One day I was shopping in our local health food store and was just about to pick up a container of agave, when an elderly lady said to me I might as well buy regular sugar! Well I came home and researched it and while I can't find the exact site here is the low down on agave...I think that MLT is right in her choice of stevia....
http://naturalbias.com/agave-nectar-healthy-or-hype/

I'd been hearing that agave is worse than previously thought. I don't feel its impact on my body the way I did with sugar, though. But I have trouble with maple syrup, so maybe it's an individual thing. I'd heard mixed things about stevia. Is that really safe? I had baked goods with it from a health food bakery when it fist came out, and they were awful. If anyone tries the mousse with it and it tastes ok, let me know. I do need to be careful about my blood sugar.

ML, agave is a plant-based sweetener. Others are coconut sugar and date sugar. I guess (sigh) the best thing to do is to eat less sweet food.

I think that you can hear just about anything on the internet, and that doesn't make it true. I think it depends on who is spreading the word. I think if you cut back on any kind of sugar, you'll be fine. But especially cut back on white sugar and white sugar with molasses added, because they are both overprocessed and bad. Also stay away from high fructose corn syrup because it most likely comes from GMO corn.

Last night I made some green tea. It was a sample a friend brought back from the Health convention in LA last weekend. I thought it would be ok, even though it didn't say organic. It was awful. It had flavoring added. You can tell when flavor is added cuz the smell attacks your nose! LOL I mixed it half and half with some peony white tea, added my homemade ginger juice and a tad of maple syrup. I couldn't taste the ginger there was so much "flavor" added. It actually gave me a tummy ache and I threw most of it down the sink.

I threw the rest of the samples away.
Company name is Malabar Productos Naturales De Mexico al Mundo
Natural products from Mexico to the world. HA HA
Their website isn't up yet or I would have sent a scathing email. LOL
http://www.malabar.com.mx
I'd probably have to use google translate! LOL

I just made another batch, I was wondering how come I had SO MANY avocados: then it hit me! I bought them to make mousse! LOL Since they are so big, I added about 25% more cocoa powder and used maple syrup and agave nectar. It turned out luscious. I froze 3/4 of it. We dipped apple slices in the mousse, as I think I said earlier....but then last night I tried something new and it was delicious. I toasted some whole wheat bread, put a wee bit of butter on it and then slathered it with 1-2 T mousse. wow, yummy. This morning, I took a whole wheat flat bread, put some almond butter on it, about 3-4T of mousse and then rolled it around a ripe peeled banana. Wow, breakfast with healthy chocolate! yummy.

Sounds yummy. Another idea I've been trying is filling strawberries with mousse after cutting out the stem. I must try mousse and almond butter; how could that not be divine? Today I wrote to the woman who gave me the recipe and thanked her. It is just so good.

ooh, strawberries and mousse

My add: Mint!

I love the white tea scene in my head, MAK.

Avacodo size good point.

Agave seems to be on the outskieees these days, so your reduction sounds better to me.
I prefer dark bittersweet/semi sweet, too.

my agave is gone, so I won't be getting anymore.
Mint sounds dreamy.
We shop at an organic coop and got some fresh ginger root. I'm thinking about adding some of that too.

I just made a new batch of my energy bars and they are the best! I used 50% more oats and organic ones, what a difference organic can make.

What will you use as a sweetener instead?

I used maple syrup, it's actually got a nice glycemic index. 54, I think the cut off is 55. Agave has a glycemic index of 10-30, depending on the processing. I am reading Dr Mercola's article warning against agave and I'm shaking my head. It says that fructose is a bad sugar. It's the sugar in most fruit. It says that eating too much fructose overworks the liver and that the liver deems it alcohol, and that it causes a beer belly.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mercola/agave-this-sweetener-is-f_b_537936.html

If that is true, then how the hell did I loste30 pounds one summer eating nothing but fruit and drop 2-3 sizes? My belly had never been smaller! LOL

I really don't know what to believe on this disinformation hiway. LOL And it's funny, as soon as someone like Mercola posts something it goes viral and seems to gain credibility. I can only go my personal experience. I do not have a beer belly, not even now. I regained the 30 pounds a long long time ago, after my jealous mother put me down as anorexic. She is fat, no she is obese, 5' 4" and over 200 pounds. Put glasses on the Quaker Oats guy and you know what my mom looks like. :-) When I showed up looking super gorgeous all she could do was criticize me, but honestly, I never felt better in my life than I did then. I'd love to lose that 30 pounds again! LOL I was never fat, just one of the bigger taller girls in school. 5'8" and 155 pounds. I loved weighing 127. I figured that if I could hold it for awhile and then gain back 10 or even 15 pounds, it would be good. Even at 127 my BMI was good. Ideal weight for 5' 8" is 140, so I went from 15 pounds over to 15 pounds under that. :-)

Fructose has a very low glycemic index, about 19. Table sugar has a GI of 65 and honey (usually about 50% fructose content) has a GI of 55. I guess a banana is a good source of fructose and a great sweetener as well.

