3 Healthy Sugar Substitutes for All Your Holiday Treats

Processed sugar sucks. From a nutritional standpoint, it offers nothing to benefit our bodies, minds or moods. In fact, sugar is an addictive, dangerous substance the majority of Americans love a little too much. Good thing there’s all these lists online of “safe” sugar substitutes like agave nectar, brown rice syrup and raw cane crystals, right? It’s amazing we can still get the sugar high and sweet taste without the detrimental effects from eating large amounts of sugar, right?

It’s time to debunk a major sugar myth here.

Sugar “alternatives” aren’t healthy options.

The only reason these alternatives trend is because some of them—not all—add some nutritional benefits that conventionally processed white sugar lacks. For instance, alternatives like agave nectar and molasses have antioxidants. That’s it. That does not mean the harmful effects from sugar are wholly negated. Sorry.

The thing is, these sugar substitutes, even the naturally produced ones, create similar problems with your system’s blood sugar levels. Thus, even though were are not using white processed sugar, even though we may be spending dozens of dollars for raw sugar cane crystals, we’re not really solving the problem with sugar.

Instead, we need to get a little creative if we really want to avoid sugar’s pitfalls.

Here are my tips for switching out sugar for healthier/safer alternatives:

1. FRUIT- Why It Wins

Discard any information that tells you to stop eating fruit.

I’m serious. I mean, come on. Unless for other medical reasons, if you are simply trying to reduce sugar’s negative effects on the system, cutting out your healthiest source of a totally different (and necessary) kind of sugar is careless. Instead, you need to focus on the hidden sources of bad sugar: white flours, alcoholic beverages, crackers, cereals, etc. Eat as much fruit as you want. In fact, make it your sugar replacement in everything you bake from here on out.

Here’s some resources to get you started:

The Ultimate Gluten-Free Vegan Substitution Guide

Vegan Baking Hacks

A Beginner’s Guide to Vegan Baking,

As a general rule, 1-2 servings of fruit will replace the sugar in most recipes. Bonus: fruits like bananas and mashed apples also work to replace both eggs and oil!

2. SPICE–use it!

Getting over sugar isn’t easy for anyone. Shift your tastebuds’ focus by adding spice to baked goods, pasta sauces, and more instead of sugar. For instance, simply switch from using ketchup, which is filled with sugar, to using a hot sauce like siracha that uses less.

Here are some great spices I regularly use instead of sugar:

-Cinnamon
-Clove
-Paprika
-Onion Powder
-Celery Seed
-Chili Peppers

3. Go for Pure VANILLA

Try it: replace sugar with a splash of vanilla in oatmeal, baked goods and hot drinks. It won’t give you the same rush—mission accomplished—but it’ll definitely comfort you throughout this winter season. When you really think about, isn’t comfort what sugar is really about for most us anyways?

Why You Don’t Need Sugar To Sweeten Up Your Holiday

Sugar comes in many forms and takes many names. If you want to live a sugar-free holiday season or summer for that matter, these are some tricks that will help. If you need a little more inspiration on giving sugar up for good, check out these great resources:

Fed Up

Suicide by Sugar

Giving up sugar is a serious commitment. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as simply replacing white sugar for brown, raw, etc. What are some ways you stay motivated on the sugar-free or low-sugar path?

Image Source: Ted Major/Flickr