Best White Sugar Alternatives for Healthy life

Here we are about to discuss some of the best alternatives to have instead of sugar, so read the article in full to know the facts about those alternatives.

Having tasty food is everyone’s need, but staying healthy is also very important. That is the reason why all the Nutritionist and the Doctors recommend to minimize the consumption of sugar as much as possible. While Sugar is known to be addictive (especially for children and old persons), sugar leads to obesity (it is destroying your strict diet), sugar increase the risk of Diabetes and Cancer, but without sugar, even your favourite dish or your best recipes won’t taste good. If you are depended upon packaged food the almost 80% of them contain added sugar.

So, if you want to stay away from the risks which sugar can cause you to need to find as suitable regular sugar alternatives, which will make your food taste nice but also will not be harmful to your health. If you are following a strict diet to get rid of your extra fat, then you should look for some sugar substitute, as sugar alone is capable of making you fat. Though you may feel it’s just a little, sugar adds extra calories to your diet and if you are health conscious you may not need it that little too. Eating sugar also raises the risk of cavities on anyone’s teeth.

You might like to see Ice Cream alternatives.

 

Best Sugar Substitute for a good Health

Let’s compare different alternatives that one can consume in lieu of sugar for a healthier lifestyle along with their pros and cons.

Honey natural alternative

Honey is a completely natural product and one of the best substitutes for sugar. Honey is not only sweet but also contains a lot of essential nutrients. It is also considered as the oldest sweeteners by the culinary experts.

It produced by Honey bees naturally and to provide us, honey, our farmers do bee- farming. Those bees collect the natural sugar particles from the flower nectar and with some chemical reactions they store that into their honeycombs.

Honey natural alternative for sugar

Pros:

  • Honey can be used as a natural healing agent, even for internal ulcers.
  • Honey has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and natural antiseptic properties.
  • With some ginger honey can be consumed to fight cold fevers and to keep the body warm at freezing cold areas.
  • Honey is a natural agent and can keep you away from sugar related cancer problems.

 Cons:

  • Honey has almost the same amount of calories as sugar i.e. 310 calories per 100g.
  • If you are diabetic or trying to control the blood sugar then Honey is not much of a help for you as honey has almost similar impacts on blood sugar and sucrose level.
  • Honey is 20% less sweet than white sugar.

 

Birch Sugar

Also called Xylitol, another one of the well-known sugar alternatives. Xylitol or Birch Sugar is also a natural source of sweetness, and it is normally found in some vegetables and fruits like cauliflower, berries, plums etc. Like white sugar, Birch sugar can be produced industrially with hydrolyzing Xylan into Xylose, which ends up producing Xylitol. But producing Xylitol is much more expensive than producing White sugar, hence Birch Sugar or so-called Xylitol is much costlier than our common white sugar.

Xylitol or Birch Sugar as alternatives

Pros:

  • It contains 40% fewer calories than sugar, which is good for people with a strict calorie diet.
  • It has a very minimal impact on blood sugar rising, which is very good for diabetic people.
  • The sweetness level is almost the same as the white sugar.

Cons:

  • It contains fewer calories than white sugar but still, it contains around 240 calories per 100g.
  • Sometimes having Xylitol in large quantities like 20-30g, can lead to diarrhoea or loose motion type of problems.
  • There are research going on the Xylitol, so before having it on regular diet consultation with doctor and nutritionist is mandatory.
  • This alternative product itself is very costly as compared to sugar, so even if its recommended for you by the doctor, then also affording it for regular diet going cost you a lot.

 

Stevia- Sugar substitute

The most commonly used sugar replacement these days, also known as Steviol Glycoside. The ingredient itself comes from a plant which grows on South American content called Stevia Rebaudiana. This alternative Stevia had been approved as a food additive ingredient by the World Medical Counsel and European Union in 2011 and can be used instead of sugar. Even before that Stevia is used to known as a bathing ingredient for skin care. Stevia can be found in common products like Sugar-Free, Sugarlite etc.

Stevia- replacement

Pros:

  • Stevia contains negligible calories, which is a very big plus point.
  • Almost zero effect on blood sugar level makes it an ideal food ingredient for healthy food.
  • Perfect for diabetic patients and persons with a regulated diet.
  • Does not come cheap but affordable.

