actually rob me of some energy. Nowadays I try to stay away from it if possible.

Re: Agave and Marketing

sharonsoars — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:50:21 -0000

I am using more stevia, as I have almost completely eliminated agave now. I like the vanilla liquid extract, and use 2-4 drops in a smoothie/blend, elixer or dessert that might need a little more sweet. The challenge is using a small (enough) amount in conjunction with (usually) fruit. In the chocolates I make I do use a little honey, but the stevia allows me to use a lot less.

Re: Agave and Marketing

sharonsoars — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:41:44 -0000

I have been using more stevia, as I have almost completely eliminated agave now. In a smoothie/blend, elixer or dessert that needs a touch more sweet, I add 2-4 drops of the vanilla liquid stevia extract (8 drops for a full blender). It's just figuring out the amount that is the challenge. Using stevia in conjunction with other sweeteners/fruit works well.

Re: Agave and Marketing

bitt — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:45:02 -0000

i haven't had any negative experiences with agave but with all the controversy i am concerned. i don't tend to use as much as others do and cut it quite a bit in recipes.

i love the flavor of yacon syrup although i wish this was less expensive. it is a great alternative for me.

Re: Agave and Marketing

bitt — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:42:57 -0000

great points, ron!

Re: Agave and Marketing

bitt — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:41:00 -0000

love your comment about the bees. i agree.

Re: Agave and Marketing

ron — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 08:28:50 -0000

Why doesn't Mercola, a bid fan of meat, tell all the facts about MEAT and the effects on the body.

A quater pound of beef raises insulin levels in diabetics as much as a quarter pound of straight sugar. DIABETES CARE 7,1984, p.465

Cheese and beef raise insulin levels higher than "dreaded " higher than high carbohydrate foods like pasta. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NUTRTION 50, 1997, page 1264

A single burgers worth of beef, or 3 slices of cheddar cheese, boosts insulin levels more than almost two cups of pasta. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NUTRTION 50, 1997 page 1264

This is straight from There is a Cure for Diabetes DR. Gabriel Cousens page 39.

Re: Agave and Marketing

femmbot — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:01:01 -0000

try not to be too hard on yourself. no need to add stress to your life by fearing judgement or adding balance to your life. it's stressfull to have to think of being the perfect person all the time. i think honey is fine, whatever you want is fine.

Re: Agave and Marketing

jessicat — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 12:58:04 -0000

I go between raw honey and agave, and sometimes maple syrup. I don't use very much of either, though. I don't sweeten my tea and I don't use agave or honey in smoothies (the fruit is sweet enough, especially if you use banana). I did recently make homemade lemonade and used agave for that, but I try to use it sparingly. Also, I agree with Dhrumil about the stevia. I really can't stand the taste one little bit.

Re: Agave and Marketing

Lily — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:45:15 -0000

What about Raw Sugar? Is that now bad too?

Re: Agave and Marketing

Lily — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:45:11 -0000

What about Raw Sugar? Is that now bad too?

Re: Agave and Marketing

elasticfate — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:34:07 -0000

I'm not a big agave fan, though I still eat it when I order desserts out at raw restaurants. I'm with you on stevia tasting too synthetic also.

I use a few things...To me, I'm more concerned with being healthy than being 100% vegan, so I use honey a majority of the time, as it's full of medicinal properties & tastes delicious. In NorCal it's pretty easy to arrange visits to the local beekeepers to see how they treat the bees & know you're not supporting something harmful. And learning about beekeeping is so much fun, so you get to learn really fascinating things in the process!

I also use medjool dates in smoothies & date paste in desserts.
Yacon is also a pretty good natural, vegan sweetener taste-wise. It's just very pricey, and it's not local though it can be grown in some soil in Norcal, so perhaps it will become easier to get it as a whole food. I'm not sure about the processing of yacon...as far as i know, the root is dried & crushed into a powder, and for the syrup it's supposedly pressed fresh, but who knows what else goes on.

Re: Agave and Marketing

Elin J W — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 17:34:11 -0000

Since agave syrup is not a live food, I don´t use it. The living enzymes is removed from the syrup to prevent the agave from fermenting and turn into tequila. And since is it not a whole food, the syrup lacks a lot of the nutrition found in the original plant.

