Honey replacement?

Has anyone tried using the sugar free syrups such as monin (that normally I only think to use in an oat latte) to flavour plain yoghurt instead of using honey? I love honey but if I use it on my granola it means using over 50% of my daily sugar allowance in one small meal.
Would the SF syrup work? What is your personal favourite?
Thanks for any other ideas in advance.
Best Answers
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Why not try it? I've seen others here use sugar free syrups in diverse ways beyond coffee/beverage uses. I've seen tiny bottles of the syrup at some stores, don't know how hard they are to find, if you're not sure you'd like it and it's not something you usually keep in the house. Pretty much the worst that could happen is one breakfast you don't like as much, plus the cost of the syrup. I always encourage people to try experiments like this, because the risk level is low, and tastes are very individual. (Speaking of which: I don't use the no-sugar syrups at all, in anything. I'm one of the weirdos for whom the artificial sweeteners have an off taste. I don't criticize them for other people, though.)
I'm not sure how broadly you'd except "other ideas", but I have a couple ways I sometimes flavor yogurt that aren't honey or a zero/low-calorie syrup. I'm also assuming your granola has some sugar or other sweetener - most do - so I'm not sure whether you're looking more for flavor or for added sweetness, or both.
One thing I like is peanut butter powder or chocolate peanut butter powder. Some brands have a little bit of sugar in them, but not all. It flavors the yogurt, adds a bit of protein as a bonus, and I consider it moderate calories. (I just had some in my breakfast oatmeal, a heaping spoon of 8g, nice flavor, 35 calories, 4g protein, 1.5g fiber, so a bit of nutritional contribution. As an aside, I'm obviously on team "yay, oats!". 😉)
Another thing I used to use was a tablespoon of all-fruit spread. My favorite - not something I'm compensated to boost, BTW - was Bionaturae brand, which is really fruit-heavy, not thickened with gums and such (just a bit of pectin, like I'd use in home-made jam). It has no sugar or artificial sweeteners, but does contain some apple juice concentrate well down the ingredients list. Not cheap, though. 30 calories per 19g tablespoon.
Which reminds me: If you're open to it, concentrated fruit juice - like that apple juice - could be options to add some sweetness, too. They do have calories, and inherent sugars, though. Some types have zero added sugar. I've used frozen apple juice in the past as a general sweetener. All-fruit applesauce would be another option.
These days - in maintenance, so more calories available - I still like a little more sweetness in my morning oatmeal than the berries provide, so I use a dollop of blackstrap molasses. That's higher calorie, about calories per gram, but the right brand will bring some nice micros along with some sweetness. This morning's dollop, at 45 calories, had 7.5% of calcium goal, 11% of iron, 296mg potassium, plus a little B6 and magnesium - worth it to me overall. Brand matters: Some, to me, have more of a burnt flavor than richness.
If the point of the syrup for you is more about flavor than about added sweetness, another option would be extracts. There are various extracts available that are strongly-flavored extracts of natural things like orange, lemon, almond, etc. A tiny bit, negligible calories, adds a lot of flavor to something like yogurt, but of course zero added sweetness.
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I like monk fruit as a sweetener.
also- In place of honey… what about a fruit puree? Any berry will sweeten.
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Answers
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Well sure of course it would work in the context of calories, most sugar replacements have pretty much 0 calories.
Neither honey or sweeteners are optimal for our biome but if I was to choose it would be honey, and local honey would be more ideal, food from our postal code generally translates into better conformity for all the bugs in our gut. Personally I would be getting rid of the granola and the oats, but that's just my opinion.
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😘 @neanderthin no way would I ditch my honey on my morning cottage cheese and muesli, or ditch the muesli to keep the honey. It’s a package deal and I thoroughly enjoy it.
I’ve tried most of the sugar free syrups. Went off them when my dietician pointed out that I was having seven or more servings a day of sugar free products. I quit sugar free products cold turkey about four months ago, to see if it would help with joint pain.
I’m actually on the fence if it did or not (either that or the joint pain has simply ramped up with the crazy weather here- hot, chilly, storm, chilly, hot hot storm…..I feel like a human barometer.)
My favorite brand is Jordan’s. At one time I had half a dozen flavors in the pantry. My favorite was salted caramel because it made a bad *kitten* chai latte. I haven’t found a replacement for it yet, which is sad because I adored a rich, satisfying daily chai latte. The only bottles I kept was the “simple syrup”, but I haven’t used them.
I’ve got a bottle of Monin blackberry that I make pitchers of sugar free iced tea for my husband. I don’t like blackberries (a childhood ick) but he loves it. A bottle has lasted us almost two years.
I did not like the Torino (?) brand that a lot of coffee shops use. I could taste the chemicals in it and it had a bad aftertaste.
The granulated stevia was great in baked goods I never tried it in ice creams. Dietician said to give that a test for a while, tooI’ve been adding bourbon vanilla sugar to homemade ice creams lately, but tbh, I monitor our other foods so much, I don’t think the extra couple teaspoons a day is affecting either of us, and husband is diabetic. We don’t keep other sugary things in the house, other than a few mini chocolate bars in the freezer, which we seldom touch.
