Let’s talk a bit about sugar cravings. We all get them from time to time. What to do when those sugar cravings hit us and you just need that something sweet! We all know by now that normal table sugar is not healthy and neither is aspartame type of sugar replacements.
Is there really a sugar replacement worth mentioning that does not give you bloatedness or indigestion? One that can be used just like normal sugar in your tea and coffee as well as one that can be used in baking without changing the taste of your baked goods? Let’s discuss it shall we!
WHY IS TABLE SUGAR BAD FOR YOU?
Not all sugar is bad. If you consume wholefoods like fruit and veggies which contain natural sugars and carbohydrates your body will use up those sugars for energy as it contains fibre and other nutrients your body needs, as well, so it is released slower into your system thus making wholefood a much better choice.
The problem comes when consuming added sugars like what manufacturers use to enhance flavour or sweetness of products like your soda’s, sweets, cakes, coffee & tea with lots of added sugar and the list goes on and on.
Excessive sugar consumption does not just affect your blood sugar levels and cause diabetes, heart disease and some cancers it also causes inflammation in the body which increases the risk to cardiovascular disease. High amounts of sugar overload the liver. Your liver metabolises sugar the same as alcohol and convert those sugar carbs to fat, which may lead to greater accumulation of fat, a contributor to diabetes which raises your risk of heart disease. This might be surprising but sugar is not a required nutrient to your diet as we get a lot of our natural sugars from foods, but that is not to say that we can never again eat a slice of cake or have sweet tea. We just need to make the right choices, read labels and be conscience as to what we put into our bodies.
is aspartame bad for you?
Let’s quickly look at what exactly is aspartame. Aspartame is a synthetic chemical composed of two amino acids phenylalanine and aspartic acid, with a methyl ester. When consumed, the methyl ester breaks down into methanol, which may be converted into formaldehyde. This artificial sweetener has been used for a long time to replace normal sugar, but decades of studies shows that there a quite a few nasty side effects to using this sweetener, like cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, seizures, stroke and dementia, intestinal dysbiosis, mood disorders, headaches & migraines.
Aspartame is also linked to weight gain, increased appetite and obesity related diseases. There is a whole paper on the subject of the safety of aspartame and is linked below for more information. Don’t despair there are other safe sugar replacements that does not cause health problems and can be safely used in place of sugar. Let’s look at them at a few.
STEVIA POWDER
Stevia is a natural sweetener derived from the stevia plant. It is 200 times sweeter than table sugar with no calories. Stevia has been associated with several health benefits including lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels.
Stevia on it’s own and used in moderation is safe to use, about 4mg per kg of body weight. Many people don’t like the taste of Stevia and you cannot bake with Stevia alone so it makes it a bit more complicated if you are still looking for something that can be used in your daily life to replace sugar. Before we get to the how we can use Stevia in baking let’s look at the benefits of using Stevia.
- Stevia can help control diabetes. Unlike sugar Stevia does not raise blood sugar levels and can be used by people who are diabetic.
- Stevia can help with weight loss as it contain very little calories and can help control excess sugar in the diet.
- Stevia may regulate blood pressure as it actually relaxes blood vessels , increase urination and facilitate the elimination of sodium from the body. This means there is less stress put on the cardiovascular system which protects the heart and prevent certain conditions.
- Stevia may lower cholesterol levels leads to a significant reduction in bad LDL cholesterol and increase in HDL cholesterol level.
- Stevia may aid in oral health by reducing bacterial formation in the mouth.
- Stevia may help improve skincare like eczema and dermatitis as it helps inhibits the spread of bacteria on the skin and acts as a steroid in these situations.
- Stevia may prevent Osteoporosis by increasing bone mineral density and increased calcium metabolism.
Other benefits of using Stevia is it’s anti-diarrhoea, anti-hypoglycemic, anti-hypertensive, diuretic, anti-inflammatory, immune modulatory actions.
- “A little sweetness for the soul”
-Osonatural
WHAT ABOUT SUGAR ALCOHOLS?
If you are conscious about your health or have diabetes your are likely a pro at reading labels and probably know or have heard about sugar alcohols.
What exactly is sugar alcohols? It’s a bit misleading to call it “sugar alcohols as it is neither an alcohol or a sugar. It is actually a type of carbohydrate that has a chemical structure similar to sugar. Sugar alcohols are used by manufacturers to sweeten their products while reducing calories. These sugar alcohols can be used without worrying about counting calories or sacrifice the taste of your goods. The most common sugar alcohols are xylitol, Erythritol, Sorbitol & Maltitol.
Sugar alcohols come from fruits and vegetables that are fermented and are not absorbed or digested by the body. It can cause a bit of digestive upset when consuming too much. Some benefits using these sugar alcohols rather than normal table sugar is fewer calories, easier blood sugar management, less dental risk & fewer carbs.
Most of the sugar alcohols could cause digestive upset and people who are sensitive to FODMAPs should avoid them except for Erythritrol which has much less digestive upset than the other sugar alcohols and is also safe for dogs.
WHY ERYTHRITOL?
As mentioned previously there are a few sugar alcohols available but what I have seen, read and experienced myself Erythritol seem to be the best out of all the other sugar alcohols. Baking with Xylitol can give you diarrhoea and it is highly toxic to dogs so keeping that around can be a stress, and the others except foe Eryhtritol can also cause stomach upset and uncomfortable side effects.
What are some of the benefits of using Erythritol? To begin with Erythritol only has 0.24 calories per gram. When consumed 90% is absorbed by your bloodstream and excreted unchanged in your urine. The other 10% travels undigested to the colon and is resistant to fermentation to colon bacteria unlike the other sugar alcohols, however consuming large amounts of it might cause stomach upset. It seems the amount tolerable is 0.7g – 1g per kg of body weight.
Other benefits of using Erythritol include no spike in blood sugar or insulin, reduces the risk to heart disease as it acts like an antioxidant possibly reducing blood vessel damage caused by high blood sugar levels. It may benefit dental health as bacteria cannot use them for energy and suppresses the growth of bacteria directly.
the best of both
We have created an amazing sugar substitute with both Stevia and Erythritol that can be used just like you would use normal sugar in all your beverages, baking & sweet things. We have tested this sugar in all of our baking and have made the yummiest treats, puddings, cakes and even ice cream. The best part is that it tasted just as amazing as if we had used normal sugar and did not compromise on the taste of any of our baked goodies.
While creating our sugar we made a few adjustments to the sugar to make sure it meets our criteria in what we wanted the sugar to do when baking with it or using it in our tea and coffee and we are proud to be offering this to our stockists and clients desperately looking for a true substitute for replacing sugar on a daily basis without compromising on taste.
CONCLUSION!
We are no experts or trained professionals. We’re just a few passionate individuals looking for ways to enhance our lives and those of others by sharing our knowledge and creating awesome products free from harmful ingredients to be used with confidence everyday knowing that you made the best choice possible for your health sake.
This post is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease and are the opinions and thoughts of the writer out of personal experience and research into the subject.
Aspartame: Decades of Science Point to Serious Health Risks
