Best HCG Diet Sweeteners
Last time, I warned you about three sweeteners to avoid while on the hCG diet; but this time, I’ll give you the best hCG diet sweeteners!
For Phase 2, the best hCG diet sweeteners are:
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Stevia, a natural zero glycemic response sweetener
Erythritol, a sugar alcohol with zero glycemic response
Stevia
Most of us on the HCG Diet are familiar with the sweetener stevia. As far as safety, here’s the most recent study published in 2003 in the Phytochemistry journal, “Acute and subacute toxicity studies revealed a very low toxicity of Stevia and stevioside.” Read the abstract for yourself at PubMed: http://tinyurl.com/steviastudy.
Some folks do have trouble finding a stevia that tastes good to them, though. Sometimes, that’s just because they are using too much, which for some of us, causes bitterness. KAL and NuNaturals pure extracts seem to be the best-tasting and less likely to taste bitter.
For bulk use, here’s a good hCG diet sweetener that is totally pure, no fillers at all: http://tinyurl.com/bulkstevia. Use the coupon code CIN183 to get $5 off your first order if you haven’t bought at this site before. Remember, however, this is pure with no fillers to bulk it up, and 3/4 TEAspoon equals ONE CUP sugar, so don’t use too much!
Erythritol
Least likely to cause gastric upset when compared to all the other sugar alcohols, erythritol is also zero glycemic response, so it can also be used in P2 without jeopardizing the diet’s benefits.
For Phase 3, these two hCG diet sweeteners can be added to your staples:
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Vegetable glycerin, a sweetener with a low glycemic response
Xylitol, another sugar alcohol with low glycemic response that can be used in small amounts to limit the digestive upset it can cause when too much is eaten too frequently
Vegetable glycerin
The best thing about this sweetener is that it is thick, like honey. What that means is that you can use it in recipes that need a certain syrupy consistency or “mouth feel” to mimic the sugared version. Homemade ice cream is an example of a recipe that needs a certain quality that only glycerin can give it, absent sugar.
The person that was most excited when first learning from me about vegetable glycerin for P3 use, was my close friend Tammy Skye, who is working on a Phase 3 cookbook as a follow up to her original book, The HCG Diet Gourmet Cookbook, which most of you are familiar with. (She now has a second volume available to provide another 150 P2 recipes for us.) Before I filled her in on my secret of using this thick sweetener, she had been struggling to get the right consistency for P3 ice cream, but glycerin did the trick!
Xylitol
Although it can cause gastric upset if overused, xylitol is another sugar alcohol with low glycemic response that makes baking and other recipes in P3 work better. You do need to be aware that xylitol is harmful to dogs, so please protect your pets from accidently ingesting this one.
And always remember, you DESERVE to be thin!
Love with Blessings, Harmony
Editor and contributing author for the hcgdietinfo.com blog and moderator of hcgdietinfo.com forums Author of HCG Diet Made Simple book and The HCG Diet Book of Secrets
Hi Harmony,
Do you have any experience with SweetzFree? It is a liquid that they claim has zero Carbs and zero Cals. It is extreemly concentrated. I believe it is Sucralose though. I purchase it on the internet. I detest Stevia and am hoping because one drop of this sweetner is the same as a teaspoon of sugar it might be safe to use.
Hi Cheryl,
Unfortunately, SweetzFree is in fact sucralose-based, according to their website, so I could not recommend it. If you check my earlier blog posts, you’ll see my opinion on sucralose: https://hcgdietinfo.com/worst-sweeteners-hcg-diet/
Maybe you just need a different brand of stevia. They vary greatly as to how they taste. The KAL brand is pure concentrate with no fillers and no aftertaste at all, at least to me. It has the tiniest little spoon included in the bottle, so that you don’t use too much, which would make any stevia taste bad. Come to think of it, have you tried reducing the amount of stevia to see if it only became bitter because of too much being used? If you prefer a liquid like the sweetener you asked about, the KAL pure stevia extract does come in a liquid. If you check reviews on Amazon or iherb.com, you’ll find that most say that they don’t like other stevias, but do like this one, so it’s worth a try for you. NOW also makes a similar stevia called Better Stevia, and some like the one with glycerin in it, which is fine, too. I’ve found the best prices at iherb.com for all of these. Use the coupon code CIN183 to get $5 off your first order if you haven’t bought at this site before.
What about Truvia? Is that ok?
Truvia is stevia, but it does have a sugar alcohol added to it, erythritol. As long as you don’t overdo it, Truvia could work. Overdoing sugar alcohols will cause some gastric distress you won’t like, but as I explained in the original blog post, this one is the least likely to cause you problems out of all the sugar alcohols.
What about the new sweetner made from Monk Fruit? I think it is sold under the brand name Nutresse.
Nectresse contains not just the Monk Fruit, but also erythritol, sugar, and molasses, making it a bad choice because of the sugar/molasses. Just what I’d expect from the makers of Splenda, who also make Nectresse.