Honey

[lucylocket61]

If you decide to use honey, make sure it isnt mainstream mass produced honey. Those honey bee are fed sugar water only, and some of the sugar comes from High Fructose Corn Syrup which is passed into the honey.

It is best to stick to naturally produced honey, from small producers. They harvest the honey in Autumn, and so the bees are kept alive over winter with sugar syrup made from sugar cane or beet, but the harvested honey is pure pollen honey produced in Spring and Summer, and collected in Autumn. The bees dont make honey from the Winter sugar feed, they use it to keep alive, so the Spring and Summer honey isnt tainted by artificial sugar feed.

My FIL kept his own hives for 50 years, so he told us many things about bee keeping and why local honey is more expensive than Gales or Rouse honey. Most of the huge commercial honey bees in the production areas never even see a plant.

[GraceK]

I have some bad side effects from certain chemical sweeteners so tend to avoid them. But when I'm absolutely desperate for something sweet I use The Groovy Food Co's Agave Nectar. It has 3.57g per teaspoon and it says its super low GI. You can spread it on bread, toast, crackers, cook with it. It's plant based and doesn't have the heavy aftertaste of honey. It has a more liquid consistency than honey. But it's lovely. You can buy it in ASDA, TESCO and all the usual supermarkets.

http://www.groovyfood.co.uk/pages/about.html

[lucylocket61]

So the Agave Nectar is 71.4% carbs per 100g. No better than honey : (

[GraceK]

So the Agave Nectar is 71.4% carbs per 100g. No better than honey : (

I personally don't like the taste of or the aftertaste of honey. I find it way too powerful and cloying. So for me, yes, Agave Nectar is better than honey. If we're comparing carb values only, it may be the same carb value - but I wouldn't be eating 100g of it at a time, I'd be using it to sweeten tea or perhaps as a spread and at 1 tsp x 3.57g it's a very clean and delicate kind of sweetness.

[lucylocket61]

but I wouldn't be eating 100g of it at a time, I'd be using it to sweeten tea or perhaps as a spread and at 1 tsp x 3.57g it's a very clean and delicate kind of sweetness.

But thats how people use honey. Honey is 17 carbs per teaspoon, so half that of agave . Poeple dont eat 100g of honey at a time.

I appreciate that, for reasons of personal taste, you have chosen agave which has twice the carbs of honey.

[catherinecherub]

Manuka honey does not affect my blood sugars. I use it for sore throats mixed with some butter and eaten slowly and it is good for burns.

[GraceK]

but I wouldn't be eating 100g of it at a time, I'd be using it to sweeten tea or perhaps as a spread and at 1 tsp x 3.57g it's a very clean and delicate kind of sweetness.

But thats how people use honey. Honey is 17 carbs per teaspoon, so half that of agave . Poeple dont eat 100g of honey at a time.

I appreciate that, for reasons of personal taste, you have chosen agave which has twice the carbs of honey.

I'm confused here. You're saying honey has 17 carbs per teaspoon. I'm saying Agave has 3.75 carbs per teaspoon. How does that make Agave have twice the carbs as honey?

[jumbleannie1VDJQ]

Thanx catherinecherub, I have a sore throat at the mo and you just reminded me of my grandma's cure for it. Have some manuka honey I got for on the grandkids porridge so here goes.

[phoenix]

Agave has a very low GI compared with honey.


portion size for calculating glycemic load :10g carb 8g
Organic Agave Cactus Nectar, light, 90% fructose (Western Commerce Corp., City of Industry, CA, USA)
Glycemic index:11, GLycemic load 1.
Organic Agave Cactus Nectar, light, 97% fructose (Western Commerce Corp., USA)
Glycemic index:10, GLycemic load 1.
Premium Agave nectar (Sweet Cactus Farms, USA)
Glycemic index:19, GLycemic load 2.

Honey varies a lot in GI. I've selected some from low,medium and high (there are lots in the index) note they used a larger portion size for calculating was higher (Glycemic load of 25g. Carb 21g) so on editing I I decided to calculate it for 10g/8.4g carb and added it after ( I rounded results as is done in the data base)

Honey, type not specified
Glycemic index:87, Glycemic load 18 GL for 10g =7
Clover honey, ratio of fructose: glucose, 1.09
Glycemic index: 69 Glycemic load 15 GL for 10g=6.
Honey, Pure (type unspecified)
Glycemic index:58, Glycemic load 12. GL for 10g = 5
Locust Honey
Glycemic index:32 Glycemic load 7. GL for 10g = 3
source: Univ of Sydney: http://www.glycemicindex.com/index.php


You'll find a lot of negative and sometimes emotive articles about agave on the internet. Most of it is repeated and unsourced (the echo chamber effect) so it's hard to try to sort out truth from fiction.

[lucylocket61]

GraceK:

I'm confused here. You're saying honey has 17 carbs per teaspoon. I'm saying Agave has 3.75 carbs per teaspoon. How does that make Agave have twice the carbs as honey?

I cant put my decimal places in the right place, and read at the same time

[Napolyon1]

I don't want to put a spanner in the works but a small amount of honey pushes my B/S up in to double figures.

[Dr Bilal]

Hello all,
as previously mentioned, the subject of honey is very debatable and there is a lot of research going on right now. The problem with honey is that it has a lot of cultural and religious significance, and for that matter a lot of people take it as a curative potion and the other lot doesn't accept it because of its religious/cultural background. The problem is that both of these two opposing groups don't have much scientific evidence to prove their believes.
First of all honey is very variable depending on where it is made and from what flowers it is made. Different origins have different contents and different levels of glucose and fructose. Glucose is ofcourse the major concern in diabetes mellitus. There are honeys that are particularly low in their glucose content, for example Acacia honey.
Coming back to the topic, what we know so far from scientific trials in various parts of the world is that honey doesn't raise the blood sugar levels after lunch as much as sucrose (sugar) does. Bangladeshi honey was found to raise blood sugar levels upto 9 mmol in the first 2 hrs after lunch in diabetics whereas same amount of sucrose raised them to 11 mmol. In another study honey also lowered the lipids like LDL in the blood which reduces complications in the longer run, this study however revealed an increase in HbA1c of patients after 3 months.
So what I advise my patients currently is to use honey if they want to, on a daily basis, but in very modest amounts

[Dr Bilal]

*edit* Additionally use the type of honey that has the lowest amount of glucose content in it.

[evo666]

I love to eat Manuka honey. Slap a load on wholemeal toast and butter, two rounds is usually sufficient and makes a lovely breakfast for starting the day. Manuka honey seems to be quite slow acting and tolerated well by my type II condition.