As the holidays quickly approach, there is a good chance you’re beginning to nom on all the delicious office sweets brought in by your co-workers to celebrate the season. It’s hard to resist all those delicious baked treats, right? Unfortunately, many of them are probably filled with white sugar and over-processed ingredients. That doesn’t mean you have to totally abstain from all the holiday celebrating going on around you, just be more conscious of what you’re putting into your body. Maybe your contribution to your office parties can contain whole grain flours and sugar alternatives! Here are some easy sweetening substitutions to make your favorite recipes a little more healthful. Complex sugars, like the ones listed below release slowly in our bodies, keeping that typical sugar rush and subsequent crash at bay—which may help you avoid packing on the holiday pounds! Try one and let me know how they turned out!

1 cup of white sugar =
3/4 cup agave nectar
1 1/4 cup barley malt
1 1/4 cup rice syrup
1 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup molasses
1 cup date sugar
1 cup sucanat
1 cup fruit juice concentrate
1 cup honey
1 cup frozen unsweetened juice
1 cup palm sugar

*When using any liquid sweetener as a replacement for white sugar, reduce the liquid content by 1/4 cup. If no liquid is called for in the recipe, add 3-5 tablespoons flour for each 3/4 cup of liquid sweetener.

Winter is here, and along with it, comes winter recipe cards! Just in time for gifting at the holidays, or keeping for yourself, these cards contain plenty of soul-satisfying, belly warming, nutritious recipes to fill you up. The cards are sold in packs of 12 with an additonal bonus card, complete with a veggie wash recipe on one side and a produce helper on the other! Each set is $8 and can be purchased by emailing me at jo@jocessna.com.