CHAPTER 3

COOKING WITHOUT SUGAR

Healthy Alternatives to Sugar, Starches, and Unhealthy Carbs

The fact is, if you quit sugar, it will almost certainly be difficult at first, and you’ll likely experience the withdrawal symptoms mentioned in chapter 1. But these symptoms won’t last forever, especially when you replace sugar with truly nutritious ingredients and use healthy alternatives to sweeten your food. Still, the less sweet food you consume—even if it is sweetened with natural, sugar-free sweeteners—the better.

Believe it or not, by constantly reducing sugar and sweeteners, your taste buds will soon get used to less-sweet flavors. (If you can’t quit sugar cold turkey, you might want to replace the sugar with natural sweeteners. Once you don’t crave sweetness anymore, reduce the amount of those natural sweeteners as well.) But what are those healthy alternatives? Let’s take a look.

The short answer is not very. First, artificial sweeteners trick your brain. Natural sugars, such as table sugar, fructose, lactose, and glucose, bind to both of the two existing subunits of the sweet receptors in your brain. When this happens, it stimulates neurotransmitters to send signals to your brain that immediately sing “sweet!” which then signals the reward pathway of the brain. When you eat artificial sweeteners, these chemical molecules trick your sweet taste buds by stimulating part of the receptors. So, instead of being a perfect lock-and-key match, as with natural sugars, artificial sweeteners are only a partial match. They fit part of the structure of the sweet receptor, but not all of it. Thus you can think of artificial sweeteners as the generic keys that thieves sometimes use to pick locks. They fit the lock just enough to allow the thief to jimmy it the rest of the way open.

It’s possible that artificial sweeteners not only trick the taste buds in our mouth, but also trick our entire digestive systems—at least to some degree. If this is true—and the most recent papers on the subject indicate that it may be—then it could explain how artificial sweeteners are thought to actually cause, not prevent, diabetes, weight gain, and other metabolic issues. However, we may already be seeing the end result, with obesity levels and the incidence of type 2 diabetes skyrocketing at the same time that artificial sweeteners were greatly increased in our food supply. The final verdict is to avoid artificial sweeteners completely.

What makes stevia leaves so sweet? We have the chemicals glycosides to thank. Glycosides consist of sugar molecules that are attached to nonsugar molecules: They are part glucose and part something else. However, because the glucose is bound to something else, the human body does not metabolize it as a sugar (or even recognize it as a food), although it does metabolize the powerful antioxidants found in it. It has zero calories and will not be stored as fat weight.

When you buy stevia, look for crude stevia or crude stevia extract, which is dried whole leaf stevia with nothing else added. Avoid stevia powder; it’s so easy for the manufacturer to cut it with inferior and unhealthy substances such as maltodextrin (or worse), even if it’s not labeled as such. If you buy whole leaf stevia, you can easily see whether it contains nothing but actual dried stevia leaves.

Liquid stevia extracts made from stevia leaves are also handy options for a low-sugar lifestyle, and they are used in the recipes in this book. They’re easier to use than stevia powder, too. When buying liquid stevia (extract), be sure to choose as natural and unprocessed a product as possible because there is a lot of variation among products and brands. Look carefully also at the dosage: Some of the stevia extracts are very concentrated, while others are more diluted. Many liquid stevias contain alcohol, though in negligible amounts. If you want to choose alcohol-free stevia, go for stevia glycerite.

Then there are flavored stevias, which offer a whole world of taste. From vanilla to cinnamon, and from English toffee to Valencia orange—and even dark chocolate!—there’s sure to be one that appeals to you. Just remember to read the label. Choose natural products, and leave ones with suspicious ingredients on the shelf.

Unlike many other sugar alcohols, erythritol has hardly any calories. It doesn’t promote tooth decay, so you can use it in desserts or add it to coffee. It doesn’t cause upset stomachs as easily as other sugar alcohols, which trigger bloating and diarrhea for sensitive people. Also, diabetics can use erythritol freely because it doesn’t increase blood sugar levels (as with any food, individual reactions may vary). If you are one of the rare people who get an upset stomach or high blood glucose levels from erythritol, choose another sweetener, such as stevia or monk fruit.

There are many different erythritol products on the market. There are also sweeteners containing both erythritol and stevia, in which erythritol is the bulk ingredient and stevia gives the final sweet touch. The sweetness of erythritol is about 60 to 70 percent of the sweetness of table sugar, so you need more of it to achieve the same sweetness. When you wean yourself off sugar and its overtly sweet taste, that 60 to 70 percent sweetness should be plenty. Naturally, you can even reduce the amount further; the ultimate goal is to get rid of all added sweetness.

