ICE and heavy whipping cream

(Stickin' with mammoth) #21

Yeah, sucralose triggers an insulin response in many, definitely does in me.

Cool Whip is industrial boat caulk, it’s completely nasty. It’s got more vegetable oil in it than cream, you can feel it coating your tongue like Vaseline. When’s the last time you craved a batch of whipped cream and yelled, “Honey! Where’s the soybean oil, I need to make something to dip strawberries in!”

You want delicious, fluffy whipped cream? Tip a cup of it into a blender with a teaspoon of vanilla and some stevia and pulse until you gotta scoop it out with a spatula. Then grab the strawberries.

image

#22

If I want fluffy whipped cream, I whip it with a tad of vanilla aroma (I can’t help it, I like the taste, it’s perfect for me)… I hate most sweeteners with a passion and anyway, cream already has sugar in it, it’s sweet enough after a decade of low-carb and some carnivore trials :smiley:
Strawberries will come in June, that’s one reason I do my best to do carnivore until then (okay, cherry, sour cherry and raspberry are bigger reasons, strawberry has hype and it smells nice but often not so great, they really require sweetening when used with cream. I think. Maybe not after 1.5 months of carnivore-ish. My last strawberries are smaller and sweeter…).

Pretty pic, by the way (“no fruit” day #2 for me, I wanna reach maybe 45-50 but I can look :smiley: And smell. I smelled banana today, it was nice. It goes great with raspberries as it’s known. Great sweetener too… If one can use moderation like I can, of course and have my sweetness perception).

I honestly don’t understand all that vegetable oil stuff. Margarine totally tastes like the watered down plant oil it is. Once I tasted a sandwich on an event, it had awesome home-raised fatty pork on it and underneath margarine… It was, like, the embodiment of sin. But maybe I am too sensitive.

(Bob M) #23

How would you know?

(Stickin' with mammoth) #24

Observation, experience, savvy, research, desire for betterment. Duh.

(Bob M) #25

How do you measure insulin?

(Stickin' with mammoth) #26

I used to be one of those types who stressed over numbers. I used to get on the scale every morning, I used to check my blood pressure every night, I used to count calories, macros, track vitamins, calculate BMI, wrap a tape measure around my wrists and ankles to monitor edema, I used to stress about bra sizes, jeans sizes, belt notches, I used to spend an egregious amount of money getting my blood tested, my bodyfat tested, my hair tested, my skin tested, my saliva tested.

It tested my patience.

Turns out, I’m damned accurate just monitoring bodily signs. I know how an insulin spike feels in my system from experience and I’m good with that. I trust me. I’m all that matters in this race.

(Bob M) #27

It does appear sucralose might not be great. All of these studies indicate sucralose has negative effects on insulin processing:

So, I retract everything I said about sucralose. Sorry about that.

#28

That’s not nice.

(Stickin' with mammoth) #29

I appreciate that. I actually have a bunch of relevant references bookmarked but they are buried in thousands upon thousands of other low carb bookmarks so I obviously have some sorting to do.

#30

I’d find something else other than ICE to do it with. Any brand that doesn’t cut the sweetener with malodextrin. Maltodextrin is the absolute highest on the Glycemic index, ranging from 110-136! Major insulin spiking nightmare and not Keto friendly at all.

#31

Thank you any suggestions?

(Stickin' with mammoth) #32

There are unsweetened carbonated seltzer waters with fruit essences, you could just add your own sweetener. I don’t recall names off the top of my head but they’re usually stocked next to sodas. Just check the nutrition label to make sure you’re getting a zero cal product.

My own grocery store has several generic and brand names of that type. A good concoction is to mix a lemon-lime and cherry one together or lemon-lime with orange.

#33

I use Swerve sweeteners, all three kinds (granular, brown sugar, and confectioners.) It’s erythritol, a sugar alcohol, buy out of all the sugar alcohols it’s the best one, with the least digestive upset. Your body processes it much differently, and rids it via your urine in under 24 hours. It also has a glycemic index of only 1. All the sweeteners that are 0 on the glycemic index are either way too potent for me or leave a sickly aftertaste that I hate. Erythritol is the only substitute I’ve ever used that doesn’t have some funky aftertaste. And usually the natural things like stevia need to be cut with something else because of its potency. (200-300x sweeter than sugar.) But erythritol is only 70% as sweet so doesn’t have to be mixed with anything. I choose to use straight erythritol because there is nothing else in it. I don’t know if other brands of it are different tasting, but I have had such success with Swerve that I never looked back.

As for other drinks like ICE, I wouldn’t know of much because I don’t shop much for drinks. I home make everything, even sweetened condensed milk, :joy: so I bet there are fabulous recipes out there for something similar.

#34

My personal favorite is Bai which is erythrotal. I have never mixed it with anything. I would think anything used every few weeks including splenda would not be particularly harmful. I generally drink my coffee with only cream or half and half but if I am traveling or driving I will stop at a coffee place and add a couple of splendas and it does not do much but this is less frequently than once a month

#35

A similar favorite treat I have in warm weather sometimes is a Keto “egg cream” (basically an ice-cream soda without the ice cream, it’s a regional thing) which I make with cream, soda water, cocoa, and a bit of sweetener. And ice – the old-fashoned kind ;-). It’s super refreshing and you can dial up or down the sweetening as suits you. Of course the only flavor option here is chocolate.

