What is the healthiest replacement for white sugar?
I have been asked that question so many times in my 25 years of teaching cooking classes. My answer is always the same and it has never changed, brown rice syrup. I discovered at an early age that consuming white sugar was really bad for my health. Because I am going to be the special guest on the Chef A.J. Show , Dec. 23, and I will be making desserts out of my new cookbook, Simply Healthy Scrumptious Desserts, and it is the holiday season, I thought it was a wonderful opportunity to discuss the healthiest sweetener there is, brown rice syrup.
I will be on the Chef A.J. Show, Dec. 23 at 2 PM (EST). Please tune in live or you can watch the show after it is broadcast at any time. And if you are new to my substack blog and have come here after watching the show, please leave a comment and let me know how you enjoyed the show.
https://www.youtube.com/@CHEFAJ
When I was about 19 years old the skin on my hands erupted with eczema. I went to the doc’s and they said it was hereditary and gave me some cream and sent me on my way. The cream did take it away, but came back the next year even worse and now was on my hands and legs. I went back to doc with more questions; why do I have this? When I go in the sun it gets better, why? When I eat sugar it get worse, does that have something to do with it? Their answer was, we really do not know why people get eczema, it is hereditary. I had asked everyone in my family (and my grandparents and great grand parents were still alive at this time) no one had ever had eczema before. It was at this time that my trust and confidence in anything the medical docs said started to wain.
I tell a more complete story of my journey of overcoming eczema here:
It was also at this time in my life I discovered how bad white sugar is for humans to eat. Every time I ate white sugar the eczema would itch like crazy. Without fail, if I had a piece of birthday cake, or if I had some type of sugar drink, cookies, or any dessert an intense itching would happen and I would scratch until I bled. Because this was obvious to me, I attempted to stop eating sugar. I turned to artificial sweeteners (yes, I know, they are terrible!) this was years before I discovered macrobiotic and changed my lifestyle. Changing to eating no white sugar, substituting it for artificial sweeteners did give me some relief with the eczema, and I was very dedicated to not eating white sugar. However I would eventually be at a birthday party or some other special celebration where there was some desserts and I would eat them. I would then proceed to suffer with an itching attack.
As my journey continued of learning about health, I did learn how bad artificial sweeter were to consume. I had reached a point where I though I would never be able to eat desserts again and then I was introduce to brown rice syrup. I was very excited to learn about this sweetener that is made from whole brown rice and will not spike your blood sugar levels. I learned that you could use B.R.S. (brown rice syrup) to make cookies, cakes, brownies, and everywhere you would use white sugar. And thus started my journey of creating recipes using B.R.S. to make all kinds of delicous desserts.
Educational information about B.R.S
In Korean they have been making and consuming it for thousands of years
In the olden days brown rice was so precious you were considered wealthy if you could afford to make B.R.S.
It is made from whole brown rice that has been fermented and then an enzyme is added to break down the starches
No extraction process or chemical process is used to make it
The vitamins and mineral in brown rice are in B.R.S., just in smaller quantities
One spoonful is known to be good for you health and digestion because its made by activating the enzyme amylase through fermentation
B.R.S. is maltose. Maltose is the least reactive sweetener on the body. It will never spike blood sugar levels.
Let me say that again, B.R.S. will never spike your blood sugar!
When purchasing a B.R.S. make sure it is made with whole brown rice, not white rice. I use Suzann’s Specialties B.R.S., the Genmi is made with whole brown rice.
You can learn how to use B.R.S. in my video:
My January 2023 Cooking Class Schedule is on my website:
https://www.macroval.com/cookingclasses.htm
Merry Christmas! Happy Holiday! Have a blessed and healthy celebration!