Keto treats

[Alyse_Dusk]

I am new to Keto and a confessing sugar addict.
I have started buying sugar-free low carb treats as an alternative to curb the cravings.
Some are 0g sugar Og carbs. Does this mean I can eat as much as I like in a sitting and daily? I am trying to only get Stevia sweetened as I am aware of health risks in artificial sweeteners, although this is proven difficult as Stevia alone sweets are harder to come by and can be expensive. Forgive my ignorance. I still have alot to learn!

[Polly1]

If you really want to curb the cravings the best plan is to avoid sweet things. Eventually, quite ordinary foods will taste a little sweet and sweet foods will taste disgusting.

[Shinita]

Some are 0g sugar Og carbs. Does this mean I can eat as much as I like in a sitting and daily?

People have different attitude about sweets but I think very very few of us would think we shouldn’t care about amounts in this time.
It’s not real food. If you can get away with some (I mean, they don’t interfere with your goals, physically or emotionally, there are many, many cases when they do), eat if you must and hopefully you won’t need them eventually or just very rarely. The goal should be eating normal food and not being a slave of your sweets desires forever. I ate a lot of sweets for very long when I can’t do extreme low-carb (I never wanted desserts on carnivore, the desire simply disappear completely, it’s wonderful for someone like me. I half-lived on desserts on keto and it didn’t seem to change, only my sweetener consumption dropped) but I focused on my normal food. I just sweetened some of my normal food and I even tried to train myself to minimize the sweetener, keto helps with it, we feel things sweeter and sweeter, until some point, at least. Then I try to lose my need for sweetness in my sweets, I prefer unsweetened chocolate now but I don’t like chocolate much anymore…
Sweetness is overrated. I would choose some good food (like good fatty meat) over sweets any time and I still like desserts. I just don’t need them if I have normal food. And I don’t miss the addiction for sure (it was part necessity but still. I learned I eat sweets in the end of the every meal, it was strong and not completely mentally healthy…? it was annoying a bit).

I don’t think there are any health risks using my usual sweeteners, erythritol or xylitol but they cause problems for some and still, I consider best eating as little sweetener as possible. So, zero, they aren’t needed. They may be a crutch first or you know it’s mostly harmless so why not to eat it when you really want but every day? That still sounds an addiction.
Maybe just lowering your net carbs consumption will be enough and you won’t overuse it and will eat less and less, who knows? I would figure out what works best, it’s impossible tell if we don’t feel what you feel. I ignore most of the good advice on this forum as they aren’t for my individual case, I function differently.

[PaulL]

Welcome to the Ketogenic Forums!

There is divided opinion on the question of non-sugar sweeteners. Some people find that certain sweeteners interfere with their progress, so just be careful. A lot of people find it easier to avoid sweet tastes altogether, but that doesn’t work for everyone. If you find that it helps you stick to your ketogenic way of eating to have a treat with a non-sugar sweetener in it, then by all means enjoy the treat.

But tastes do change. I now prefer my chocolate completely unsweetened, whereas before I cut sugar out of my diet, unsweetened chocolate was far too bitter to eat. And the sweet stuff I used to enjoy so much is now far too sweet to be edible.

One caution, however: read the list of ingredients on your package of treats very carefully. Under U.S. law, manufacturers are allowed to fudge the serving size to make it look as though there is no sugar in the product. (If the amount of sugar is less than 0.5 g/serving, they can list the sugar as 0 g.) So if sugar happens to show up in the list of ingredients, even if it says 0 g on the nutrition panel, then I would suggest avoiding that product. Also sugar alcohols (ingredients ending in “-ol”) are partially digestible, so if you are counting net carbs, be sure to deduct only half the amount of sugar alcohols, not the whole amount.

[amwassil]

Cacao butter (aka cocoa butter) might help you cut back on the addiction to sweet. It’s 100% fat, mostly saturated and monounsaturated, tastes somewhat like semi-sweet chocolate. You can grate to add to other stuff, or just eat a chunk of it when you feel the craving for sweet.

[Bellyman]

I had a serious craving for sweets when we first went keto, about 3 years ago. But I didn’t do much buying of pre-made type goodies. They were just never all that good tasting to me, had tiny “servings” and were expensive. So I pretty much made my own.

Making your own will allow you to know what’s in it. There are a ton of recipes out there.

One thing we found, though, was that over time, the cravings for sweets diminished. We don’t find that we even want a sweet treat all that often. Sure, we still have them. And we don’t really restrict them. But if we have something like a cookie or muffin or whatever it is maybe just on the weekends, we’re generally perfectly contented to leave it at that. Getting accustomed to eating keto and eating enough food at a meal, snacking has become a foreign concept and we just don’t even think of it. And, when we do sit down and eat a substantial meal, it’s not unusual to be full enough from the meal itself that even a treat that we could easily have may go uneaten.

I know, probably sounds like heresy when you’re beginning. But stuff will change over time. Some people say they lose their taste for sweets and can’t stand things that are very sweet anymore. I wish I were one of them. When I have something that supposed to be sweet, I still want it VERY sweet. But stuff that’s not supposed to be sweet, I don’t want it sweet at all. That never really changed for me. One thing about stevia, it does give a very powerful punch of sweet where sweeteners like erythritol kinda don’t give me that same punch. So I often use stevia or a blend with stevia when I need something sweet.

Anyway, good luck!

[Janie]

Make your own fat bombs to transition you off sweets. I made them a lot early on for my husband and he ate one every night after dinner. The last batch I made has been in the freezer so long I need to toos them due to freezer burn. My favorite recipe:

1/2 cup no-sugar peanut butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup erythritol (or other zero calorie sweetener equivalent)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl until smooth. Spoon into silicon mini-muffin pan and freeze. Initially you will need a pan under the silicon tray to support it until the fat bombs are frozen.

Makes 15.

About 1.4 net carbs each

[Momof5]

Welcome to the forum.

I have always been a major sugar addict as well; so I can relate to your comments. Making my own fat bombs for emergency treats worked very well for me at the beginning too; then I, (like many others) transitioned off of them. The recipe that @Janie has posted above looks like a great one to try. There are others on the recipe section here on the forum as well.

Best wishes in your Keto lifestyle and if you have any more questions, please ask away. We are all here to help =).

[collaroygal]

Lots of good advice already in here.

Just adding a couple of other comments.
As you cut back on sweets, you will find somethings will taste more sweet than you think they are currently. Sweet peppers are like candy to me now. But they are low carb.

Liquid flavored stevia drops are your friends. I like caramel flavored drops, put a few drops onto yogurt with some vanilla extract and enjoy that for dessert often. Raspberries are optional as is 100% raw cocao powder. . You can also find chocolate flavored drops, those added with the peppermint flavored ones make nice winter holiday treat.

Good luck sorting it all out.

Oh please be careful with sugar alcohols, they can cause serious issues…