Numerous sweetening options aside from processed sugars
By Rochelle Blank, HHC, AADP A Natural Choice
America’s love affair with sweets is heading into its peak season.
From candy-festive Halloween to thankful pumpkin pies, merry cakes and year-end cookies, tempting sugar-laden treats will be on call everywhere. This could really tip the scales for people who crave sweets while also leaving even the most sugar-discerning person challenged.
To add to this, what once was a single choice of white sugar in the baking sections of supermarkets has now morphed into a dizzying selection of sweeteners. As a result, you may be understandably confused and rightly sugar-shocked.
So what is a healthy natural sweet alternative for those times when you are searching for something sweet?
Consider first using naturally sweet and classic spices like organic cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, ginger or pumpkin spice. Besides adding a sweet taste without sugar side effects, “cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg increase your ability to metabolize sugar and remove it from the blood,” according to nutritionist Ann Louise Gittleman, Ph.D.
How sweet is that?
Nuts, such as almonds, walnuts, cashews, pistachios and hazelnuts, when chopped or crushed and added into your recipes, spell sweet without sugar. Additionally, nut oils, nut butters and nut milks offer sweet flavors.
Fruits — including dried fruits — are natural sweeteners. Mashed bananas, chopped apples or pears, unsweetened applesauce and raisins will satisfy your sweet tooth while also enabling you to benefit from valuable minerals and vitamins found in these foods.
Be careful that the dried fruit doesn’t contain any added sugar. Also, be careful if the dried fruit contains sulfur dioxide, which can sometimes cause nausea, headaches, rashes and more serious allergic reactions.
Other sweet flavors come from the meat, oil or water of coconuts. Organic vanilla and orange blossom offer subtle sweet tastes.
Some of the packaged natural sweeteners that are on the market today are derived from natural, non-chemical sources. They contain vitamins and minerals and break down more slowly than white sugar (sucrose). Naturally processed sweeteners include agave nectar, amasake, barley malt, brown rice syrup, date sugar, fruit juices and fruit syrups, maple syrup, raw honey, sorghum molasses, stevia and unrefined sugar.
As a health counselor, I caution that even when choosing natural, non-chemical sweeteners that you do so sparingly, as most of these choices still raise blood sugar levels. In excess, they can cause imbalances in your body, resulting in unwanted health conditions. Remember a sugar is still a sugar, no matter how natural or what form it appears in. My recommendation is to use the least concentrated, least sweet and most nearly whole food sweeteners, infrequently.
Amasake, made by fermenting rice into a thick liquid; brown rice syrup, made from sprouted brown rice, and barley malt, made from barley, are all rich in maltose. Created from grains, these sweeteners are all one-third as sweet as white sugar. Having not been highly processed, the end products are more of a “whole food” than other sweeteners. Additionally, they all measure very low on sugar grams per tablespoon.
Agave nectar is a made from the juice of the agave cactus, native to Mexico. It comes in a semi-thick liquid form, much like amber-colored honey. Agave is very sweet, sweeter than refined sugar, but scores low on the glycemic index. This sweetener gets absorbed into the body slowly, and thus is said to be less disturbing to the body’s blood sugar levels. Some companies producing this sweetener go so far as to claim that it is suitable for diabetics, but it’s best to check with your doctor first.
Date sugar is made from finely ground dates. The benefit of this sweetener is that it contains all of the fruits, nutrients and minerals. It is also low on grams of sugar per tablespoon. Date sugar can be used as a direct replacement for sugar. It is quite sweet, but doesn’t impart a sugary taste to cooked dishes.
Fruit juices mixed with water can be used to sweeten things up. Fruit syrups contain very high sugar contents, so use sparingly. Both products should be organic as the amounts of sprays on commercial fruit products are high.
Maple syrup, made from boiled down maple tree sap, boasts a wide range of minerals and high amounts of potassium and calcium. It is best used in small amounts, because it does harbor a high sugar content. Make sure that you buy pure organic maple syrup and never maple- flavored corn syrup.
Raw honey is the artful handiwork of busy honeybees extracting delicious nectars from flowers. Honey contains enzymes, minerals and vitamins. It doesn’t upset the body’s mineral balance as much as white sugar, and some medicinal properties have been reported. However, all honeys are immediately absorbed into the bloodstream, and carry the highest amount of sugar grams per tablespoon — on average, 16–18 grams per tablespoon.
Stevia is an herb from the Amazon rainforests. South Americans have enjoyed it for centuries. It is not considered a sugar in the United States because the FDA has not approved it. As a result, it is sold as a dietary supplement. The extracts are reported to be up to 300 times sweeter than white sugar. However, stevia is the only sweetener that does not upset blood sugar levels and has zero calories. This could be a “sweet” choice for people struggling with high blood sugar as well as diabetics and Candida sufferers.
Stevia has a strong licorice taste so it is best used in small amounts. Purchase the green or brown liquids or powders, as the white and clear versions are highly refined and lack nutrients.
Sorghum molasses is derived from sugar cane and is said to be highly nutritious. Sucanat is a brand name for an organic evaporated cane juice product that has been blended with organic molasses and carries a low amount of sugar grams per tablespoon.
Chemically processed sweeteners such as white sugar, raw sugar, brown sugar, turbinado sugar, corn syrup and blackstrap molasses should be avoided. They contain no nutritional value and are considered unhealthy.
Rochelle Blank, HHC, AADP, is a holistic health counselor and owner of A Natural Choice. She writes a health blog for the Princeton Packet at www.packetinsider.com/blog/ naturalchoice. For information, or to sign up for a health consultation, go to www.a-naturalchoice.com. Ms. Blank is offering a talk called “Nutritious Baking without Allergy-Prone Ingredients” at Whole Foods Market, West Windsor, on Thursday, Dec. 11, at 7 p.m. Registration required: 609-799-2919.

