There is perhaps no sweeter time of year than the holiday season! You know, those beautiful family memories of delightful days spent inside making scrumptious baked goods and sipping on seasonal beverages. But as the holidays near, many families want to keep the sweet celebrations going but without the refined sugar overload — and we couldn’t agree more!

To help your family reduce pesky tummy aches and sugar crashes, we’re revealing our favorite healthy sugar alternatives for baking naturally sweetened desserts through the holidays. Keep reading for our top picks to add to your wish list!

Pure Stevia Sweetener

What looks like sugar, tastes a lot like sugar, acts like sugar, but isn’t? We’re talking about pure stevia! This zero calorie sugar substitute is a plant extract that doesn't disturb blood sugar levels. It comes as liquid drops or granules that you can use in your favorite holiday recipes. But beware, it’s much sweeter than table sugar and so only use a little bit!

Monk Fruit Sweetener

Much like stevia, monk fruit sweetener also comes from a plant, has zero calories, doesn’t disturb blood sugar levels, and is intensely sweet. It also comes in liquid drops and granules and should only be used in small amounts to avoid an overpoweringly sugary flavor. Both stevia and monkfruit can have a bit of an aftertaste, so we recommend doing a taste test and choosing your favorite — or substitute only part of the sugar in a recipe for a blend of the two flavors.

Fresh & Frozen Fruit

Perhaps the tastiest and healthiest way to sweeten holiday desserts is to skip the refined sugar altogether and opt for fruit instead! While many fruits have a lot of sugar, they are also often packed with nutritional benefits like fiber, vitamins, and minerals. When making your favorite holiday treats, we recommend lowering the refined sugar in your recipe and using whole fruit that’s fresh, frozen, or pureed as a healthy sugar alternative.

Dates

Before we let you get back to all of the holiday baking fun, we’d like to offer up an honorable mention: dates! While dates are a fruit from the date palm tree, they are all too often overlooked as a healthy sugar alternative! They can be used whole or processed at home to create your own sugar granules or paste to use in your holiday treats. Dates have high fiber content plus they have vitamins and minerals, and are high in antioxidants – even when you make sugar granules out of them at home. Plus, dates have a lower glycemic index than refined sugar so they’re less likely to cause blood sugar spikes!

We hope this guide to our favorite natural sugar alternatives helps your family have your healthiest holiday yet! At Pura Stainless, there is nothing we care more about the health and well-being of your family. That’s why we innovated our 100% plastic-free water bottles and lunch containers made entirely of food service grade stainless steel and medical grade silicone. You can shop our eco-friendly products by visiting https://www.purastainless.com/collections/all to keep your healthy holiday baked goods and beverages microplastic and toxin free!