Health: Can't Give Up Sugar? What Are Healthy, Natural Alternatives? How Good Are Artificial Sweeteners?

It is well known that refined sugar is not good for health. But it is not possible for many people to give up sugar. When people drastically reduce their sugar intake, they may experience withdrawal symptoms, such as headaches, cravings, and mood changes.

Sugar fuels every cell in the brain. Your brain also sees sweets, chocolates etc. that contain a lot of sugar as a reward, which makes you keep craving for them. 

On festivals and occasions of celebrations, people relish sweets and offer it to others. If you often eat a lot of sugar, you're reinforcing that reward, which can make it tough to break the habit.

Sugar may harm both your physical and mental health

But sugar is not good for health. It’s good to bear in mind that eating too much added sugar may harm both your physical and mental health.
For example, diets high in sugar are associated with an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and fatty liver. But what are other options? How can you reduce intake of refined sugar
If you want to cut your intake of common refined sweeteners like white sugar, there are many healthy natural alternatives to choose from. Some of these even contain zero or very few calories.

Are Artificial Sweeteners and Sugar Substitutes Safe?

Most of us like to begin our day with a cup of tea or coffee, usually sweetened with sugar to add to the taste. But many fitness enthusiasts prefer sugar substitutes or artificial sweeteners to sweeten their brew. But are such sugar substitutes healthy and should you be consuming them?

Before you rip open a packet of artificial sweetener in lieu of spooning sugar into your coffee or tea, pause. While artificial sweeteners are generally viewed as harmless, the scientific community is still not in agreement about how safe they are.

While people often choose artificial sweeteners to lose weight and cut down on calorie intake, earlier research found that artificial sweeteners may enhance sugar cravings and stimulate your appetite. 

Simply replacing your sugary beverages with diet versions may not give you the positive health outcomes you’re looking to achieve.

While people often choose artificial sweeteners to lose weight and cut down on calorie intake, earlier research found that artificial sweeteners may enhance sugar cravings and stimulate your appetite. Simply replacing your sugary beverages with diet versions may not give you the positive health outcomes you’re looking to achieve.

Natural alternatives are better

Here are some natural alternatives to refined sugar that are very good for health:

1. Dates: Dates are the dried fruits of the date palm tree. These sweet, chewy fruits are an excellent alternative to refined sugar and offer several health benefits.
Unlike refined sugar and many other sweeteners, dates are a good source of nutrients, including fiber, potassium, magnesium, manganese, vitamin B6, and carotenoid and polyphenol antioxidants.

Because of their sweet taste, you can use dates in place of sugar in recipes for energy bars, cakes, and cookies.

2. Honey: Honey contains trace amounts of vitamins and minerals, as well as an abundance of plant compounds that provide anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits. Many people consider honey as a superfood. Vitamin B6, zinc, iron, potassium and antioxidants are found in it which strengthen immunity.

3. Brown Sugar: Brown sugar is one such healthy option if you want to switch from refined white sugar. It is processed but made in a natural way to retain most of sugarcane's original nutrition. It has a caramel-like taste to it and is used to sweeten different hot beverages, as well as desserts and other baked goods.

4. Fruits: If you feel like eating something sweet after eating food, then you can eat fruits. Many fruits like banana, mango taste sweet and have many nutritional benefits. 

5. Jaggery: If you do not like tea without sugar, then use jaggery. Jaggery is beneficial for digestion,  patients of asthma, cough and cold. Eating jaggery increases the level of hemoglobin in the body.

6. Coconut Sugar: Many minerals are found in coconut sugar. It is made from coconut juice.

7. Stevia: Stevia is a natural sweetener that’s derived from the leaves of the South American shrub Stevia rebaudiana.

This plant-based sweetener can be extracted from one of two compounds. These compounds don’t contain any calories, are up to 450 times sweeter than sugar, and may taste slightly different than sugar.

(AUTHOR: SATISH KUMAR)