Monk Fruit Benefits

If you are on a diet for personal or health reasons and struggling to give up sweets, I FEEL YOU!! I’ve been there, I’ve felt the sad and deprived feelings you feel and it flipping sucks! It’s time for you to learn about monk fruit benefits so that you can use this magnificent sweetener in your every day life.

PSA: I found something sweet that is actually GOOD for your health!

The good news is, I am not there anymore! Even in the depths of a ridiculously strict gut healing protocol, I found the answer to my prayers and sweet tooth cravings in pure monk fruit extract. It contains zero carbohydrates, zero calories, zero fat, and zero sodium making it a keto, low carb, sugar free, gut friendly diet’s BEST FRIEND!

Let’s delve in a little deeper and find out where this sweetener comes from, how to use it and where to find it.

Monk fruit sweetened SIBO friendly vanilla malt mylkshake

*recipe from my Gut Happy ebook

What is monk fruit and where does it come from?

Pure monk fruit extract is one of the most versatile sweeteners and sugar replacements available to us and one that I love to use in my recipes. It is derived from monk fruit, a small, green-gourd round fruit that resembles a melon. It’s grown mainly in Southeast Asia and was named Monk fruit in the 13th century by Buddhist monks.

Where can you buy PURE Monk Fruit?

Australians can find pure monk fruit extract on the Naturally Sweet website here.

If you are located in the USA or most other places in the world you can find Monk Fruit extract here.

It does not impact blood sugar levels and contains zero calories.
It is very high in trace minerals and mogrosides (antioxidant).
It is low FODMAP, keto and diabetic friendly.
It will not cause digestive upset.
The extract is available in powder, liquid and granulated forms.

How to use monk fruit sweetener

Pure monk fruit extract can be used to sweeten just about anything. Personally, I use it in smoothies, coffee, sauces, cakes, slices, dressings and condiments.

It’s important to remember that pure monk fruit extract is 150-200 times sweeter than normal sugar so a little goes a long way. I will usually add anywhere from one quarter to one half of a teaspoon to sweeten my recipes.

As a rough guide, these are the amounts I will use:

Coffee – less than ⅛ tsp
Smoothies – ⅛ to ¼ tsp (less if using fruit, more if not fruit)
Baking – ¼ to ½ tsp
Raw Slices ¼ tsp

Not all monk fruit is created equal!

Unfortunately, it can be tricky navigating the food world due to clever marketing tricks (something I aim to help you with through my blog) so let’s clear the air here. The monk fruit sweetener currently for sale on most supermarket shelves is actually made up of 99% erythritol and 1% pure monk fruit extract. Erythritol is a sugar alcohol and is typically used as a bulking agent to give the product that real ‘sugar’ look and feel. Now, there is not necessarily anything wrong with erythritol, however if you have or are currently suffering with digestive issues, sugar alcohols such as erythritol can cause a flare in symptoms. While completing my gut healing protocol, I needed to steer absolutely clear of all sugar alcohols and will minimise use of them moving forward to avoid any uncomfortable flare ups in future.

You can purchase PURE monk fruit extract from health food stores and online retailers. I use this product from Naturally Sweet Australia. Just one little tub lasts me months and months. Keep in mind I use a lot more than the average person given I am constantly creating recipes for my Ebook, Instagram page and this blog. I wouldn’t be surprised if one little tub lasted you an entire year! An entire year of happy guts and happy taste buds! You can use my code BLONDE10 to save on your purchase.

As someone who has suffered with digestive issues for most of my life (you can read about my journey here), I know that ditching the sugar and making a simple switch to something like pure monk fruit extract can be absolutely life changing! The best part is that this potent little sweetener is actually beneficial for us (remember the trace minerals and mogrosides I mentioned above) unlike many other sugar alternatives on the market.

So why not enjoy a sugar free, gut friendly life?

Love A xxxx