If you are looking for ways to sweeten your meals without using refined sugars, then try one of these 5 natural sugars. Number 5 might surprise you.
Natural sugars are sugars that are found naturally within the food itself. Foods that contain naturally occurring sugars retain their natural nutrients that the body needs to thrive. The 5 foods in this blog posts do not contain any added refined sugars, which makes them all natural sugars.
Here are 5 sweeteners that are natural sugars and few ways that you can incorporate them into your meals.
Dates – Let`s start this list with Dates. Dates are grown and harvested directly from the date palm tree. These dates are naturally sweet, and they have a soft texture. I find that refrigerated dates are firmer in texture and easier to cut up (my favorite way to cut dates is to use scissors). I call dates “natures natural candy” for a reason.
You can sweeten your plant milk with natural sugar by blending your dates into your milk. Then you can then use that milk to make porridges, oatmeal, cereals, and anything you would usually use milk in.
Honey – Honey is a natural sweeter from nature made by bees. You can sweeten your breakfast meals by drizzling on honey, blending into your morning shakes, or stirring a spoonful into your morning tea.
Unsulfured Blackstrap Molasses – Molasses has a robust flavor with a lovely dark caramel color. Unsulfured blackstrap molasses is great source of natural iron, magnesium, calcium, and copper (among others). You can use molasses to sweeten your morning cup of tea, add a spoonful into your morning shakes, on your porridges.
Fruits – Natural sugars are sugars that are found naturally in nature within the food itself. Bananas, strawberries, blueberries, apples, raspberries, and blackberries are a few fruits that you can use as a natural sugar. These fruits are naturally sweet, and you can definitely use in your breakfast meals as a sugar alternative. Any fruits with a naturally high sugar content you can use to sweeten your meals as needed.
You can sweeten your porridges, oatmeal, cereals, chia pudding with slices of a ripe banana or a handful of berries. I personally sweeten my morning drinks with a whole banana and 2-3 medjool dates, once blended the results are shockingly sweet without having to add in any sugar.
Panela – Panela is made from evaporated 100% cane juice. Panela is unrefined, meaning it is not refined, bleached, or stripped of its natural minerals and nutrients. I highly recommend you read these two articles from my blog for more information about Panela.
You can use panela as a healthy alternative to refine processed sugar, just use as would refine sugar. Because I do not use any refined sugars, I exclusively use only Panela as my sugar.
If you have any natural sugars that you use, then please share how you use them in the comments. Thank you so much for reading this post. I hope you enjoy reading about 5 natural sugars.
Check out my other whole-food Guides and plant-based Lifestyle posts here on my blog.
Lifestyle Posts
- Be Grateful During Winter: Start A Winter Gratitude Journal
- 6 Ways to Save Money on Your Grocery Bill
- Home Garden Harvest 1
- Lime Water Fruit Wash
- 5 Plant-Based Kitchen Swaps
Guides Posts
- Herbs Guide: Basil
- Whole-Food Guides – Lentils
- Whole-Food Guides: Breadfruit
- Herbs Guide: Mint
- Cinnamon: Whole-Food Guides
Do you need some plant-based and soy-free recipes? Then view all my RECIPES for a variety of breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, and seasonal recipes. All 100% plant-based and soy-free as always.
Here are the latest recipes:
- Immunity Boosting Orange Peel Tea
- Tahini Coffee with Almond Milk
- From Chickpeas, With Love Book Launch Day
Also, please don`t forget to subscribe to my mailing list to receive email notifications when I post new content to my blog. Until the next post, keep growing.
Leave a Reply