Monkfruit: The Antioxidant-Filled Natural Sugar Substitute

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What if I told you there was a sugar substitute that isn’t chemicals, is natural, dissolves in coffee, and doesn’t leave a gross bitter aftertaste? Well monkfruit sweetener is ALL THOSE THINGS.

We all know the benefits of decreasing our sugar intake. Even if you don’t eat a lot of desserts, it is prevalent in salad dressings, marinara, even bread. So when given the opportunity to swap sugar for a substitute, particularly in your morning coffee or afternoon tea, why not go for it?

The problem is that a lot of sugar substitutes have a lot of chemicals, leave a funky aftertaste, and can cause stomach upset.

Chemicals like aspartame are linked to cancer and inflammation. They can also trigger cravings for sugar since they taste sweet but provide no calories or other nutritional benefits, so it throws your body off. Also, if you’re putting this in coffee, the aftertaste doesn’t blend well!

And if you’ve ever eaten too many sugar-free cookies, you know the stomach issues associated with some sugar alcohols, so I’ll leave it at that…

With these downsides, you might realize that sugar is better for you. Even with the blood sugar swings, I might argue that the real thing is better than chemicals listed in the first group, but that’s a really terrible game of Would You Rather.

Not to mention, as a year-round iced coffee drinker (I’m hot all the time, which is an endlessly feminine trait), real sugar doesn’t dissolve properly.

So now we find ourselves in a quandary.

Enter monkfruit sweetener! You can put it in your coffee or bake with it!

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What is Monkfruit?

It is a melon-ish fruit grown in China. It has, like any fruit, sugars like fructose and glucose. The sugars in monkfruit are removed to make the sweetener, leaving behind sweet tasting compounds called mogrosides.

It’s these antioxidant compounds, not the fruit’s sugars, that are in monkfruit sweetener.

Mogrosides are naturally sweet (about 100-200 times sweeter than regular sugar). That means they not only make your coffee sweeter (and baked goods, if you like to bake!), but they combat issues arising from sugar and most substitutes:

1. No blood sugar spikes.

2. No tummy issues.

3. No chemicals.

4. No bitter aftertaste.

Plus, and I love this, there is an actual nutritional benefit to it:

Monkfruit contains antioxidants, which fight free radicals, inflammation, and cancer.

For your Coffee!

In contrast, sugar and sugar substitutes feed oxidative stress, inflammation, and growth of abnormal cells.

Are you looking to try monkfruit sweetener in your morning coffee (or your mom’s blueberry muffin recipe)?

My favorite is on Amazon for $10. They even have individual packets for your coffee!

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