Holiday baking means using sweeteners. Try these substitutes for sugar – they’ve all been tested by our members and their families, and have passed with flying colors.
Sugar (dry sweetener) * Most of the time, the Total Health Makeover® recommends the least processed sweeteners.
The dry versions are Sucanat® and Rapadura. However, they will make your baked goods darker in color, and while that’s not a problem with chocolate, gingerbread, molasses, or other dark cookies, with some recipes, a light color is more desirable. Instead, use turbinado sugar, Florida crystals or evaporated cane juice (different manufacturers may call them by different names). In some cases, these sweeteners are labeled “organic sugar.”
Other dry sweeteners that you may find in these recipes include date sugar and maple sugar, which are also good substitutes, especially in combination with Sucanat® or Rapadura.
When recipes call for white and brown sugar, you can often use two different sweeteners for great flavor (for example, Sucanat® and maple sugar in oatmeal cookies; Sucanat® and date sugar in chocolate chip cookies).
Syrup (liquid sweeteners) * Liquid sweeteners include maple syrup, blackstrap molasses, raw honey, agave nectar (or agave syrup), and brown rice syrup. Brown rice syrup is a good substitute for corn syrup. Use it in combination with other syrups for more complex flavors.
Unless you want to do a lot of experimenting, substitute a dry sweetener for sugar, and a liquid sweetener for syrup. That is – dry for dry, wet for wet.
Trade in carbonated beverages for water, and see your weight change and your health improve. It’s not instant, but it’s a small change that will add up fast.
Sodas made with sugar or corn syrup add calories without nutrition, and lead to tooth decay (just ask your dentist).
Even diet sodas cause problems. The chemical sweeteners can lead to cravings for more sweet foods, or for salty foods (to balance the sweetness of the soda). Either way, you don’t need those extra foods. And we really don’t know what all those chemicals are doing in our bodies over time.
Drinking a carbonated beverage means drinking in gas… and then you have to get rid of the gas. No matter which end it comes out, it’s not the image you want to project. At least we don’t think so.
Okay, so the studies are still based on rodents. But pay attention – you may recognize yourself in this behavior.
A rodent’s brain makes the connection between taste and calories to keep track of how much it has eaten. That is, the “enough calories to make it though the maze again” signal depends on flavor.
Sugar subs like saccharin, sucralose, aspartame, neotame, and acesulfame-K remove that link between calories (as energy) and taste. The taste buds know there’s food coming in, but the body doesn’t get the energy it’s expecting. And so (to get through the maze again), the rodent must keep eating. Over time, that leads to fat rats.
So let’s tie this to what we know about people. We don’t know yet whether the human brain works the same way as the rat brain. What has been proven is that the taste of sweetness is mildly addicting for humans – the more you eat, the more you need to feel satisfied. And since sugar subs are 200 to 13,000 times as sweet as sugar, they’re likely to increase your cravings.
Get out of the rat maze of diet soda. Refresh yourself and quench your thirst with a glass of water.
Want your kids to choose fruit juice or water over soda? The best way to make it happen may be to model that behavior. Researchers have found that the more soda parents drink, the more their kids reach for the sugary drinks, too! While soda isn’t completely responsible for the skyrocketing rates of childhood obesity, it does play a role.
Help your kids kick the pop habit by not keeping soda in the house. Instead, keep healthy thirst-quenching alternatives such as cold water, cool herbal tea, and 100 percent fruit juice on hand.
Keep a few slices of citrus fruit, cucumber, or berries ready to drop in a glass of water or tea.
Talk with your children about why soda is bad for their health and their teeth, and get involved to make sure school vending machines offer your kids healthy options.
Diet sodas are not the answer – while they lack the sugar and calories, they are filled with chemicals that neither you nor your kids need. Choose water, herbal tea, or 100 percent fruit juice. The whole family will be healthier!
Tomorrow, Tuesday, May 19, Marilu will be on Gab with the Gurus radio show at 3 pm eastern time (noon pacific). You can listen to Gab with the Gurus live (there’s even a call-in number!), or at their website.
