1. It is not as good for you as honey
2. The creation of coconut palm sugar has cut down the growth of regular coconuts driving up the price and limiting regular coconut products
3. It would be similar to maple syrup since it is a sap (which is not allowed on SCD)
4. It does contain a lot of prebiotic fiber called inulin which feeds good probiotics in the gut
I guess coconut sugar is out of the diet....Sad.....It was tasty....Back to honey. :)
Here is a response I found online:
I contacted the company Coconut Secrets directly to know more about the sugar composition of coconut nectar/sugar to see if it contained mostly sucrose (like the SCD illegal maple syrup and white sugar), or mostly free glucose and fructose (like the SCD legal honey).
Here are the answer they provided:The sugar breakdown of the fresh coconut sap directly out of the tree is 0.5% glucose, 1.5% fructose, and 16% sucrose. However, when the excess liquid is evaporated from the fresh sap to make our Coconut Nectar or Crystals, the naturally occurring sugars become more concentrated (more so in the Crystals than the Nectar), which causes the percentage of glucose to increase to approximately 8-10%, the fructose 10-12%, and the sucrose increases to nearly 74%. The good news is that the presence of inulin and FOS (soluble fiber) are the key factors that maintain the glycemic index at an average of 35 GI.
My opinion: Sucrose is the main type of sugar, which is not appropriate for either the SCD or GAPS diet. Coconut sugar/nectar would also be contained a high-fructose, or high-FODMAP sweetener. On top of that, the inulin and FOS (FODMAPs) found in this sugar can cause a lot of GI issues for people with IBS, SIBO or fructose malabsorption.
Bottom line: Stay away from it. In any case, sugar should be avoided with SIBO
Here are the answer they provided:The sugar breakdown of the fresh coconut sap directly out of the tree is 0.5% glucose, 1.5% fructose, and 16% sucrose. However, when the excess liquid is evaporated from the fresh sap to make our Coconut Nectar or Crystals, the naturally occurring sugars become more concentrated (more so in the Crystals than the Nectar), which causes the percentage of glucose to increase to approximately 8-10%, the fructose 10-12%, and the sucrose increases to nearly 74%. The good news is that the presence of inulin and FOS (soluble fiber) are the key factors that maintain the glycemic index at an average of 35 GI.
My opinion: Sucrose is the main type of sugar, which is not appropriate for either the SCD or GAPS diet. Coconut sugar/nectar would also be contained a high-fructose, or high-FODMAP sweetener. On top of that, the inulin and FOS (FODMAPs) found in this sugar can cause a lot of GI issues for people with IBS, SIBO or fructose malabsorption.
Bottom line: Stay away from it. In any case, sugar should be avoided with SIBO
Have you heard of Agave nectar? I found a bottle of Xagave at my grocery store a few months ago and decided to try it out. I loved the flavor and ate it with everything. I looked for that brand at other stores, and I couldn't find it (I need to return to original store or just break down and buy it from the supplier at Amazon.) So, I decided to try Agave blue nectar, dark. It doesn't taste pleasant. I like the fact that Agave is a low glycemic index. As I have IBS and Celiac's, I don't want to add Type 2 Diabetes. Is this also a sugar that works with Crone's?
ReplyDeleteHi Joyanne,
DeleteThanks so much for posting. :) Agave nectar is a better and natural source of sugar in general. However, the SCD diet looks at the molecular level. Compound sugars have a harder time digesting for Crohn's and can feed and out of place cells and bacteria in the bowels. Agave nectar, coconut sugar, mapel syrup, regular sugar are all more compound sugars. Only honey is a single moleculed sugar and is legal and more easily digestible for Crohn's on SCD. I agree that agave tastes a lot better...so if you can use it...enjoy it :)
When I was first diagnosed with Crohn's two years ago, I bought the book on the SCD. However, after consulting with a nutritionist/nurse, it seems that the latest research shows that maple syrup is a better sweetener option for people with gut problems than honey. She told me that the SCD was a great first step when it first came onto the scene, but lots of research and decades later, the consensus seems to be maple over honey. Too bad for me as my good friends are bee keepers!
ReplyDeleteThis is sheer nonsense. Honey is a monosaccharide. The latest research backs the fact that monosaccharides are easier to digest.
ReplyDeleteObey strict SCD to heal!
I don't consume refined sugars except for coconut sugar, which I will use only to make coconut yogurt smoothies.
ReplyDeleteI use one cup of unsweetened coconut cream with 1 tablespoon of coconut sugar and 1 probiotic supplement. I haven't been able to find a yogurt starter that doesn't contain dairy or maltodextrin (starch sugar), and sugar is needed to feed the added VSL#3 probiotic supplements.
Other than that, I don't even consume honey because tests show that most honey is not 100% pure but contains HFCS, which tastes very similar to honey. And we all know that HFCS is not allowed on the SCD diet.
Same with olive oil. It might be allowed on the SCD diet, but most olive oil is not 100% pure. It contains other vegetable oils. So I use avocado oil instead, which tastes better and has a very high smoke point.
Joy Ellen (Subduedjoy)