Nowadays I use fresh dates and raw honey from my local farmer as sweetener.

I am very curious about stevia but havn´t tried it since I have not found it in Stockholm were I live.

I have used agave in the past in the belief that it was a healthy sugar substitute, and was suprised of the negative health effects it had on me. Cravings, fatigue, sore throat. This made me want to investigate agave further and I stumbled upon this highly interesting articles, to make a pick of two;

http://www.living-foods.com...

http://articles.mercola.com...

Re: Agave and Marketing

Dhru Purohit — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:32:27 -0000

What I mean is it taste synthetic

Re: Agave and Marketing

Dhru Purohit — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:32:26 -0000

Maybe next time : )

Re: Agave and Marketing

nicole byrkit — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:46:24 -0000

I really thought this article was going to be about the Agave ads and Marketing that Dhru has going ;)

Re: Agave and Marketing

jessica — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 17:54:42 -0000

Why would stevia taste chemical-ly? Are you buying the white kind that has been processed? You can grow your own stevia plant then dry it yourself--no chemicals added. If anything it would taste herb-y I'd think. My uncle grows his own and it doesn't have a chemical taste.

Re: Agave and Marketing

Ben Tseitlin — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:11:51 -0000

raw organic honey from a farmer's market is like heaven to me, this is the real deal. nave never had any problems with agave though, i have used it in smoothies sometimes because it doesn't change the taste as much as honey does.

Re: Agave and Marketing

nanny — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:55:35 -0000

I'm a huge Dr. Mercola fan. I had at several times been on his site looking for articles about agave, and I was so happy to find this article. Finally, I had the answers I was looking for. I had a feeling it was too good to be true. Agave, which is now used in almost all healthy deserts is not good for us!
Which takes me back to what Dr. Mercola has always said. Stick to the whole foods!

Re: Agave and Marketing

Ainsley McDougal — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:12:31 -0000

I use agave minimally, but have never found a problem with feeling phlegmy. However, about a year ago I grew a Stevia plant quite successfully on my balcony and enjoyed using it in a variety of ways.... crumbled leaves in iced tea, blended with some berries as a fruit coulis over raw cacao pie... etc. I HIGHLY recommend the natural plant, which is a hardy one that is hard to kill... I should know - I accidentally killed a cactus i was trying to grow once.

Re: Agave and Marketing

lizz — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:57:05 -0000

Personally, I haven't had any negative experiences with agave, but I also don't use it, except maybe a rare occasion when I am preparing food in someone elses kitchen, and that is what is raw and available. I usually use dates, and their soak water. I use other dried fruits in the same manner if the flavor is appropriate. Bananas are really good for anything sweet and creamy, especially red bananas. I really don't care for stevia, and actually find that it has a negative reaction for me where I feel very stimulated from it. I enjoy yacon syrup from time to time as well. I do eat things with local raw honey in them sometimes, but this is just geographical. If I did not live somewhere like the Pacific Northwest, which I do, that made a lot of local honey that I know the methods of, I would probably use something else. When I lived in CT, I used maple sap from our maple trees. I did not cook it the way you would for maple syrup.

Re: Agave and Marketing

Debbie Took — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:04:50 -0000

I use Medjool dates for my sweetener. No problems with them (I don't think...).

Smoothie this morning - bananas, blackcurrants from the garden (a bit sharp), and Medjool dates. Amazing.

Re: Agave and Marketing

Alec — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:50:57 -0000

Agave seems to feed something in me I dont want to be feeding. I like whole green stevia and sometimes eat honey.

Re: Agave and Marketing

Bliss Doubt — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:20:33 -0000

Hi there. I tried the light agave syrup for the first time just a few days ago. It seemed blandly sweet. I bought it right before Mercola published his article. I think there are two ways to look at it. It seems to me that anything sticky sweet isn't going to be great for anybody, including honey, maple syrup, sugar, any of it, when it comes to tooth decay and glycemic indexes and all that. To me the good thing about agave is that it is drought resistant, as opposed to sugar cane fields which use so much water that they lower the water tables in the areas of cultivation, and as opposed to corn which is drowned in herbicides and pesticides. So even if the health benefits are iffy, the alternative to sugar and corn cultivation is a consideration.