Sweeteners

Sweeteners: The YES List

Erythritol	Monk Fruit	Stevia
Xylitol

If you’ve been eating sugar-added or processed foods for years, you might find it hard to switch to a diet with no sweeteners at all. Luckily, we can recommend some excellent sweeteners that will give you that ‘kick’ from sweetened food without spiking your blood sugar levels or causing other issues.

Stevia is a 100% herbal sweetener that has zero calories and a very low Glycemic Load. It is around 20-30 times sweeter than regular sugar, so you only need to add a tiny amount to your food or drink. The one thing to be careful of is to make sure you buy a 100% stevia supplement.

Make especially sure that the brand you buy has no added maltodextrin or dextrose, as these are really just other types of sugar. One note on stevia use, especially for those wishing to get pregnant or father a child in the near future: stevia was traditionally used to curb fertility by South American societies. Studies have yet to elucidate what, if any, verifiable impacts stevia may have on fertility or libido, but just be cautious if you happen to be planning a new family!

Xylitol and erythritol are sugar alcohols and very helpful alternatives to regular sugar for Anti-Fungal dieters. Both are very low in carbohydrates and have little effect on your blood sugars, so both are regularly used by diabetics. Even better, a 2011 study showed how xylitol actually reduces the production of acetaldehyde, the neurotoxic metabolite released by fungal overgrowth.

This means that xylitol may even reduce some of the symptoms of fungal overgrowth, like brain fog, fatigue or poor memory. The one caution with too much xylitol use is that for some individuals it can potentially cause loose stools, so remember a little goes a long way with these sweeteners as well. Erythritol typically causes fewer digestive issues, so for those with sensitive bowel situations, it may be the preferred option.

Monk fruit, also known as Luo Han Guo, is a cousin of the cucumber plant and originated in China. It contains compounds named mongooses that are supposedly 300 times sweeter than sugar. Just like stevia, it has virtually no effect on your blood sugar, almost no calories, and can be used in baking just like sugar.

When you buy any of these sweeteners, watch out for added ingredients. For example, some brands of stevia also include maltodextrin or dextrose, which kind of defeats the point! Some combinations are OK though -for example, some brands blend monk fruit and erythritol together.

Sweeteners: The NO List

Agave Nectar	Date Sugar	Golden Sugar	Molasses
Barley Malt	Dehydrated Cane	Golden Syrup	Muscavod Juice
Barbados Sugar	Demerara Sugar	Granulated Sugar	Panocha
Beet Sugar	Dextrangrape Sugar	Brown Sugar	Dextrose
High Fructose Corn Syrup	Raw Sugar	Buttered Syrup	Diastatic Malt
Honey	Refiner’s Syrup	Cane Juice	Diatase Icing Sugar
Rice Syrup	Cane Syrup	Ethyl Maltol	Invert Sugar
Sorbitol	Caramel	Free Flowing Brown Syrup Sugars	Lactose
Sorghum	Coconut Sugar	Fructose	Malt
Sucralose	Corn Syrup	Fruit Juice	Maltrodextrin
Sucrose	Confectioner’s Sugar	Corn Syrup Solids	Fruit Juice Concentrate
Maltose	Sugar (granulated)	Galactose	Malt Syrup
Treacle	Carob Syrup	Glucose Mannitol	Turbinado Sugar
Castor Sugar	Glucose Solids	Maple Syrup	Yellow Sugar

Hopefully, by now this is pretty obvious, but you should not be eating any added sugars at all during this phase of the diet. Some people have asked us if natural honey, coconut sugar, or agave syrup are better than refined sugar, but unfortunately, the answer is no when it comes to Fungus Overgrowth. Whilst these alternative sugars may contain vitamins or other, generally healthful elements, any sugar (no matter what the source) can feed your Fungus overgrowth. So, for now, you still need to avoid them.

In the past few years, we’ve seen a gradual realization that sugar is behind the rising levels of conditions like Diabetes, Fungal Related Complexes, chronic inflammation and more. Many nutritionists and doctors now recommend eliminating refined sugars entirely, and in fact limiting consumption of all forms of sugar. However, this is not always as easy as it sounds, and food labeling is often to blame.

An ingredient label might contain no mention of ‘sugar,’ but that is actually no guarantee at al I. There are lots of substances that taste, act, and affect us in the same way that refined sugar does -just without the name. There are some you will have heard of, like high fructose corn syrup, but that is far from the only example.

Some of the names on the list you will immediately recognize as sugar, but what about ethyl maltol and maltose? Manufacturers are sneaking these types of sugar into everyday products without the consumer knowing what they are eating or drinking.

Even the most health-conscious of us consume processed foods, even if just on the odd occasion. However, if we don’t know what these sugars are called, and what they can do to our bodies, how can we make informed decisions? Is the answer to simply avoid processed foods altogether, or are we simply misunderstanding sugar and the effect it has on us?

The consensus is that it is not the type of sugar you are consuming, but simply the quantities of sugar that does the damage. By using lots of different types and names of sugar, food manufacturers are able to list their sugar content as lower than if they were to use purely cane sugar or high fructose corn syrup. If they were bundled together these sugars would often be on the top of the ingredients list, but by using several different types they are often hidden further down. Try to become more aware of sugar in your foods, and inspect labels carefully to identify which sugars (and how much of each sugar) are in what you are eating.

When you start reading ingredient lists carefully, you begin to notice that there are often three or four different types of sugar in the same food. When they are split up in this fashion, they are naturally listed lower down in the list. If they were listed together, simply as ‘sugar,’ they would likely be at the top of the ingredient list. In other words, it’s very important to know and recognize all those forms of sugar.

You should also consider eliminating many artificial sweeteners from your diet. This is because even though they do not contain carbohydrates, they can still cause spikes in your blood sugar levels. In some cases, research has also illustrated that they tend to make people crave real sugar even more, making it even harder for you to abstain from reaching from your favorite ‘sugar fix.’ The latest research shows that aspartame, for example, likely contributes to glucose intolerance and obesity.    

Moreover, many of these artificial sweeteners have also been implicated in being potential carcinogens, exacerbating or causing gut dysbiosis, and possibly contributing to other health issues from autoimmune disorders to food allergies. If you would like to use a sweetener, stick to stevia, erythritol, or one of the other natural sweeteners that we recommend.