#36

In my country stevia is usually mixed with erythritol or xylitol.
I am the same regarding erythritol as you (it’s not tasty though, just sweet), even regarding too sweet sweeteners (well in my case including stevia. it is so AWFUL I rather forget about everything sweet and I love sweet stuff. ONCE I found a stevia sweetened chocolate that was okay, all my other tries were horrible even with 1000 times as much sugar alcohol mixed into it but I’ve heard some processing may cure the stevia from its natural awful aftertaste. as I tried leaves, they were horrible just the same as all the other stevia stuff I tried) but some people find erythritol has a horrible aftertaste and a cooling effect (I think they say that to both erythritol and xylitol… even I felt something like that in the beginning, nothing bad though… now I feel nothing like that).

If it’s about health, I would go for stevia then erythritol (or xylitol if the net carbs don’t bother someone. it actually may have a nice effect on keeping the amount smallish on keto… just saying, don’t hurt me folks :D). In small amounts and when needed only, not all the time.

Oh my but that tastes sugar! :smiley: Even unsweetened has a lot of sugar in it… Never tried that though.
Well okay I guess you don’t eat it with a big spoon, alone :wink:
My drinks don’t need any sweetening anymore, that’s good. Took years though.

OP, I can’t help with the drinks, sorry, I make nearly everything for me since ages. And it’s a different country, possibly continent anyway.

#37

No, I don’t eat sweetened condensed milk with a spoon. :joy: My taste buds can’t handle extremely sweet anymore either. But it’s a staple ingredient in making some things that require more of a creamy richness to it. I use mine in making homemade Keto-friendly ice cream. Again, only erythritol keeps it a simple sweet, and not overly so. I can’t stand highly sweet ice cream. So I’m glad I make mine homemade now because I can control that and it’s actually more refreshing to eat than traditional.

I think one big problem is a lot of people lump all sugar alcohols in the same boat, and all their side effects. They hear “sugar alcohol” and make assumptions, or read something that someone else says who once ate a ton of it at one sitting and suffered the digestive upset and then labeled it “causes digestive upset.” Yet even regular sugar in large amounts creates digestion issues. Lol You can’t give a bad rating where an abnormal amount is used. I found erythritol to be much different in flavor and digestive effects than all the rest, even xylitol. It’s more mild tasting to me and easy to handle digestively at typical lower doses when the others aren’t. And xylitol is a 12 on the glycemic index whereas erythritol is only a 1, so I don’t compare those two.

We all have to experiment and find which sweetener agrees with our taste buds and our bodies, if any. I’m really glad we have more options these days to choose from because I do need a touch of sweetness in some foods to enjoy them. I hate the aftertaste of all the older ones like aspartame and sucralose. And I just can’t learn to like stevia, even the drops are too bitter for me too. Monk fruit sometimes will have a slight aftertaste that reminds me of the others so that one is hard for me to use. Allulose, even in small amounts, keeps me near a bathroom for a whole day. Yet that hasn’t happened with erythritol at all. So for me, it’s my go to when I need a teaspoon or two. Or if I bake. But I have friends who swear by Allulose and have no digestive upset with it. Others who prefer monk fruit or stevia, because they never tasted the aftertaste that I do. Or maybe because they never tried one that didn’t have that.

I actually replaced cane sugar in our sugar bowl with erythritol, and even my 24 yr old son who is living with me uses only that now to sweeten his coffee and is happy with the flavor. I’m glad he doesn’t pour spoonfuls of regular sugar into his body anymore. It’s poison, period. And way too addictive to our bodies.

#38

I agree with you completely, I cannot tolerate stevia in almost anything with the exception of these Russell Stover sugar free chocolates (American Brand). I much prefer Erythritol. I try to avoid Xylitol because I have a dog that can reach the counter and it is toxic to dogs

(Bob M) #39

I think we’ll be having these arguments years, maybe decades from now. For instance, I’ve often wondered if you’re not eating that much sweet food, why not just eat sugar?

Of all the fake sugars, erythritol might be the best, at least from a biome perspective (though this does not discuss allulose):

I tend to use allulose when it serves a purpose, such as browning, or in ice cream (to lower the hardness of the ice cream). I have it infrequently enough that I’m not sure what effect it has.

We mainly use erythritol though. But I usually eat regular chocolate chips, for instance, instead of ones sweetened with erythritol.

#40

In this household we just hate sugar, bad for the tooth and not particularly tasty anyway. We are quite poor but still, we never buy normal sugar since ages, no way. It’s xylitol and erythritol for us (the former if carbs don’t matter so much as it’s way tastier). I don’t say we avoid all sugary candy all year round but we mostly get them as a gift and my SO can handle some sugar but it must be very occasional.

I can’t get allulose here. It’s true for monk’s fruit but I got a keto bar from Australia and it was the most horrible tasting thing I ever had…
I think I tried everything else I have heard about and only the 2 mentioned was acceptable.
And I like the taste of some sugars, I even have some coconut sugar I almost never use… And in December I used to have honey for gingerbreads but I don’t make them anymore and my soft “replacement” cookies (nothing like gingerbread but the spice is there) are liked enough. And I can decorate my rocks, not gingerbread, way easier and lasts longer! (Making gingerbread for the family Christmas was a thing in my life even after a decade into low-carb and I am not sure I never will do it again but I plan to.)
Banana is a great sweetener/flavor too, I used to put it into my dairyless ice creams. The amount was so little it easily fit my keto (but I eat very little ice cream anyway as mine is so rich and I don’t eat it when hungry). Now I still use sugar in it but that’s lactose and I need a longer carnivore-ish period to feel the result sweet enough. But carnivore turned off my desire towards ice cream and it still didn’t come back. It adds variety but very easy to live without.

Most of my sweetener goes into my sweet pancakes… Or my super simple walnut microwave cakes. These items still have their role but I use them way less often than before and I expect this trend to continue. Trying to do carnivore(-ish) has that effect.