Substitute It! Sugar

Sugar, sugar, sugar! So sweet, so tasty, so...TEMPTING. When I break down and give in to sugar, I always feel guilty. "Bad, Angie! Bad!" I say. Because the only part of me that seems to LIKE the sugar I eat are my taste buds. So as my taste buds are doing a Happy Dance amid the brownie crumbs being chewed in my mouth, the REST of my body is in denial. "WHAT?" says my digestive system. "Not more of THIS garbage! What am I supposed to do with this? I know! We'll send it to her hips for later!"

No wonder we're all walking around with muffin tops and spare tires!

Traditional sugar is classified as a carbohydrate, sucrose to be exact. And it's safe to say that this sugar is pretty much devoid of nutritional value. Eating sugar causes a sharp spike in our blood sugar, followed by an extreme drop a few hours later. That's where the term "sugar high" comes from. When our blood sugar suddenly drops, we find ourselves lacking energy and FAMISHED.

And craving MORE sugar.

But never fear! Because I just learned about a new product hitting the shelves called Coconut Palm Sugar.

Made from the sap or nectar from the coconut palm tree flower similar to the way maple sugar is produced, coconut sugar or palm sugar, has a unique creamy, caramel sweetness. The rich taste closely resembles that of brown sugar. One of the lowest glycemic index sweeteners on the market, Coconut palm sugar is highly nutritious and ecologically beneficial with a great taste. Coconut sugar is rated low glycemic at 35 compared to honey at 55.

Here is a table that compares the many different sugars on the market and their nutritional value:

So look at that! Finally a HIGHLY NUTRITIOUS alternative to sugar!

One nice thing about Coconut Palm Sugar is that when it comes to substituting it in recipes, you don't have to do complicated math. The ratio is one to one. So you use it just as you would regular sugar.

I found out about this terrific sugar alternative from Dr. Oz. Click here to watch the short video on Coconut Palm Sugar yourself.