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The holiday season is the time to dig out all your favorite cookies, pies, cakes, rolls and all sorts of other sweet treats (or savory snacks). But after biting into one too many gingerbread people or enjoying a few candy canes, all that sugar can leave you feeling pretty sluggish — and overall, worse for wear.
Instead of skipping your favorite cookies, pies and those sweet coffees during the holiday season, make your baked goods — and even your home-cooked meals — lower in sugar. With the following expert tips from nutritionists and registered dietitians, you can lower your overall sugar intake without feeling like you’re giving up anything.
1. Don’t cut out all the sugar – just cut
An easy way to cut down on sugar and Limit its impact On your overall nutrition? Cut back on how much work you do in the kitchen.
As Carmel Hagen, its founder and CEO the supernatural, explains, “It is better to eat less of a very good thing than to eat more of a mediocre thing. This is where I stand on all food groups, not just sweets… Overindulgence, especially regular overeating, can be labeled as such, but no food in itself is the villain.”
Sugar, and the sugar found in your favorite holiday treats, is not necessarily a bad ingredient to eat. The key is to reduce or balance your intake. And it’s easy to accomplish when you’re baking or cooking at home. For example, Mascha Davis, MPH, RDN, and author of Take your vitamins, suggests simply reducing how much you use in each recipe: “Sugar is a key ingredient for flavor and texture in baked goods. We can usually reduce the amount of sugar by ¼ without any aftertaste or mouthfeel.”
How do you know how much is enough? “If a recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, we might use ¾ cup instead, and then evaluate and try cutting down to ⅔ and ½ the next time you make the dish,” Davis suggests. “You won’t notice a big difference, but the healthiness will be much improved.”
2. Swap refined sugar for other alternatives
Refined white sugar isn’t your only option when it comes to sweetening food (and no, the alternative isn’t brown sugar!) In fact, there’s a surprisingly long list of other sugar varieties — and many offer better nutritional profiles than their white counterparts.
A variety that nutritionists and bakers alike love? coconut sugar “I love baking with coconut sugar as a replacement for regular sugar. Coconut sugar is easy to use, easy on blood sugar thanks to a prebiotic fiber called inulin, and extremely tasty with subtle caramel notes,” says Hagen. “I also appreciate that, unlike honey or maple syrup, baking with coconut sugar never requires recipe changes.”
Serena Poon, Celebrity Chef, nutritionistAnd the founders of Just Add Water and Culinary Alchemy, agree: “Coconut sugar behaves like sugar in the body, but has more nutrients, is slightly lower on the glycemic index and is less processed than refined sugar, making it a. A slightly better option as long as it’s used in moderation.”
And, as Poon points out, coconut sugar isn’t your only option if you’re looking for a simple swap. “There are many ways to make healthy swaps while maintaining flavor and texture, and for me this is it
Depends on the recipe,” he explained. “With my clients, I like to shift a diet away from traditional desserts to more whole foods and fruit-based foods that satisfy sweet cravings while providing fiber, nutrients and antioxidants.”
“When I bake or make other desserts, I’ll either swap in a baking sugar substitute, monk fruit, stevia or coconut sugar. There are many baking sugar alternatives that are made from natural sugar-free alternatives such as monk fruit or stevia,” says Poon. “These alternatives add sweetness to your recipe, but are calorie-free (or very low calorie) and low on the glycemic index, so they Won’t spike your blood sugar like refined sugar.”
3. Try a half sugar, half substitute mixture
Still want to keep some refined sugar in your holiday goodies? You don’t have to go all in on one option. According to Davis, you can try a 50:50 ratio – half granulated sugar, half sugar substitute.
If you’re going this route, he recommends using allulose: “Allulose is a great 1:1 substitute for granulated sugar. i love Whole Earth Allulose Baking Mix, [an] Allulose and erythritol are baking mixes that you can use like sugar, but they have almost no effect on actual blood sugar levels. I often use this mix of half and half regular sugar to drastically reduce the amount of sugar in a baked recipe.”
4. Use warm spices to naturally increase sweetness
Holiday dishes are filled with winter spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, which are richly aromatic and wonderfully warming. But did you know that leaning on these “spicy” flavor-enhancing ingredients can actually mimic the sweetness of sugar?
“Adding a variety of warming spices like cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg will enhance the flavor of baked goods without sacrificing flavor,” notes Davis.
Amy Gorin, MS, RDN, is an integrative plant-based dietitian and owner in Stamford, Conn Plant based with Amy, agrees: “I like to bake with naturally sweet spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, as well as vanilla extract, vanilla beans and unsweetened cocoa powder. When you use these ingredients, like in a cinnamon muffin recipe, you’re able to reduce the amount of sugar you need to use.”
Don’t ignore other natural ingredients, either. “Fruit is another great addition to recipes for natural sweetness and texture, especially berries or almost any type of seasonal fruit. Apples, persimmons and pomegranates are my fall/winter favorites,” advises Davis.
5. Use sugar as a finishing touch rather than a main ingredient
Finally, while it’s common to rely heavily on sugar when baking (and, even if you don’t realize it when cooking), you can reduce it by changing the way you approach this sweet ingredient. Sugar is common and in almost every pantry – but who says you need cup after cup of sugar for your sweet, savory final meal?
As Hagen explains, “We actually become more sensitive to sweetness when we consume less (just think of how sweet soda can be without the aftertaste, and using sugar in this style—as a finishing salt versus a key ingredient—does (can) baked goods can be both functional and incredibly satisfying.”
Treating sugar as a sweet-enhancing final touch (like sprinkling salt on your stovetop dinner recipe) can enhance holiday meals without all that unwanted sugar fallout.
“It also allows you to play with texture, which is another important element to consider when coming out of your oven,” Hagen notes. “I like to keep sparkling and Swedish pearl sugar in my pantry, and of course, Supernatural sprinkles—they all add that little kiss of sweetness and a nice crunch to the top of healthy scones, muffins, or biscuits.”
Speaking of ending the salt, Gorin recommends trying the salt himself! “Yes, it may sound like strange advice, but salt brings sweetness to already sweet foods,” she explains. “So, when you make a recipe with a little salt, like salted chocolate chip cookies, you can reduce how much added sugar you need to use.”