Choosing high-quality erythritol pays off: You’ll get the best flavor with as little aftertaste as possible. This is especially true for powdered erythritol because in cold dishes such as jams and marmalades, a good-quality finely powdered erythritol doesn’t crystallize, but stays well-dissolved in the food, while coarse erythritol might crystallize into an unappetizingly gritty texture. If you have a high-speed blender, you can make powdered erythritol at home from erythritol crystals. In less than a minute, you’ll get a fine powder that you can use in drinks, baking, and cold desserts. There are also great erythritol-based brown sugar substitutes that have almost the same qualities as regular brown sugar, minus the calories.

When baking with erythritol, you might notice that your muffins and breads get hard on the surface. If this bothers you, reduce the amount of erythritol and supplement it with stevia. But this crystallization comes in handy when making cookies: When you take them out of the oven they’re soft, but they become deliciously crunchy and crispy once cool. (Check out the Crunchy One-Bowl, Five-Ingredient Cookies.) Erythritol also helps the cookies bind together—which is great news if you don’t tolerate eggs.

Check the origins of your erythritol, too, as many are made from GMO corn. (The food industry tries to fool you here as well!) Organic, non-GMO erythritol is the best choice, preferably from a well trusted brand. If you buy online, read the reviews first.

Generally, the more fat a liquid milk product has, the lower it will be in lactose. Low- and nonfat milks have the most; half-and-half usually has less than whole milk; and whipping cream will have less still. (Do avoid half-and-half because of all the additives it contains!) Buttermilk has less lactose than plain milk, but still a fair amount. Yogurt and other partially fermented milk products such as kefir or cultured sour cream contain a fair amount of lactose, but far less than regular milk. Butter and soft cheeses contain small amounts. Hard cheeses contain only traces of lactose, so many lactose-intolerant people can enjoy these even though they can’t consume other dairy products.

As for cream cheese, the good news is that it’s very low in sugar. (Just avoid additives such as carrageenan; go organic and clean instead.) Surprise your guests with the Five-Ingredient Heaven and Hell Cheesecake. They’ll never guess it’s sugar-free! Or for a completely novel use of cream cheese, try the Two-Ingredient Crackers, which are delicious, starch-free crackers made from cream cheese and almond flour.

What about butter? For years, this healthy, natural fat has been neglected, or even banned, thanks to the low-fat craze of the 1990s. Today, we know that saturated fats don’t cause heart disease, so it’s fine to consume and use it in cooking and baking.

Still, times have changed when it comes to butter. The best butter is hormone- and antibiotic-free, and comes from grass-fed cows—but any butter is better than highly processed vegetable oils.

Let’s not forget other starchy foods, namely pseudo-cereals and legumes. Grains such as quinoa and amaranth and legumes such as beans get a lot of good press, but is it all true? Their nutrients (which you can easily get from starch-free sources) come with the cost of lectins, phytates, and other substances that may shake your system. Plus, cereals and grains contain phytates and phytic acid which, when used liberally, can prevent absorption of important minerals including zinc, iron, and calcium. If you suffer from health conditions, especially autoimmune diseases, it’s best to avoid grains and legumes altogether.

Still there are plenty of healthy, starch-free options for cooking and baking on a low-sugar lifestyle. Let’s explore them!

However, it still beats any starchy flour with flying colors—even gluten-free ones. If we compare 3.5 ounces (100 g) of rice flour—one of the most commonly used ingredients in commercial gluten-free products—and 3.5 ounces (100 g) of almonds, it becomes obvious that rice flour contains only minuscule amounts of nutrients. (Where that quantity of rice flour contains just 76 mg potassium, the same amount of almonds contains 733 mg potassium—ten times more!) Where rice flour contains 10 mg calcium, almonds have a whopping 269 mg calcium per 3.5 ounces (100 g). Ultimately, almonds and almond flour are much more nutritious.

Some brands of almond flour are pretty coarse (more meal than flour), while others are very fine powders. There are no standards for almond flour, and even within one brand, the quality can vary from one batch to another. In this book, I use a pretty coarse type of almond meal or flour, so the very fine-textured varieties might not work as well here, though you can certainly experiment with them. (If you’re using very fine almond flour, a good rule of thumb is to use half as much as the recipe calls for.)

