glucose intolerance diet

hey, guys. dr. axe here, doctor of functionalmedicine and founder of draxe.com. today i'm here to share with you my top five naturalsweeteners and sugar substitutes, and so this is a big deal today. so many people are overconsuming high fructose corn syrup, processed sugar, and just carbs in general. and what i'm going to go over here are mytop five natural sweeteners that many of them,

glucose intolerance diet, not all of them, that many of them still havesugar, but it's much easier for your body to digest and process, and is going to bringthe most health benefits to your body. so whether you're looking for sugar substitutesfor baking or cooking, or let's say just something to add in your morning tea or smoothie, theseare going to be the best five natural sweeteners

you can use. and to start with, i'm going to go for mynumber one natural sweetener, and that's pure, raw honey. now when you're buying honey, youwant it to say raw. you want it to ideally even be from a local source. and so for me,this is an area here in the area of nashville, tennessee, where i'm located. and so again,this is a form of honey that i love. and let me say this about honey. one of thereasons it's so beneficial is that honey that is not just a sugar. it's actually a food.honey doesn't just contain sugar. it also contains amino acids. it contains specifictypes of electrolytes and antioxidants, and antimicrobial compounds that can really supportyour body and the health of your body. so

pure, raw honey. now again, you want to use it sparingly, asthe proverbs say. you don't want to go overboard with using these sweeteners. but one tablespoon,one to two times daily, is a good, healthy amount that most people can do well with.so again, pure, raw honey. a few other benefit here of honey is thatit helps reduce allergy symptoms. and the reason it does it is this local pollen, andthis is if you buy local honey, it actually really helps with allergies because it helpsyour body adapt to local pollen. it's kind of natural immunizations over time,the truth of how we were supposed to adapt to our surroundings, we have in bee pollen,which is found in pure raw, honey.

by the way, there was a study at texas a&muniversity. they found that about 80% of honey on supermarket shelves don't contain any pollenwhatsoever. that's why you've really got to buy the raw stuff if you want the real deal. also, raw honey contains antimicrobial properties.so i don't just eat honey. i actually use honey, when i get a cut or a wound, i putit in the area. if you have acne or skin issues, you can put it right on the area. so it canactually even be used as a form of natural medicine. and some of my favorite ways to use honeyis i use it in the morning with my sprouted, soaked oatmeal sometimes. i'll put it in abreakfast smoothie. i'll use it when i'm making

gluten-free pancakes. i'll use it with somegreen tea. just a little bit of honey in there to sweeten it up. but again, honey, probablymy most used sweetener that i use here on a regular basis. the number two sweetener you should reallyconsider using on a regular basis, and this is especially good if you have blood sugarissues, if you're overweight, or if you have something like diabetes, and that's stevia. stevia is a no-calorie, all-natural sweetenerthat comes from the leaf of, actually, a flowering plant. and stevia, there are many types ofstevia. ideally you get full, green-leaf stevia. another form of stevia that's suitable isdoing stevia that is basically just ground

and part of it is extracted. now there are other brands out there todaythat i am not a fan of, like truvia, because it's so highly processed. and they'll alsoadd in other chemicals, and they come from gmo corn or add in gmo corn derivatives, andwe all know we don't want gmos in our diet. but sweetleaf, this is one of my favoritebrands i use, this is stevia. in fact, they even have stevia flavors. this is, you canget chocolate stevia, vanilla stevia, chocolate-raspberry stevia, pumpkin pie spice stevia. so there'sa lot of different brands. but the great thing about stevia is there'sno sugar involved. and so if you do have diabetes or blood sugar issues, or are looking to loseweight fast, this is a great no-carbohydrate

solution.and again, just like using honey sparingly, you shouldn't be dumping this in your foodsand going overboard, but just a little bit goes a long way. just a few drops in your morning tea. i lovethis with my herbal teas in the morning. i add a little bit sometimes to something likea morning smoothie, a little bit to baking goods or if i'm making homemade pudding. i'llput this in there with some chia seeds and coconut milk and coconut oil. but again, a little bit of stevia is great,especially if you've got blood sugar issues or weight loss issues. try some stevia, mysecond favorite natural sweetener.

