There are a variety of options, depending on how you want to use it.
Good liquid options are honey, molasses, maple syrup, brown rice syrup. Easy to swap for things like sweetening your coffee or tea.

Fruit purees are nice, cooked down apples, pears, pureed dates... nice for mixing into things like oats, granola bars, and other baking endeavors.

Baking, you can use the liquid sweeteners, you just need to add a little more of your solid/absorbent flour and what have you to soak it up. Or I like raw sugar/sucanot for baking when I don't want to tinker with texture. The raw sugar still contains some of the vitamins and minerals as well as fiber of the cane and makes the sugar metabolize a little bit better in your body.

Yeah I have been experimenting with all kinds of stuff lately--

Thank you, both, for posting your thoughts-- and ideas.

a.

Agave is really high calorie. If you can find Xylitol and Sorbitol it's possible to bake with them but I think the the truth is that... slowly perhaps, you have to just adjust yourself to less of a sweet taste. It's not always easy but little by little anyone can adjust. I used to eat much sweeter food but then I decided that's just not the way food was meant to taste. Use fruit or whatever grows naturally to make it taste better.

What about Sucanat? Has anyone used it--

Also, what about different flours-- quinoa, coconut, spelt--

I have been using spelt for a months now, and I like it-- but I also picked up coconut and quinoa to try. What are your pros/cons about different flours?

Spelt is nice as an alternative to traditional wheat flour because it still has a natural "gush" about it that helps give a good texture when baking. However, it is a relative of wheat so if you are branching into new flours to avoid gluten, spelt may or may not be a good choice for you.

When you get into flours like rice, quinoa, oat, etc, the missing gluten is generally an issue because without tinkering with them you get crumbly dry baked goods. You generally want to cut those with something like potato flour or xanthan gum which helps bond the flour together same as how gluten acts in wheat flour.

I like Sucanat when I'm baking for someone else who is used to regular white sugar and I want to use a more natural sweetener but keep the texture consistent with what they are used to. You would just substitute it for the amount of white sugar you'd be using in equal portions and everything else in a recipe, if you are using one, would stay the same.

vegan
 

Started being vegan a few months ago and I have been enjoying it. Cooking more and enjoying meal time. A new adventure. I made sweet potato cinnamon rolls tonight.

My purpose is to minimize suffering as best I can, therefore I'm a vegan.

trying this
 

my friend swears by coconut sugar.

Hi from newbie on the planet and faily new vegetarian
 

Stopping by to say hello -- I am new to the Planet -- I was BklynFem on bf.com SOOO many years ago ;-) I have been hanging out on fb, but wanted to connect on a LBGTQ space. :ballcat::cat: NYC Cat rescue / foster Mom. I have been following a vegetarian way of life for about 7 mths, and eat very little dairy / fish .. I enjoy learning about new yummy products / foods and tips on nutrition.

Thanks!(f)

Ive been vegetarian all my life and now I'm trying to eat vegan whenever possible I'm trying to eat less processed foods Being vegetarian is easy but vegan is a little more challenging for me

Same I'm vegetarian 100% of the time and vegan maybe half

Same here. I've been a vegetarian since I was 15. (26 years now.) I've tried going vegan twice, and it was a major fail, both times. I convince myself, I can't hang without cheese, yet I rarely eat any dairy when I'm not trying to go vegan. Third times a charm, maybe.

Also, just wanted to add if any vegan/vegetarians are going to the reunion I can let u know of some good places to eat as I am in Vegas.: )

Can you post them? That would be awesome to know.

My two favorite places to eat are Komol and Veggie House. Komol also serves meat so it's a good choice if it's a mixed group. It's in Commercial Center on Sahara at Maryland Parkway, which is east of the strip. Veggie House is in China town. It's on the second floor and there is absolutely no meat served. Veggie House is west of the strip. Komol is Thai and Veggie House is a mixture of Asian cuisine.
Nacho Daddy and Taco y Taco both serve meatless "meats". There are several Capriotti's sandwich shops around with veggie burgers, fake turkey, and veggie cheese steak. (I think the fake turkey is vegan.) Plus, several other places. Let me know if you have a specific interest and I'll answer as best I can.

Since I became diabetic I have slowly changed my eating habits, I guess I am 80% on the vegan trail,20% a meat eater. Over that lase few months I have eaten less and less meat, not sure if it's the metformin I take for diabetis or just some change in my taste buds cause red meat just don't taste the same fish, chicken or dairy is still o.k. . Good thing I like veggies and to bad my son doesn't cause he is starting to get the 40 y. o. spread with the high possablity of diabetis but says he will deal with it if it happend's... Mr.Macho all the way.
Any way I'm reading this from top to the last post bit by bit and learning as I go, tk's for the good advice.

I've been a vegan for 7 years and still am! I never liked milk or meat, so it wasn't too difficult to become vegan. My girlfriend is slowly joining to become a vegetarian hehe.

this inspired me today...
 

https://scontent.ford1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...17&oe=5711B260

Everything on the plate is vegan

Ok, I need some help and I hope this is the right place to post this? I am very overweight, and I am wanting to get myself together and lose weight before I turn 50. I know that low carb diets work, because I lost over 100lbs following Atkins in the past. However, I'm really getting sick of eating so much meat!! And I've been reading about the stuff they feed the animals, chemicals, abuse the factory farm animals go through their entire lives, etc. I can't afford to buy only organic food and grass fed beef, but I really am wondering about what I'm actually putting in my body??? Growing up, I saw chickens living OUTSIDE, not inside. They ate grass and bugs and they took dust baths and they laid eggs and we ate them and that was fine by me. Nowadays I rarely see chickens outside. The farm across the road has them locked up inside these big chicken houses and they never see the sun. I don't know what the farmer feeds them? I'm just feeling like maybe I need to not focus so much on avoiding carbs and eating a lot of meat, but eating HEALTHY for awhile....... I have been craving fruits and veggies the past few days and the doctor my sister works for said that may be a sign I need the nutrients. I'm not saying I want to just become a vegetarian overnight, but I'd like to at least cut back a bit on meat and eat more healthy. In the past when I did Atkins I avoided tropical fruits and only ate berries once in awhile. Now I'm craving pineapple and mangoes. And I like putting bananas in my protein shakes with kale. I'm also thinking about trying this substituting cauliflower for potatoes thing? I hear a lot of people talking about it. I'm afraid of potatoes and pasta because I have no willpower and won't practice portion control!!!!!! I'm looking into maybe a lower carb vegetarian way of eating, if that makes sense? I'm sorry if this post seems like I'm rambling but I just needed to get this out somehow and don't want it to sound weird. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! :seeingstars::seeingstars: