Superfood Sweetener: Low-GI Coconut Palm Sugar
Pure coconut palm sugar is the latest and greatest in health circles for its sweet features. With a bounty of nutrients and minerals and a unique taste, coconut palm sugar also bears a low-glycemic index. Impressively low, actually. This means you can get your sweet tooth satisfied without the deluge of a sugar rush. Try it out in your favorite baked dessert recipes to get started.
When it comes to choosing sweeteners, coconut palm sugar is a great alternative to white sugar, less-processed forms of sugar, honey, and agave. It is derived from coconut tree nectar. It contains more potassium, magnesium, zinc, iron, phosphorus, nitrogen, and sodium than brown or white sugar.
The Glycemic Index measures how fast a carbohydrate turns into sugar. High-glycemic foods have been associated with chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, and should be avoided. Coconut palm sugar scores a 35 on the glycemic index and is under the 55 score threshold, meaning it is “low”. Honey hovers around 55 and table sugar measurements average to about 68. As you can see, coconut palm sugar means you can give your body a break from shooting blood sugar levels. Both the short and long-term benefits are real, and if you have a sweet tooth, coconut palm sugar could be a savior.
Now, no sweetener should ever be used for its health benefits. It is easy to fall into a trap of using too much of a sweetener if you are constantly reassuring yourself of its supposed health perks. But, instead of focusing on what a certain sweetener can do for you, think more about what it is not doing compared to others. That way, you can look at a “healthy” sweetener such as coconut palm sugar a better, not perfect, ingredient that is a condiment at best; it should be used to complement a plant-based diet, rather than star in one. With that said, coconut palm sugar’s reported health benefits does not mean it should be used as a health food. Remember, it’s a superfood sweetener that is just a sweetener, not a main course!
Image Credit: TigerPuppala
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