With all the press about HFCS changing it's name, I've been reading way too many articles & blogs & opinions about it all. And I have to admit, I'm now confused!?
I understand that all sugars are not equal....but all fructose is equal, right? So if fructose is metabolized differently than glucose & sucrose (in a bad way, leading to CV disease & DM & obesity) then how is honey (high in fructose) any better? Or agave nectar? My gut instinct tells me that anything derived naturally and not contrived out of corn is better. But why? My gut also tells me that sugar is bad, no matter what. Then again, apples are very high in fructose. Hmmm.
I agree. all sugar is bad in medium to large doses (much less the extremely large doses many american's get given that HFCS, CS, and sugar are in practically everything). That said, some sugar isn't as bad for you as others. To me, it breaks down to a few things:
-Having something good in it, which often also slightly slows down the metabolisation of sugar/makes it easier on the body (only slightly though. it's still sugar). such as the large amounts of minerals in maple syrup or the enzymes in honey. In an apple, this might be fiber which makes it digest a bit different. It's a whole food though.
-Is it a whole food or is it refined?
I don't think agave is better than HFCS. I don't know for sure (it's so controversial. people love or hate it), but since I have so many much better and tastier sweetners at my disposal, I don't feel a need to really research the issue and find out. Yes it's much much cheaper, but we use sugars so sparingly it's not a big issue, and you can get honey and palm sugar quite cheap if you shop around.
In terms of why something more natural and not chemically derived from corn is better, honestly, my answer is because it's natural. I don't know every little element (not chemical element but like.. peices (enzymes, minerals, other things etc) that's in say, honey, or maple syrup, and maybe there are some that haven't been discovered. Also, to me, food is so much more than the nutrients and the science. Food is also about the energy and the love and the intention. monoculture corn (even if it's organic and gmo free) unnaturally turned into sweetner just isn't what I want to be putting into my body vs sap from a maple which was simply boiled down, or honey from bees. Different intention. Like a pp, I only eat corn in corn form, that is ears of corn, or corn that has simply been dried (or nixtamalized and dried) and milled.
In terms of eating fruit, I don't think you should eat huge amounts of fruit, or rely on it for many nutrients (more veggies less fruit basically.) That said, we sometimes eat lots of fruit in the summer. Which I think it natural and healthy. But 3-4 servings of fruit a day in the winter? I think your better served by increasing your veggies. I eat fruit for the deliciousness and sometimes that means gorging on fruit but more often it's not very much fruit at all. again it's moderation. (though it's more yearly moderation than daily moderation. I eat 85% or more of my years fruit consumption in about 5 months from june to november or so.)
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I use organic dehydrated cane sugar, maple syrup & honey. Thats it. I avoid HFCS as much as I can, and I'm not a believer in agave personally. I've also not been a fan of the stevia I've tried... even had a stevia plant for a while an just wasn't thrilled with it. 
