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Your Ultimate Guide to Natural Sweeteners

(Plus 5 bonus recipes on how to use them!)

About Kezia is passionate about seeing the world become a naturally healthier place! After struggling with her own health and weight problems, she decided to go back to nature. She realised food can be medicine, being healthy can STILL involve cake and her health was in her hands.

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” Hippocrates

After years of working in community-based projects and charities she is now a Holistic Health Coach and runs a successful healthy living blog. Qualified in both Holistic Nutrition, Sports Nutrition and Life Coaching she harnesses both areas of expertise to ensure that you see the transformation you want in your life and health.

Kezia's Story “I struggled with my health and weight for many years, especially as a child. Mysterious digestive problems, visits to hospitals, sickness and ongoing discomfort and embarrassment. I used to be 2 stone over weight, suffer from chronic diarrhoea, painful spasms and a destructive attitude towards food. “So I took a risk. I threw the standard ‘low fat’ healthy eating advice out the window. I began to cook, cut out foods that were 'supposedly' harmless, eat lots of fat, embrace traditions and all things natural. “Now ten years on, I am a healthy weight, no longer carrying pants around with me ‘just in case’ and love food and eating more than ever! I love that I am increasingly healthy with each year and meal and slice of cake that passes!” Professional Qualifications & Affiliations Diplomas in Life Coaching, Holistic Nutrition and Sports Nutrition

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Welcome Welcome to the your ultimate guide to natural sweeteners.

I am guessing you downloaded this because you already know that refined sugar is a problem.

It is a BIG problem.

Things like diabetes have more than doubled in last 15 years, behavioural and mental health issues are on the rise in children, tons of people are depressed, having skin issues, yeast infections and I believe that sugar is at the root of it all and more!

“Since 1996, the number of people with diabetes in the UK has more than doubled from 1.4 million to 3.3 million.” Diabetes UK 2015 Report

That is why I have created resources like The Sweet Treat Collection Recipe eBook and my Beat the Sweet 21 Day Sugar Challenge to help you double your energy and regain your glow inside and out! It will be your complete guide to removing and replacing refined sugar with more naturally awesome stuff!

It is important to point out though that I am NOT about deprivation. I love food, cake and chocolate and thankfully you can still enjoy them AND be refined sugar free. You just need to replace the refined sugar with some naturally awesome alternatives.

So lets get to it, here are my favourite natural alternatives to refined sugar and some recipes for how to use them….

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8 Natural Alternatives to Refined Sugar

1. Raw Honey

This is not your standard cheap jar of honey from the supermarket, it is honey that has not been heated and boiled up meaning it has all of its delightful enzymes and minerals still active and ready to do you good. They even use high quality honey in hospitals to help treat wounds as it is that effective at healing and nourishing the body!

Supermarkets do sell raw honey, just be sure to look out for words like ’raw, unrefined, cold-pressed’ on the label to ensure you are getting a massive nutritional punch for your money honey ;)

This is what I use

2. Coconut Sugar 

This has been a recent discovery for me but I love it. It is great in my cocoa/hot chocolate and I have used it in chocolate pudding to great success. It has quite a rich, molasses-like taste and has a lower glycemic index than honey and contains lots of nutrients like zinc, calcium and other minerals that will do your body good.

Here is what I use

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3. Maple Syrup

I love this stuff. Yes it is very sweet but it is 100 per cent natural and from trees so as long as you don’t drink gallons of the stuff then I reckon it can be a healthier addition to pancakes and bacon. Just make sure you get 100% maple syrup that is just the maple syrup and not other crap in there.

Here is what I use

4. Vegetables & Fruit 

Not only are these amazing for you health, weight and min they are also great to use to naturally sweeten your fav foods. I often use ripe bananas, cooked apples, carrots, beetroot, butternut squash or parsnips even to give a naturally sweet taste in food. I use them all the time in my Green Smoothie Challenge, cookies, cakes, puddings and more.  My top fruit and veg for natural sweetness are:

• Bananas • Butternut squash • Sweet potato • Cooked apples (apple crumble anyone??)

