No argument from me on staying away from chemically modified sugar substitutes! I prefer monkfruit and liquid stevia (just a drop, perhaps) as they don’t alter your insulin levels.

LOCAL honey from a source within a few miles of your home may be better because the bees are pollinating from your own environment and secreting enzymes that bolster your immunity against local infection. But honey processed in bulk from far away? You may as well use sugar.

As for cookies and scones and smoothies? Carbs that aren’t burned overtax the liver as it processes them to store the energy as fat. Insulin rises and falls, disrupting your energies and tricking your brain into thinking you need more food, thinking you’re hungry, thinking you’re not getting the nutrition you need. Things that aren’t true. And the processed-food purveyors rely on that knowledge to get you to buy more of their product and over-consume.

Our bodies know this is innately true, but our minds are programmed by the food we eat to think otherwise. Eat a cookie or a cracker as an afternoon snack and you’ll get a burst of energy, then a fatigue, and you’ll feel really hungry for your dinner. But eat a generous salad (maybe with with tuna or chicken salad on it) for lunch and you’ll be surprised when 6pm rolls around and you’re not even all that hungry yet.

I agree with joy and moderation. But I also know that Alzheimer’s is really Diabetes Type III and degenerative brain and other diseases begin with how we process the food in our bodies.

Food is fuel. Don’t let 10,000 taste buds dictate what the REST of your body actually needs! And don’t think cutting out sugar will deprive you of anything. Sugar was never meant to be used the way it is today.

Check out: https://theconversation.com/a-history-of-sugar-the-food-nobody-needs-but-everyone-craves-49823

PS: Orange zest scones sound divine. :)