Despite trying to follow a very low-carb ketogenic diet, I still have a sweet tooth. My kids do, too. I want to keep my insulin response low, lose weight, decrease the inflamation in my body, and be healthy, but I don’t want to give up sweets completely. What’s a girl to do?
Whether or not you know it, there are a plethora of sugar substitutes on the market. Some taste better than others, some cause a greater insulin response, and some have health benefits you may not know about.
In this series I’m going to be exploring the pros and cons of sugar and its alternatives. We’ll discuss sugar, honey, maple syrup, sugar alcohols, stevia, splenda, aspartame, and more!
If you’re concerned about the sweet things you put in your mouth and how it impacts your body, you’ll want to be watching for the numerous posts in this series.
What’s your favorite sugar substitute? Is there one you’re interested in learning more about?
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Other Posts in This Series
- A Sweet Life: Sugar and it’s (lack of) health benefits
- A Sweet Life: Benefits of Honey (and some drawbacks)
- A Sweet Life: Health Effects of Splenda
- A Sweet Life: Stevia – A Natural Sugar Alternative
- A Sweet Life: The High Fructose Corn Syrup Controversy
- A Sweet Life: Is Agave Nectar a Healthy Sugar Alternative?
- A Sweet Life: Xylitol – A natural or chemical sugar alternative?
I like coconut sugar and xylitol. I see all these recipes with stevia in them and I can’t figure out how to fix the proportions with xylitol or coconut sugar. I wish someone who knows would make a substitution chart.
Awesome idea to make a substitution chart. Hmm…might have to work on that :).
On another note, xylitol is one of my personal favorite sugar substitutes, but I’ve never used coconut sugar before.
Cannot wait to see your series!! Currently I avoid all splenda (when possible). I have changed to liquid stevia for my morning coffee. Purvia is handy in dry form too (and can get at my local store).
Now if I could find low cal low carb caramel…I would be in heaven!
Splenda used to be my go to sweetner as well, but I haven’t been using it since finding better and more healthful alternatives.
Low carb caramel…yum, I agree we need to find a good recipe for that. Low carb caramel drizzled on creamy delicious low carb ice cream (made with real full fat cream) and toasted pecans. Ok, now I’m on a quest for caramel!
I recently switched to xilitol vs cane sugar. The glycemic index is 7-12 with xilitol but with cane sugar the GI is 43 – however they both are 4 grams of carbs per tsp. Can anyone explain this to me? I know GI index has to do with carbs, fiber – but the carb are the same (?)
They are the same carbs, but they are different types of carbs. The xylitol is a sugar-alcohol carb and is not processed by the body the same way.