5. Medjool Dates

If you have yet to try a medjool date then my goodness that is your task for today! They are natural bites of fudgey, sweet goodness that won’t make your blood sugar rocket due to their relatively low glycemic index. They taste great in smoothies or better yet, dipped in peanut or almond butter – don’t blame me if you get addicted. They are available at most supermarkets too.

Here is what I use

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6. Stevia

This is a relatively new sweetener which can be super helpful to sweeten drinks, smoothies or snacks. It is a plant that is thought to be 2-300 time sweeter than normal refined sugar!

It contain no calories, no carbs and wont cause your blood sugar to spike making it great for diabetics. It is very important tot get pure stevia leaf extract though as many products bend it with other crappy artificial sweeteners.

Plus just 4 drops of this stuff is equivalent to 1 tsp of sugar - so a little goes a long way. But some people don't enjoy the taste of stevia so be warned.

Here is what I use

7. Brown Rice Syrup

This is a dark brown colour and comes, funnily enough, from rice. It is fructose (a type of sugar) free which some people prefer as it is thought to do more damage to the body and normal glucose.

It is made by fermenting whole brown rice with special enzymes that break down the natural starch content of the grain. Then it is cooked until it becomes a syrup.

It is not particularly nutrient dense nor does it have a particularly low glycemic index so not recommended for diabetics, but vegans and those who want to reduce fructose consumption are big fans.

Here is what I use

8. Xylitol

Now this stuff looks like like normal table sugar and works the same! It is a sugar alcohol. It does contain calories but nearly half the amount of refined sugar, and can be sourced from birch trees and other plants.

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It also has the added bonus of being fantastic for oral health. Dentists often recommend patients consume xylitol in some form to help reduce the bad bacteria in the mouth.

You can only have this sweetener in small amounts though as excessive use can lead to too many trips to the loo so no more than a tbsp once very 2 days or so.

Here is what I use

9. Others….

Now I don't want to bore your with all this natural sweetener chat, there are a lot out there and I haven’t tried all of them. But here are some other natural sweeteners that could rock your world too:

• Yacon syrup - get it here • Date syrup - get it here • Coconut Blossom Syrup - get it here • Lo Han/Monkfruit - get it here • Natural Erythritol - get it here

*A note on Agave Syrup/Nectar - despite the healthy claims on the bottle I avoid agave due to it processing become very similar to high fructose corn syrup which is

not ideal for our hard working livers.Click here to read more about this

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Bonus Recipes So now we know what we can use instead of refined sugar, how the heck do we

actually use them? Well I have got you covered with 5 yummy recipes….

Dark Chocolate Beetroot Brownies

Makes 10-14 slices

Ingredients • 5 organic eggs • 100g cocoa powder • 4 tbsp melted coconut oil or butter • 1/8 tsp salt • 4-5 tbsp raw honey  • 100g raw beetroot • 15 pitted dates • Arrowroot powder for dusting (optional)

Instructions 1. In a food processor blend the beetroot, chopped dates and eggs for 1-2

minutes. Then add the other ingredients and blend until smooth. 2. In a pre-heated oven at 200c pour mixture into a greased tray so its about inch

in thickness and bake at 200c for 20 minutes for gooey brownies and for 25 minutes for firmer ones.

3. Allow to cool then cut into slices. 4. Dust 1/4 tsp of sieved arrowroot powder for that icing sugar look minus the

refined sugar! 5. Store in fridge or freezer.

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Raw Chocolate Brownie-Fudge

Makes 10 medium pieces

Ingredients BROWNIES • 200g cups of brazil nuts soaked overnight • 75g cup of organic cocoa or raw cacao (see note below if using cocoa) • 20g coconut oil • 8 medjool dates pitted • Pinch salt • 1/2 tsp cinnamon ICING • 2 tbsp scoop coconut oil • 2 tbsp cocoa/cacao powder • 1-2 tbsp raw honey • Pinch salt • 1 tbsp vanilla essence

Instructions 1. Soak the brazil nuts in salted water overnight. This makes then easier to blend

and all the nutrient more accessible to the body. 2. Place the brazil nut and dates in food processor and blend for 1-2 minutes

until broken down. Then add other ingredients and blend until a wet dough forms.

