If you pay attention to health news, you know that both sugar and high-fructose corn syrup are a real problem.
But knowing what’s bad is not enough, especially not when it comes to sweetening our food.
We, humans, are born with a strong love of sweet tastes. If you want to cut out sugar, you need to know the right thing to replace it with.
5 Sweeteners that are Healthier than White Sugar
1. 100% Maple Syrup
Maple syrup is a healthy, natural product that comes straight from trees. It's made from the boiled sap of maple trees and has lots of healthy nutrients.
These include calcium, zinc, magnesium and potassium.
Maple syrup has a lower glycemic index than sugar. It also contains up to 54 different antioxidants.
100% Maple Syrup has even been shown to fight cancer and heart disease.
Tweet2. Raw Honey
Raw honey has a flavor that satisfies your craving for sweets. Its flavor can be affected by the type of plant that the bees collected pollen from.
Honey is made when bees chew on nectar and break it down into simple sugars. They deposit it into honeycombs, where water evaporates out of it.
It's loaded with natural enzymes, antioxidants, minerals and vitamins. Honey is also a natural antiseptic and can be applied to cuts and scrapes.
Just be sure you're buying the real deal by avoiding these labeling tricks.
3. Dates
Date sugar is made from powdered dried dates. It keeps all of the dates’ nutritional value, including fiber, calcium, magnesium and potassium.
To make it even easier just add Medjool dates to any foods you want to sweeten.
4. Coconut Sugar
Coconut sugar is made by boiling and dehydrating sap from a coconut palm tree. It tastes a lot like brown sugar, but it has fiber, iron, zinc and antioxidants.
5. Stevia
Stevia is a zero calorie sweetener that is all natural. It's made from compounds found in the leaves of a South American plant.
It is much sweeter than regular sugar, so you only need a small amount. Most importantly, Stevia is not metabolized by the body so it has no impact on blood sugar.
Stevia is another one with some tricky labels so be sure to read those labels before you buy.
If all this talk about sweets is making your mouth water, here's one of my favorite recipes to satisfy a sweet tooth: Amazing Paleo Apple Crisp Recipe
Yours in health and happiness,
Danette
P.S. Please help me spread the word about healthy sweeteners by sharing this article and I love hearing from you in the comments below. What's your go-to healthy sweetener?
