Coconut sugar is essentially no different from regular, refined cane sugar, nutritionally. You should avoid sweeteners in general, in my opinion, but if you absolutely have to use something, I would suggest using dextrose, which is pure glucose--the effects are less pernicious than fructose.

WHen I use it I use it as a flavoring on stuff like yogurt, but not as a sweetener. Like maybe 1/4 teaspoon at most.

Im my view context matters.....if your in decent shape sure. If youre a regular american I say no. You always need context or youre being dogmatic.

It is bad for the environment and not sustainable if you like to eat or use coconut oil.

Best bet is no sugar or maybe rice syrup.

4 grams of sugar per tablespoon is pretty good. It's your choice. If you haven't done 30 days super strict, do that and then play with diet additives like coconut sugar. If you're having an intense sweet craving, take a single square of chocolate put it on your tongue and let it melt in your mouth. This takes about 3 or 4 minutes. It's a great little trick.

“The composition of coconut sugar (also known as gula kelapa, jaggery or gur) obtained from three locations in Indonesia was determined using HPLC. Sucrose was the major component of all samples (70-79%) followed by glucose and fructose )3-9% each). Minor variations in sugar content between samples were observed, probably due to differences in processing, raw material quality and variety of coconut (Pumomo, 1992).”

http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2008/11/in-my-kitchen-coconut-sugar.html