Alternatives for Honey??

danniilj91

Hi all I’m currently using honey as a sweetener but it’s showing as my main sugar intake and I’m going over my recommended amount.

Any recommendations on what I can use that contains less sugar but is natural as I don’t want use sugars or sweeteners.

Thankyou
Dannii

Alatariel75

Well, honey is almost pure sugar, as is maple, agave syrup, rice syrup, etc. They're all sweeteners.

When I was on Whole30, we used whole dates soaked in boiled water and blended as a sweetener, still chock full of sugar but it was natural.

Lietchi

For tea, I use buddha amacha leaves to provide natural sweetness.

Alatariel75

Lietchi wrote: »

For tea, I use buddha amacha leaves to provide natural sweetness.

Oh, good point, I find liquorice root in tea is also a great sweetener.

AnnPT77

Apple juice concentrate or grape juice concentrate would be fairly natural.

A good brand of blackstrap molasses is a sugar, but at least has some very solid micronutrient content. I like it in my oatmeal. Some types can have heavy metals, though, or so I'm told.

Gradually tapering down the amount of sugar one adds to things tends to work well for some people. Eating more fruit tends to reduce cravings for more calorie-dense or sweeter sweets for some people (of which I'm one).

Honestly, sugar is pretty much sugar, whether it's refined white sugar, honey, agave, blah blah blah. It's processed in the body in pretty much the same way, whether it's in a sweetener or in a natural food. Yes, there's a different pathway for fructose than glucose, but most of the "natural" sugars - including those in whole foods - are a mix of those anyway.

Some of the sweet-tasting botanicals like stevia, monkfruit, etc., are marketed as natural, but can be quite highly processed depending on the specific form. Are those truly more natural than refined sugar?

If you're getting so much total sugar that you can't simultaneously stay within calorie goal AND get enough protein and fats, that's definitely a problem nutritionally. Ideally, there should be room in an adequate calorie budget for not just those proteins and fats, but also IMO a well-rounded variety of colorful veggies and fruits for micronutrients and fiber. If sugar prevents that, then reducing sugar is a good plan. If someone is diabetic or insulin resistant, or has a similar health concern, they may need to manage carbs carefully. In that case, sugar may also be a concern. Otherwise?

This may be considered a radical thought, but if a person is staying within reasonable overall average calories; getting enough protein; getting enough of a healthy balance of fat types; eating a very generous amount (say 400-800g minimum) of varied, colorful veggies and fruits daily; is not already diabetic, insulin resistant or anything of that sort . . . I don't see why total sugar level matters.

All through weight loss, I routinely exceeded the MFP default total sugar goal when the only added sugar I ate on a typical day was a bit of concentrated fruit juice well down the ingredient list in a single daily 30-calorie tablespoon of all-fruit spread. My overall nutrition was solid, I lost weight fine, my health markers like blood pressure and cholesterol improved pretty dramatically. I customized my diary columns to drop sugar and track fiber instead. That wasn't denial; it was a conscious decision that total sugar wasn't relevant in that context.

For myself, I've always done better working at getting needful nutrients into my eating within calories, rather than focusing on getting supposedly-bad things out. YMMV.

These days in maintenance, I still exceed the MFP default total, and I do eat a bit more added sugar, though typically well within the WHO recommended limit of 10% of calories, with rare exceptions. I actually prefer the sweeteners that are forms of sugar large numbers of humans have been eating for centuries, like maple syrup, honey, molasses and yes, refined white sugar. Health markers are still just great, weight generally stable, etc. That's just me, though.

tomcustombuilder

danniilj91 wrote: »

Hi all I’m currently using honey as a sweetener but it’s showing as my main sugar intake and I’m going over my recommended amount.

Any recommendations on what I can use that contains less sugar but is natural as I don’t want use sugars or sweeteners.

Thankyou
Dannii

I wouldn’t worry about it. Sugar is just carbs and carbs are just sugar. Fruit is sugar. This whole sugarphobia has gotten out of hand. There is this misconception that sugar is only a donut or cookie or piece of a can of Coke or other ultra processed foods and drinks.

Honey is a naturally produced sweetener. Don’t fear it…

springlering62

If you’re looking for a low cal real sugar, there isn’t any such beast. I wish there was!!!!! But sweeteners all have similar calories by weight.

