The Dr. Lam Show
The Dr. Lam Show
The Absolute Best Sugar Substitute!
Are you tired of sacrificing taste for health when it comes to sugar substitutes? Get ready to have your taste buds blown away as we reveal the groundbreaking substitute that not only matches the sweetness of sugar but also offers unbelievable health benefits. Don't miss out on transforming your culinary world!
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Today we're going to talk about the different kinds of sugars and sugar substitutes, so you become an informed consumer. Now, sugar itself as we understand the granulated, or the table sugar is actually called sucrose, with an S. It is actually a combination of fructose, which is sugar from fruit and glucose. The proportion is 50%, fructose and 50% glucose. So when you take sugar, whether it's on a doughnut or just table sugar, you're actually getting both. Now, glucose is metabolized by the cells. But fructose is actually brought into the liver where it is metabolized. So fructose doesn't raise the glycemic index, but it's very hard on the liver and raises triglycerides, while glucose gives you instant energy and his high glycemic index actually 100. For those of you who are well versed in that, and that is one indicator that we use to see how fast the sugar level rise in your blood. So for those of you who are diabetic or pre diabetic, or just want to stay away from too much sugar intake in your system, I'm going to give you different categories in terms of how you understand them. And we'll go from the lowest/the worst to the best, so to say. Okay, now remember, the sweeteners as a whole are not food. I'm talking about artificial or natural sweeteners. We're not talking about food that has protein. And in fact, we're just talking about sweetening agents, so they do increase blood sugars from sugar, they increase the carbohydrates. So we talked about that earlier. So the number one category is artificial. These are not natural compounds, okay? These are things that put up in the lab, and then being commercialized and they include things like aspartame, saccharin, I'm sorry, sucralose. And those are the three main ones that you see all the time. Remember, these are artificial, and they are unnatural. So you want to stay away. That's the bottom line. I don't want to go into all the science behind this right now. Number two, a little bit better, but still not the very good is natural sugars, but they're still sugar. So these are like regular sugar, agave syrup, and high fructose corn syrup. The good news is you don't find high fructose corn syrup too much anymore in commercial food because of the FDA has taken action that's long overdue, but they are nevertheless still 50% glucose and 50% fructose even though they are not table sugar, agave syrup is still a sugar. So that one is not as bad as artificial or natural sugar we talk such as the saccharin, aspartame and sucralose but it is still not good. Then as you move up the desirable ladder you have natural sweetness. These are natural compounds and why is natural good because they are something that our body can process. And so they include coconut syrup, honey, maple syrup, and date sugar. Now, these are natural compounds and our body can process as I said, and they are not actually bad is quantity driven, you know, a small amount is totally normal, unless you have diabetes or you have other metabolic issues. But otherwise, they are all dose driven. Then there's a little category called natural rare sugar. And it's called allulose. And it is molecularly structured like a sugar. It tastes like the sugar, but it cannot be metabolized, so it is taken out as the sugar content. If you look at the label, and they are quite popular, they may have digestive issues. Okay, so if you have bloating and things like this, then you have to watch out if you're taking allulose, but it's definitely very good in the sense that better than just natural sugar. But even better than that is a class what we call a sugar alcohol. They are better in the sense that they taste closer to sugar than allulose for example, which is okay, but for some food, just sugar alcohol tastes better, and they are there's many of them. But the most popular one is a erythritol. And they all end with the OL so a erythritol, mannitol, sorbitol, xylitol, mannitol, you know, and they vary from sugar taste tastes like sugar versus where they are being digested where they're being excreted, and how much impact they have compared to regular sugar. So on 1 spectrum is probably the most common and probably the best is erythritol it really has no calorie, it has the 70% or thereabout of the sweetness of sugar. It is mostly absorbed rather than being transported to the liver, and then is excreted by the kidneys. And so therefore, if you have no kidney issues and you want to stay away from metabolic imbalances, this is a good one. On the other end of the spectrum with xylitol, mannitol you know, it's about 40% metabolized by the liver. So if you have kidney issues, that may be a better option. But they do have some calories, about half the sugar impact, okay. And so, I think for practically speaking, you have to kind of play around with these, some recipe call for certain ones because they do have a reaction and they taste a little different. So but generally speaking, if you just want to look for substance, you can substitute erythritol is probably a good choice. And lastly, the best ones being sugar substitute is plant based. Now these compounds like monk fruit or stevia, and you only need a small amount because they are hundreds of times sweeter than regular sugar. So you don't need a lot. And so these are probably the best in the sense that this plant base and you don't need a lot, but any of these also can have a GI side effects. Okay, so you do have to be careful now, if you go to your supermarket, you can buy all these individually or they come in blends. A very popular blend for example is monk fruit plus erythritol, okay, and so you can do a combination of that and it will give you a good taste. And yet at the same time with erythritol you have sugar alcohol that is subtracted from your carbs. So that would be a good compound. However, it's a little grainy. So let's say that you were making ice cream erythritol tends to be a little bit better because it is less grainy so it kind of blends in more. So you know out of those, all these that we mentioned, you know try to try to stay as close to monk fruit and stevia and erythritol as possible stay away from sucralose and any other alcohol, sorry sugar alcohol should also be taken with a grain of salt depends on your particular situation.