The Sugar Games: May the Calories Be Ever in Your Favor

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As the mother of a two-year-old, one of my more pressing concerns is making sure that I’m providing a relatively balanced and healthy diet for my family. It’s not always easy, what with all the preservatives and trans fats and high fructose corn syrup, but I try.

Sweeteners are one of my biggest battles. It started during my pregnancy after spending countless hours learning about the dangers of artificial sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin (the lesson in a nutshell: saccharin is bad, all others are okay in moderation). So when a company called betterbody foods sent me a sample of a natural sweetener called Xagave, I was immediately intrigued.

Xagave is made from Agave Tequiliana (Blue Agave) and Agave Salmiana (White Agave) plants and can be used as a sweetener in just about any recipe in which you’d normally use sugar.

Sweeteners made from the agave plant exist in several forms, but as the Xagave website points out, not all agave nectar sweeteners are created equal. Xagave’s Blue Agave and White Agave blend is unique, and “provides the best tasting, best cooking qualities, most versatile and healthiest product on the market.”

“I’ll be the judge of that!” was my first thought as a skeptical mom.

I was thinking mainly about the “best cooking qualities” claim, so I decided to put Xagave to the test by swapping out my plain white sugar or artificial sweetener in three dishes: my morning coffee (so long Sweet n’ Low), homemade chocolate chip cookies, and a batch of my husband’s “world famous” baked beans (his description, not mine). I’m happy to report that all three recipes tasted great and were virtually indistinguishable from their predecessors.

As for the “healthiest” claim, Xagave does contain 60 calories per tablespoon, compared to roughly 45 calories in a tablespoon of sugar, but considering that you substitute 1/2 cup of Xagave for every cup of sugar, you actually end up cutting calories with Xagave. Xagave also trumps sugar by offering 10 percent of your daily recommendation of fiber and 17 percent of calcium (sugar offers none of either). Specific health benefits of Xagave include improved energy, enhanced immune system, reduced risk of heart disease and other perks, which you can read about on their website.

Long story short, if you’re shopping for a sugar substitute for your family, I’d definitely add Xagave to the short list of replacement options!

For a chance to win a bottle of Xagave and a cookbook using Xagave, enter using the rafflecopter below. Again, you don’t have to participating in all of the tasks, but each one is worth additional entries!

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Comments

  1. fingers crossed =]

  2. Thanks for this SWEET Giveaway! I’ve been using Stevia and would love to try this 🙂

  3. Crossing my fingers! Want to try this 🙂

  4. I’ve never heard of this. Interesting, Thanks!

  5. I would like to try this. Sweeteners are a battle with me as well. I can never find one I like,so it’s always plain sugar for me.

  6. Thanks I would like to try this.

  7. Wow, this is really interesting. I’m working on lowering my family’s sugar intake but I despise artificial sweeteners. I’ll have to give this a try!

  8. Great review. I don’t use artificial sweeteners at all. I use natural products this sounds like it would be great!

  9. Never heard ofthis before, butsounds like a great substitute

  10. I can’t do saccharin, so this might help allot, thanks for sharing! have a great day!

  11. This sounds great. I would love to try this! Thanks for the giveaway 🙂

  12. I would like to try this product, I like how the giveaway includes a cookbook

  13. Momma on the Rocks Momma on the Rocks says:

    I really enjoyed using it! Hope you guys do too!

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