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Natural Sugar Alternatives – The Benefits
By Esther George | November 4, 2009
With growing concerns over diabetes and obesity, lots of people are looking for sugar alternatives as a way to balance their diet and live a healthier lifestyle. Everyone loves the sweet taste of sugar, but the processed white sugar that is in so much of what we eat is bad for you and leads to many serious health risks. While refined sugar is bad for you, there are plenty of sugar alternatives.
Natural sugar is one choice much better for you than refined white sugar. This natural sugar can provide easy to digest energy when consumed in small amounts, benefiting your body. This type of sugar will cause your body to store fat if you eat too much. This is what we try to avoid, but in small doses provides a good alternative.
There are artificial sugar alternatives as well, and some are better than others. The most popular option used is saccharine. The famous pink packet of Sweet and Low is offered in restaurants everywhere. This sugar alternative has been around for years, and is much sweeter than regular sugar. This means you use less for a comparable result.
The problem with these sugar alternatives is that they may not be very good for you. Some people think that they cause cancer, but this has not been proven in any scientific studies yet. More importantly, they encourage your body to want more sugar, so they do not help you to eat healthier and avoid sugar at other times. Also, since they are tricking your body into thinking it is getting sugar, it stores the empty calories as fat, so the effects are just the same.
Another downside to artificial sweeteners is they are not good to use for cooking. They may work to sweeten coffee or tea, but when baked they get a chemical taste. This explains why most houses have a bag of refined white sugar in the kitchen, even if they use artificial sweeteners.
But there are other natural sugar alternatives that you can use that are great for baking and all your other sweetener needs. Honey is one good choice. It is all natural and good for you in moderation, of course. It is great for baking and as an added bonus it thickens things up as well.
Honey is also a good option for coffee or tea. You can get honey crystals that have been dried, making them easy to use. These honey crystals are perfect to use in beverages or over cereal.
Agave is another type of natural sugar alternatives available. This sweetener is a thick liquid that has been derived from a plant. Not as thick as honey, this liquid offers a sweet flavor, yet not overwhelming.
When shopping for natural sugar alternatives, do your research to find the right one. Using a natural sugar substitute can be a good tool when combined with exercise to help maintain a healthier lifestyle.
Check out top notch recipes made using the natural sugar known as organic honey crystals then visit the Mama Healthy website to get one of the latest natural sugar alternatives in the market today.
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