Unlike almond flour, coconut flour absorbs enormous amounts of fluid. This actually makes it more affordable than almond flour, and coconut flour is already pretty cheap compared with almond flour. If a recipe calls for 1 cup (96 g) of almond flour, you can often replace it with just 1/4 cup (32 g) of coconut flour. Just remember to add enough fluid, or the result may be too dry and crumbly. When it comes to coconut flour, fluid is the bulk ingredient. Remember—eggs count as a fluid, and coconut flour needs eggs. Otherwise, baked goods won’t hold together.

The coconut flour used in the recipes in this book is very fine, just like wheat flour. Always choose the finest, whitest coconut flour with as little odor as possible for the best, most neutral-tasting result.

Psyllium also makes a perfect egg replacement for those who can’t tolerate eggs. My Savory Ricotta Butternut Squash Tart is a good example of how egg can easily be replaced with psyllium.

Miniature nutritional powerhouses, chia seeds contain lots of minerals including magnesium, manganese, calcium, phosphorus, zinc, and potassium. They’re also rich in thiamine (vitamin B₁), riboflavin (vitamin B₂), niacin (vitamin B₃), and antioxidants, and are a great source of dietary fiber. Like psyllium, chia seeds also absorb unbelievable amounts of fluid: ten times their own weight, to be exact. So they’re great for baking or for oh-so-trendy chia puddings. If you’re not a fan of their texture, never fear, you can use milled chia seeds instead.

You can buy commercially made nut butters, but watch out because some contain sugar. It’s just as easy to make almond butter yourself if you have a high-speed blender and a suitable jar. Just blend raw or toasted almonds or other nuts into a smooth paste. Add extra-light olive oil or extra-virgin coconut oil little by little while blending if the mixture becomes too thick. Transfer to a jar and store in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Experiment with different nut butters, for example cashew butter, sunflower butter, macadamia butter, sesame butter (tahini), hazelnut butter, and ever-popular peanut butter. (A note on peanut butter, though: It should be used only in small amounts due to its significant carb content, and you should avoid if completely if you’re allergic to peanuts.) All of these are great ingredients for low-sugar baking, and I use them liberally in the recipes in this book.

What are the benefits of using whey protein in baking? Well, whey protein improves the texture of baked goods remarkably. It helps them rise and bind together, and imparts a relatively dense but moist texture. It produces especially good results when it’s used in “large” baked goods, such as breads and cakes—like my Easy Fluffy Bread.

Opt for high-quality whey protein made from grass-fed cows. Grass-fed whey protein has four times more omega-3 fatty acids than grain-fed whey protein. It’s also rich in CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), which aids fat burning; plus immunoglobulins, which help your body fight viruses and bacteria; and lactoferrin, which helps normalize your iron levels. Besides, grain-fed cows are given pesticides, antibiotics, and even hormones to prevent illness and stimulate milk production—and that’s never a good thing. (Avoid those with added sugars, though those made with stevia are fine).

Rice, hemp, and pea proteins also have benefits for starch-free baking, though the effects are milder. Breads made with them won’t rise as high, and are crumblier. Also, these plant-based proteins, especially hemp protein, tend to lend a green color to baked goods (perfect for Halloween or St. Patrick’s Day, perhaps?). Hemp and pea proteins may cause stomach upset in some people, and they usually lack some essential amino acids. They do contain more natural sugars than whey protein or egg white protein.

So if you want to choose a plant-based protein, rice protein made from sprouted brown rice is the best option, in both nutrients and tolerance level. Just make sure that they contain only natural ingredients, and that only stevia is used if they are sweetened.

Spiralized zucchini (zoodles, or zucchini noodles) and other spiralized nonstarchy vegetables make perfect pasta substitutes. There are fancy spiralizer machines on the market, but you don’t really have to buy one. A good old grater will do the job very well. (A food processor with a grating blade works perfectly, too.) One of the great advantages of using spiralized vegetables is that you don’t have to cook them: Just add them raw to the dish in the end. Make a perfect, low-carb lunch or dinner by topping an ample amount of spiralized vegetables with a hearty, creamy sauce.

Thanks to its low sugar content, spaghetti squash—nature’s own starch-free spaghetti—has also become a low-carb favorite, and can be used in place of regular spaghetti in various dishes. Plus, you don’t have to grate or spiralize anything: Just scoop the strands, or “spaghetti,” out of the cooked squash!

Turnip and rutabaga are nutritious, low-starch options, too, and even make great “French fries.” Just toss them in extra-light olive oil, spices, and salt, then bake them in the oven.

Another starch-free—and nearly calorie- free—thickener is glucomannan powder. Remember those shirataki noodles? Well, this is the same stuff, just in powder form. When thickening recipes with glucomannan, know that a little goes a long way because it absorbs enormous amounts of water. Be sure to add it pinch by pinch. My recipe for Homemade Sugar-Free Maple Syrup is a good example of how to use glucomannan powder.

