Alternative sweeteners and sugar-free sweetened beverages may be part of your plan to reduce added sugars, but don't get carried away. Just because something has no calories or sugar doesn't make it healthy or beneficial in the long run. While white sugar is definitely not good for health or weight loss, artificial sweeteners seem to wreak the same amount of havoc. Try natural sweeteners such as honey or maple syrup to sweeten tea, coffee, or baked goods.
Organic or coconut sugar in small amounts works from time to time if you must consume sugar, and some people think that monk fruit extract has a less annoying aftertaste than stevia. The difference in flavor between Coke Zero and Diet Coke is slight, as both beverages taste different from regular Coca-Cola, but are generally similar. However, some may find that they prefer one over the other. Breaking the cycle of craving for sweets isn't easy, but continuing to replace sugar with fake sugar isn't the solution.
Healthy people may experience mild gas or bloating after eating foods sweetened with sugar alcohols, but if you have a gastrointestinal condition, such as irritable bowel syndrome, or eat a large amount of something sweetened with sugar alcohols, you could experience more extreme symptoms. Zero-sugar or low-calorie alternatives are usually hundreds or thousands of times sweeter than regular sugar, but they don't raise blood sugar levels. These alternatives make the products taste sweet, but they don't cause the increases in blood sugar that traditional sugar can cause. A more immediate unpleasant effect of consuming sugar alcohols, a type of low-calorie sugar substitute, are gas, bloating, and diarrhea.
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