Honey vs white sugar!

learnerplates

Is honey any better for you than sugar?

last week I picked up a jar of honey in the supermarket, I've used it the whole week as a substitute for sugar.
I usually take 2 sugars in tea and half a spoon in no-sugared cereal, I've replace d this with one spoon of honey and half a spoon of honey respectively.
Is this any better for me?

I've gone through 3/4s of a jar in one week.

Tar.Aldarion

Bout the same I would say.

learnerplates

Are there any benefits in honey over sugar? any vitamins or anything? the label tells nothing!

Tar.Aldarion

Both contain glucose and fructose. Sugar hase glucose and fructose together whereas in honey, fructose and glucose are individual. Fructose does not convert to energy as efficiently as glucose. There are more calories in honey than sugar, but you eat less of it as it is more dense. 22kcal vs 16kcal in sugar for a teaspoon.
Honey has antiseptic, antioxidant and antibacterial properties, which you don't really need. There are no great amount of nutrients in it I believe, there may be some, dunno.

mack1

Natural food beats processed food as far as I'm concerned!

Though you should probably wean yourself off the sweet foods anyway for a whole host of reasons!

g'em

honey over white, processed sugar for sure. Honey has a moderate GI, and has a host of anti-nasty-stuff properties too. But to echo what mack has said, you may want to look at reducing your overall intake too - 3/4 of a jar per week is a *lot*

learnerplates

I've had a google on honey and of course there's nothing negative out there about it, on top of what you guys have said I think I'll carry on with the honey.

Some of the honey experts are rambling on about different types of honey of course, one thing I did notice is that the only info on the jar was that the honey was sourced from EU and Non-EU countries, I prefer sourced from Ireland only, if any one has places to get this (if it's not expensive) in Galway city please let me know, I'll have a look in the health shop.

Getting off the sweet is another topic, I'll try to wean down, it's the only sweet I get so I'm not that bothered by it.

Tar.Aldarion

I live in Galway, I'll look out for you, healthwise, the two evergreen stores etc.
I'm in there all the time anyway buying my vegetarian supplies.

Faith

Honey is a lot sweeter than sugar, so you eat less of it. That's why it's better for you. I have a small spoon of it in my porridge in the mornings - if I accidentally put a little extra in, it's unbearably sweet. A spoon of honey in a cup of tea is a lot, and considering you say you're getting through a whopping 3/4 of a jar per week, I'm imagining you drink a lot of tea. You should seriously consider reducing the amount you use. Sugar-fre cereals are grand once you get used to them. On that note, actually, what cereal is it? Because very few are actually sugar free. They may not be as obviously sugared as Frosties, but they can be as bad.

learnerplates

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

I live in Galway, I'll look out for you, healthwise, the two evergreen stores etc.
I'm in there all the time anyway buying my vegetarian supplies.

Thanks Tar.Aldarion, I'll probably get into the one on shop st this week some time any way but let me know if you find something.

learnerplates

Faith wrote: »

Honey is a lot sweeter than sugar, so you eat less of it. That's why it's better for you. I have a small spoon of it in my porridge in the mornings - if I accidentally put a little extra in, it's unbearably sweet. A spoon of honey in a cup of tea is a lot, and considering you say you're getting through a whopping 3/4 of a jar per week, I'm imagining you drink a lot of tea. You should seriously consider reducing the amount you use. Sugar-fre cereals are grand once you get used to them. On that note, actually, what cereal is it? Because very few are actually sugar free. They may not be as obviously sugared as Frosties, but they can be as bad.

The cereal I eat first thing in the morning is either weetabix or readybrek, I'll probably have a bowl of Fruit'n fibre later in the morning too. I rekon the first too are relatively sugar free.
Your right it's the tea that ups the sugar content, probably 6-7 cups per day, some of which is camomile but all have the teaspoon of honey or sugar (2 sugars in plain tea).

rubadub

Faith wrote: »

Honey is a lot sweeter than sugar, so you eat less of it. That's why it's better for you.

