Alternative Sweeteners: Monk Fruit, Stevia, Erythritol & Xylitol – Dr. Berg

Dr. Berg’s Healthy Keto and Intermittent Fasting Podcast

Dr. Eric Berg

Health & Fitness

4.6 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 1 December 2023

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Let’s talk about alternative sweeteners. Trying alternative sweeteners when starting the ketogenic diet can make the transition much easier.

Notice I said alternative sweeteners and not artificial sweeteners. While alternative sweeteners aren’t completely natural, they are less artificial and less harmful than artificial sweeteners.

Keto snacks and desserts often have different kinds of alternative or artificial sweeteners. Trying keto snacks and keto desserts isn’t a bad thing, but it’s crucial to check the ingredients. Just because it’s labeled “keto” doesn’t make it healthy.

Out of all of the sweeteners, erythritol and xylitol* are two of the best. But it’s still better to only consume small amounts.

Monk fruit and stevia are also great options. However, with stevia, it’s important to make sure that the product doesn’t also contain maltodextrin. Maltodextrin is higher on the glycemic index than sugar. Maltitol, agave nectar, and functional fibers should also be avoided.

Including too much of these sugar alcohols (even the good ones) in your diet can cause bloating, fluid retention, diarrhea, and can upset the gut microbiome. They may also prevent you from getting rid of cravings.

I think sugar alternatives are great to help a person transition off of consuming sugar and for an occasional treat—but they shouldn’t be consumed on a regular basis.

*Pet owners should keep in mind that certain alternative sweeteners, like xylitol, can be highly toxic to animals. Sugar alternatives can be found in a wide range of products and may go by different names. It’s best to keep these types of products far out of reach from your pets.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Let's talk about alternative sweeteners. When you get on the ketogenic diet, it's not a bad idea to
0:05.7	transition off your regular sugar with some alternative sugars, and we like to call them alternative
0:10.7	sweeteners, not artificial sweeteners, even though they're a bit
0:13.7	artificial, but they're definitely better than the typical artificial sweeteners, as in Aspertain, things like that.
0:20.0	And so there's some really important things to know about these artificial sweeteners because if you're going to get any of these keto products, they're usually going to have either some type of sugar alcohol, alternative sweetener, and especially these new functional fiber type ingredients for the textures which I want to cover as well
0:36.8	because sometimes those are used as sweeteners when in fact there's no difference between those and sugar.
0:44.0	So let's just start with this popular brand,
0:47.6	Lily's brand, chocolate chips, right?
0:51.6	These are the dark chocolate baking chips and I do like these. They said no sugar added.
0:58.0	And so if I look at the ingredients it has unsweetened chocolate, a wreathrothal, chickory root fiber, okay, that's fine, and Stevia.
1:06.7	Okay, so the first thing you need to know about a wreathrotal is out of all the sweeteners.
1:11.9	It's one of the better ones because it has virtually no calories, it doesn't digest, that's why it has no calories.
1:18.0	And also it's zero on the glycemic index compared to another one that I do like as well,
1:25.5	Zalatol. Zalatol is like 30 on the glycemic index.
1:29.0	Arethotol is zero.
1:31.6	Zalatol tastes more like sugar.
1:34.0	Arithrotol, sometimes you have to add it with monk fruit.
1:37.6	It's close to sugar but it doesn't compare, but it's a lot better on the glycemic
1:42.3	index.
1:43.2	If you were to compare both of those, I would say,
1:45.5	just consume small amounts when you need it.
1:47.7	But Arrithrotol is a little bit better.
	...

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