About three years ago, my wife and I decided to stop eating high fructose corn syrup. At the time, it seemed like a minor step; however, looking back, I realize that, in that one moment, I transformed from a regular consumer into an insane health freak. While cutting out any type of food is a major step, HFCS was particularly difficult. Unlike meat, cheese, peanuts, or any of the other easily-detectable foods that people cut out of their diets, HFCS lurks in literally thousands of foods. Within a few days of quitting, I found myself obsessively reading labels and cutting out dozens of other foods that I had always taken for granted. I suddenly became one of those people, the ones who read the ingredients on blister packs of preserves at the diner, then sigh and eat their toast with just butter.

I don't mean to make it look like cutting out HFCS has been nothing but misery. In the months following our decision, my wife and I lost a lot of weight, discovered tons of new foods, and ended up enjoying the opportunity to reconsider our diet. While I'm sure that cutting out HFCS isn't responsible for all the health benefits that we experienced at that time, it seems more than coincidental that my nasty headaches went away, we' started getting sick a lot less, and we stopped experiencing major energy crashes. Nowadays, I occasionally notice a stale taste in foods when I eat out, generally followed by extreme sleepiness about an hour later. While I haven't done a double-blind taste test, trial and error has convinced me that HFCS is the culprit.

Recently, the Corn Refiners Association announced that they are launching a $30 million advertising campaign that is aimed at convincing consumers that HFCS is a natural compound, fundamentally the same as honey. Of course, unlike honey, HFCS is the product of a complex, chemical-intensive refining process that takes place in an industrial setting, but why quibble? Strangely, the FDA has agreed with them. Unfortunately, rather than convince me that HFCS is all-natural, the FDA's stance has made me seriously question the integrity of the federal government when it comes to food purity.

Bada Beans are a new specialty product designed to make your coffee more flavorful. I use the phrase "specialty product" here because I haven't really seen anything like them before. The beans are small, sugar-free tablets that are flavored and are meant to be stirred into a cup of coffee for instant flavor, a portable alternative to the flavored syrups they offer at coffee shops. Immediately, I loved the idea because I often take my coffee on-the-go with me. I tried all three of their flavors: McCoy's Dream Vanilla Bean, Hazel's Nutty Hazelnut and Crazy Carl's Caramel Fudge.

The little tablets all smelled great in their little tins and dissolved easily in the hot liquid. Unfortunately, and this could be partially do to the fact that I like my coffee on the strong side, the flavor from the Bada Beans was not particularly strong. The chocolate had some caramel notes, but the hazelnut and vanilla had only a slight presence. Adding a second bean improved the flavor somewhat, but I also had to add milk at that point to take the edge of the sweetener. Not ready to give up what I still thought was a good idea, however, I tried adding the beans to tea and the difference was amazing. I could much more easily taste the flavors of the beans and they added a mild sweetness to the tea that was just right. The vanilla went particularly well with chai/spiced teas.

All in all, the Bada Beans weren't perfect, but I would definitely use them in teas and would consider carrying them along on trips, where you are more likely than usual to encounter coffee that could use a little boost of flavor, no matter how subtle a boost it is.

As was discussed on Slashfood recently, stevia is a great alternative to the White Demon, refined table sugar. One method of refining sugarcane involves a step where the liquid is filtered through a cattle bone charcoal mixture, with a little albumen thrown in. Not remotely vegan. While stevia is a good, strong, sweetener for that shade grown soy latte, you might also try: Brown Rice Syrup, less sweet than honey and bakes well. Sucanat, organic sugar cane juice with the essence of the sugarcane sans water. Sucanat is good in hot liquids, but lumps up oatmeal and is not ideal for baking. Maple Sugar/Maple Syrup, organic, pure, expensive, but worth it. Pure maple syrup is graded A-C, A being lightest, C the most robust and similar to restaurant grade corn syrup knockoffs. Nothing wrong with C, it's just meant to be the dominant flavor of the food.

Then, there's always Blackstrap molasses. Anyone who's trained with triathletes, especially in the '90s, knows that Blackstrap is believed to (lots of potassium, B vits.) help flush lactic acid from muscles and speed overall recovery from heavy exertion. Whatever your sweet needs, don't turn to the White Demon-- it's no good. Period. Check all this out, and more here.