One thing you should probably know is the existence of healthy alternatives to sugar or high fructose corn syrup. While we all love sweets and would wish to indulge ourselves on sugary treats, our body can only take so much sugar content until we get sick. Too much sugar can lead to a lot of complications and would make us end up ditching sweets in order to stay healthy. One healthy alternative is date syrup and here is everything you have to know about it:
What is Date Syrup?
Date syrup is made using 100% organic dates and is one of the oldest sweeteners available. It is an excellent alternative to refined sugar and other refined sweeteners, which you can opt for if you’re on a weight loss journey. While fruits contain a certain amount of natural sugars, there is a distinct difference between our good old table sugar and sugar or sweetener extracted from fruits. While table sugar is heavily processed to bring out the sweetness, dates turn ripe and sweet through its own natural process. Another thing as well is that while sugar is void of any nutritional value except for calories, dates contain chock-full of vitamins and minerals which makes date syrup for weight loss ideal.
How long has date syrup been around?
Known as one of the oldest sweeteners existing today, date syrup surely has stood the test of time. Evidence found in manuscripts from Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) shows how date syrup is considered as the primary sweetener during that time. It has also been mentioned in the Bible, with the word “honey” can be roughly translated from Hebrew to describe fruit honey rather than specifically honey produced by a bee. It was commonly referred to as “date honey”, considering the abundance of date palms in the Middle East. If you think about it, people from that time were probably quite healthy and didn’t have diabetes at all.
How do you make date syrup?
To produce date syrup, it involves a different way of extracting the syrup compared to how maple syrup is obtained. It can be even made at home if you want to try making your very own sweetener. Dates are basically heated in water and then blended and pressed into the mixture through a strain to filter and separate the pits and other insoluble parts of the fruit. Once you have finished straining the mixture, the only thing left to do is to let the remaining water content evaporate until what you are left is the syrupy nectar from the date. One of the healthiest sweeteners out there that even vegans adore, date syrup is also full of antioxidants. Aside from getting your sweet craving, dates also help in fighting off free radicals that cause diseases.
Dates and date syrup are already getting the loving attention it so deserves, despite being around for thousands of years. This renewed popularity has been a long time coming and date syrup is becoming the newest go-to favourite by health junkies and foodies looking to consume cleaner and healthier options. Switching to date syrup is likely to bring you more health benefits for your lifestyle than you can imagine.
