Rewrite your Recipes with Xyla – The Healthier Sugar Alternative

As a parent I am always looking for healthier ways to feed my family and sugar is definitely one of my weak spots.   I love to bake and most baking requires sugar, and a lot of it.  Now when it comes to feeding my daughter I am always making sure anything pre-packed I buy her is free of sugar.  Not to say she has never eaten sugar, I mean, she did have a bite of her birthday cake.  I just don’t feel it’s necessary to fill her up with something that will rot her teeth and possibly make her gain weight unhealthily.  While I knew there were sugar alternatives out there all the ones I had tried in the past did not taste like sugar and tended to have a horribly bad after taste.  Yuck.  So I’ve stuck with the real thing.

I was recently sent a package containing Xyla and Xyla products to test out with my family.  Xyla is 100% xylitol which is a white crystalline granule that looks and tastes like sugar, but has 40% less calories than sugar and 75% less carbohydrates.  Xyla is made exclusively in North America from hardwood trees, not with corn that is genetically modified, and prides itself on having the highest quality xylitol manufactured in North America, meeting strict FDA (U.S.A) and CFIA (Canada) standards.

What is Xylitol?

Xylitol is an all natural sweetener that looks and tastes like sugar. Xylitol is naturally occurring in many of the fruits and vegetables we eat on a daily basis. Once extracted and processed it yields a white, crystalline granule that can be used in any recipe that calls for sugar. It’s good for your teeth, stabilizes insulin and hormone levels, promotes good health and has none of the negative side effects of white sugar or artificial sweeteners. It contains only 2.4 calories per gram and is slowly absorbed as a complex carbohydrate. Xylitol looks like sugar, tastes like sugar, and is the same sweetness as sugar – making it the ideal natural sugar replacement.

Health Benefits

Some Clinically Proven Effects of Xylitol include:

– Inhibits plaque and dental cavities by 80%
– Retards demineralization of tooth enamel
– Promotes remineralization of tooth enamel
– Increases saliva production
– Relieves dry mouth (xerostomia)
– Protects salivary proteins, has a protein-stabilizing effect o Improves breath odor
– Reduces infections in the mouth and nasopharynx

What did I think after trying Xyla?

I love adding sugar or honey with my tea, and since I am pregnant I thought this was a good place to start cutting down on my sugar intake.  I am sure the sugar is not good for the little one!  I tested the flavour alone first, you know, just in case.  I didn’t want to waste a perfectly good cup of tea after all!  I was surprised to find that it did actually taste very close to sugar, albeit with a more ‘cool’ flavour – and not even a hint of an after taste!

After adding Xyla to my tea I took a sip and was even more pleased to find that it tasted no different than my tea does with sugar.  Even the slightest hint of that “coolness” was gone.  It literally just tasted like it was sweetened with real sugar.

I was excited to try Xyla Mints and Candy in a variety of different flavours.  I’m not normally huge on candy but I’ve been craving candy for weeks and now I can eat it without all the guilt and worry over the baby.   I really loved the raspberry flavour the most (Grape is imaged above), although they are all quite good.  I had to give my mom the licorice flavoured candies though as that is one of my least favourite flavours ever and one of her favourites. 

Next up I baked some barbecue chicken in the oven using the Xyla Chipotle Barbecue Sauce.  It’s actually easy to do for those out there who have no bbq or crave bbq in the winter and don’t want to stand outside in a blizzard just to have it.  You simply brown the chicken for about 2 minutes in a little oil in a skillet then transfer to a baking sheet, bake at 350 degrees, and baste with the Barbecue Sauce every 15 minutes.

By the time I was done we had a tasty summer dinner and the chicken was amazingly good, the sauce was delicious.  I would say its actually even a little bit better than my usual brand and there is no way you would guess it involved a sugar alternative at all.Xyla can also be substituted in recipes one-to-one wherever sugar is used. 

Buy It:

You can purchase Xyla online  or find a retailers near you .  Xyla also produces gum, mints, candy, chocolate, lollipops, jam and various condiments. 

Connect with Xyla:

Like Xyla on Facebook

Follow Xyla on Twitter & Pinterest.

 Do you use Sugar Alternatives? Which is your favourite? 

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned products in order to facilitate this review.  All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.

Elizabeth Lampman

Elizabeth Lampman is a coffee-fuelled Mom of 2 girls and lives in Hamilton, Ontario. She enjoys travelling, developing easy recipes, crafting, taking on diy projects, travelling and saving money!