More thoughts on agave...

There is a new article on Mercola.com about the "evils" of agave - worse for you than HFCS! It's very easy to believe every word of this article, and start dumping any agave you may have down the drain. But what I'd like to know, before I jump on the "agave is the devil" bandwagon, is who paid for the studies that produced this new information? Was it paid for by the stevia people? Or the sugar people? Or some other competitor? I trust Dr. Mercola as a good source of information, but it is still important to check the original source of that information. And Mercola has been known to make a retraction or two in the past.

There is one tiny little paragraph buried in the article that caught my eye the second time I read it through: "It is worth mentioning that some websites mention that a natural raw agave product does exist in Mexico, made from the actual sap of the agave, but availability is limited because it is so expensive to produce. By far, the vast majority of agave syrups offered commercially are not this unprocessed raw agave from the sap." Nothing more is said about this, but it does mean that raw, unprocessed agave does exist somewhere in the world.

I personally don't purchase agave found in stores. I order mine from Ultimate Super Foods online, and they do sell a RAW agave. If you just compare the color and consistency of what I buy with what's found in stores, there is a profound difference. I will try contacting Ultimate Super Foods to learn whether the agave I've been purchasing from them is truly unprocessed raw agave or not, now that I'm armed with new information.

I truly believe it's a good practice to not immediately cry wolf without doing some investigating first. This is true about any incendiary information! And I also believe it's a good practice to limit ANY sweeteners in your diet, including raw honey. Stay tuned...

Augusta