COCO-Nutty goodness.

I ran across something new yesterday!!  
(I love it when I do that.)

At Lifetime Fitness' Life Cafe in North Dallas they have a sweetener sitting on the counter that I had never seen before. So, since I used to work there and have some connections, I took some pictures of the bottle and got a little souffle cup of some and took it home.  This morning, I tried it on my waffles. (That is what the bottle showed to do with it, so why the heck not, right?)

The Bottle had some great information on it, Mainly that the coconut nectar is derived from the flower blossoms on the coconut tree and not from coconuts themselves, which explains why it doesn't taste like coconut. 
It also states that it has "17 amino acids, Vitamin C, broad spectrum B vitamins, and a nearly neutral pH"
 
Although the first line almost pissed me off enough to not want to try it at all, I did anyway. 
But, come on, really? "When both our parents suddenly became diabetic"???  Seriously?  No one becomes "suddenly diabetic" unless of course you take the route my father in law did and electrocute your pancreas.  It makes me wonder how BOTH parents "Suddenly" became diabetic, because that is just bad luck if its genetic, and would have presented itself much sooner then after they had kids....so it make me wonder if they both had bad diets and were obese.......then of course it makes me wonder if I really want to trust a product that came about in such a way, or by people that will use their parents diabetes as a selling point......ok, I digress,......Back to research.

The great thing about this product is the Ingredients. Do you see that??  ONE. Its lovely when I find products that have 5 ingredients or less, but just ONE? Awesome. 


It is not a low calorie sweetener, but that is a good thing.  Whenever a product says low calorie or no calories, and it is not water, then I worry.
EVERYTHING has calories. (except water) But the FDA has ruled that if there is .5 or less PER SERVING then you can count it as 0. So companies with change the serving until it hits .5 then make it say 0. So you have 2 servings, and BAM, you have 1 calorie. So when you are consuming 10 servings because you think that you can since it has "no calories" then you are actually consuming what is called "hidden calories" so just quit letting all the marketing lie to you and understand that NOTHING but water has 0 calories. (it is the same with everything on labels, so if it says it has Zero Trans fats per serving, then look at the ingredients, most times it still has some in it, and they are just using a loop hole to reel people in)  ok, I digress again.......back to coconut sap.

This was breakfast, I wanted to try it on waffles (since, like I said, that is what the picture showed) and that way I could taste its true flavor. Honestly, I have heard from more then one source, that by itself it is not good, but I liked it. It had a smooth nutty sort of flavor. It reminded me of a syrup similar to Molasses or Sorghum yet a little milder. It is definitely something I would just eat on waffles or pancakes.


I did not get enough to try in cookies or anything, but I have read good things about its uses in baking.

HAPPY HUMP DAY AND GOOD EATING!

May all your food be good and good for you, 

and all your calories be worth it! ;)

Need more Culture in your life??

Everyone tells you that there is live cultures in yogurt, but what the heck does that mean?  That there are live little things crawling around in your yogurt?  well, lets discuss. :)  


"The words "live and active cultures" refer to the living organisms, Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, which convert pasteurized milk to yogurt during fermentation. Note that the milk is pasteurized before culturing to remove any harmful bacteria. The process is very similar to that used when making beer, wine or cheese, in that beneficial organisms ferment and transform the basic food. This fermentation process is what creates yogurt, with its unique taste, texture and healthful attributes." -aboutyogurt.com

"Yogurt is made by adding two types of cultures - Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus - to warm milk. The bacteria convert the milk's sugar to lactic acid, which gives yogurt its unique flavor. Due to the presence of the acid, the proteins change their structure, forming a delicate gel. Other type of cultures, such as L. acidophilus and Bifidus cultures, can be found in some yogurts.

 Studies have shown that to get the benefits of the cultures, they have to be live when consumed. 

Overview of Yogurt's Health Attributes

Physicians have long recognized yogurt as a healthy, wholesome food for the whole family. A growing body of medical and scientific research examines yogurt's healthful properties:

Osteoporosis
One out of two women and one out of eight men will develop osteoporosis. Studies show that a diet high in calcium can help slow bone loss, thereby preserving bone mass and reducing the risk of developing this debilitating disease. Calcium-rich yogurt may also lessen the effects of osteoporosis among the elderly, as well as slow bone loss in post-menopausal women.

Hypertension
As many as 50 million Americans suffer from hypertension, or high blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease. When your family eats lowfat yogurt, they're getting calcium, potassium, and magnesium - three nutrients that have been shown to reduce hypertension. Studies also show that a calcium-rich diet helps regulate blood pressure in women during and after pregnancy.

Lactose Intolerance
The inability to digest lactose, the natural sugar in milk, results from a deficiency of the enzyme lactase in the body. Studies have shown that the live and active cultures present in yogurt allow it to be eaten by many of the more than one quarter of American adults who ordinarily experience lactose intolerance with other dairy products.

(**Notice that it says ADULTS, they found that the possible side effects to youth with lactose intolerance was not worth the study, so they did not do it.  I agree that it was very socially conscience of them to not test this out on children. But that means that there is no real research to determine whether children with lactose intolerance can eat yogurt or not. If you wish to try this out with your kids, please talk to your allergist first and do the test however they suggest.)

Colon Cancer
New studies indicate that calcium may reduce the risk of colon cancer. Furthermore, other studies have found that populations that eat large amounts of yogurt, or other fermented milk products, seem to have a lower risk of developing certain types of cancer, especially colon cancer. Ongoing studies are being conducted to confirm this relationship.

Yeast Infections
Vaginal yeast infections affect nearly 12 million women each year. Research suggests that when eaten regularly, yogurt-containing L. acidophilus, a culture found in some yogurts, may decrease yeast growth and infection in certain individuals.

Immune System
Studies suggest that live and active culture yogurt may enhance the immune systems of certain individuals by boosting certain markers associated with a healthy immune system."

(This means that based on your genetics, yogurt can boost the natural genetic markers in your system and thereby boosting your immune system, but it will not work as well on others, but the benefits aside from that if you just relied on the Calcium and the Live and active cultures to fight off infections, then you still receive a good amount of benefits.)

  
("Some yogurt products are heat-treated after fermentation, which kills most of the beneficial active cultures found in the yogurt. To help you identify those yogurt products that contain live and active cultures, the National Yogurt Association (NYA) has established a special Live & Active Cultures seal. The NYA is a national non-profit trade organization whose purpose is to sponsor health and medical research for yogurt with live and active cultures and serve as an information source to the trade and the general public. The Live & Active Culture seal, which appears on refrigerated and frozen yogurt containers, helps you recognize those products containing significant amounts of live and active cultures. The seal is a voluntary identification available to all manufacturers of refrigerated yogurt whose products contain at least 100 million cultures per gram at the time of manufacture, and whose frozen yogurt contains at least 10 million cultures per gram at the time of manufacture. Since the seal program is voluntary, some yogurt products may have some live cultures but not carry the seal. It is, however, the industry validation of the presence and activity of significant levels of live cultures." -yogurt.com)  Who would have thought that that there was a yogurt association.  :)

 Coming from someone that is not very fond of Yogurt, I have found many ways that I can eat it. With fresh fruit and granola, it offsets the texture issue I have with it. Or I mix up smoothies with it instead of milk. :)  Only Heat kills the live cultures, so as long as you do not cook it, then you will retain the live cultures and the benefits. :)

So start getting all those benefits today! 

A big thank you to the AboutYogurt.com for all their amazing articles that I got all this information from!  

Its a great read if you want to check out all the other parts of their site, which has a recipe tab. :)