my number three natural sweetener are dates.now dates, we could throw other fruits here into the category, things like raisins, apricots,other dried fruit, pineapple juices. but the great thing about dates are they're also veryhigh in fiber and potassium, as well as other vitamins and minerals. in fact, of all the sweeteners i'm going togo over, dates have the highest nutrient value. now in terms of phytochemicals that heal thebody, honey is the highest, but in terms of actually vitamins and minerals and fiber content,dates are the highest. and that fiber actually slows down sugar absorption. so remember, if we're comparing this to whitesugar or high fructose corn syrup, dates are

not sugar. dates are a food that contain sugar,and this food also has fiber and antioxidants, and minerals like potassium, that helps youslowly absorb sugar and really helps regulate sugar within your body. and so dates are very sweet. and i actuallylove making homemade pecan pie. and so when we do different baking at home and do someof our ingredients, like you'll find in my "real food diet cookbook", you're going tosee we use dates all the time. you mix some dates with some nut butter, andyou can make food bars at home. you can make protein bars. you can make pies. this is amazingto add with some pecans and cashews and make a homemade pie crust. and so in baking especially.

i make a smoothie at home with some cashewbutter and peaches, and you throw some dates in there. dates are great, actually, justto throw in smoothies. and it's really great if you're into raw food and vegan foods. datesare probably the number one naturally sweetener used. and again, potassium is great for flushingout toxins. it's great for balancing electrolytes in the body, so this is great for athletes.and again, you don't want to go overboard, but again, dates, a fantastic sweetener. mynumber three favorite sweetener. number four on my list is coconut sugar. youcan see here we have organic coconut palm sugar. we actually have a vanilla flavor.it's unrefined. it's vegan. it's not gmo.

and especially when you're baking, if you'relooking for an equal comparison, let's say you're baking a cake and you want a recipethat has the equal amounts of one cup of sugar to one cup of an alternative natural sweetener,well, here you go. coconut sugar or coconut palm sugar here is the ideal replacement. we know coconut, juice especially, which iswhere a lot of this comes from, the coconut juice is full of potassium. it's full of electrolytesand nutrients. so again, if you're looking for equal comparison that's nontoxic, non-gmo,that your body's going to be able to digest better, organic coconut palm sugar is better. all of these sweeteners, by the way, they'relower on the glycemic index. where regular

table sugar scores 100, many of these sweetenersscore closer to a 50, so half the glycemic index. so it's going to affect your body ina lesser amount to where it's not going to cause your energy levels to drop or increase,spike your insulin levels, increasing your risk of diabetes like a lot of the other sugarsout there today. so this is a great replacement, equal replacement,to actual table sugar, especially in baking cookies and pies and things like that. and last but not necessarily least in termsof a natural sweetener is 100% pure, organic maple syrup. and when you buy it, look forgrade b or even a lower grade, even grade c. but you want a grade b maple syrup. thisis usda organic.

and maple syrup we know is a fantastic sweetener.it's good especially over things like pancakes and waffles. it's good in certain recipeswhere you want more of that, sort of that earthy flavor along with it. and so again,100% pure organic maple syrup, another good sweetener to add in. what i would do is get rid of the sugar. bythe way, if you just are using regular sugar in your baking and cooking, the majority ofthat sugar is genetically modified. it comes from genetically modified beets and gmo corn. and so if you just see sugar on a food labelthat you're buying or you're using regular sugar in baking, we know that that is highlytoxic to the body. and why not? it is so easy

to replace those fake sugars with real sugar,these natural sugar substitutes and natural sweeteners to use instead. so remember these five natural sweeteners.raw honey; stevia; dates; coconut sugar; and pure, organic maple syrup. use those fivenatural sugar substitutes and you're going to be a lot healthier for it while satisfyingyour sweet tooth.