Private Dear Letter

Dear Richard,

I have been going on a lifetime change health journey, and I'm confused about honey (not my queen wife’s nickname, but the sticky stuff that come from those little flower workers that buzz around). Could you explain to me if it's better than refined sugar?

You should know that almost a month ago, in a dark moment, I created and enrolled myself in a NO PS (No Poison Sugar) challenge where I was not allowed to have sugar for a whole month. This week, I will have a small amount of sugar, should I just shove spoonful of the poison in my mouth? Should I find an alternate solution?

I should add that before taking on this challenge, I was already un-addicted to the poison; I had no shakes from the withdrawal, no dream of sugar plums and no sweet and sour mood swings; so for ME this was easy and not that big a deal, but crossing the finish line will still be sweet.

Yours truly,

Me

Dear me,

What a coincidence, I was thinking exactly the same thing this morning. Now don't get into a hive about it, relax and learn.

Let me just remind myself that I have no formal training to answer such a sucrose question. Based on the short research I did this morning, and since there were no pictures involved and I only read part of the text, it might not be the most accurate answer.

Everyone seems to agree: A spoon full of honey has more calories than a spoon full of the (what's the technical term? Oh yah) of the shit. But honey is sweeter so you don't need to shove a whole spoon full to get the same high tasting sensation . So if we keep track, it’s 1 point for honey because it's good and yummy, but - .5 because it's higher in calorie. So total = .5 FOR honey

Also, honey is natural whereas the poison is refined and gets processed so much that a nuclear plant is less harmful for your health. Well the part about the nuclear plant might be coming from me reading a lot between the lines. Honey is heated to prevent it from turning into a jar of stone and to stop fermentation from happening during storage. The refined crap is so refined (in a bad way), it removes any health value in the process and becomes what is affectionately called “empty calories”. Honey scores again: 1 point!

Honey has vitamins and minerals, the empty-calories-over processed-nasty-stuff doesn't. SCORE again + 2 points for honey.

All Bears love honey! + .5 points.

But all bears want to get fat before winter! - .5 points.

You can buy honey in nice looking glass jars where the other stuff comes in ugly paper bags. Another + .5 points.

Glass jar is bad for the environment. - .5 points.

Dear ME, in conclusion, with a score of 3.5 points, honey wins the game. However, moderation is still the key.

Richard

No Phd, No doctorate, No nutritionist, No background (Christiane (aka the queen bee) here: Oh but what a sweet man)