Your ardent relationship with sugar isn’t taking you anywhere, is it? Apart from giving your blood glucose levels a kick, to aiding your insulin resistance and adding a few significant pounds to your weight, sugar goes a long way in messing one’s health. The healthiest way to cut back on your sugar intake is to resort to healthier (and natural) sugar substitutes. While sweet substitutes won’t turn a doughnut into a super food, they do back some health benefits you need.

1 Dates

Dates as natural sweetener are not only fiber-rich but are also super versatile. They serve a kick of energy when blended into smoothies, salads and salad dressing. This no-brainer sugar substitute can also be blended into pastes or purees to be used for baking purposes.

2 Coconut sugar

Renowned recipe developers, food bloggers and chefs have hailed coconut sugar as their favourite natural sweeteners. The grainy texture and sweetening prowess of coconut sugar proves to be as good as sugar, without spiking blood glucose levels.

3 Apple sauce

Another effective way of cutting on sugar from your diet without having to face its withdrawals is using apple sauce as a sweetener in your recipes. It works particularly well in healthier cakes, muffins, cupcakes, and cookies, because it helps moistening the bake without using butter or oil.

4 Monk fruit sweetener

With properties of being low-glycemic, low-carb, monk fruit gets its sweetness from natural compounds called mogrosides. Not only it has any calories, carbs, or fat it also promotes weight loss. It has been popularly used by celebrity chefs and recipe developers for the longest time as a sweetener as opposed to white sugar. It may give off an aftertaste, but after pairing it with strong ingredients and rich flavours like cocoa powder, cinnamon, walnuts, and banana monk fruit sweetener is best.

5 Spices

Contrary to the popular belief, sugar substitutes do not have to be super sweet. Cinnamon and vanilla bean (raw specks from the vanilla bean pod) are another popular substitutes to the notorious white granules.

6 Honey

Being used for making just about anything sweet, honey is the all-natural sweetener you need in your life. Honey, especially the manuka variety, contains antibacterial properties. Add it to your baking routine, stir some in your tea, drizzle a bit on your toast; honey is good for all.