Are ‘Natural’ Sweeteners Healthy?

There aren’t many things that make me angry.

I do get a bit worked up when a certain 3-year-old puts my shoes in the toilet. But you know what pisses me off even more?

It’s when I read blogs and cookbooks that use ‘natural’ sweeteners like maple syrup, honey, dates or agave and imply that these are a better choice than regular white sugar.

I know it’s tempting to fall into this trap. I’ve been there myself.

But since having gestational diabetes and monitoring my blood sugar levels I’ve been forced to change my view on all sweeteners. Even using fruit to ‘sweeten’ baked goods.

And like any recent convert, now whenever I see a reference to ‘natural sweeteners’, it really drives me crazy.

There are two reasons…

1. It’s Just Plain Wrong.

Sugar is sugar.

Even if there are slightly more minerals in honey and maple syrup and more fiber in dates, your body essentially treats natural sugars the same way… The glucose part spikes your blood sugar levels and caused all the insulin related chaos. And the fructose goes into your liver to be stored directly as fat. Yes fat.

It’s a bit like low nicotine cigarettes, sure they’re slightly better but they still give you cancer.

2. It Gives You a False Sense of Security.

It’s human nature right? Oh this cake is made using healthy ‘natural’ sweeteners. That means I’m fine to have another slice.

I wish I could remember where I read a study about this phenomenon. From memory researchers compared the amount of cake eaten by two groups of people. Group A were told the cake contained a certain amount of calories per slice. And group B were told it contained twice as many calories.

They were then invited to eat as much cake as they liked.

You know where this is heading right?

The people in group A who thought the cake was healthier ate significantly more cake. More!

So what sweeteners do I use?

Before my gestational diabetes and subsequent diabetes diagnosis I didn’t mind using honey and maple syrup as a treat.

But now that I’m watching my blood sugar, I stick to stevia.

My favourite is pure stevia powder which is expensive but a tiny amount goes a long long way. We’re talking 1/4 teaspoon to sweeten a whole cake. I still have the same 100g jar I bought when I wanted to experiment and it’s still half full. Even after developing, testing and double testing all the recipes in this book.

I also keep granular stevia like Natvia on hand for when I just need a tiny bit of sweetness like in a cup of chai or am making a small batch of muffins. But I limit it because it contains erythritol as well as stevia and I suspect the erythritol isn’t great for our gut microflora.

Rant over.