Cons:

  • It does not contain any kind of nutritional values.
  • Stevia is a little bit sweeter than regular white sugar but it has an aftertaste, which is a little bitter, and many people do not like it.

 

Coconut- Sugar substitute

Made out of the nectar from the flower buds of Coconut Palm. It is not here just to complete this sugar alternatives list, even it tastes also better than sugar. Many people would say it tastes like caramel. This one is also a bit costly.

Coconut Sugar replacement

Pros:

  • As the main ingredients come out from coconut, it contains lots of Vitamins like C, E, b complex etc. and Minerals like Iron, Zinc, Magnesium etc.
  • The sweetness level is good as compared to regular white sugar.

Cons:

  • The Fructose level is much higher in coconut sugar than white sugar, as it has a lower Hypoglycemic index.
  • Not good for people with type 2 diabetes.
  • This one is actually a luxury product, it’s not surprising when coconut sugar comes costly.

 

Agave Nectar

Commonly known as the Agave Syrup, formerly a product from Mexico, now is a popular sugar alternative day by day. The name of this alternative is Agave syrup is because of the ingredient come from a plant called Agave. This sweetener has a smell and taste like honey, but it has a thinner consistency and density.

Agave Nectar

Pros:

  • Agave Nectar consists of many minerals and vitamins along with some metabolites components. As Agave Nectar is thinner than any other sweetener, it helps in metabolism and gets digested quickly.
  • As the consistency is thinner, this ingredient is easy to mix in any drink or in any food.

Cons:

  • If reducing the consumption of calories is the main goal, then this one is not suitable as it contains the same amount of calories as honey.
  • As Agave Nectar has high Fructose content, it may become a reason behind blood sugar rise.
  • As the Agave Nectar has a low amount of Glycemic Index, so consuming at large quantity for over a long time can be injurious to health.
  • Excessive use can lead to fat level raising, fatty liver, Insulin resistance, and can cause type 2 diabetes.

 

Maple Syrup

As the name of this alternative for sugar clarifies, this syrup comes from the Sugar Maple tree. Normally served by the restaurants with pancakes, also a good combination with tea or coffee instead of sugar. This item is quite expensive, so it is also called “Liquid Gold” and used to be treated as a luxurious food item.

Maple Syrup white sugar alternative

Pros:

  • It is a completely natural product, and also it contains more than 50 valuable nutritious compounds including different types of antioxidants which are not present in white sugar.
  • Maple Syrup also has the molecule with anti-inflammatory properties.
  • 100 g of maple syrup has around 90 mg of calcium, 185 mg of potassium, 25 mg of magnesium, and 2 mg of iron. But the syrup must be consumed in small amounts otherwise it can lead to loose motion, indigestion etc.

Cons:

  • The sweetness level of maple syrup as an alternative is way lower, actually, it is 60% to 70% lower than sugar. So to achieve desired sweetness you need to add more syrup than sugar would have been needed.
  • As it is a costly item and not so common everywhere there are many Maple Syrup products available in the market which is impure and have a mixture of water and sugar, so pay attention while buying. If you just want to try Maple Syrup’s taste then you can go for the impure products, but not recommended for people with low calorie or no sugar diet.
  • Even depending upon the producer and the product it also can contain Glucose compound, Fructose compound even preservatives, so read the ingredients before buying and try to know about the product to so that you can differentiate between different type of products of Maple Syrup.

 

Sugar alternatives list Conclusion:

There is no food or ingredients in the world which has zero side-effects so, if you want to replace one ingredient like sugar or salt with a zero side-effect ingredient then it is not going to happen as you expected. So, think about the diet plan you want to have a choose a product according to that, and also keep it in mind that eating healthier food going to cost you more. If you are a Diabetic person looking alternatives of sugar or has any issues with metabolism, then consult a doctor anyway rather looking for a suitable replacement for sugar online. Also, there are many food recipes which can be eaten without adding any sweetener; and while it comes to tea or coffee having such beverages without sweetener is also a healthy option to consider.

 

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