I used maple syrup, it's actually got a nice glycemic index. 54, I think the cut off is 55. Agave has a glycemic index of 10-30, depending on the processing. I am reading Dr Mercola's article warning against agave and I'm shaking my head. It says that fructose is a bad sugar. It's the sugar in most fruit. It says that eating too much fructose overworks the liver and that the liver deems it alcohol, and that it causes a beer belly.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-me...

If that is true, then how the hell did I lose 30 pounds one summer eating nothing but fruit and drop 2-3 sizes? My belly had never been smaller! LOL

I really don't know what to believe on this disinformation hiway. LOL And it's funny, as soon as someone like Mercola posts something it goes viral and seems to gain credibility. I can only go my personal experience. I do not have a beer belly, not even now. I regained the 30 pounds a long long time ago, after my jealous mother put me down as anorexic. She is fat, no she is obese, 5' 4" and over 200 pounds. Put glasses on the Quaker Oats guy and you know what my mom looks like. :-) When I showed up looking super gorgeous all she could do was criticize me, but honestly, I never felt better in my life than I did then. I'd love to lose that 30 pounds again! LOL I was never fat, just one of the bigger taller girls in school. 5'8" and 155 pounds. I loved weighing 127. I figured that if I could hold it for awhile and then gain back 10 or even 15 pounds, it would be good. Even at 127 my BMI was good. Ideal weight for 5' 8" is 140, so I went from 15 pounds over to 15 pounds under that. :-)

Fructose has a very low glycemic index, about 19. Table sugar has a GI of 65 and honey (usually about 50% fructose content) has a GI of 55. I guess a banana is a good source of fructose and a great sweetener as well.

I used maple syrup, it's actually got a nice glycemic index. 54, I think the cut off is 55. Agave has a glycemic index of 10-30, depending on the processing. I am reading Dr Mercola's article warning against agave and I'm shaking my head. It says that fructose is a bad sugar. It's the sugar in most fruit. It says that eating too much fructose overworks the liver and that the liver deems it alcohol, and that it causes a beer belly.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mercola/agave-this-sweetener-is-f_b_537936.html

If that is true, then how the hell did I loste30 pounds one summer eating nothing but fruit and drop 2-3 sizes? My belly had never been smaller! LOL

I really don't know what to believe on this disinformation hiway. LOL And it's funny, as soon as someone like Mercola posts something it goes viral and seems to gain credibility. I can only go my personal experience. I do not have a beer belly, not even now. I regained the 30 pounds a long long time ago, after my jealous mother put me down as anorexic. She is fat, no she is obese, 5' 4" and over 200 pounds. Put glasses on the Quaker Oats guy and you know what my mom looks like. :-) When I showed up looking super gorgeous all she could do was criticize me, but honestly, I never felt better in my life than I did then. I'd love to lose that 30 pounds again! LOL I was never fat, just one of the bigger taller girls in school. 5'8" and 155 pounds. I loved weighing 127. I figured that if I could hold it for awhile and then gain back 10 or even 15 pounds, it would be good. Even at 127 my BMI was good. Ideal weight for 5' 8" is 140, so I went from 15 pounds over to 15 pounds under that. :-)

Fructose has a very low glycemic index, about 19. Table sugar has a GI of 65 and honey (usually about 50% fructose content) has a GI of 55. I guess a banana is a good source of fructose and a great sweetener as well.

I've read the anti-fructose stuff as well and was confused. But if you don't believe it, why aren't you buying more agave? What about coconut sugar or date sugar? I need a good sweetener.
Also, last time I used right between 1/2 and 3/4 of agave. Next time I'll try 1/2 cup. I used to think I had a strong sweet tooth, but it's really more of a chocolate tooth. I love dark, 85% chocolate, so 1/2 cup may be enough. Of course, i have hass avs, which are small.

date sugar is one of the highest glycemic index. 102 I think.
The agave is not my first choice, maple syrup is. I also have some sucanat. THe agave just happened to be organic and a gallon was about $25 at Costco awhile back. If they get it again, I may get one, who knows?
I do use bananas to sweeten some things. I find that vanilla and cinnamon are also sweet, so is licorice root, though it has a strong flavor as well.

You're a good size, Mak. I'm 5'9" and weigh around 140-145 (it fluctuates), and I feel good at this size. I was way thin...121 when I graduated from high school, and quite sickly with constant colds/allergies.

I eat a lot of fruit, and it has never given me a "beer belly." In fact, it helps with digestion so much, that my stomach is actually flatter than when I'm not eating a lot of it. I'm discounting Mercola's findings completely! :-)