Sugar alternatives

crystalp1980 wrote: »

By best I mean no yucky aftertaste or one that has the least. I prefer sugar as well but I want to cut down on my sugar intake.

If you are logging here, take a look at where you are getting the most sugar and use that information to make changes. I like using unsweetened applesauce on my oatmeal to sweeten it a bit. Of course there is sugar in the applesauce, but I know that I would add a lot more calories worth of sugar if I were to sweeten it with brown sugar. I use peanut butter and jam on pancakes. I learned to drink my tea without any cream or sugar. This smaller changes worked well, and I don't rely on artificial sweeteners. Not that there is anything wrong with sugar or sweeteners.

I use a product called "Monk Fruit in the Raw" (available on Amazon)

If you must continue with sugar, please use pure cane sugar, demerara, turbinado. Coconut sugar is also a good one. For a sugar substitute pure stevia is the best imo.

I use either Sweet and Low or Splenda to lightly sweeten my tea. Sometimes I add a little honey if I'm going for that flavor. The best way to find out what is best for you would be to try them and find out. What I like is not going to be what the next person likes.

I use sugar, but also honey, maple syrup, aspartame, saccharin - really anything except sugar alcohols, which have a horrible effect on my digestive system.

Honey mmmm

fr33sia12 wrote: »

crystalp1980 wrote: »

What are the best sugar alternatives out there??

Depends what you mean. Do you mean sugar you add to tea/coffee, or to baking, or porridge?

This is really the question.

I almost never use sugar at home. Basically, when I bake -- and then I don't use substitutes -- and a bit in rhubarb, although I've mostly learned to replace that by also using cherries or some other sweeter fruit. I use berries in oatmeal, drink coffee black. I've used honey in some savory dishes, but not as a replacement for table sugar.

If I liked sweetened hot beverages, I'd figure out the calories and either keep the sugar (it shouldn't be that many calories), replace with honey if I liked the taste better (calories would be the same), or if for some reason I used a whole lot I'd try cutting back or artificial sugars. I'm not against artificial sugars -- I prefer diet soda to regular (which I find undrinkable) and enjoy a vanilla protein powder with stevia on occasion -- but just wouldn't mess around with my baked goods, since it's not like I eat them that often, and can't really think of any other major use of sugar.

I use the sweetener, xylitol. It seems expensive to me, so I often use it, then add a package or two of Splenda.

I've tried them all. Stevia has the worst aftertaste to me, and some sort of vague bitterness. Xylitol is too "cool" as in, it feels like you are adding mints to your food interfering with the flavor. Sweet N' Low tastes chemical. Splenda is acceptable, but monk fruit's aftertaste is not bad at all, it's kind of "fruity". Aspartame is the best to me, only because I like diet soda so I'm used to it.

I still use sugar in most applications, but tend to do splenda in some things because, although not as good as some other choices, it's the most available sweetener in my local shop and one of the cheapest. I would have gone with monk fruit otherwise, but it's too expensive in comparison with limited availability which makes it not worth it for the purpose.

Other sweeteners like honey and dates have calories so I don't make effort to substitute them for sugar unless they work better taste-wise in particular recipes.