We all know sugar isn’t the best for our health. Overeating on sugar can lead to so many preventable health issues, including heart disease, diabetes, and more. Even before you get a full blow diagnosis, you’re increasing inflammation in your body, creating insulin resistance, and experiencing any number of “milder symptoms” like headaches, stomach pain, joint pain, etc.
It took a real diagnosis for me to take a serious look at my diet and really begin cutting out all that refined sugar. I’ve always had a sweet tooth, so it’s been tough. But I’ve been surprised at how many ways there are to sweeten your foods and snacks without pulling out your regular white granulated sugar.
The problem with regular sugar
Like I said, too much sugar leads to health issues. The trouble with sugar is it has almost no nutritional value, aside from energy/calories. There are no vitamins, minerals, fiber, etc. to go with that spike in blood sugar. It’s just straight inflammation with nothing to counter it, support it, or benefit you in other ways.
“Healthier” alternatives you can use to replace sugar
I put healthier in quotation marks, mostly to let you know that I understand eating a lot of sugar in any form isn’t necessarily healthy. Just because one sugar form might not be as bad as another doesn’t make it a super food and doesn’t mean it’s adding to your health.
I also want to acknowledge that there are differing opinions out there on which are healthier and the research is not always clear. It’s up to you to gather the information and make a decision on what you think of it all.
I’m simply offering you a list of alternatives that, in my opinion, are better than regular white sugar. Before I switched to plant-based eating, I had no experience trying to cut out or change the sugar in recipes. I didn’t realize how easy it is or what options are out there. So here’s what I’ve tried and liked and you can take it or leave it!
First thing’s first: Let your taste buds adjust
Honestly, if you go straight from eating tons of regular sugar to trying these alternatives, you might not be very happy. Your taste buds and your brain are used to the excessive overstimulating hit that sugar provides and the more natural, healthier things just can’t compete. I would suggest giving yourself a good 2-4 weeks without all that regular added sugar before really making a judgement call on these other choices. After you’ve “detoxed” your pallet, these more natural sweeteners will really hit the spot.
Fruit
In my opinion, fruit is definitely the healthiest, best choice alternative for sugar, because it really is healthy all on its own. It’s full of fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes that support your body. It also happens to be sweet!
Using mashed up bananas in baked goods offers a wonderful amount of sweetness. Frozen bananas just on their own are a delight, or you can blend them up and eat them straight or with any desired mix-ins for an ice-cream-like treat.
Cinnamon, spice, and everything nice
Before moving on to actual sweeteners, I wanted to put a plug in for spices and even vanilla. Adding vanilla and cinnamon to pretty much anything will give it that “sweet” flavor, even though these ingredients don’t have sugar. For example, I can eat a bowl of oatmeal with just a banana, cinnamon, and vanilla mixed in to sweeten it. Other spices you can try, depending on what you’re making are cloves, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, etc.
Honey
Honey can be a great sweetener option for many things, like baked goods, salad dressings, smoothies, breakfast cereals, and more. It’s a better option because aside from sugar, it contains antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, and is also antibacterial and anti-inflammatory. It stays good literally forever, and it can even help with allergies for some. The best kind of honey to use is raw and unpasteurized so none of those good health benefits are killed. Babies under 1 are not supposed to eat honey, even if it’s been cooked, so that’s something to keep in mind if serving to little ones. Also, for those who care, it’s not plant based, as it comes from bees.
Maple Syrup
Another favorite in our house is maple syrup. Of course, I’m talking about the 100% pure kind straight from the tree, not the maple flavored high fructose corn syrup that you commonly find on store shelves. Like honey, pure maple syrup is full of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, and has a lower glycemic index than white sugar. It’s also less processed. It can grow mold, so you don’t want to store buckets and buckets of this for years, but it should last many months, up to at least a year. We keep our opened jar in the fridge.
I love to use maple syrup in baked goods and overnight oats. Obviously, it’s a go-to topping on waffles and pancakes. As a plus, it is vegan for those on a plant-based diet.
Coconut Sugar
Coconut sugar can be used similar to regular granulated sugar, and has a similar granulated-ness about it. However, it offers a more caramel-like flavor. Since it is less processed than regular sugar, it does maintain some of its vitamins and minerals, like vitamin C, iron, and zinc, as well as some antioxidants. It is lower on the glycemic index, so it doesn’t spike the blood sugar to the same extent as regular sugar. While it’s still added sugar and not a health food, I’d say it beats out regular white sugar if those are your two options.
Date Sugar
This name is a bit misleading if you ask me, because date sugar is actually just dried up and ground dates. Date powder is the same thing. As such, date sugar comes with many of the same benefits nutritionally as dates – fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. Since it’s in powder form it’s easy to just measure out and use it similar to sugar in baked goods. However, since there’s so much more fiber in date sugar than regular sugar, you may need to increase the liquid content of the recipe you are using. Along with the other alternatives mentioned so far, date sugar has a lower glycemic index than white sugar, which is great!
This is one that I haven’t experimented a ton with, but have used it here and there, mostly in baked goods, pancakes, and other similar things. Although it’s a powder, it doesn’t dissolve the same as sugar, so that’s something to play around with and figure out how to make it your desired texture.
Agave
I haven’t used agave in my home personally, but my favorite healthier restaurant uses agave to sweeten their food and dressings, rather than refined sugars. It is a sticky liquid derived from the blue agave plant. As such, it also contains trace amounts of vitamins and minerals. It also has a low glycemic index.
It can change the flavor of your food so you’d want to experiment a bit with this one to decide what you like it best in. I have had it in smoothies and dressings and it seems to do well in those!
Monk Fruit
Here’s an interesting one. I have eaten this in a few things, but I’ve not used it in a recipe I’m making myself. Monk fruit sweetener is unique because the sugar from the fruit is not what makes it sweet. Producers of monk fruit sweetener extract the juices from the fruit and then filter out just the antioxidants called mogrosides, and that is what is sold as monk fruit sweetener. Since it is mogrosides that provide the sweetness, this sweetener does not have any calories. I haven’t done much research on this one, and haven’t used it myself, but figured I’d add it since I have tasted it in some things.
Artificial Sweeteners
When looking for an alternative to regular white sugar, artificial sweeteners are not the way to go. They have been associated with issues such as gut health problems, neurological symptoms, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
There are certainly plenty of other sugar alternatives out there that I haven’t covered here, but I think this is a good list to get you started. If you have a favorite sugar alternative, I’d love to hear about it!
Resources:
Is Honey Healthier Than Sugar? – GoodRx
Maple Syrup vs. Sugar: What’s Healthier?
Maple Syrup vs Sugar: Which is Better? – The Coconut Mama
Coconut Sugar vs Sugar: Which is Better? – The Coconut Mama
What is Date Sugar? – Healthy Green Kitchen
Agave vs Sugar: Which is Healthier | Organic Facts
Monk Fruit Sweetener vs Sugar: The Ultimate Verdict – The Coconut Mama
Monk Fruit Side Effects & Safety: Why It Can Be Bad For You – Superfoodly
