Top 5 Natural Sugar Substitutes | Natural Sweeteners | Natural Sugar Alternatives

Top 5 Natural Sugar Substitutes | Natural Sweeteners | Natural Sugar Alternatives to protect your health - Every one knows the fact that regular refined white sugar is harmful for health. Still people are not able to drop sugar from their diet until they get diabetes. Instead of waiting for a day when you are asked to completely avoid sugar and prescribed daily dose of medicines, start replacing refined white sugar with healthy sugar alternatives early not only for you but for your whole family.

I have seen many old people who add a lot of sugar in their diet but still they do not have diabetes. Also, I have seen some people who do not add more sugar in their diet still get diabetes. There are so many factors influence the onset of diabetes including family history. Even though we cannot completely protect ourselves from such diseases, we can take some preventive steps to prevent or postpone such diseases. Healthy lifestyle, exercise, diet, replacing sugar with natural sweeteners might help you to prevent from diabetes. Who knows? Prevention is always better than cure right.

The modern parents have already started reducing the amount of sugar they give for their kids. Thanks to the awareness!

Honey, Palm Jaggery, Jaggery, Palm Sugar, Dates are the best natural sweeteners gifted by the mother nature. Try to introduce all these natural sweeteners/natural sugar alternatives at very young age of the kids. So that they do not have difficulty in continuing them throughout life.

I am sure that store bought bakery items and sweets are loaded with high amount of sugar to make it more delicious. Always try to make sweets at home and replace sugar whenever possible. If you find difficulty in replacing the sugar completely, you can gradually replace it.

There is not one natural sugar substitute / natural sweetener which will please everyone. Many people find palm jaggery (Karupatti) as a good sugar substitute for coffee. But I like to have coffee with jaggery. Some people like lemon juice with honey. Some might like to drink lemon juice with jaggery powder. Do not force yourself to stick to a particular natural sugar alternative. Try different natural sugar substitutes and find out which natural sweetener goes well with what kind of dishes. Then it is quite easy to replace sugar which means a better healthy lifestyle.

Top 5 Natural Sugar Substitutes | Natural Sweeteners | Natural Sugar Alternatives:

1. Honey as a natural sweetener and health benefits:

Honey is a natural sweetener which is on top of my list of natural sugar substitutes. Even you can just have a spoonful of honey as and when you have craving for something sweet. When my kid asks for chocolate, I give him 2 tsp of honey in a small bowl with a spoon. As he is small, he takes at least 5 minutes to finish it off  by himself. By that time, he mostly forget about his request for chocolate.

Honey Natural Sweetener


Honey is called as Then in Tamil,  Ten or Then in Malayalam, Sahida in Punjabi, Tene in Telugu, Madhu in Hindi, Jenu in Kannada, Madha in Gujarati, Madha in Marathi.

Top 7 Health Benefits of Honey:

There are several scientific evidences available to substantiate the health benefits of honey.
  • Natural immune booster
  • Natural anti-inflammatory agent
  • Prevents Cancer formation
  • Natural antimicrobial agent
  • Natural promoter for healing chronic ulcers and wounds.
  • Natural antioxident
  • Good for weight loss
Are you convinced that honey can be the best natural sugar substitute with lot of health benefits? There are few dishes which do not taste best with honey. In that case, I really look out for some other natural sweeteners like below.



2. Palm Jaggery as a natural sweetener and health benefits:

Palm jaggery is my second favorite natural sweetener. It is a natural healthy sugar substitute which can be used almost in all dishes in which you use sugar.

Palm jaggery(English) is called as Hatheli Gura in Hindi, Karupatti or Karupatti Vellam or Panai Vellam in Tamil , Tati Bellam in Telugu, Karupatti or Pana Sarkkara in Malayalam, Tale Bella in Kannada, Pama Gula in Marathi, Pama golane in Gujarati, Hatheli Gura in Punjabi.

Karupatti has a lot of health benefits and it is a rich source of iron and calcium. The best thing with palm jaggery is it is sweeter than normal white sugar. So, you need only a little amount of palm jaggery to sweeten your dish.

Two generations ago, People in Tamil Nadu drank Karupatti Coffee only made without milk.  It is one of the secrets of the wellness of people from older generations. Karupatti coffee made without milk is very good for weight loss too. You can even make karupatti coffee with milk too especially when you make it for kids. It is just a healthy alternative for regular coffee with sugar.

