'Healthy Living for Summer': Alternatives to processed sugar

By
OLIVIA SMITH
September 22, 2017, 4:04 PM ET
7 min read

— -- Avoiding refined sugar may be a challenge for most Americans, but Byron Paidoussi and Whitney Cole, the owners of Fitness and Fuel LA, regularly look for alternatives. In the tenth and final episode of ABC News' "Healthy Living for Summer" series, we asked them for some tips.

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"We try to avoid processed sugar as much as we can," said Paidoussi.

The couple has experimented with creating different recipes that exclude sugar. In the video above, they make spicy chocolate pumpkin squares with stevia, a sugar substitute, and dates.

"[It's] a really yummy thing we can have around the house, and it's a lot less sugary, a lot less impact on our blood sugar going up and down," Cole said.

Below is a list of advice Cole and Paidoussi gave ABC News.

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Quick tips

  • Look at the ingredients to see how many grams of sugar the item contains
  • Check if sugar alternatives come in pure forms, which the couple recommends
  • You can use natural items like dates as alternatives to refined sugar
  • Experiment and get creative with recipes, such as the pumpkin squares pictured above
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    Watch ABC News discuss refined sugar alternatives in the video above.
    This is the final episode for the summer series.