Five Sugar-Free Sweets as Good as the Original

My husband was recently diagnosed with diabetes. He had a fairly active sweet tooth prior to our discovery. I have spent a lot of time struggling with my weight ever since I was a pre-teen, so I figured giving up sugar would be a good idea for both of us. Those sugary snacks wouldn't stop whispering my name, though, so I needed to find some sugar-free alternatives.

The problem was that most of the sugar-free stuff was inedible for me. It either made me sick with a headache and stomach ache so powerful that I could barely function, or it tasted like crayons dipped in turpentine. Luckily, between the two of us we were able to find a few sweets that are really good and still sugar free.

1. Werthers candies. Hard candy is nice because it lasts so long, but of course it isn't nice if it tastes like road tar. Werthers original hard candies have a pleasant caramel taste, and the sugar-free versions are just as flavorful. The downside is that they are smaller than their sugar-laden counterparts, and the sweeteners can cause some unpleasant gastrointestinal side effects if overindulged, but I have encountered no problems with them.

2. Mrs. Butterworth's pancake syrup. Syrup is one of the most sugary foods you can eat, and my husband likes to have a little pancake with his plate of syrup. We had to find a substitute he could live with. I like just a bit of powdered sugar sprinkled on top or some cut-up fruit. For my husband, however, I found this Mrs. Butterworth's, and I will also admit that it is tasty. It is a little thinner consistency and a slightly different flavor than original, but it is most definitely a good tasting syrup.

3. Pudding. Remarkably, we have found that pretty much all sugar-free puddings, mixes and ready-to-eat alike, taste about the same. And they taste great. It must be something about the milk, but nobody we served the sugar-free product to could tell the difference. Luckily, this is one sweet treat many restaurants have for dessert, especially if they have a buffet.

4. Blue Bunny ice cream sandwiches. Ok, they taste a bit different, but they still taste really good. Here's the milk issue again; the ice cream is smooth and flavorful with no strange aftertaste. The cookie edges are probably not as sweet as the original kinds, but they serve an adult palate just fine, even if that adult sees the world as a candy store. The texture of the cookie is the biggest difference; the sugar-free sandwiches have a crisper texture. This also tends to make them a bit messy. But the flavor is a match for other ice cream treats.

5. Gotta Have brand frosted oatmeal cookies. They sell these at our local Walmart, and it is one of the first really good-tasting sugar-free sweets we found. These are not bite-sized little morsels but regular-sized cookies with a thin frosting top and bottom. We both expected all kinds of problems with these cookies, but we have been pleased all the way round. They have excellent flavor and crunch, and they look attractive. These sweets are so good, in fact, that our kids ask for them specifically, even knowing they are sugar-free.

Completely giving up sugar isn't typically required for diabetics or those on a weight-loss diet. But finding palatable sweets can dramatically reduce the sugar and calories in your diet. You don't have to put up with the physical pains of sweeteners that don't agree with you or the mental torture of many sugar-free treats.