Two substitute sugars that are gaining popularity in recipes that promise to be healthier are coconut sugar and date sugar.
date sugar benefits
Why is natural sugar better than processed types? Additionally taking up prime shelf space at health food stores across the United States, these sugars will soon find their way to the Australian market. But do they actually offer any extra health advantages over refined white flour? These days, it would seem that society has given everything made of coconuts a halo of health, and coconut sugar is no exception. There are a ton of cookie recipes on the internet that are marketed as healthy or diet-friendly, with the main "improvement" being the substitution of coconut sugar for ordinary sugar. This product's look, flavor, and cooking behavior are all quite similar to those of regular brown sugar. It doesn't taste like coconut in and of itself, but it has a flavor that is subtly distinctive. Similar to how maple syrup is made from the sap of maple trees, it is made from the sap of the coconut palm tree. To put it another way, it is comparable to maple syrup. Coconut palm sap is not only reduced by boiling into a syrup that is later bottled and sold but it is also crystallized into sugar that can be scooped and used in many of the same applications as white sugar. In any recipe, you can use the same amount of this sugar in place of white sugar. Its original brown hue and the minerals found in the first sap are still there because it hasn't been processed. Although there isn't much information about coconut sugar, research from the Philippines' Food and Nutrition Research Institute claims that it contains a number of nutrients, including iron, zinc, calcium, and potassium. When you put it in context, it actually isn't that much, so you shouldn't start doing the happy dance just yet. You would need to ingest about 25 US teaspoons of coconut sugar to get the same amount of iron and zinc as, for instance, a handful of roasted chicken. An equal amount of this can be found in a handful of raw chicken. A little bit more than one milligram of iron and some zinc are also included in 25 teaspoons of typical brown sugar, which is merely white sugar to which some molasses has been reintroduced back in. The fact that coconut sugar has almost the same number of calories as regular sugar and is more than four times as expensive as brown sugar makes it plainly evident that their presence alone does not justify switching to it. The main benefit of utilizing coconut sugar is that it does not significantly raise blood sugar levels in contrast to other types of sugar. 
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According to studies done at the University of Sydney, coconut sugar has a glycemic index (GI) of 54, making it a low-glycemic food. Quinoa has a GI of 53 compared to conventional sugar's 65, while sugar in its natural state. (The study from the Philippines claimed that the GI of coconut sugar was 35. This statistic is often used online. The discrepancy may result from methodological variations as well as individual variation, but I will be using the University of Sydney's number because it follows the international standard protocol and produces full GI statistics that are used globally. ) Coconut sugar has a substantially lower glycemic index (GI) than the national average because it contains inulin, a type of soluble fiber that delays food absorption in the gut. Inulin is also thought to be a prebiotic, which means that it is the preferred food for the good bacteria in the gut and may help with the establishment of a balanced microbiome there. I wouldn't advise utilizing coconut sugar as a source of inulin on its own because it's added to many professionally prepared foods and is present in a wide range of foods, including onions, garlic, leeks, asparagus, and bananas. As opposed to artificial sweeteners, coconut sugar is a natural sweetener that doesn't raise blood sugar levels and may be substituted for them without sacrificing flavor. The daily added sugar limit of six teaspoons for women and nine teaspoons for men, as recommended by the American Heart Association, still applies to coconut sugar. This advantage shouldn't, however, be used as a justification for consuming excessive amounts of coconut sugar. Date sugar is not made from the sap of the date palm; rather, it comes from the date palm, a unique species of a palm tree. Instead, it is a granulated version of the tree-grown fruit, which is essentially just dates that have been ground up. Recipes from Australia that boast without using refined sugar usually call for whole dates. (A distinct type of sugar can be produced from the sap of date palms. It is frequently employed in the culinary customs of south-east Asian nations and is marketed under the brand name palm sugar (not to be confused with coconut palm sugar). Although little research has been done on the subject, it's probable that palm sugar and coconut sugar have a lot in common. 
date sugar substitute
Date sugar has all of the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber that are present in fruits because it is nothing more than entire dried fruits that have been crushed up. However, just like with coconut sugar, you would need to ingest a lot of date sugar to get the majority of its nutritious advantages. The energy content per teaspoon is only 42 kilojoules, which is around one-third less than regular sugar. With 1% of the recommended daily intake of potassium and 2% of the recommended daily intake of fiber per teaspoon, it also has a good quantity of fiber and potassium. Additionally, it has a fiber-related moderately low GI of about 50. Date sugar is not regarded as an added type of sugar because it is made from raw fruit (as opposed to the heavily processed fruit juice concentrates that are frequently present in many prepared items). It can, however, be used in a number of recipes in place of sugar due to its naturally high amount of sweetness. Although it has a flavor profile that is distinctly date-like and is noticeably less sweet than refined sugar, I tried putting it in a smoothie and banana bread in place of the regular sugar in both, and it worked fantastically in both. It is not suitable for use in all recipes, though, due to these qualities. It also didn't work when I tried to caramelize bananas with it or use it to sweeten tea since it doesn't melt. Both of their endeavors were unsuccessful. Additionally, the price is more expensive than that of other sugar replacements. Even though neither of these substitute sugars is the miracle cure for replacing white sugar that we had hoped for, they do have the advantage of having a less negative effect on blood sugar levels and offering at least some little nutritional value. Because of this, in addition to the fact that I liked the flavors of both of them, I now regularly keep both of these foods in my cupboard. However, switching to them won't make or break your diet because a cookie is still a cookie, whether it's made with coconut sugar or date sugar. 