Yes, and it is more nutritious, table sugar is basically a chemically pure substance, devoid of nutrients. Conversely glucose is less sweet than sugar, so is used in lucozade so it is not sickly sweet.

I put a spoon of honey in a bowl and add a few drops of milk, stir/blend it in and then add a tiny bit more milk. Stir up again and now you have sweet milk, and can add the rest of the milk and you have no clumps of honey, and a uniformly sweet milk. Maple syrup is great too, but pricey.

Also you can soak raisins in milk overnight, they puff up and go juicy and the milk takes on a little taste and sweetness from them too.

fits

Faith wrote: »

Honey is a lot sweeter than sugar, so you eat less of it. .

Hmm, what kind of honey do you eat? Its really worth spending money on local varieties from small producers. They are more heterogenous in nectar source, and theres a wide range of tastes (heather honey is very different in colour and taste to clover honey for example).

As for it being less expensive than maple syrup :eek: I think you should be spending more money on your honey.

I actually physically gag on cheap honey. It generally comes from China, and often is supplemented with syrup (not 100% pure) and from one high nectar producing flower variety.

Anyway, I dont personally believe that good honey is sweeter than sugar. Theres a lot more depth to it.

Faith

fits wrote: »

Hmm, what kind of honey do you eat? Its really worth spending money on local varieties from small producers. They are more heterogenous in nectar source, and theres a wide range of tastes (heather honey is very different in colour and taste to clover honey for example).

In Edinburgh, I eat the best I can afford, but at home my uncle makes honey so we eat that. It's savage!

ApeXaviour

rubadub wrote: »

Yes, and it is more nutritious,

How?

rubadub wrote: »

table sugar is basically a chemically pure substance, devoid of nutrients.

I put to you that ingested, your metabolism can barely tell the difference.

Sucrose is a disaccharide, made up of two monosaccharides: a glucose and a fructose molecule. Honey is 80% sugar (mostly glucose and fructose) and 17% water. And any vitamins/minerals it has are paltry. That makes them overwhelmingly similar.

There is a way to make them nutritiously almost identical. Boil equal parts of water and sugar with a bit of lemon juice. The sugar will go through hydrolysis and break into (a syrup) glucose and fructose.

Most of the "natural health benefits" you hear about honey are topical treatments. It's "antibacterial" because it's got so much sugar, it osmotically draws water from bacteria, shriveling it.

IMO saying honey has a moderate GI is a bit misleading, I would say high, but if it is moderate, then it's on the high end of moderate:
http://www.mendosa.com/diabetes_update_22.htm#Honey

Though at the end of that rant, if I was forced, I'd chose honey over table sugar. It just tastes better.

learnerplates

I'd like to taste some of this local honey, but the cost is a factor, from my point of view it's only to sweeten tea and cereal so I can't really condown spending more than 5euro per jar, that's my limit.

Incidentally Dunnes has alot of brands, most of which are produced by Boyne Valley (only bottled in Ireland), only one was actually produce of Ireland unfortunately and of course was one of the most expensive:eek:

rubadub

Originally Posted by rubadub
Yes, and it is more nutritious

ApeXaviour wrote: »

How?

You went on to agree yourself. It might not be loaded with them, but has more. It is commonly used in mushroom cultivation to grow mycelium in nutrient broths, while glucose or sucrose on its own is a poor medium.

As for it being less expensive than maple syrup I think you should be spending more money on your honey.

I could probably say the same about your maple syrup. In the supermarkets maple syrup is usually ~€25 per kilo, honey is way cheaper. And if you buy it in farmers markets you could probably find even more expensive maple syrup too.

There is a way to make them nutritiously almost identical

More like chemically similar, you are not making any nutrients. This "inverting" of sugar is common with brewing, but most dont bother.

I'd chose honey over table sugar. It just tastes better

Same here. I also dont like the thought of all the unneccesary processing table sugar goes through. Odd brown sugar is not more common, just like it is odd brown bread & brown rice is not used much more.