Also make your sweets with palm jaggery(karupatti) replacing white sugar. You are getting iron and calcium additionally without any extra effort. Since it has relatively lower glycemic Index, it helps to prevent or postpone onset of diabetes.

Palm jaggery is very good for treating anemia as it is rich in iron. Regular intake of palm jaggery is good for anemic people. It is a very good source of vitamins and many nutrients too. It is good for the health of your hair too. Your stamina will also get improved and you will feel more energetic.

Top 7 Health benefits of Palm Jaggery:
  • Helps in treating anemia
  • Has blood purifying properties
  • Helps in digestion
  • Natural Energy booster
  • Heals migraines
  • Good for weight loss
  • Relieves constipation
Are you ready to intake iron, calcium and other nutrients while enjoying sweet dishes with palm jaggery?

3. Jaggery as a natural sweetener and health benefits:

Jaggery is a natural product of sugarcane. It is relatively unrefined form of sugar.

Jaggery(English) is called as Vellam in Tamil, Vellam | Sharkara in Malayalam, Gur in Hindi, Bella in Kannada, Bellam in Telugu, Gul in Marati, Guda in Oriya, Gor in Kashmiri, Gur in Punjabi, Gur in Gujarati, Godd in Konkani, Gol in Rajasthani.

Jaggery NAtural Sugar Substitue

Jaggery is a good source of calcium, iron and potassium. 100 g of Jaggery contains 383 calories. Jaggery goes very well in making sweets. Most of the festival sweets are made with jaggery in Tamil Nadu. Still we are all following it especially while making festival sweets like sarkkarai pongal, payasam.

You might like this recipe - Eggless and Sugarless Apple Pudding made with jaggery

Top 7 Health benefits of Jaggery:
  • Treats anemia
  • Prevents constipation by stimulating bowel movements
  • Eases digestion
  • Detoxes liver
  • Increases immunity power
  • Helps to treat common cold and cough
  • Reduce Premenstrual syndrome
4. Palm Sugar:

Palm sugar is a natural sweetener and it is a very good choice for natural sugar substitute. It is also used in many home remedies like palm sugar and turmeric milk for cold. It is rich in potassium, iron, vitamins, zinc and minerals. Since they are unrefined, they possess the natural nutrients with them. It has low GI and helps to prevent or postpone the onset of diabetes. 


Palm Sugar NAtural sugar substitute




Palm Sugar is called as Panakarkandu | Panankarkandu | Panam Karkandu in Tamil, Nalla Bellam | Thatii Bellam in Telugu, Bella in Kannada, Panam Kalkandam in Malayalam.

For baking and desserts, palm sugar is the best sugar alternative. 

Top 5 Health benefits of Palm Sugar:

In Tamil Nadu, we still add palm sugar for young kids.
  • Helps to treat cold
  • Helps to treat cough
  • Prevent or postpone onset of diabetes
  • Good for anemic people
  • Boosts immune system

5) Dates:

Dates is a good natural alternative. Dates has a lot of health benefits. It is really good to take at least 3 dates everyday. Make it a practice of giving at least 3 dates daily to your kids. But I have listed it at last in this article since it is not suitable for many dishes like the above natural sugar substitute sweeteners. 

Dates - Natural Sweetener


Instead of adding sugar and other health supplements with milk, you can grind dates and add it to milk. 

Dates are rich in iron, protein, dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals.

Top 5 Health Benefit of Dates:
  • Helps to treat anemia. I have my personal experience with it.
  • Zero cholesterol
  • Relieves constipation
  • Natural energy booster
  • Boosts immune system
Are you ready to replace the harmful sugar naturally with natural sweeteners? Still there are lot more natural sweeteners available like raisins. Replace sugar for a better health.

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3 comments:

  1. I liked u r article aND quoted here in my blog http://recipeadapter.blogspot.in/2016/09/palm-jaggery-natural-better-alternative.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am very grateful to read your blog. nice n useful information. Organic Products are better to use as they are eco-friendly and safe. They do not cause any side-effect. thanks for sharing.

    Sathish from Organic Jaggery Online

    ReplyDelete