Is honey a good substitute for sugar?

Citygirl1

Me again. Just wondering as my boyfriend now has honey in his tea and coffee rather than sugar, he says its healthier and has weaned him off sugar altogether. I have tried it and I must admit it is nice but then I read where although honey has no fat in it at all, it has more calories than sugar. So now I don't know what to do for the best, I feel I can't win. I can't go without sweetner of any kind, I need something in my drinks and on my cereal.

pigpen

White sugar is heavily processed and highly addictive.. that is how they boosted the sale of sugar by putting it in everything it created a massive trade..

Honey (bee sick.. bleurgh!!!) is mostly unprocessed and definitely better in many ways.

As for calories.. I wouldn't take any notice unless you are consuming a vast quantity on a daily basis, it is a small number of calories you will have... or you could do a few extra bits of exercise..

justjohn

honey - 23 calories
sugar - 16 calories
try stevia powder/extract to get off sugar. pure extracted stevia is very strong it will need thinned down

VJsmum

Or xylitol - a more natural sweetner with a low GI

THough too much can have a laxative effect :eek:

meritaten

but you will be missing out on honeys healing properties! stick with the honey luv! it is a natural antibiotic and antiseptic and it also has anti-inflammatory properties! I put it on wounds, spots (disappear overnight), and to soothe inflamed areas too. and its delish!

adouglasmhor

VJsmum wrote: »

Or xylitol - a more natural sweetner with a low GI

THough too much can have a laxative effect :eek:

It kills dogs though.

babyshoes

Sugar has no fat in it either!

Honey is basically a different form of sugar - your body uses it the same as sugar, but it is more natural and has well known antiseptic properties, which is why many people prefer it. It is also used medically in many circles - the classic 'honey and lemon' is a well known example. I could add more to this, but that might count as medical advice which is of course forbidden - there is however lots of information on the net if it interests you.

If you want to cut calories (though don't think low cal foods are always 'healthier'), you are basically stuck with less natural sweeteners - all have their positives and negatives, as well as tasting different - which one you choose is a matter of doing the research about any known issues (some have truly nasty side effects, and some are known carcinogens so do spend a few minutes reading up), and tasting the ones that seem to be safe enough to you, until you find one you can tolerate the flavour of.

If the choice is simply between honey and sugar, stick with honey. It may have *slightly* more calories but is more flavourful so you can probably use less.

VJsmum

babyshoes wrote: »

Sugar has no fat in it either!

There is a lot of thinking now that says it isn't the fat that makes you fat, it is the sugar.

teddysmum

I tried a stevia sweetener and like others found it had a bitter aftertaste. I used to use aspartame based sweeteners but find these bitter, now, so as I find saccharine too sweet , the only product I can use is one that is sucralose based.

kboss2010

Any excess calories you eat whether from fat or any kind of carbohydrate (sugar is a carb) will be stored as fat.

The jury is out around which types of sweeteners are "better" for you - if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Diet food companies have been using tricks for years to sell us the same food in different ways for years. Label says 'fat free'? The fat has usually been replaced with sugar for taste. Low calorie versions of things usually contain artificial sweeteners. No artificial sweeteners? More sugar! Anything on a food label ending in -ose is sugar of some form - glucose, fructose, lactose, sucralose, maltose, glucose-fructose syrup, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) - all sugar.

Also, "natural" on a food label means nothing. Stevia is "natural" because it's from a leaf but it is still highly processed. It just doesn't have many calories.

juliapenguin

VJsmum wrote: »

There is a lot of thinking now that says it isn't the fat that makes you fat, it is the sugar.

That's exactly what I've found to be true - I've had a terrible weight problem and had very little success with low-fat diets as I'm STARVING all the time and still don't lose weight so I eventually give up. Now I'm eating a sugar-free paleo-style diet and feel a million times better. The weight is coming off now that I'm not ravenously hungry all the time.