We humans are born with a natural preference for sweet flavors, so it is not surprising that we enjoy our desserts. We do, however, tend to overindulge in them. It is said that we need to experience on our tongues all five of the basic tastes – sweet, salty, sour, bitter and pungent to feel satisfied. So attempting to forego sweets completely might be an error. What we try to do is find better options for sweet flavors.
We absolutely do not recommend the use of refined white sugar — sucrose – or any sweeteners related to it, such as molasses, brown sugar or evaporated cane juice. Sucrose is absorbed relatively quickly, and enters the bloodstream where it can feed cancer cells and have other ill effects on the body. We also do not recommend high-fructose corn syrup or honey. Nor do we recommend artificial sweeteners. The best sweetener for your desserts are fruit and fruit purees. But using just fruit all the time can feel limiting and frustrating, which we feel ultimately undermines our patients’ ability to stick with our full dietary recommendations.
Aside from fruit, we recommend sticking with natural sweeteners such as brown rice syrup, agave, maple syrup and the two non-caloric sweeteners on the market, stevia and lo han quo. None of the calorie-containing sweeteners are exactly health foods. However, if you limit yourself to small amounts of them, using just a teaspoon or two on average, in the context of a healthful plant-based diet with plenty of fiber and protein from beans, fish and other recommended protein sources, we feel your health will generally not be harmed (diabetics may need to take other precautions). This means you can have a treat made with a natural sweetener a couple of times a week, depending on the recipe you use.
Baking is a particular problem if you are trying to avoid sugar in your diet. It can be challenging to bake with brown rice syrup, which tastes only half as sweet as refined sugar, though special recipes are easily available. This can be fine on the taste buds after you have weaned yourself from heavily sugared items, but a challenge before then. Pure maple syrup not only adds sweetening power to desserts but also a wonderful flavor that’s particularly suited to certain recipes. But note that maple syrup may naturally contain up 60% sucrose, so you will need to limit its use. Pure agave is sweeter than refined sugar, which means you can use less of it and still get a sweet taste. It’s worth looking on the internet for agave brands that have lower amounts of fructose and a lower glycemic index than other brands. In baking with agave, you can substitute just 2/3 or 3/4 as much agave as the amount of sugar called for in a recipe. Because agave is a liquid, the amount of other liquids in recipes needs to be reduced. Many agave brands list suggested adjustments, and recipes adapted for agave are widely available.
Stevia can be used for baking with specially adapted recipes, but watch out for baking mixes that combine stevia with refined sugar. The non-caloric sweeteners are more easily used for sweetening drinks, but can be used in baking with specially adapted recipes. Stevia brands can vary in sweetness by as much as 300%, so you may need to experiment with stevia recipes to get a taste you like. Some stevia brands have a slight bitter taste but newer brands have corrected this issue.
The sugar alcohols, such as xylitol, sorbitol and erythritol, and mildly sweet ingredients such as inulin can also be used in baking. Sugar alcohols do not raise blood sugar as much as sucrose, but many people experience gastrointestinal problems after eating them, so we do not recommend them as highly as natural sweeteners. Sugar alcohols also lack the caramelizing (browning) properties of the natural sweeteners. Several of the sugar alcohols have a cooling sensation in the mouth that may not be desired with desserts. There are some other alternative natural sweeteners, such as yacon, but they can be expensive or hard to find in some areas.
Some people are perfectly happy without any sweet treats or desserts. But most cancer patients don’t want to feel excluded from life’s sweetness, and that includes sweet foods. Our recommendations eliminate the sweeteners that we feel really compromise your health, and replace them with the sweeteners that are less harmful and less problematic for cooking. If you feel you need further counseling about sweets or other aspects of food, we suggest either a phone or in-person consultation with our team.
Please see an apple crisp recipe we have included below. Enjoy!
https://blockmd.com/blog/apple-crisp-with-optional-caramelized-sauce