Comments on: California trip: Costco product review (part 2 of 2)

By: Rhonda

Rhonda — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 05:16:09 +0000

Robyn,
I know this blog is old, but it’s what came up when I searched for rice bran oil. I do have a couple of things I’ve been wondering about. One is Sucanat vs. Rapadura. Your list of whole food sweeteners doesn’t include Rapadura, but I have a friend who keeps telling me that Rapadura is healthier than Sucanat. I searched it online, but am still not clear on the differences and I’ve never heard you mention Rapadura. This is what one search brought up, but I don’t know how creditable it is:
“My understanding is that Sucanat (SUgar CAne NATural) is the brand name of the whole, unrefined, unseparated cane sugar first sold in the US (in modern times, anyway), but then they changed their manufacturing process so that the molasses was removed and then some added back in later, hence it was no longer “whole” (and possibly missing some of the nutrients). Then along came Rapadura (from Rapunzel, a European company), which is never separated from the molasses, has the full complement of minerals, etc., so the WAPF started recommending that instead of Sucanat However, now I’ve read that the company that makes Sucanat has gone back to the same kind of processing they used before and that Rapadura uses, so it’s “okay” again. Both are now in the WAPF shopping guide, in the “best” category for sweeteners. Personally, I like Rapadura better because it’s more finely ground. Sucanat is so coarse that I find it difficult to dissolve or get distributed evenly in a recipe, and it seems to me to also have a more bitter flavor.”

Also, I’ve recently been introduced to rice bran oil. It has a higher smoke point (490) than coconut oil (350) and is supposedly less expensive. The nutritional benefits that I’ve looked up are good, but don’t sound as good as coconut oil. I’m trying to figure out if the nutritional value when used for cooking is even a good trade off for coconut oil, since you don’t risk loosing value in heating. I too use coconut oil on my acne, like Deirdre. It has been the best thing for my skin, so I wouldn’t do away with coconut oil all together, but am just always trying to figure out the most cost effective and nutritional way to utilize expensive foods. I’ve just not heard a lot about rice bran oil.

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:26:00 +0000

Hey Robyn, I just read your review of Bora Bora bars and I'm happy to hear your experience with our product was a positive one! While our bars are 100% organic, we actually just got some more great feedback from a blog covering gluten-free products. You can also now purchase Bora Bora bars directly online from our new website. Check it out and let us know what you think! Nick

By: cheleen

cheleen — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:48:03 +0000

Chris, I found agave at Costco today!!! It was on the end Isle and I can’t believe how cheap it was………….. 7.59 for 2 bottles. I am so happy!!!!! half price in comparision to where I was buying it.

By: beverly

beverly — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:30:18 +0000

my costco just started carrying agave, the blue agave brand i think, so right now it is on the end cap thing. 2 bottles for about $7, i saw a single bottle for that at my natural food store. if it doesnt sell well they probably wont keep it. they stopped selling rice milk for awhile and now it is back. oh yeh, my costco is in duncanville, TX, close to dallas. there is a request type thing near the front of the store where you can request stuff you want and i think they really do respond, cuz the rice milk showed back up.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:00:42 +0000

I just saw the agave at the end of one of the food isles the other day. I’d never seen it there before.

By: cheleen

cheleen — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:38:02 +0000

Beverly,
Thank you! I will keep my eyes open next Costco trip. I have never seen agave there. What isle do you say it may be on??? Next to what stuff?

By: Robyn

Robyn — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:51:43 +0000

Maybe they don’t have whole-grain pasta at all Costcos. I don’t buy it there because I keep a lot of it that I get through group buys, in my storage. But I see it there!

Coconut sugar: much lower glycemic index, and I’m just starting to experiment with it. Don’t know about Lakanto sugar.

Udo Erasmus makes great oils. Raw is virtually always nutritionally better than cooked. I eat the Trio bars and let my kids have one after their green smoothie for an after-school snack, but mostly stick with the raw almonds and other nuts like what we’re getting in the group buy right now.

By: Jennifer Ballstaedt

Jennifer Ballstaedt — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:36:40 +0000

Robyn – I love your advice and really appreciate all of your ideas on raising children with a whole-foods, high raw diet. I have been reading a book by Udo Erasmus called “Fats that Heal and Fats that Kill”. In it, he says that roasted nuts and seeds are damaging for your health because heating the nuts/seeds changes the healthy fatty acids into rancid fatty acids. I used to occasionally eat Trio bars and occasionally some roasted nuts (although mostly I consumed raw), until I read his book. What are your thoughts?

By: Aubrey

Aubrey — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:38:53 +0000

Can I ask which pasta are you buying? I must be missing something! :)

By: Deirdre

Deirdre — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:02:11 +0000

I was at Christy’s class and you had mentioned using coconut oil as a moistuizer, I went out and got some and have been using it and my acne is clearing up super fast, I’m so glad you mentioned coconut oil in your lecture!