Your body needs a little sugar. Natural sugar is the best option. Unfortunately, we tend to use quite a bit of added sugar.
While sugar is sugar and no added sugar is good for you, there are some sugar choices that are better than others. That’s not to say they are healthy, but they are less harmful than poor sugar choices. The key is to limit how much you consume, even with the better choices.
While there is some disagreement on some of the choices, I believe the following list sums up the best and worst sugars.
BETTER CHOICES
- Glucose- in nature
- Fruit fructose- difficult to overeat fruit because of the added fiber and water
- Palm or coconut sugar
- Stevia
- Xylitol (sugar alcohol)
- Coconut nectar
- Black strap molasses
- Erythritol (sugar alcohol)
- Truvia
- Monk fruit
IN BETWEEN
(still bad but have some nutritional value)
- Maple syrup
- Honey (raw, unfiltered is better)
- Brown rice syrup
- Sucanat
- Rapadura
- Evaporated cane juice
WORST CHOICES
- Fructose
- Glucose
- High Fructose corn syrup (HFCS)
- Sucrose- white table sugar
- Dextrose
- Maltose
- Lactose
- Corn syrup
- Agave nectar (very high fructose)
- Raw, turbinado sugar (but better choice than white sugar)
- Fruit juice concentrate
- Inverted sugar syrup
- Brown sugar- white sugar with added molasses
- Cane syrup
NEVER
**stay away from artificial sweeteners– better to have the sugar
- Aspartame (equal/nutrasweet)
- Neotame
- Saccharin (sugar twin, sweet’n low)
- Sucralose (splenda)
Peppers and Planks 