Click here for holiday sweets recipes made with natural sweeteners

Sweet Savvy is about having options for sweeteners that go beyond refined white sugar and artificial sweeteners.

If you eat natural and organic foods, are diabetic, on a low-carb or low-glycemic diet, are a parent that wants to satisfy your child's sweet tooth without refined sugar, or simply want to explore some delicious food ingredients, this website is for you.

For a variety of different reasons, many of us today are choosing to reduce or eliminate refined sugars from our diets.

We've all been told by a dentist or doctor that refined sugars aren't good for our teeth or our health. And many diet plans call for the reduction--if not the complete elimination--of refined sugars.

By removing refined sugars from your diet, you can:

But removing white sugar and other refined sweeteners from your diet is easier said than done. Many people use artificial sweeteners instead, which have their own negative health effects. Or they try to avoid sweeteners and sweet foods altogether, a difficult task that is often unsuccessful.

This is my philosophy about eating sweet foods:

• our bodies are designed by Nature to desire and eat sweet foods, so we can include them in our diets
• it's OK to eat sweet foods as a treat
• we can eat sweets in a healthy way, choosing when and how we eat them instead of consuming sweeteners unaware in many processed foods
• we can savor the sweets we do eat, and fully enjoy and appreciate every bite
• we can replace harmful sweeteners with healthy sweeteners.

• one sweetener is called "The Food of the Gods" for its health-enhancing properties
• several sweeteners help reduce dental cavities
• several other sweeteners can help you lose weight
• several more sweeteners help regulate blood sugar.

Over the past several years, I have been intensively researching natural sweeteners and testing recipes. Natural sweeteners are delicious! I have been preparing desserts that my family and friends rave about, and using these natural sweeteners instead of refined sugars in all my cooking. And even though these recipes are full of natural and organic ingredients, they taste very much like the sweet foods we know and love. Really!

As unbelievable as this may sound, I actually now prefer these healthy sweeteners over refined sugars, and so do my friends and family. Refined sugars actually no longer taste good to me, and I have no problem passing up sugar-filled desserts.

This website will give you a whole different perspective about what is possible in the realm of sweets and sweeteners. My intent with this website is for you to:

1. have the ability to choose the sweets you eat and when you eat them
2. know which sweeteners are best for your body
3. know how to use these sweeteners to prepare the sweets you and your family love, and to use them in your daily cooking instead of refined white sugar

to enjoy eating each and every bite!

• Check out the Recipe Index for delicious "husband-approved" natural sweetener recipes
• See the Summary of Natural Sweeteners to explore the natural sweeteners used on this site
• Sign up for my Sweet Savvy newsletter (use the newsletter signup box at the top of this page) to keep up-to-date on all the new recipes and articles added to this site.

P.S. This website is a work-in-progress. I have a lot more information I'm working on posting. There will be more about how refined sugar acts in your body, more background information about the sweeteners, more sweeteners, more recipes. Save this site on your Favorites list and sign up for my Sweet Savvy newsletter (use the newsletter signup box at the top of this page) to keep up with new additions.

Work on the Green Market Baking Book goes splendidly. I have to say that you are my hero. Every time I hit a stumbling block, I wonder what you would do and I go to your website and more often than not, you have a solution. I am so incredibly impressed with how much work you have done. Hats off to you. I have use the All Occasion cake as a base for lots of things, including Baked Alaska (which turned out fabulously well) and hope to do a non-sugar version of English Trifle next week, using your cake recipe.
Laura Martin, Editor, Green Market Baking Book (forthcoming)

"Your website is the best source for recipes and information on baking/cooking without refined sugar or artificial sweeteners. I made your pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. I used half maple syrup and half agave nectar. It was a tremendous hit! My 5 year old has ADHD and cannot tolerate sugar. He absolutely loved it. So did my husband, who has never liked pumpkin pie. Thank you for making "sugar free" so delicious."
J.L. Merrick, NY