Last updated on June 15th, 2023
If some of your residents are trying to reduce sugar intake, there are a lot of options out there for sugar alternatives. The best part? They actually taste good, and your chefs can use them as a replacement in a variety of meals, snacks, and desserts. In the past, residents who tried to cut down on sugar probably relied on artificial sweeteners, like aspartame, to replace that sweet taste in foods and drinks. However, these artificial sweeteners may not be all that good for you. In one long-term study of more than 750 people over age 65, the heavy consumption of low-calorie sweeteners was associated with weight gain and higher type 2 diabetes and heart disease rates.
That’s why sugar alternatives, not artificial copycats, are becoming more and more widely used—especially in healthcare communities that serve patients with diabetes.
When figuring out which alternative sugars you can add to your ingredient list, it’s important to know the difference between all of the options first. Some sugar alternatives can even add nutritional value to meals (unlike refined sugar). However, many sugar alternatives can be a little more costly than regular table sugar. Here are four sugar alternatives our chefs love to use at our healthcare communities:
Four Sugar Alternatives We Love
1. Agave Nectar
Because agave nectar is vegan, it has been a popular sweetener (instead of honey) among vegans—but it’s also becoming popular among those who want to cut down on sugar. Agave nectar comes from the agave plant, and it tends to be sweeter than white sugar. This means you can use less of it and still taste a big difference.
Our chefs love to use agave nectar to sweeten drinks, like tea. We’ve found it also works well in oatmeal or as part of a marinade for fish, like salmon.
One thing to be aware of is that agave nectar is mostly made of fructose instead of glucose. Very high amounts of fructose can lead to an increase in triglycerides, and higher levels of triglycerides can cause the hardening of the arteries and are linked to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. We recommend working with your community’s dietitians to determine if agave nectar would be a good sugar alternative for some residents.
2. Coconut Palm Sugar
Coconut palm sugar comes from coconut tree sap. It’s brown in color but resembles table sugar in texture. This makes coconut palm sugar a really great substitute in baked goods, like muffins.
Coconut sugar also offers more vitamins and nutrients than regular sugar, and it contains iron, zinc, calcium, and small amounts of phytonutrients and antioxidants. However, like agave, coconut sugar has high levels of fructose, so it should be enjoyed in moderation.
3. Erythritol
Erythritol is a sugar alcohol. What does that mean? Sugar alcohols can occur naturally in foods like fruits, but they are also made during the fermentation process for certain foods and drinks. Because of that, sugar alcohols can be found in some beer and cheese. Its white granule appearance is similar to sugar and can be used in the same way, and unlike sugar, it’s calorie-free. Many people use it in baking or stir it into their coffees or teas.
One of our favorite ways to use erythritol in our healthcare communities is during breakfast. It can be used to make a tasty stack of pancakes or flavorful bread, like banana bread or zucchini bread.
4. Monk Fruit
Monk fruit is very sweet. In fact, it’s about 250 times sweeter than table sugar (it’s often cut with erythritol for that reason). Monk fruit sweetener is made by crushing the actual monk fruit, extracting the juices, and then finally extracting the mogroside from the juice. Like erythritol, monk fruit sweetener has zero calories. It can come in multiple forms like powders, liquids, or granules, so it can have a lot of uses in your kitchen.
Some of our chefs’ favorite ways to use monk fruit sweetener include in coffee or tea, sweetening yogurt or oatmeal for breakfast, or as a substitute in almost any baked good that requires sugar.
The benefits of a low glycemic index diet
All of these four sugar alternatives can be part of a low glycemic index diet. Low glycemic index diets can help reduce someone’s risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. For those who already have diabetes, these types of diets can reduce the risk of more complications down the road.
High glycemic index (GI) foods, which are those with a GI of 70 or higher, cause spikes in blood sugar and insulin. This is because high GI foods contain carbohydrates that digest faster and cause a quick rise in blood glucose. Low GI foods have carbs that digest slower, so a person’s increase in glucose remains pretty stable over a longer period of time.
The American Diabetes Association published a list of the foods with the highest GIs (you can view that list here), and the top spots went to white bread, whole wheat bread, and specialty grain bread. If your community is looking to serve some residents foods that fit with a lower GI diet, consider using a few of the alternative sugars mentioned above in your baked bread.
If you’d like to learn about how Culinary Services Group can help you fit these alternative sugars in your weekly menus, contact us here.
