You may have noticed we’ve been adding lots of sweetener free healthy sweet treat recipes to our repertoire. That’s right, we’re saying NO to natural sweetener and we’re feeling good… we’re feeling really really good!
And before you think whaaaat… more additions to the ‘No List’. Hold up and let us explain why we’re saying no to natural sweetener (for a while anyway).
As you know we do love a good paleo sweet treat. However we most certainly did get caught up in the ‘let’s add dates to everything’ and the ‘raw honey is medicinal so let’s eat ALL the honey’ whirlwinds! And you know what? We don’t have a problem with these natural whole food sweeteners, but we were adding far too much (you’ll notice this in our earlier recipes) and eating a few too many portions! Paleo mistakes 101… yes we can write that book!
Another reason why we’re saying no to natural sweetener is… because we’re just so bloody confused by the whole situation. It feels like everything we read is giving us different advice, like…
- cut out refined sugar, but coconut sugar is fine
- coconut sugar does the exact same thing to our bodies as normal white sugar… no go!
- honey is so good for you, because it’s antiviral, packed with antioxidants and minerals
- glucose is fine, but fructose is the bad part of sugar…
- yes, fructose is only metabolized in the liver, not used as energy and stored as fat and probably will make you sick, fat and nearly kapoot
- honey is 65% fructose… so actually it’s a no
- stevia is natural and has no fructose, it’s the perfect sweetener
- only eat the green leaf stevia the white powder is super processed and has hidden nasties
- the green leaf stevia tastes like crap… so no
- rice malt syrup is the answer because it’s low fructose
- rice malt syrup is mega processed and it’s a grain, so stay away
- isn’t rice malt syrup fermented… fermenting makes everything better right?
- organic maple syrup just comes from a tree… hello alla-natural amazingness
- no, maple syrup is high fructose
- well then let’s stick to dates, they’re natural
- dates are high fructose plus they’re dried so it’s even more concentrated
- ok, well let’s sweeten with fresh fruit… bananas!
- again bananas are a natural sugar and carb bomb… maybe if you’re an athlete!
- don’t eat any high fructose fruit, actually stay away from fruit
- fruit is good for you, full of vitamins and nutrients
- only eat low fructose fruit, like berries and limes and lemons.
…………. ummmmm……. confused as well?! Join our confused club! YAY for friends!
Anyway the point is, we were sick of changing our minds about natural sweeteners and being confused… which of course led to a light bulb moment.
Why do we even need to add any natural sweetener at all? What if all our healthy real food sweet treats taste fine without the honey, minus the dates, cutting the stevia, no rice malt etc etc!?
We know… crazy right?! They wouldn’t taste good… surely?! It’d just be coconut and nuts, wouldn’t it?
Well we have super exciting news for you all (and us). The treats taste good, no lie! The Sweetener Free Paleo Sweet Treats taste totally amazing delicious drool worthy! Oh, and they look good too…
Our amazing carrot cake…. yep, no SWEETENER! Get the recipe!
Our sweetener free good fat cake… if you haven’t made this yet… you really must! Here’s the recipe!
This raw slice… yep… no SWEETENER!
Our all time new favourite recipe: Pumpkin Cacao Brownie
Our Carrot and Ginger Double Decker Cookies… how cute!
These muffins…
And these muffins…
Plus our sweetener free chocolate!
This AMAZING Vanilla Raspberry Panna Cotta
We’re definitely not saying farewell to natural sweetener forever and ever and when someone offers us a slice of our Paleo Salted Choc Caramel (AKA best dessert in the world) slice there is NO WAY we’re saying no to that! BUT we’re loving how we feel with the zero sweetener and we’re loving that you’re loving the unsweet sweet treats! We’re just going to keep on making them!
Always merrymaking,
Emma + Carla