“According to the new study, stevia may disrupt communications between different bacteria in the gut microbiome. While the team found that stevia inhibited these pathways, it did not kill off the bacteria.” - Neuroscience News
Just go without sugar.. I started drinking coffee without any sweetener. It took some getting used to , but now when I try drinking it with sugar I can’t bc it seems overwhelmingly sweet. Plus if you get used to things with no added sugar, you will start to appreciate their aroma way more
Just eat less sugar?
If you’re drinking soda/sweetened beverages, swap to water/tea/coffee.
If you’re eating sweet junkfood, …don’t (limit it for rare occasions).
Focus on whole foods and sugar will take care of itself. Also, don’t base your decisions off of singular studies like this. But in this case, it’s widely accepted that ADDED sugar isn’t doing you any favors anyway.
I use Monkfruit, but I honestly don’t know enough about it to comment on how it impacts the microbiome. I don’t really use added sugar frequently enough to justify heavy research, however it might be an alternative to look into.
Sugar is like any drug. The less you eat the more sweet things taste. If you stop eating sugar for a while you will taste how sweet bread can be.
I wouldn’t stop eating sugar but we eat way too much. That includes me.
Try a fresh fruit salad.
Cut it out in everything except fruit and one treat per day. You’ll stop craving it so much (worked for me)In baking you can use over ripe banana to sweeten things with a bunch of recipes Honey can sometimes be sweeter so you can use less than sugar but health wise they’re about the same..I cut it from my cofeee and replaced juice with seltzer water
Fruit, fruit, aaaaand more fruit! At least, that’s my replacement. Here are a few ideas:
Oatmeal with berries, peaches, apples, or bananas stewed or oven roasted with cinnamon to bring out the sweetness
Some fruits can even be grilled for an after dinner sweet (pineapple, apple, peach)
No sugar added cereals like plain bran flakes or homemade granola taste wonderful with frozen or sliced berries thrown in (and chopped nuts or seeds)
Peanut butter and jelly? Try peanut butter or almond butter and banana, sliced peaches, sliced apples, stewed berries with cinnamon
For coffee or tea try plain oat milk
For hot cocoa try whole milk with baking cocoa (all the richness, none of the sugar)
85%+ dark chocolate covered nuts
Dates stuffed with dark chocolate chips or drizzled with tahini
The easiest way to cut down on added sugars is to find alternatives. Eventually foods will actually taste more sweet. Over time taste buds seem to become desensitized to sweetness on a high sugar diet. I have yet to see any research showing that sugar is not bad for the micro biome, but in moderation is the best way to consume (recommended DI is 25g of added).
Eating healthy is shit, it’s difficult, often more expensive and more often than not makes you feel worse. For a few weeks… Then, changes start to happen. You sleep better, you have more energy, you’re ill less often, you’re significantly happier. You have less cravings for junk food. You want to move more.
Switching to a healthy diet is hard and awful. But it is really worth it.
Organic and or raw honey are a good replacement for sugar. There’s so many kinds and varieties. Making them nutrient dense. But they’re still sugars. And should be treated as such. Because they still have the calories in them.
But unlike sugar, honey does NOT have a neuroinflammatory, anxiety causing effect as sugar. Nor is it inflammatory systemically, and does not cause excessive oxidative stress like sugars do, aging you faster at a cellular level, and setting you up for other chronic metabolic disorders.
A lot of people here are saying to just go without sugar, and I agree. I will say though, that’s usually where the advice ends. If you want to make it easier on yourself to drop most of the sugar you intake, get 8 hours a night. It’s amazing how much more you crave sweets when you’re tired/poorly rested. As others have mentioned, stick to Whole Foods as much as you can and as a piece of experiential advice, do a one-two day fast.
Fasting helps to clear the micro biome, and while it’s very debatable about whether that’s a good/bad thing, I think it comes down to each individuals situation. If you eat enough of foods that are junky to sustain bacteria that thrive on those junky foods it may be worth doing a soft reset.
