Most of you have likely experienced a ‘sugar craving’ at some point in your life. If you’re anything like me, you get this feeling on average about three times a day. Wouldn’t it be great if you could have vegetable cravings, instead? Or if sugar could be healthy for your body?

Because unfortunately, sugar is not just unhealthy, but actually one of the worst things you could put into your body. And no, artificial sweeteners are not the answer. In fact, they are even worse, so those sugar-free snacks are not doing you any favors. But what’s a girl with a hankering for all things sweet to do?

That’s where SmartSweets’ gummies come to the rescue. What makes these gummies so unusual, and the reason that so many people swear by the brand is this: these sweets have barely any sugar, yet are sweetened with a natural, plant-based sweetener called stevia.

They are free of all those nasty additives, and they contain only non-GMO ingredients. Sure, we have healthier versions of many of our favorite snacks – baked kale chips instead of oily, fried potato ones, cocoa nibs instead of chocolate, and ice cream made with coconut cream and fresh fruit.

But gummy bears? Those are just junk, by default, right? It’s hard to believe that candy can be anything but a guilty pleasure. Gummy bears without the guilt, brought to you by SmartSweets.

What Are Smart Sweets Gummy Bears?

Smart Sweets was started when Tara Bosch recognized the need for healthier sweets. She didn’t want to consume gummies that were loaded with sugar, artificial flavors, and calories. After a conversation with her grandmother, who revealed she still felt poorly about the foods she ate and the health issues she suffered from, as a result, Tara set out to create a candy that you can feel good about eating. She believes that no-one should regret their food choices, even if you have an almost-insatiable sweet tooth.

The gummy bears come in two flavors: Sour and Fruity. They are packaged in perfect snack-size bags. Each bag has only 3 grams of sugar, as opposed to regular gummy bears which have approximately 8 times that amount.

There are also Sour Blast Buddies, which are sour, plant-based candies, and Sweet Fish, shaped like cute little fish. These treats are so delicious, you’d never guess that they aren’t the ‘real’ thing. They’re free from sugar, alcohol, dairy, soy, nut, and gluten, and at only 90 calories per bag, they are great for an occasional treat, in place of traditional gummy bears.

They work especially well for people on the keto diet, who avoid sugar. SmartSweets’ motto is #kicksugar, and boy do they live by it!

The Dangers Of Too Much Sugar Explained

Everyone knows that too much sugar is really bad for you.

We all know that too much sugar is bad for us. We’ve been taught this from a young age. A child can tell you that it isn’t healthy. But beyond that, do you actually know just how bad too much sugar really is for your body? Let me illustrate it for you.

First off, there’s the classic that you’ve been parroting since you were three years old: it’s bad for your teeth. Myth or fact? You’d better believe it’s a fact, sugar! Sugar, especially processed sugar, is the perfect food for bacteria called plaque.

Do you know that yellow film that you wake up within the morning? It does more than just look bad. It loves sugar, and if there’s any sugar on your teeth, it feeds on the sugar. Then it continues going strong straight through your tooth enamel, causing decay.

But it isn’t just your teeth that need to be worried about an overload of sugar. You probably already knew that sugar isn’t great for your diet, and you’d be right. Interestingly, one of the worst culprits for sugar consumption is sugary drinks (think Coca Cola, Fanta, and Dr. Pepper, to name but a few). It’s been proven that people who drink sweet drinks on a regular basis weigh more than those who don’t.

That much sugar leads to obesity, as well as a host of other conditions and disorders like heart disease and even Alzheimer’s. This isn’t surprising, as a 12 ounce can of Coca Cola (which many people finish in one sitting, every day or even a few times a day) has a whopping 9.33 teaspoons of sugar!

No-one misses the acne from their teenage years, and most of us are more than happy to leave the pimples in the past. However, if your diet is full of sugar, you’re probably not going to have perfect skin – or anything near that. Sugar causes your skin to sprout pimples, because along with that ‘sugar rush’ comes a burst of inflammation, which results in many ways – one of those ways being the eruption of pimples.

The ‘sugar rush’ that we associate with chocolate, sweets and the like is actually doing us more harm than we realize. Sugar causes the blood sugar levels to spike, which is dangerous for diabetics and puts the rest of us at increased risk of developing the condition. Also, due to the fact that sugar can lead to obesity, it also heightens the risk of various cancers (which can be caused by obesity). A diet high in sugar also has a debilitating effect on your mood and can lead to depression. You know that awful feeling you get after you’ve eaten way too much junk? That’s because a diet high in sugar leads to inflammation, whose symptoms are similar to those of depression.

In short, there’s a reason that we try to limit the amount of sugar we eat – because it affects just about every area of the body, and not in a positive way. But is sugar just a part of life that we have to accept? Or are there alternatives out there that can satisfy the cravings without the negative effects? SmartSweets reckons the latter, and nothing is better proof than their products.

Smart Sweets Gummy Bears Flavors Breakdown

Sour Blast Buddies

Currently, there are four flavors available from Smart Sweets – two flavors of gummy bears, plus Sour Blast Buddies and Sweet Fish. The fruity gummy bears have the traditional, gummy bear flavor, whilst the sour ones have more tang to them.

Smart Sweets Gummy Bears Review

So, just how do the ‘healthy’ gummy bears measure up to regular gummy bears? First off, there are 28 grams of fiber per bag (a full day’s worth!), which is great for your digestive system. They might take your stomach a little getting used to, because of their high fiber content, but after a couple of bags, you’ll be just fine. This is due to the inclusion of the chicory root.

Chicory root has a high amount of dietary fiber. It’s naturally anti-inflammatory and contains minerals like manganese, potassium, and phosphorus, as well as Vitamin C. The gummies are sweetened with stevia, which is a plant-based sweetener. This means that there is hardly any sugar, and yet neither are there any of those artificial sweeteners (which are seriously worse for your health than sugar is!).

The texture of the gummies is basically exactly like regular gummies, and they taste delicious! Your favorite will depend on whether you tend to go for traditional or sour gummies; personally, I like my candy the sourer, the better.

Let’s have a look at the ingredients for a moment. We use plant-derived sugar alternatives. The colorings and flavorings are natural, from fruits and vegetables, and they contain coconut oil, which is full of healthy fats.

One thing to take note of is that if you are diabetic, the gummies might not be the best thing for you. I have read quite a few reviews of people who have found that the gummies have caused their blood sugar levels to spike dramatically, which can be dangerous for people like diabetics who need to keep their blood sugar levels stable.

For the rest of us, though, the gummy bears make the perfect low-sugar treat. While I wouldn’t exactly call them healthy (they are candy, after all), they are far better for you than pretty much any other candy. They certainly get brownie points for that!

Conclusion

Eating candy and eating healthy may sound like a contradiction, but it doesn’t have to be that way! Everyone needs something sweet once in a while, but why does that mean that your health has to suffer? We all deserve to indulge occasionally without having to feel guilty, and without having to pay the price when we next step on the bathroom scale. A better and lower-calorie sweet option is long overdue!

With the health food industry expanding by leaps and bounds, SmartSweets is the first to offer a healthier option for traditional candy. Judging by the popularity of their products, we’re hoping they will be the first of many to do so. We love how good we feel when we eat what’s good for our bodies, and now, we can have that – even with gummy bears!