Safe Sugar Substitutes?

Jorge Cruise tells his Belly Fat Cure followers (sounds like a cult, huh?!) to NOT use NutraSweet, Splenda, or Sweet N Low.  Wow! So what in the world was I supposed to use for MY sweet tooth? 

Two of his favorites are erythritol and xylitol.  But what in the world are those?  They are what's called sugar alcohols which are extracted from plants or made from starches.  They are all natural.

Erythritol has no calories and has not been found to affect blood sugar.  I have tasted it plain and I don't know any other way to explain the sensation other than it feels 'cool' as it dissolves in your mouth.  It is definitely not as sweet as sugar. One way I use it is to sweeten plain yogurt.  Cargill makes erythritol and you can find additional information at this link.  Erythritol can be found in lots of products which you can find in stores like Whole Foods.  A favorite of mine is Zevia brand ginger root beer soda. Zevia has a number of different flavors.  While expensive (about $1.00/can), they are a really good zero calorie naturally sweetened soda! Also, the popular SoBe Lifewater drinks are made with erythritol as a sweetener and come in a wide variety of flavors.  Mix in some Benefiber and you have a great high fiber no calorie beverage.

There are sites on which you can find recipes using erythritol.  One is about.com.  Laura Dolson is the moderator of this Low Carb diet area on about.com. There is a blog and forum and is a great source of information on these sugar substitutes.

One of the downsides of this erythritol is that it is extremely difficult to find in retail stores.  It can be found at Amazon.com.

Xylitol is another sugar alcohol which looks and tastes like sugar.Unlike erythritol, xylitol DOES have calories: 9.6 per teaspoon as opposed to sugar's 15 calories.

Xylitol has been show to have dental benefits (unlike sugar!!).  But a downside is that xylitol can have a laxative effect.  It also is difficult to find locally and usually has to be ordered via Internet.  "Now" foods is a packager of this product and it can also be found at Amazon.com:

Like erythritol there's a number of different products made with xylitol. One of them is Xlear's Spry Mints which are ALSO recommended by Jorge Cruise.