NextSteps

learnerplates wrote: »

I prefer sourced from Ireland only, if any one has places to get this (if it's not expensive) in Galway city please let me know, I'll have a look in the health shop.

Try the market on a Saturday, usually sellers there.

learnerplates

Unfortunately I won't be around on Sat but maybe Sunday afternoon.

In the meantime I've purchased 2 Australian jars (2 for 5euro by the way), this brand and the only true Irish one were the only 2 in Dunnes which actually stated which country they were produced in!! :eek:
I'd rather buy from a known country than a combination of regions such as EU and Non-EU, I don't trust the Chinese just yet.

BTY there is a difference in taste, the honey taste is much stronger in this Oz one than the Boyne Valley.

g'em

learnerplates wrote: »

BTY there is a difference in taste, the honey taste is much stronger in this Oz one than the Boyne Valley.

oooh oooh is it the Capilano honey?? My bf is Australian and he introduced me to that - it's delicious and as you say it's slightly stronger so you only need use less, even better!

mack1

g'em wrote: »

oooh oooh is it the Capilano honey?? My bf is Australian and he introduced me to that - it's delicious and as you say it's slightly stronger so you only need use less, even better!

Not only that, but the bottle design in far superior, so when it's getting down towards the end and you have to store in upside down it doesnt fall over! Get it sorted Boyne Valley! (Man, how anal am I! You can take the man out of the engineering....)

learnerplates

That's the one. They say it's collected from hives along the coastline, the taste is very strong indeed but I'm no expert, hopefully it'll result in me cutting down on sugar intake. And as I said 2 for 5euro in Dunnes.
And yes the bottle is superior.

Have to say I was disappointed with Boyne Valley not providing an Irish version, but sure it'd be twice the price anyway.

Andy From Sligo

Sorry to resurrect this thread from years ago, but I thoughI better use this one than start a new thread.

People in this thread referring to 'table sugar' is that Granulated white Sugar?

I have started to substitute granulated sugar in my Tea and coffee (both have low fat milk) to give it a try - now, this is cheap squeezy honey from Tesco now so I suppose its not the real mccoy - but I find I have to use 1 teaspoon of Honey to make it sweet enough (was using 1 teaspoon of Granulated white sugar)

Oasis1974

Tesco are selling there own Organic honey cheap can't get my head around how they manage to be 100% sure every bee is sticking to the strict Organic code lol.

Andy From Sligo

Oasis1974 wrote:

Tesco are selling there own Organic honey cheap can't get my head around how they manage to be 100% sure every bee is sticking to the strict Organic code lol.

They get them to sign something

conzy

This is about 199 on the top 200 things you should be worried about in relation to diet / body composition etc.



Its a waste of time even considering this.

Zillah

What does food composition on that graph refer to (as contrasted with macronutrients)?

harr

learnerplates wrote: »

The cereal I eat first thing in the morning is either weetabix or readybrek, I'll probably have a bowl of Fruit'n fibre later in the morning too. I rekon the first too are relatively sugar free.
Your right it's the tea that ups the sugar content, probably 6-7 cups per day, some of which is camomile but all have the teaspoon of honey or sugar (2 sugars in plain tea).

You definitely shouldn't need honey or sugar in readybrek or fruit n fibre both cereals contain sugar as is...I can imagine fruit n fibre has a high enough sugar content...weetabix has added sugar as well.
If you can stick to porridge made with water with a tea spoon of good honey..
3/4 of a jar is quite a large amount of honey to be consuming in a week.

Mellor

harr wrote: »

weetabix has added sugar as well.
If you can stick to porridge made with water with a tea spoon of good honey..
3/4 of a jar is quite a large amount of honey to be consuming in a week.

There's little difference between for oats over cereals with added sugar - if you then go and add sugar/honey to the oats.

Zillah wrote: »

What does food composition on that graph refer to (as contrasted with macronutrients)?

