Natural Sweeteners

    Stevia is a natural sweetener extracted from the leaves of Stevia rebaudiana, a plant species native to South America.  Like sugar, stevia is among the most popular sweeteners on the planet, and health-conscious people have been using it for a long time.  The primary benefit of stevia is that it is much sweeter than sugar (as much as 200 to 300 times). We only need trace amounts of it to sweeten our coffee, tea, oatmeal, homemade desserts, and more. Using only trace amounts means we enjoy the benefits without adding calories to our daily intake. Stevia is an herb and can be grown much the same as any herb or vegetable. With a little knowledge, you can grow stevia at home indoors, in the backyard garden, or a greenhouse. It has hardly any calories or carbohydrates, or fats or cholesterol.

Honey is a popular alternative to sugar, praised for its many health benefits for human health. Despite it's simple formula of water, glucose, and fructose, honey is rich in essential nutrients that promote good health and prevent deficiencies.   Like stevia, honey is sweeter than sugar (though not as much as stevia), so we need less of it to sweeten foods and drinks. Honey is the sweet fluid made by honeybees using the nectar of flowering plants. There are approximately 320 different varieties of honey, which vary in colour, scent and flavor.  

In addition to its use as a natural sweetener, honey is used as an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antibacterial agent. People commonly use honey orally to treat coughs and topically to treat burns and promote wound healing.

  Maple syrup is perhaps one of the most popular sweeteners today, especially in the North America. The sweet delight works as an excellent substitute to table sugar because it provides the body with crucial antioxidants that control oxidative stress, slow down the aging process, and reduce the risk of chronic disease.  The syrup is also beneficial because it can support our immunity thanks to its rich nutritional profile. Plus, maple syrup works well for many recipes. Maple syrup is prepared from the sugary sap of the maple tree. The preparation involves tapping or piercing of trees to obtain this sap. Syrup is made by boiling and removing water from the sap, so that only the sugar remains.  Be careful when purchasing it, as many cheap imitations is not maple syrup!

Dates are a type of fruit that works as a fantastic replacement for table sugar. You can consume dates fresh or dried.   Unlike sugar, dates are rich in essential nutrients, including fiber, vitamins, and minerals. One popular way to use them is to blend raw dates and add them to recipes instead of sugar. The fruit adds a sweet and delightful taste to cookies, cupcakes, and other baked goodies.   You can also include dates in your afternoon smoothie instead of adding sugar to sweeten the recipe up.

Xylitol is a lesser-known sweetener but one you should consider for reducing your sugar consumption. Similar to stevia and honey, xylitol is a natural product that occurs in many fruits and vegetables.   With a sweetness similar to sugar, xylitol is a worthy replacement. Xylitol is a naturally occurring carbohydrate, that looks and tastes just like regular table sugar. Xylitol has a similar sweetness as regular sugar but contains 40% fewer calories:  Table sugar: 4 calories per gram Xylitol: 2.4 calories per gram. Since xylitol is a refined sweetener, it doesn’t contain any vitamins, minerals or protein. In that sense, it provides only empty calories. A notable benefit of xylitol is that it promotes dental health, unlike sugar, which can lead to tooth decay.

 Agave is a plant found in parts of the US, as well as Mexico, Central and South America, the Mediterranean, and India.  Agave syrup comes from the extracted juice of agave plant's spiky leaves. Agave nectar is low in glucose and therefore doesn’t spike blood sugar levels much. This gives the sweetener a low glycemic index. 

Sugarcane is a tropical grass that is cultivated around the world to produce refined sugar. Consuming sugar closest to it's purest form contains the highest amount of the plant’s natural vitamins and minerals. For this reason we are recommending sugarcane juice, next molasses and brown sugar. We should avoid white sugar as it has been refined to remove all traces of molasses and minerals.