When considering sugar substitutes there are two very distinct directions you can go. You can go with a man made artificial or an all natural sweetener. Each have their own side effects or benefits to consider. Artificial sweeteners are specifically engineered to provide some particular benefit, but I don’t know that we have figured out how to create a chemical that provides that benefit without causing another side effect. Even natural sweeteners will have different benefits and side effects to consider. You will need to decide which works best for you.
There is a large supply of artificial sweeteners available on the market these days. Most of them are based on two popular artificial sweeteners, Sucralose and Aspartame. These sweeteners are designed to be calorie free or at least trick your body into treating it like something with no caloric value. The reports are conflicting at times but there seems to be mounting evidence, especially with Aspartame, that major side effects include migraines, stomach upset, seizures in some people and others. You might also consider the fact that cooking with these sweeteners will provide different results. Aspartame will break down in the heat and cannot be cooked with at all. Sucralose will stand the heat but because of the filler required it will leave your foods dry and undesirable in texture. There is a lot of money in finding the right sugar substitute and with big money comes big marketing campaigns designed to convince you against the truth. Be careful to consider the long term effects.
Natural sweeteners you may have heard of are Xylitol, Stevia, Mannitol, Sorbitol and Erythritol. Just as with anything we put in our body there is going to be a result. After looking over the specifics not sited in this article there are only three that stand out as a real decent substitute for sugar; Stevia, Xylitol and Erythritol. One nice benefit to Xylitol and Erythritol is they do not promote tooth decay. Unfortunately, Xylitol doesn’t digest too well and Stevia seems to get mixed results with different people, Erythritol will leave your stomach feeling no pain. These are all lower than sugar in carbohydrates and calories, but Erythritol stands alone as calorie free.
Erythritol is all around us in fruits and vegetables and is about 70% as sweet as sugar. As noted earlier, it is calorie free and digests very well. Another great benefit which is perfect for diabetics is that Erythritol will not cause an increase in your blood sugar levels. Erythritol is available online or in stores to be used as a sweetener all on its own or you can now find it as a base ingredient mixed with super sweet ingredients to make it as sweet as sugar. Erythritol is also very good for cooking and can be measured cup for cup like sugar.
Finding out if Erythritol as a natural sweetener is right for you will require you to do more reading beyond this article and trying the products yourself. Determining if artificial sweeteners are really bad will also require much more reading and critical thought to decipher the truth from all that is out there. Hopefully the thought process used through this article will be of some aid in getting you started down the path to a solid alternative to sugar.
Find out more about natural sweeteners at www.doctorgrandmas.com. Doctor Grandma’s website is filled with information about the benefits of Erythritol and other healthy all natural foods.
