Coconut sugar

Piper101

Apologies if this has been covered but a search yielded no results. Coconut sugar what do people think of it as a healthy alternative to sugar?

Have a 9 month old who I'm trying to keep away from sugar as much as possible and I have a pretty bad sweet tooth myself so am trying to cut down if not cut out.

2xj3hplqgsbkym

I have never heard of it, but I would imagine sugar is sugar, still bad for your teeth. Just like honey is, and people consider that 'healthy'.

You won't be able to keep you child way from sugary foods forever, so it is more important in my opinion to teach him that he can have chocolate etc.. but only in moderation.

Piper101

It's low gi apparently and contains vitamins and minerals which I guess is better than white cane sugar which has nothing beneficial? 31 is the gi afaik sugar is 80, glucose 100 and honey is in the 50s

Transform

Piper101 wrote: »

It's low gi apparently and contains vitamins and minerals which I guess is better than white cane sugar which has nothing beneficial? 31 is the gi afaik sugar is 80, glucose 100 and honey is in the 50s

Use it and like it but very small amounts

amazingemmet

Birch sugar, can't remember the names its sold under here, and palm sugar are also decent options. For the no cal option stevia is also very good.

Hatfry

+1 on the stevia if you use the right amount it hits that sweet spot. Too much is sickening though.

Luckycharms_74

I have been using fruit sugar for the past 2 months.
It has a low G.I. of 19, compared to glucose with a G.I. of 100. Table sugar G.I. of 65. It costs €2 in any health shop.

"Fruisana Fruit Sugar is nearly twice as sweet as ordinary sugar, so you need much less for sprinkling, and for use in cooking. Up to 33% less, in fact! It tastes like ordinary sugar, and doesn't have the slightly unpleasant aftertaste that you can get with some artificial sweeteners."

Merkin

I use palm sugar for cooking, it's particularly good in Thai dishes and curries. It comes from the sap of the tree as opposed to the flower that results in coconut sugar but I think there is only a subtle difference - it's more or less the same thing afaik. It has a kind of smoky flavour which I really like and as I avoid sugar/refined sugar I find this to be a good alternative but I only use it in cooking. Also throw a spoon in when making a bolognese to balance the bitterness of the tomatoes. It's also supposed to be quite good for baking as far as I know but haven't used it for that yet.

Tayla

I have coconut sugar for my kids, a little bit on weetabix or porridge is lovely, it has vitamins and minerals and amino acids, it's still sugar but the way I see it's like fruit, sugar but with some good nutrients.

I also use it to bake with sometimes and it's lovely.

It's expensive but I get 3x500g packs on Amazon and they last for months so it doesn't work out too bad.

Mr. CooL ICE

I picked up a bottle of agave nectar in Aldi recently, but have yet to use it for anything. Anyone use it before?

Hatfry

LordChessington wrote: »

I picked up a bottle of agave nectar in Aldi recently, but have yet to use it for anything. Anyone use it before?

Have been told it's delicious was thinking of giving it a shot myself, I usually use honey which it is apparently very similar to in taste.

tatumkelly

Hatfry wrote: »

Have been told it's delicious was thinking of giving it a shot myself, I usually use honey which it is apparently very similar to in taste.

Unless you buy the raw extract, agave is usually heavily processed so I tend to avoid. It's worth bearing in mind, if you're thinking of it as a 'healthy alternative' that it has a very high fructose content.

Personally, I'd prefer to stick with raw organic honey or unsweetened apple sauce if I'm using a sweetener. It's still sugar, but at least it's more natural...

Hatfry

tatumkelly wrote: »

Unless you buy the raw extract, agave is usually heavily processed so I tend to avoid. It's worth bearing in mind, if you're thinking of it as a 'healthy alternative' that it has a very high fructose content.

Personally, I'd prefer to stick with raw organic honey or unsweetened apple sauce if I'm using a sweetener. It's still sugar, but at least it's more natural...

Good to know, cheers.

Oisinjm

amazingemmet wrote: »

Birch sugar, can't remember the names its sold under here, and palm sugar are also decent options. For the no cal option stevia is also very good.

Xylitol?