Sakamoto - No Sugar, Low Carb, No Guilt-Japanese-Style Desserts

Realising that the medication prescribed by the doctors only
delayed the progress of diabetes, my friend researched fervently
on ways to treat his illness. He found a simple solution: reducing
his sugar intake. This meant cutting out table sugar and not eating
carbohydrates like white rice and refined wheat products like
pasta, noodles and white bread. Coupling this change in diet with
conscientious monitoring of his blood sugar level and exercise, my
friend found his high blood sugar level returning to normal within
two months. A year and a half later, his blood sugar level hardly
resembled that of a diabetic person. While my friends experience may suggest that sugar is bad for our
health, thats not quite true.

Our bodies require glucose (a simple
sugar) for energy. Our brains need glucose to function. What is bad
for health is the consumption of too much sugar. Eating too much
carbohydrates (complex sugars which the body breaks down into
glucose) can lead to high blood sugar and other negative health
problems such as diabetes. Yet, it is difficult to avoid sugar in our food. Sugar exists in a lot
of the food we eat, even vegetables.

However, complex sugars
being a large part of the human diet is a fairly recent development.
Although it is said that humans have been around for more than
200,000 years, the practice of growing and processing cereal grains
such as wheat and rice to make bread, pasta and white rice began
only about 2,000 years ago. Before that, humans survived mainly on
fruits, meat and fish. An interesting article published in the journal
Human Nutrition in 2004 has even suggested that the human body
has not adapted to the consumption of carbohydrates as a staple
food, and I too wonder whether we humans are truly able to digest
carbohydrates well. As a patissier and nutritionist, I considered this research and the
foods that my diabetic friend had to avoid, and it inspired me to
develop desserts that are low in carbohydrates and made without
regular sugar. I started looking into sugar substitutes.

However, we have to be
particular about the kind of substitutes we choose because some
of them pose health risks. Generally, there are three major groups
of sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners, like saccharin, fall into one
group. These are produced synthetically and could potentially have
negative effects if taken long term. The second group consists of
natural sweeteners extracted from plants. One example is stevia,
which is derived from the leaves of a stevia plant.

Sugar alcohols
make up the last group. Similar to the second group of sweeteners,
they are derived from plants or fruits such as apples, strawberries
and pears. Sugar is extracted from the plant and combined with
hydrogen to form sugar alcohol. Xylitol and sorbitol are examples
of sugar alcohol. The sweetener I chose to use in my recipes is made of a sugar
alcohol called erythritol and sugar extracted from monk fruit, also
known as luo han guo. It is much sweeter than regular sugar, so a
little goes a long way.

The friend I mentioned earlier enjoys the desserts that I make often,
and continues to have a normal blood sugar level. After meeting
countless like-minded people who want to take care of their health
and struggle with a long list of foods to avoid, especially desserts,
I decided to put together this book. I hope that anyone reading this