Since expanding our products to include more keto friendly options, I have received hundreds of questions regarding our sugar alternatives. Although some of these alternatives have some scary sounding names, there’s nothing to fear about them! Trust me, I did tons of hours of research making sure these were the best for our customers. These alternatives are able to keep carb count low, while still giving you that great PBH baked goodie taste!

Traditionally sweets and the keto diet don't really go hand-in-hand, but using natural sugar alternatives helps us make that possible! Traditionally  we only used coconut sugar, and honey. Since then, we have dived head first into the keto goodie world! We have been experimenting with different alternatives in an effort to make sure our keto goodies are the best tasting possible, while also being able to keep you in ketosis. Not even going to lie, we had a few fails in the test kitchen! 

So, which sugars do we use?  

I'm glad you asked! We use a variety of alternative sweeteners to get our taste just right, while keeping the nutritional information keto friendly. We currently use a mix of stevia, monk fruit, allulose and erythritol.

Erythritol

We started experimenting with erythritol first! We rolled out our lemon coconut cookies and cinnamon sugar donuts using erythritol. It had best flavor profile for us and still kept the nutrition on point.  Erythritol is great, but we have definitely been asked the most questions regarding thissweetener.  The biggest question asked ,so why do we use it? Erythritol is a natural sugar alcohol that's widely used in zero and low calorie foods as a sugar alternative. It is the perfect sugar replacement to keep your carb and calorie intake in check, while still being able to enjoy that same sugar taste! A big plus with the sweetener is that is contains only 6% of the calories of sugar, but it still contains 70% of the sweetness. It is safe, natural and most of the sugar gets absorbed by the bloodstream before it even reaches the colon!    

Allulose

Another sugar we introduced is allulose. Allulose is classified as a "rare sugar" because it is naturally present in only a few foods. Foods like figs, raisins, dates, dragon fruit, wheat, and maple syrup all contains traces of this sugar. Allulose also provides only 0.2–0.4 calories per gram, or about 1/10 the calories of table sugar! This makes it perfect for keeping insulin levels down in diabetics. In addition, it’s been shown to resist fermentation by your gut bacteria, minimizing the likelihood of bloating, gas or other digestive problems!

Monk fruit

Monk fruit is a small, green fruit that is indigenous to Southeast Asia. The fruit has been used by monks since the 13th century as a means to sweeten both food and beverages naturally. Monk fruit extract is believed 150 to 200 timessweeter than table sugar BUT contains zero calories, zero carbohydrates, zero sodium, and zero fat. (Also leaving no impact on blood sugar levels!)

Stevia

Stevia is probably the most known and a sweetener we had been asked to use for a while. Stevia is a natural sweetener alternative that derives from the leaves of the plant species Stevia rebaudiana. Stevia has no calories, and it is 200 times sweeter than sugar in the same concentration. Stevia is a very popular alternative for those who are seeking to lose weight, lower their blood sugar, or control their diabetes.

We wanted to pick the best sweeteners and we feel these are perfect. We love the benefits and most importantly the taste! We actually think our new products sweetened with these sugars taste better than the ones with honey! Their low sugars is also a huge plus for us! We hope you learned a few things and if you’re hungry and want to try these amazing sweeteners try out our new bundles and products! 

What’s your favorite sugar/sugar alternative? 

Stay sweet,

PBH