5 Better Sweeteners for Women over 40
I am going to share something that might feel a little confronting to you. And it is about something that we all know and love and want in our lives. It’s that sugar, baby—sooooo sweet and fine. Sugar is the sweet and charming guy that love-bombs you at the start of your relationship and tells you all of the things that you want to hear—but slowly devalues you over time with his lying and criticisms, and eventually when you decide to leave him, ends up smearing your reputation all over town, and throwing a hissy fit painting himself as the victim. And I am talking about sugar here—definitely not my last relationship. 😉
But just to make sure that we are on the same page and to be perfectly blunt and clear–sugar is not a good thing—and too much is actually detrimental for your health. You should try to eliminate it from your life—just as you may need to go no contact with your ex for the good of your mental health and well being. There are better sweeteners, however, that we should consume in lieu of refined sugars as women over 40.
Balanced sugar levels are the key to hormonal health; and sugar addictions, sugar cravings and high or low sugar levels can completely undermine any efforts that you make to balance your hormones. Sugar hides in almost all of our prepared foods and drinks here in the United States, so we need to learn how to read labels to avoid excessive consumption of sugar. Foods with sugar as the second or third or even fourth ingredient on the label should probably be avoided.
Scientists have found that sugar stimulates the same pleasure centers in the brain as cocaine and heroin–so giving it up can be as difficult as giving up any other extremely addictive drug. Sugar causes a host of issues around your overall health and your hormones. Some of these are chronic inflammation, high testosterone levels, estrogen dominance, adrenal fatigue, insulin resistance, and leptin resistance. Sugar lowers mood and self-esteem, provides empty calories and depletes essential nutrients and even feeds cancer in the body.
The US dietary recommendation is a maximum intake of 32 grams (or 8 teaspoons) of sugar a day–which easily adds up when your average starbucks Iced Grande Chai Latte contains 42 grams of sugar. I would recommend trying to reduce your sugar intake to less than 8 teaspoons.
Not all sweeteners are bad. Some are better than others–and over time–if you start to eliminate or reduce the amount of sugar you eat and drink–everything will taste sweeter to you. You should avoid artificial sugars completely–and try to consume the following sugars in place of all refined sugars.
The following list contains less fructose, elevates your blood sugar more slowly, and requires less processing to make the sugar.
Blackstrap Molasses, and Molasses are made from sun ripened sugar cane and are made from the second and third boils of the cane. Molasses are great for baking and add a hearty deep flavor–and have some trace nutrients that most sugars do not have.
Dates are a very naturally sweet dried fruit and are really nice to use in smoothies or in energy balls and granola bars. They can be used pureed and thinned in dressings and also in baked goods to hold things together and sweeten them.
Honey is made from nectar drawn from flowers by the humble bees–and it comes in various flavors and has a lovely light sweetness.
Maple Syrup, made from the sap of the maple tree–is my favorite sweetener, being that I am from Vermont–and comes in light to dark grades–in which the darker grade has a deeper flavor. Maple can be used in everything from sweetening drinks to making dressings, to baking.
Coconut Sugar is made from the sap of the coconut palm and does not have a coconut flavor.
Sweeteners that are best to avoid include, but are not limited to: agave, and agave nectar, beet sugar, brown rice syrup, corn syrup, carob syrup, fructose, raw sugar, turbinado, xylitol, sucrose and of course table sugar.
Sugar substitutes that you should never consume are Aspartame (Equal and NutraSweet), Saccharine (Sweet’N Low), Stevia (Truvia), and Sucralose (Splenda). And I do mean never—these are the equivalent of the handsome model or actor that wants an open relationship, or your co-worker that is married and wants to “go out for drinks” when you are on a business trip, or even the guy that wants to be “just friends” and discuss how unhappy he is in his relationship. None of us need “friends” like that.
So, which sweeteners from this list of “better sweeteners” do you consume regularly? Any from the “bad or never list”? Want me to send along recipes that include these healthier sweetener options? Sign up here for my mailing list.
