Jen Cardella asked me to revisit the agave nectar issue this morning.
Before I begin this post, please visit this post from Food Renegade and then come back to see me.
Ok, welcome back. Let me just say that agave nectar really pisses me off.
Our current notion of "sweet" is disturbingly far from what is truly natural and part of the process of switching to a primal diet is to get used to what is actually sweet. It sucks. I don't have any soothing words for you on this one. If you want to use agave nectar/syrup, go right ahead, but do not think that you are making a healthier choice. Desserts and sweets are not necessarily meant to be healthy, and really people, IT'S OK FOR THESE THINGS TO BE UNHEALTHY. Seriously. There is nothing wrong with a homemade cake that's actually just a homemade cake. It's all about the frequency that you eat The Cake. You have to take the personal responsibility to adjust your concept of "everyday" sweet, and what moderation of sweets is. Eating "paleo" brownies everyday after dinner means you are missing the point. You haven't actually changed your behavior, you've just switched it out for what you believe to be a more acceptable substitute.
Ok, now go out there and eat real food, question anything that says All Natural, and don't be another sucker for the quasi-natural food industry.
/rant
xox
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Great post, Erika!
ReplyDeleteFrom Michael Pollan's Food Rules, #39: "Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself". He draws the analogy to french fries- imagine if everytime you wanted fries, you had to wash, peel, chop, and fry them yourself- then clean up the mess.
Same logic applies to paleo baking, or baking in general. Save the treats for special celebrations, and acknowledge that as treats, they do not need to be healthy- only delicious!
Great post Erika. We always harp on making healthy living a LIFESTYLE, which means that sometimes you're going to blow it, and you're always one meal from getting right back on the zone/paleo wagon! We've coined it the "Zoleo Lifestyle"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nutritionize.net/the-zoleo-philosophy.html