Sweeteners 101
On this page, we'll look at the plethora of Sweeteners that are available for our use, the use of food manufacturers, and the ones that we use at Ideal Oats and why. Sweetener packets and their color coding is a good tool we can use to more easily break it all down. Sweetener packets provide us with easy access to sugar or alternatives to sugar. These packets are color-coded based on what's inside. That way, when you see a pink sweetener, for instance, you've got a pretty good idea what you're dealing with. Pink, blue, yellow, white and brown. Which color we each choose depends on our unique levels of awareness, taste preference, our individual nutrition goals, and how well our body tolerates each one.
...These are the same sweeteners found in food and beverage products that we all buy everyday.
White and brown packets are white sugar and cane sugar (sometimes brown sugar), respectively. Both White and Brown packets are sugar and both contain calories.
Pink, blue, and yellow packets are saccharin (pink), aspartame (blue), and sucralose (yellow). These 3 sweeteners are zero calories and each provide unique taste profiles but are generally considered to be 'artificial' sweeteners by the global retail community. (Sucralose is the best of the three for taste and health reasons, in our humble opinion). Acesulfame Potassium (Ace-K) is a 4th popular artificial sweetener found in many food and supplement products however it does not have a corresponding color packet. (Ace-K can sometimes be found in blue packets next to Aspartame). Whether or not stores carry items that contain one or more of these 4 sweeteners is dependent on their own unique ingredient standards.
Green is a relatively new color we are starting to see at the coffee bar. Green packets are considered natural, calorie-free, and are made up of at least stevia leaf extract and/or monk fruit extract. These are high intensity sweeteners that are usually paired with a bulking sweetener to even out their intensity and add bulk. Usually these bulking sweeteners are maltodextrin or dextrose or erythritol. (It is worth noting that both maltodextrin and dextrose each have a higher glycemic index than actual sugar, making these cheap and inferior carriers, relative to the superior erythritol).
Starbucks uses a green packet called Whole Earth which is made up of stevia, monk fruit, and erythritol, for example. Like Starbucks and Whole Earth, we also choose to use stevia, monk fruit and erythritol. We do this because they are derived from nature and each are calorie free. These sweeteners help us lessen sugar usage naturally and keep the calories per serving lower than they would otherwise be if we were to use sugar.
There are many definitions out there for “natural food products.” We align our philosophy of what is artificial or not with this list: Ingredients we will not use