CrossFit Invictus recently posted an article about the misconceptions about “paleo” sweeteners. Often times, agave, honey, and maple syrup are touted as paleo simply because of their ‘natural’ origin (i.e. little or no processing) or their lower glycemic index. However, few take into consideration the glycemic load. This site is a great source for both numbers and explains the difference pretty well:

The glycemic index (GI) is a numerical system of measuring how much of a rise in circulating blood sugar a carbohydrate triggers–the higher the number, the greater the blood sugar response. So a low GI food will cause a small rise, while a high GI food will trigger a dramatic spike. A GI is 70 or more is high, a GI of 56 to 69 inclusive is medium, and a GI of 55 or less is low.

A GI value tells you only how rapidly a particular carbohydrate turns into sugar. It doesn’t tell you how much of that carbohydrate is in a serving of a particular food. You need to know both things to understand a food’s effect on blood sugar. That is where glycemic load comes in. The carbohydrate in watermelon, for example, has a high GI. But there isn’t a lot of it, so watermelon’s glycemic load is relatively low. A GL of 20 or more is high, a GL of 11 to 19 inclusive is medium, and a GL of 10 or less is low.

So, with this understanding, let’s go back and look at “agave nectar,” which is widely marketed as a natural way to sweeten your food. Thanks to Invictus Coach George Economou, who did some digging, agave is actually processed to produce “hydrolyzed fructose extract.” Sound Paleo to you? Me neither. And, if that didn’t convince you, check out these facts he dug up about fructose:

* Fructose is mostly only processed to glycogen by the liver. When you force the liver to work so hard to metabolize abnormal amounts of it, the long-term effects are disastrous. One study showed that the“livers of rats on a high fructose diet looked like the livers of alcoholics, plugged with fat and cirrhotic.”
* Excess fructose not processed by the liver turns into triglycerides (blood fats). This is bad and can potentially lead to metabolic syndrome.
* Even with the low GI, fructose gives as high a blood sugar spike as glucose, leading to insulin resistance and Type II Diabetes.

Moral of the story? Don’t fool yourself in thinking that “natural” sweeteners are the loophole to having your cake and eating it too. Stay strict and save it for that weekly or bi-weekly cheat meal. Personally, I’m with George when it comes to that cheat dessert: Go big or go home.

More on other “natural” sugars to come.

WOD 11.03.09

AMRAP 15
10 PJ
15 HPC
20 Double Unders