I'd imagine macronutrients refers to the amount of protein/fat/carbs only. Where as food composition refers to whether those macros are sourced from clean/whole food sources, or processed junk.

harr

Mellor wrote: »

There's little difference between for oats over cereals with added sugar - if you then go and add sugar/honey to the oats.



I'd imagine macronutrients refers to the amount of protein/fat/carbs only. Where as food composition refers to whether those macros are sourced from clean/whole food sources, or processed junk.

Understand that but what the op is doing is adding sugar/honey to cereal which already has added sugars...with oats all they would be doing is adding a sweetener once rather than doubling up...

harr

Mellor wrote: »

There's little difference between for oats over cereals with added sugar - if you then go and add sugar/honey to the oats.



I'd imagine macronutrients refers to the amount of protein/fat/carbs only. Where as food composition refers to whether those macros are sourced from clean/whole food sources, or processed junk.

Understand that but what the op is doing is adding sugar/honey to cereal which already has added sugars...with oats all they would be doing is adding a sweetener once rather than doubling up...

Field east

If honey is heated above 102 degrees F , the taste changes very significantly.this is because it changes some of its constituent components e.g. enzymes. This factor alone significantly differentiates it from sugar. They say that the more local honey is the greater are its health benefits.

Another point. Put a jar of local honey from a well known producer beside a jar of shop/imported honey and observe how fast the air bubble travels to the bottom end of the jar. Make sure both are at the same temperature. If the bubble in one reaches the bottom end we'll before the bubble in the other jar then it is because it contains much more water. Honey is very hygroscopic.

A good honey producer, once she/he removes the supers containing the honey from a hive, will immediately process the honey and jar it - usually done in late Aug/Sept (a time when air humidity is low). Some of these local producers will put the supers into a room with a dehumidifier until they are ready to process -centrifuge the frames containing the honey - there are 12 frames per super.
You will find that this honey will be much thicker than most of the 'shop'/imported honey sourced from major importers/blenders

Mellor

Field east wrote: »

If honey is heated above 102 degrees F , the taste changes very significantly.this is because it changes some of its constituent components e.g. enzymes. This factor alone significantly differentiates it from sugar.

They claim it makes it toxic, surely that a negative compared to plain sugar.

They say that the more local honey is the greater are its health benefits.

I've heard that too, but it makes no sense logically when you think about it.

zedhead

harr wrote: »

You definitely shouldn't need honey or sugar in readybrek or fruit n fibre both cereals contain sugar as is...I can imagine fruit n fibre has a high enough sugar content...weetabix has added sugar as well.
If you can stick to porridge made with water with a tea spoon of good honey..
3/4 of a jar is quite a large amount of honey to be consuming in a week.

There is no added sugar in original readybrek - it is just oats that are milled much finer than regular porridge oats. The chocolate version has sugar but not the regular one.

Space Dog

Mellor wrote: »

They claim it makes it toxic, surely that a negative compared to plain sugar.

Who are "They"? I can only find some Ayurvedic websites with this claim, not sure I would believe that...

Mellor

Space Dog wrote: »

Who are "They"? I can only find some Ayurvedic websites with this claim, not sure I would believe that...

The raw honey mafia

bee06

The less sugar/honey you eat the less you need to eat for the "sweet" taste. I gave up sugar a year ago and eat porridge with nothing else in it. Before I gave up sugar if you gave me a bowl of porridge without two spoons of sugar I wouldn't have been able to eat it. There are certain foods now that I can't eat because the natural sugar in them makes them taste too sweet like parsnip.

I gave up sugar for medical reasons and I won't speak to the benefits of completely cutting out sugar under normal circumstances but if you do want to reduce your sugar intakes you'll stop noticing the lack of sugar after about 3-4 weeks. I also seems to get less colds, sore throats this winter compared to before. Apparently sugar compromises your immune system but I'll give it another year before I'll swear it was sugar free rather than luck.