It’s nearly impossible to avoid sugar now-a-days. It’s in nearly everything. One of the hardest things to do when you’re really trying to eat clean is to cut out processed sugar – mainly because if you eat anything “out” it probably contains it. You can drive yourself mad trying to avoid sugar, or, you can accept that you can’t avoid everything…but that you can control some of your intake.

When I’m making food at home that traditionally needs sugar in it, I first try to see if it’ll still be delicious without any. If that’s not a good option (cookies without the sweet element, blergh!) then I use these swaps and alternative sugars so I can still have sweet clean treats. Yum.

Stevia.

Alternative sugar derived from plants. I use it as an almost direct swap – it’s much sweeter so I use 2/3 of a spoon for every 1 tsp of sugar. It has no calories, contains potassium and fibre, and can be helpful for weight loss and some health benefits: it’s better for you than refined sugar.

Agave syrup.

All natural, all delicious. Made from the agave plant, it’s got lots of nutrients in it and as a plant based food it’s an alternative that works for vegans. It’s much sweeter than honey or stevia so you only need half of what you’d use too, and has less calories per 100g – perfect.

Honey.

As with agave syrup, honey is natural and filled with nutrients. It’s got some antioxidant qualities, and friends of mine with gluten intolerances swear by it.

Fruit.

I swear by natural food – and what could be more natural than natural fructose. You need your 5 a day after all 🙂 I pop a handful of berries into porridge (for example…) or in a bowl of natural yoghurt – and don’t need additional sugar at all.

Happy Clean Treat eating!