It’s everywhere! In your bread, your coffee, your snacks… it’s hard to find yummy foods without sugar!
However, you should know that consuming large amounts of sugar and other factors like genetics, lifestyle, and overall diet may increase a person’s risk of developing diabetes. It’s a chronic disease that occurs when the body can no longer regulate blood sugar levels which can lead to some severe health complications like heart disease and kidney damage. Because of this, you need to properly regulate your blood sugar level to avoid getting diagnosed with diabetes and other severe medical conditions. You can do this by always keeping your blood sugar level in check. Several tests are available to help you measure your average blood glucose over the past 2 to 3 months. For example, you can use an at home A1c test kit to diagnose type 1 or type 2 diabetes.
So, to protect yourself from the risk of getting diabetes, you should also consider the food you’re eating, including your sugar consumption. More and more people are starting to watch their sugar intake, and are even looking for replacements for the sweet crystals.
So, if this sounds like you, then we’ve rounded up three healthy sugar alternatives that are healthy and delicious!
1. Honey
Used as a natural sweetener for centuries, honey has found its home in teas, candies, and even some dinner recipes! It’s delicious, affordable, and has tons of antioxidants. These antioxidants have been shown to reduce the risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and inflammation. It’s also thought to reduce glucose levels and hyperglycemia. Honey also contains small levels of various vitamins and minerals, making it more than just an empty sugar replacement. However, it does contain fructose and therefore does contain some natural sugar.
Honey can be used as a topping, replacing brown sugar in oatmeal, and canned whipped cream on cakes. It can also be used to sweeten hot drinks in lieu of sugar, replace unhealthily sweet barbecue sauce in meat dishes, or drizzled over buns instead of icing.
Moreover, you can also use honey to achieve a gradual drop in your blood sugar levels. For example, you can consume pure honey with yogurt in the morning. Do this daily routine for a month, and you’ll see your blood sugar level drop. Aside from yogurt, you can also consider eating honey with cinnamon to improve metabolism, lower cholesterol, and manage your blood sugar level.
Lastly, if you love drinking tea, add honey, ginger, and lemon to obtain some health benefits. Tea made from these ingredients has antioxidant and antibacterial properties that can help strengthen your immune system and regulate blood sugar levels.
2. Artificial Sweeteners
Everyone’s heard of Splenda and Equal, but are these really as healthy as they claim? Research says yes: several studies have shown that using artificial sweeteners could potentially cause consumers to lose weight, shed inches off their waist, and reduce BMI. Since artificial sweeteners have fewer calories than table sugar, there’s also the increased benefit of having a smaller daily calorie count.
Those trying to lose weight find ways to replace sugar in their food without changing their diet too much. This includes swapping table sugar for artificial sweeteners in their morning coffee, getting diet sodas instead of regular, and purchasing sugar-free versions of their favorite foods.
Because of the reduced sugar intake, most people who use sweeteners are also at lower risk for diabetes. In addition, some studies showed that diet soda had the same effects on cholesterol, belly fat and blood pressure as water.
3. Stevia
Stevia is a natural sweetener that comes from the South American plant of the same name. It can be several hundred times sweeter than table sugar but has no calories. The sweetener has also been linked to health benefits such as lowered blood sugar, decreased blood pressure, and lower insulin levels.
In addition to these benefits, the benefits of removing sugar from your diet in favor of a sweetener are clear. Having a sugar-heavy diet can lead to poor metabolism and an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Table sugar has also been linked to overeating and stress-eating, most likely due to it causing the brain to release dopamine, the body’s “pleasure chemical”. Addictive drugs have been shown to have the same effect on the brain.
Stevia can be used as a powder to replace table sugar in drinks such as coffee and tea, used in lieu of brown sugar on oatmeal, and as a replacement for sugar in various recipes. Several companies sell refined Stevia, along with instructions on how to use it in baking and cooking recipes.
With these three options, you can easily cut table sugar out of your diet and reap the short- and long-term health benefits. And with more and more people cutting sugar out of their diet, it’s easier now more than ever to get your hands on multiple sugar replacements and sugar-free foods.