If you can’t find glucomannan, look for guar gum or xanthan gum, both of which are also whitish powders. Guar gum is the ground inner part of guar beans, while xanthan gum is secreted by a bacterium, Xanthomonas campestris, from sugar substrates. Both guar gum and xanthan gum are polysaccharides, but they are soluble fibers that your body cannot break down. Xanthan gum is widely used in gluten-free baking as a binding agent, and to improve texture. Like glucomannan, a little goes a long way: You’ll probably use somewhere between a fraction of a teaspoon and one teaspoon in a recipe. Avoid lumps by sprinkling them in little by little, mixing well as you do so. I use xanthan gum in my Low-Sugar Sweet and Sour Sauce and in my Easy Sugar-Free Strawberry Jam.

Countless other flavorings and extracts are available, too. Again, avoid those with suspicious chemicals (for instance, propylene glycol is, terrifyingly, used in antifreeze substances) or close-to-poisonous colors (Red 40, or allura red AC, causes ADHD-like behavior in children). Choose only sugar-free extracts with natural flavor sources.

Still, it’s also true that too much protein can adversely affect your health in very serious and significant ways. Eating too much protein raises blood glucose levels through gluconeogenesis, which is the breakdown of amino acids into glucose in the liver and kidneys. Gluconeogenesis causes insulin levels to rise significantly in order to compensate for this extra sugar. Though this extra insulin can lower your blood sugar over the short-term, it causes insulin resistance—that is, type 2 diabetes—in the long run.

Also, eating excess protein can lead to a chronic rise in leptin, or the satiety hormone. In the same way that too much insulin leads cell membranes to become insulin resistant, chronically high levels of leptin cause the receptors on your hypothalamus to become resistant to leptin. This can lead to fat storage and food cravings—which, in turn, encourages you to eat more and to store more fat, which leads to more leptin resistance, causing a vicious cycle that’s difficult to break. Consuming high levels of protein can also accelerate aging and increases the risk of cancer.

So how much protein do you need to consume each day in order to supply your body with the essential amino acids it needs? For an average healthy, moderately active person, target protein consumption should be about 0.7 to 1 gram of protein per kilogram of lean body mass. Lean body mass includes the mass of your muscles, bones, organs, and tendons, but excludes your body fat. So, your lean body mass is simply your total weight minus your body fat. Because it’s hard to know exactly how much body fat you have, you can use simple estimates instead. You’ll easily find online calculators that’ll help you calculate your lean body mass.

If you are diabetic, you may want to reduce your daily protein intake a little more. Ron Rosedale, M.D., a well-known advocate of a low-carb, moderate-protein diet, states that he first puts his diabetic patients on a carbohydrate-restricted diet. However, if their blood sugar doesn’t decrease sufficiently, his next step is to put them on a protein-restricted diet of 0.5 to 0.7 gram of protein per kilogram of lean body mass. Rosedale reports very good results with this method: His patients’ blood sugar levels stabilize, their blood lipid profiles improve, metabolic issues are resolved, and blood pressure is normalized.

Memorize this important fact: Fat is actually good for you! So much misinformation on fat abounds that you might have to spend some time reprogramming your brain in order to believe it. The truth is that we need fat for thousands of vital bodily functions. From every cell membrane to the white matter in our brains, from absorbing fat-soluble vitamins to synthesizing hormones, fat is present—and necessary—throughout our bodies. Without it, we would die.

This is true only for natural fats, though—the fats we have consumed since the dawn of the human race. This doesn’t apply to highly processed vegetable seed oils, which are highly toxic. They oxidize (that is, become rancid) when heated, creating carcinogenic compounds and causing inflammation. So stay away from vegetable seed oils such as canola, sunflower, safflower, soybean, corn, cottonseed, and rapeseed. The best fats for cooking are saturated fats. Coconut oil is the absolute best, followed by lard and other animal fats, such as butter: They’re the most stable, and don’t become rancid when heated. Olive oil and avocado oil can be also used for cooking, as they contain mainly monounsaturated fatty acids, which don’t break that easily—though they’re still more unstable than saturated fats and are best used in salad dressings and other cold dishes.

The myth that saturated fats cause CVD has finally been debunked, so we can finally accept that it isn’t fat we need to fear: It’s sugar. So let’s ditch the fat phobia, and welcome healthy fats back into our diets. The recipes in this book will encourage you to do just that—and they’ll keep you nourished and satisfied so that your body and mind can thrive.