Our nutrition is just all-around so improved by simply being mindful of what we eat.
But if you enjoy the honey, go for it, unless your doctor has set the sugar limit. I’ve researched the natural sugars and they all carry similar calories. I haven’t checked the sugar counts because I just worry over macros. I’d make myself mental and would just be treading water without confidence if I worried over micros.
unless you’ve got medical restrictions, cut yourself some slack and leave things in that you actually enjoy eating?One other suggestion…..flavored balsamic vinegars are intensely sweet. A very little goes a long way, and it’s low in sugars and very low in calories. A flavored balsamic on ice cream or yogurt is delicious, but on cottage cheese, with frozen blueberries, it’s out of this world. I have a bowl every single day for my largest afternoon snack.
These aren’t the small balsamic type glazes in squeeze or shake bottles. They generally come in glass wine bottles, are sold at gourmet olive oil / spice type shops, and often found at farmers markets. I have literally gone through cases of blueberry and strawberry from Oliandve.com since I started paying attention to what I ate back in late 2018. I credit vinegar with much of my loss, NOT because of the whole fake “apple cider vinegar weight loss” thing, but simply because it gave me lower cal, flavorful, delicious options to higher calorie dressings, marinades, stir fry “sauces”, flavoring etc.If you like a sweet/tart flavor, it’s worth a shot.
Oliandve.com, cottage cheese by the bucket full (because I love it and don’t consider it a lesser alternative to anything!) , my ninja Creami ice cream maker/Woodfire grill/nonstick pan for dry frying, and this app have been the most effective tools in my weight loss arsenal.
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I use applesauce in lieu of the artificial sweetener I used to use in my pancakes. It actually tastes better, because the applesauce contributes to moistness.
Btw, fwiw…….Someone here suggested putting the batter in sheet cake pans with baking parchment. OMG, so much easier than doling out scoops of pancake mix onto a griddle. I can make eight days worth in half an hour, including baking time, with no cleanup except a giant mixing bowl and two cake sheets that wash off easily!
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springlering62 I've used honey during periods where I'll add some carbs pre workout which is called a "targeted ketogenic diet" it's also when I like to add pasta, potatoes or bread because these are mostly starch and act differently in the body that a sugar does, but I have added honey, local and it is tasty. Pizza is another go to when I'm doing a TKD. 😊
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Love the apple sauce idea for pancakes!
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I'll have a look for the balsamic vinegars. You make the cottage cheese sound divine! Thanks for your reply.
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Thanks everyone for your responses, there are some really interesting ideas here. I look forward to trying some of them.
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I regularly add things to 0% plain greek yogurt or skyr. From a pack of tinned peaches (after sucking out the juice), to fresh apples, to cocoa, to broken up candy bars, to nuts, to sucralose drops, to Robinsons double concentrated syrup — which brings us back to you.
And you know what the next thing is that I am going to try? some of the water enhancer squirt thingies like "Mio" or no name equivalents. Because the fact that Robinsons has 10% or 20% or whatever "real" fruit doesn't exactly excite me that much in terms of looking for something that will impart some oomf for few calories to my plain yogurt! Nothing stops me from eating the fruit as fruit!
So yeah… yogurt is a great vehicle and yes it does have carbs. And natural sugars.
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Hey guys, sorry for the off topic a little bit here. I see someone talked about apple juice and ACV here, and I could not get answers on another topic, so please if you with knowledge can help me, I appreciate a lot.
So I was even going to buy ACV gummies, but then I stumbled upon this article: Apple Cider Vinegar Gummies: Are They Worth the Hype?
They say the gummies do not have the real effects of ACV. But now reading here on this forum, I see that even the real ACV it is not worth it. Am I correct?
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What are you expecting it to do? Gummies, well who knows, that's brought to market for different reasons than an organic ACV that has a mother. Anyway there are actual benefits but like I said it depends what your expecting to get out of it.
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my experience fwiw,
i had the GERd from Hell. The kind that, when you leave the house, you better carry extra panties and a sick bag at all times, or, you’d wake up choking and gagging and thinking “this is it, I’m dying and my damn husband is sleeping through it”.
I read about ACV and tried it for a year or so waiting for all those magical benefits to kick in.It did zero, and it certainly didn’t prevent me from putting on weight. Sure as heck didn’t cause me to lose weight .
Plus it was pretty awful gulping it down, even watered down, with lemons, or apple juice.
I still have at least one serving of vinegar a day, but now it’s a sweet balsamic on cottage cheese with fruit and a spoonful grape nuts, and it’s because I enjoy it and look forward to it.
IMHO it’s all a brilliant marketing campaign for moldy vinegar at the bottom of the barrel.0 -
I agree with @springlering62 that the Jordan skinny syrups are by far the best of the available SF syrups. We keep 5 different flavors in the house (salted caramel, hazelnut, french vanilla, brown sugar cinnamon, and raspberry). I use them for a variety of things, such as chai, fancy coffee, yogurt, sometimes for cold drinks (raspberry only, along with true lime/lemon/orange packets). I can't help with a honey replacement, as I've never been huge into honey.
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