Thursday, January 26, 2012

Choose Healthy Sugar Alternatives

Most people eat (and drink) too much sugar. One way to clean up your diet and lead a healthier lifestyle is too cut back on your consumption. This does not mean, however, than you must give up all things sweet. Here are some healthier alternatives to the empty calories and zero nutrients of white table sugar.


Instructions


1. Try a squirt of agave nectar which comes from the agave plant native to Mexico. It is 25% sweeter than sugar, so you'll need less. It has 20 calories per teaspoon. Try it on pancakes or to sweeten a cup of tea.








2. Sprinkle a little Stevia in your coffee or in baked goods. Almost 100 times sweeter than sugar, Stevia comes from the leaves of a South American herb. It is considered a zero calorie food.


3. Use brown rice syrup for its complex carbohydrates, which makes it break down slower than the usual sugar rush of its white counterpart. It is great for baking or on toast with a little butter.








4. Drizzle some honey on your toast or oatmeal. Sweeter than sugar in smaller doses with some minerals to boot, choose from a variety of honeys such as buckwheat, lavender, orange blossom and even avocado.


5. Make some baked beans with real molasses and reap benefits such as decent levels of calcium and iron.

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