Alternative Sweeteners For Eating Healthy
Many people are searching for ways to eat healthier and seeking a solution for losing weight. While eating healthy and getting enough exercise are important factors in weight loss, the diet of the person also plays a crucial role. Examining the choice of sweeteners one consumes is a necessary element when forming any dietary plan.
Sugars are an important part of any diet. They provide the body with the necessary energy to get through the day and to perform its basic functions. Many foods have naturally occurring sugars such as fruits which contain fructose and milk which contains milk sugars. These types of sugars are easily digestible by most people and your body can turn them into energy quickly and effectively. When formulating a plan to lose weight it is best to avoid as much added sugars as possible. These types of sweeteners are often labeled as high fructose corn syrup as well as chemical substitutes. This class of sweeteners does not occur naturally in raw foods and most are added later during processing. While cutting the consumption of all sugars is a primary solution when seeking weight loss, it is especially important to eliminate as many artificial sweeteners as possible. This is because these additives are not only empty calories, but can actually slow down the body’s metabolism making weight loss slower and more difficult.
There are many healthy alternatives to artificial sweeteners. While some believe that brown sugar is better than white sugar, the former offers a negligible increase in nutritional value. One increasingly popular alternative to artificial sweeteners is natural honey. Honey consists of a mix of sucrose and fructose and can be used in place of table sugar in most any recipe. Honey also contains some nutritional value as well. In addition to being naturally occurring, by consuming honey you are also supporting the honey bee population which is vital to the food supply. Bees are key source of pollination which helps to produce many of our foods. Another naturally occurring sweetener is maple syrup. Made from the sap of a maple tree, this syrup can also be used to replace white or brown sugar in many recipes. Honey and maple syrup can also be used instead of table sugar to sweeten things like tea and coffee.