Some people perceive the taste of cinnamon as being “sweet”. The diabetes class my husband took (I attended with him) suggested using cinnamon in lieu of sugar in many instances.

I use cinnamon in my aeropress when I brew my coffee, on top of chai, on baked fruits, in yogurt, sometimes on ice cream.

Be sure to get a high quality cinnamon. Recent news reports indicate that bargain and some store brands have high lead contents.

I prefer Vietnamese cinnamon which has a much stronger flavor than “regular” cinnamon. Frontier Coop brand is terrific, and very reasonably priced. I bought a pound of it last time and just refill my shaker.

AnnPT77

springlering62 wrote: »

If you’re looking for a low cal real sugar, there isn’t any such beast. I wish there was!!!!! But sweeteners all have similar calories by weight.

Some people perceive the taste of cinnamon as being “sweet”. The diabetes class my husband took (I attended with him) suggested cinnamon in lieu of sugar in many instances.

I use cinnamon in my aeropress when I brew my coffee, on top of chai, on baked fruits, in yogurt, sometimes on ice cream.

Be sure to get a high quality cinnamon. Recent news reports indicate that bargain and some store brands have high lead contents.

I prefer Vietnamese cinnamon which has a much stronger flavor than “regular” cinnamon. Frontier Coop brand is terrific, and very reasonably priced. I bought a pound of it last time and just refill my shaker.

I'd recommend caution around cinnamon, before eating it regularly in more than tiny sprinkles, especially for people who have certain health conditions or use certain prescription drugs. There is controversy around this in the research, but I'd still suggest checking it out. In the EU, some national health authorities have issued cautions about this, and there are food safety limits on how much cinnamon can be used in commercial food products.

Eating cinnamon regularly in quantity for a long time - by which I mean as little as maybe half a teaspoon a day - may not be a great idea. I'm saying that as someone who herself eats a lot of cinnamon, like half a teaspoon to a teaspoon daily.

People who are taking prescription blood thinners should be cautious about eating a lot of cinnamon. It's a blood thinner . . . not super strong, but it can be strong enough to matter when eating more than small sprinkles, and doing it regularly. Besides concerns about lead contamination, cinnamon actually contains coumarin, the active ingredient in the prescription blood thinner Coumadin, and contains it in somewhat unpredictable amounts.

Cinnamon can also interfere with other drugs, such as diabetes drugs (increases their effect, possibly dangerously). Diabetes drugs are commonly taken around MFP.

Besides, that cinnamon can be risky for people who are sensitive, such as those with liver disease; and liver concerns could be heightened if challenging the liver in other ways (routine alcohol consumption, regular use of things like Tylenol/acetaminophen, etc.).

It has some health benefits, but also some risks. Some types of cinnamon contain more coumarin than others, though coumarin obviously isn't the only potential issue.

The highest coumarin level is in a variety that may be called Indonesian Cinnamon, but it's often sold in the US labeled just as "cinnamon", because it's the cheapest. Botanical name is Cinnamomum burmanii.

Another common grocery store type of cinnamon, cassia cinnamon, reportedly can be up to 1% coumarin, which is also significant. On the store shelf, it may just be labeled "Cinnamon" or say "Cassia" somewhere in the labeling, but another common name is China Cinnamon. Preferred botanical name is Cinnamomum cassia, but some use Cinnamomum aromaticum.

Vietnamese cinnamon, which Spring mentions and prefers, reportedly contains the 2nd highest fraction of coumarin of forms of cinnamon commonly sold. Botanical name is Cinnamomum loureiroi. It may be labeled as Saigon cinnamon, also. It's a little more expensive, so probably more likely to be labeled as Vietnamese cinnamon or Saigon cinnamon, rather than just labeled "Cinnamon".

Ceylon cinnamon, which I've usually seen labeled as such in the store, though maybe not in the big letters on the front, is milder tasting, but contains less coumarin, generally only trace amounts. Botanical name is Cinnamomum verum. This is the one I eat and like.

Obviously, I'm not saying "don't eat cinnamon". I'm just saying that it's one of the common foods, supplements or herbs a person should check out carefully before consuming often in a meaningful quantity. I'd put it in the same category as, for example, grapefruit or Brazil nuts. It matters how much you eat, how often, and in what context of health conditions and prescription medications.