Maple syrup is a great natural sweetener and can really add to a healthy diet. It can also make it easier to stay away from granular sugar and other sweeteners that are not as healthy or downright unhealthy. It can be used as salad dressing, on roasted vegetables, on granola, it’s fabulous on oatmeal, in tea and in many other ways. If you are on a diet it can give you a great sweet kick, being yummy but also having some great health benefits.
You can use maple syrup to aid in exercise. Before exercising, maple syrup supplies energy in the form of simple carbs. During workouts, the electrolytes in its natural sugars increase stamina. Finally, its high levels of magnesium and zinc help with muscle recovery and replenish the body with nutrients after exercising.
Health Benefits of Maple Syrup:
- Maple syrup is a great source of manganese, a mineral that provides essential energy and antioxidants to the body and also boosts the immune system while reducing inflammation.
- Maple syrup has fewer calories than other natural sweeteners such as honey, agave, and sugar.
- Maple syrup adds and enhances the flavor of food whereas unnatural sweeteners such as Splenda and Equal change the taste of what we consume; most sugar substitutes have a chemically enhanced ‘fake’ taste.
- Maple syrup lacks the harmful side effects of unnatural sweeteners. Splenda contains sucralose, which is a chemically altered form of sugar with chlorine added to its formula. Equal contains aspartame, which has been said to cause cancer, birth defects, and other abnormalities. Although these sweeteners boast zero calories, studies have shown that they do more harm for your body than good.
- Unlike sweeteners, pure maple syrup is not processed and is free of chemically modified and artificial ingredients. High quality maple syrup is 100% natural (when labeled as such), meaning that it contains no coloring agents, artificial flavors, or additives (it’s made from tree sap, which is boiled and drained).
- Maple syrup includes over 30% of the daily value needed of riboflavin for a healthy metabolism.
- Maple syrup contains 18% of the recommended dose of zinc, which is an important mineral for a healthy immune system. Higher levels of zinc in men are known to decrease the occurrence of prostate cancer and the size of the prostate gland.
Health information retrieved from: http://www.juliewilcoxmethod.com