Confused about all the sugar alternatives out there!

Aspartame, Splenda, Stevia, Agave, honey or should I just stick with plain old sugar?? There are quite a few options out there and I am not sure which ones to use and which ones to avoid. I am not a big sugar junkie, but I like honey in my tea, sugar in my coffee and have now collected a few low cal dessert recipies that use Splenda. I know aspartame is not good for you and HATE buying foods with it, but it tends to be in most low cal options (yogurt, Jello, pop etc).

What to do ... I mean eat?????

If man makes it, don't eat it.
That should end the confusion.

Agreed. It's all about personal preference in the end. I personally use Splenda 'cause:

1. It tastes like sugar
2. It doesn't have that weird aspartame aftertaste
3. The bags are lighter than sugar bags

Do what you gotta go, hon ^_^

I personally, use Splenda. It tastes like sugar to me. I've used it in baking and nobody in my family notices a difference.

It really depends on you and your diet My trainer says a little stevia in baking or in greek yogurt is ok but my natropath would tell you to avoid all of it unless it is from fruits. Stevia isn't digested so its not going to act like sugar for weight loss but then you are introducing something fake into your body. I just cut them all out all together and eat fruit when I have a craving.

Yikes. You're going to get answers ranging from OMG artificial sweeteners are the evilest thing ever!!!!!!!!!! to OMG sugars are the evilest thing ever!!!!!! to eat whatever you want!!!!!!!!!


I'm in the eat whatever you want category I've done my homework (you can too! At http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed ) and I'm convinced that artificial sweeteners are safe, including the dreaded Asparatame. For ever scary article that says asparatame causes cancer, increased appetite, insulin spikes, etc., there are half a dozen articles that refute those claims. Same goes for the other sweeteners. Personally, I prefer the taste of Splenda and use it in my tea when I have tea. I've never tried Stevia. I've never tried Agave.

I also think sugar and honey are perfectly fine if used in moderation and I occasionally put sugar in my tea. They pack a lot of calories. Too much will put you over your calorie limit. Other than that... they just aren't a problem.

Good luck!

I will join this category too. I like splenda because it doesn't have the same wierd aftertaste some of the others have, IMHO. But I am not worried about using sugar or anything else. Everything in moderation indeed.

I'm working towards simply not sweetening things. Eat them in their natural state unless they are specifically intended to be sweet (ie: desserts), then I eat regular sugar. I just try to indulge sparingly.

As a diabetic, I use splenda if I really need a sweetness to a tea or breakfast cereal... but it's something I'm trying to get away from. The fact that Splenda was originally developed as an insecticide doesn't really give me great confidence in its health benefits lol.

Here are some facts.
Stevia is actually made from the stevia plant, like sugar is mad from sugar cane.
Stevia is lower calorie.
Agave nectar is healthy for you.
Raw, locally made honey has even more health benefits.
I use all 3. Stevia in coffee, a bit of agave on waffles or pancakes, honey on breads...
I think if you're going to use sugar, I'd go with organic to escape all the chemicals.
Obviously all the fake stuff is not good for your body.

From there you can choose what you want to do.

Splenda, Stevia and the like are for diabetics. i get it, if you can't have sugar, fine use whichever tastes best to you. Local raw honey will help desensitize you to allergies so, that's a good thing, plus it has propolis and other good things in it. Refined sugar has it's place, it's sweet and no other flavors so, sometimes you need that to make a dish taste right. I personally like raw sugar for coffee, white for cooking and baking (unless brown is called for, then i prefer the extra flavor of dark brown.

Any of the natural sources are fine, just don't go nuts. I just make sure I don't use any sweetener other than my coffee unless it's a special, once a month desert I'm doing or a celebration meal. So a 5 lb sack of sugar lasts me about 3 months and a quart of honey six months. Seems more sensible to do that than use chemical and artificial substitutes just so i can have more sweet taste where i don't really need it - eat fruit, it's sweet.