As you might have heard by now, sugar simply isn’t good for you. Not only does it cause a major energy crash shortly after you consume it, but it has been linked to some pretty serious illnesses as well.
Luckily, there are some artificial sweeteners out there that will do the same job but without the risk to your health. In fact, these sweeteners may offer health benefits of their own and learning how they work will make you want to drop sugar forever.
Raw Honey
The first natural sweetener that we are going to discuss is raw honey. You would be amazed at the huge list of health benefits that you’ll get from using raw honey. Not only is honey helpful in all kinds of ways outside of the body, honey is also really great for your health.
For example, it is anti-bacterial and anti-fungal, it reduces digestive conditions and gastric disorders, and honey contains antioxidants which may reduce the risk of some cancers as well as heart disease.
Raw honey also helps to sooth a sore throat and works as cough syrup, contains different vitamins and minerals that your body needs and actually helps regulate blood sugar better than pure sugar because it is digests more slowly.
Finally, honey can help you lose weight due to the reduced number of calories that you will get by using honey as a replacement for sugar. It’s so sweet you actually use much less resulting in fewer consumed calories.
Stevia
The next replacement that we will be discussing is Stevia. Stevia is a leafy green plant native to South America that has been used as a sweetener for hundreds of years. The leaves are extremely sweet and can be processed into a powder or liquid sweetener.
Stevia is more than 40 times sweeter than sugar, but it doesn’t affect your blood sugar levels. When you have a lot of sugar, your blood sugar levels go up rapidly, causing your body to release insulin. This can be a problem for diabetics and can even contribute to diabetes.
Some of the benefits of Stevia include management of diabetes, weight loss, healthier skin and nails, regulation of blood pressure. It has even been linked with the prevention of cancer because of Stevia being such a rich source of antioxidant compounds.
Stevia has also been shown to lower cholesterol levels and improve oral health including bad breath. But, that’s not all. Stevia is also an anti-diarrheal, anti-hyperglycemic, antihypertensive, diuretic, anti-inflammatory, anti-diarrheal, and immune system modulator.
Coconut Sugar
Finally, let’s talk about coconut sugar. Like honey and Stevia, coconut sugar has a very low glycemic impact. It has less than half the impact of regular sugar according to the glycemic index.
Coconut sugar also offers lots of vitamins and minerals which sugar does not. For example, it contains trace amounts of phosphorus, calcium, zinc, iron, copper, magnesium, potassium, calcium and vitamin C.
Coconut sugar also contains less fructose, which is a sugar that your body converts the fat almost immediately. Many health experts recommend that you do not consume very much fructose because it has to be processed through the liver.
In addition to all these benefits, coconut sugar also tastes great and many people prefer this in their coffee or tea after they get used to it.
In Summary
The bottom line is that there are many acceptable natural substitutes for sugar. Sugar doesn’t give you any nutrients and has a pretty nasty impact on your health both in the short and long term. Most people keep using sugar because they have heard about the dangers of artificial sweeteners like the ones with aspartame. But, the three natural alternatives listed above offer sweet natural options making a healthy change from sugar once and for all that much easier.