I shudder when my kids bring home sweets, candies and junk food from school. These snacks always go to our part-time helper, the guards at our condo or straight to the bin.  Well, I do allow some allowances, only on ‘healthy’ sinful snacks by buying only non-GMO chips, organic chips and chips made with minimal ingredients and food additives.

I was sweetly delighted when I spotted a good range of organic sweets from a supermarket recently.

The price of each bag of candy drop is  5-6 times more than the price of non-organic ones.  But it’s ok. It’s the quality that counts (and not quantity) and I really do not mind spending a little more on organic products.

Our girls always pester me to buy them candies but I hardly ever give in. It’s their father who always gives in! Now, I can offer them these candies.

How I miss A&W root beer and now it’s available in YumEarth Organics candy drops. I wanted to get a bag for the kids but they didn’t like root beer.

They chose a bag of fruit candy drops.

I was happy to note that no high fructose corn syrup is used to process these candies.  Almost every ingredient is organic.

Sugar has been repeatedly demonized by some health experts as if it were the monolithic cause of insulin resistance, obesity and tooth decay. There’s always something wrong with generalizations such as this as it is an unfair act to lynch the good with the bad. Not all sugars are evil, the same way that not all saturated fats are bad.

In terms of availability, versatility, convenience, texture, price, eco-friendliness, and nutrition the best substitute for the ubiquitous white sugar is perhaps organic cane sugar.

Organic cane sugar is unrefined sugar minus the cancer-causing and environmentally damaging pesticides present in conventionally grown sugarcane.

Compared to white sugar, organic cane sugar has the full-bodied taste of sugarcane and is much less processed, retaining a lot of the nutrients present in cane juice. Unrefined cane sugar contains 17 amino acids, 11 minerals, and 6 vitamins, including antioxidants that may help reverse oxidative damage. It is made up of sucrose, fructose, and glucose.

Table sugar is just sucrose and calories, plus traces of chemicals utilized in the refining process such as lime, sulphur dioxide, and phosphoric acid. Organic cane sugar is not like brown sugar, which is white sugar with molasses thrown back in.

Even good sugars should be consumed within healthy limits. While organic cane sugar is much better than white and brown sugar it would be a very prudent move to consume it in conservative amounts.

Though there is a bag of candies in the kitchen counter now (which is rare), the kids are not binging on them. They know their limits and they know that sugar is bad and too much of it can cause diabetes, obesity and cancer. I’m glad that our kids are not addicted to junk food and sugar. But still, I know I should not totally ban them from access as they may rebel out of frustration and curiosity one day and binge to their hearts’ content on junk food. I certainly wouldn’t want this to happen.