Fasting doesn’t wipe everything out but it does dramatically reduce the number of bacteria in your gut which can be a good jumping off point since the gut micro biome has been linked to cravings/mood/appetite. That means, if you do a 1-2 day fast and immediate follow it up with healthy eating it will (in my experience) be much easier and more desirable to stay away from junk and keep eating Whole Foods.
Just as a note to anyone who would like to reply to me, I’m an enthusiastic nutrition hobbyist who follows a number of doctors about this stuff. It’s entirely possible I’m wrong and so if you’d like to correct me, please do so nicely. If you’d like to take my advice, do so sparingly and with healthy skepticism. Thanks!
When I was researching sugar substitutes I remember aspartame, saccharin and sucralose as the ones with the most negative effects. The safe ones appear to be monkfruit, the sugar alcohols like xylitol and erythritol, and then stevia. I did see that one study about stevia’s effect on the microbiome but I remember it seems like the results were inconclusive. And there seems to be no long term issues with sugar alcohols other than that they may cause stomach upset if you take too much of them, but they’re also great for dental health. Monkfruit does appear to be the safest of all.
Personally I’ve been using Better Stevia for the past 2 years which is 100% stevia without additives like maltodextrin or dextrose like other brands.. personally I think even in the event stevia does have a mild effect on the microbiome I’m thinking there’s still no way its overall effects are worse than sugar, and I’ve been feeling way better than when I’ve consumed sugar regularly.
I guess if more questionable research comes out about stevia I’ll probably just switch over to erythritol and monkfruit
You should replace the idea that looking at any single nutrient outside of the entire diet and lifestyle is a logical way of thinking about nutrition.
You should also pay zero attention to in vitro work like this.
At first I thought this was a dumb question, then I realized I actually have a hard time keeping enough weight on without sugar (I cant eat pasta or bread either) and have been trying to answer this same question.
Bananas, dates, and other fruits! I sweeten muffins and pancakes with mashed bananas and unsweetened applesauce. I still throw in some dark choco chips for the kiddos, but if you get creative and give your tastebuds time to adjust, you’ll find that most sweetened food is ridiculously oversweet to the point that other flavor subtleties are lost. Same thing with salt. I know I sound like a loon, but when I stopped eating processed food, I felt like I’d stepped out of Plato’s cave. The shit is bananas!
The goal is to reduce sugar overall, not replace it. One technique to reduce sugar cravings is to add more bitter foods to your diet. You could also take bitters at mealtime. Fermented foods are also supposed to help reduce the craving for sugar. Americans have been getting too much sweet since the 1970’s so we are over the top now. Resetting the desire for sugar should be the new goal in my opinion.
Eat less sugar without trying to replace it with other sweeteners. Sugar can cause weight gain, depression, skin issues, gut problems, and more.
It will be DIFFICULT at first to cut back a lot on sugar, but your body will adjust. Your body and brain literally get addicted to sugar, so they will fight back. You will feel like crap, like you have a cold, like you’re more depressed, etc than normal, but it will pass. Think of it like withdrawals from other addicted substances. You have to get past the crappy parts to feel better.
I think it is pretty much establish that sugar is bad and a lot of people cut most of it. That said, the best honey you can get or the best brown sugar you can get if you must/can.
I’m more or less a “the whitest sugar you can find on junk food” or nothing.
I just drop the thing and get used to it after a while when I’m eating healthy. (When I eat junk food I go for man-made junk like artisanal pizza, artisanal burgers, etc. isntead of artificial stuff filled with sugar, flavors, etc.)
I think you should be asking why you should eat added sugar in the first place. Otherwise it’s a bit like asking “what do we replace our cigarettes with if they’re bad for our lungs?”…
Not saying sugar is the same as cigarettes. It is, however, a nutrient isolate which has the potential to (and readily does) create an imbalance, which degrades your health over time.
Hope this piece of information helps anyone struggling from sugar addiction. The following points have been taken from a reliable nutritionist.