3. In a lined tray push the mixture into it and smooth out the top - don't worry if its rough you will be covering it with chocolate!

4. Place in the freezer for 1/2 hours. 5. Once set, put all the icing ingredient in a pan and put on a gentle heat until

fully combined and melted. 6. Then plunge the pan in some cold water and stir briskly for 1 min until you

notice the mixture thicken. 7. Take the brownies out the freezer and pour the icing over and place in the

fridge until set and you want to serve.

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Notes • Don’t let the nuts be processed for too long otherwise you will release too

much of the nuts own naturally present oil making it a bit too oily. • I recommend cutting this into small squares and it wills tore int he freezer for a

few months if you let it get that far! • If you don't have official 'cup' measurement just use the same standard small

mug throughout the recipe • If you are suing cocoa you may nee to add 1-2 scoop tbsp of coconut oil to

make it a more solid dough, as cocoa is more absorbent then cacao. This applies to the icing and the base.

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Kiwi Kick Green Smoothie

Makes 1 large serving

Ingredients • 2 kiwi's peeled • 1 banana • 400ml almond milk (or water) • 3 handfuls of spinach • 1 tbsp chia seeds • 1 tbsp boabab powder (optional) • Handful ice

Instructions 1. Blend in all together until smoothie and drink immediately.

Notes Feel free to experiment and it will still taste great without baobab or chia seeds too!

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Banana & Peanut Cookies Makes 6-8 cookies

Ingredients • 100g Ground Almonds • 100g Peanut Butter (sugar free and ideally organic) • 80g Organic Raisins • 2 Banana • 1 tsp Vanilla Essence

Instructions 1. Place all the ingredients in a blender/food processor until smooth. The add the

raisins and mix in by hand only. 2. On a grease tray place 1 tbsp dollops on tray. Place in a preheated oven at 180c

and after 10 minutes squish the cookies down with a fork until flat. Leave to cook for a further 10-15 minutes or until golden.

3. Leave to cool and enjoy!

Notes • Can be frozen. • Feel free to use chocolate chips instead of raisins or any other sort of nut butter

if peanuts are a problem for you.

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Carrot & Coconut Cake Serves 8-10 people

Ingredients (Ideally all organic) • 580g Grated Carrots (roughly 5 big ones) • 6 Organic Eggs • 2 Bananas • 1 tbsp Vanilla Essence • 1 tbsp Fresh Chopped Ginger • 100g Ground Linseeds • 100g Sultanas or Raisins • 80g Chopped Walnuts • Zest 1/2 Lemon • 2 Pinches Salt • 200g Desiccated Coconut • 100g Coconut Sugar • 1 tbsp Cinnamon

Instructions 1. Preheat oven to 170c and grease a tray with butter/oil and ideally line with

greaseproof paper. 2. In a food processor mix the eggs, bananas and vanilla essence until fluffy. 3. Add the grated carrots to the egg mixture and blend until smooth and orange! 4. In a large mixing bowl thoroughly mix by hand in all other ingredients until

fully combined. 5. Pour into your baking tray, and have the mixture around 1-1.5 inch depth and

level out the top with a spatula. 6. Cover the tray with foil and place in oven for about an hour. 7. After an hour remove foil and cook for a further 45min or until it is firm and

more solid feeling. 8. Remove from oven and allow to cool. 9. Cut into rectangular slices and serve topped with creme fraiche or natural

yogurt.

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Want more delicious recipes? Things like scones, gummy sweet and salted caramel brownies….

Then why not grab The Sweet Treat Collection Recipe eBook NOW!

Otherwise I will see you soon in my regular emails with more great recipes, freebies and things to help you THRIVE!

Love

Kezia xx

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