Sweeteners - your experience?

(David Russell) #41

Stevia

(Justin Blow) #42

Welcome and a great choice in a username.

(Lauren ) #43

Erithritol makes me gain inflammation. I had some swerve for the first time on Christmas Eve and I gained 4.5 pounds. Tomorrow will be a week and it hasnā€™t budged. Iā€™ve also been tired and out of it. If anyone else has ever felt like this please let me know. I need some suggestions!

(Kathy Swanson) #44

Splenda liquid and erythritol

(Definitely *NOT* oleophobic) #45

Iā€™ve found that, for me, almost all of the ā€œalcoholsā€ (Anything that ends in ā€œTOLā€, i.e. xylitol, maltitol, etc.) trigger what I figure is an insulin reaction. Around 30 minutes after ingestion, I get very sleepy, often accompanied by a headache.

However pure Stevia for me does not, neither does aspartame and splenda, not that I rush to use them, but they donā€™t cause the big issues that the alcohols do for me. Most of the Stevia compounds Iā€™ve found include erythritol and cause issues for me, so I have to read labels carefully.

I think that @Carl mentioned that he had to stop using a Xylitol based sweetener in his chocolate mousse recipe. Recently found a zero carb, zero calorie chocolate syrup that seems to work well for me.

(Peter Bursky) #46

i was using mostly Stevia, but based on and recently tried Xylitol, just to see if thereā€™s any difference in taste.
There isnā€™t much as far as i can tell. Also the label says 100g carbs per 100g, but only 50% usable. Not sure if thatā€™s ok, or should i just stick with stevia?

#47

The best way to know is test blood glucose after consuming a particular artificial sweetener and see if you get a response.

Xylitol is not a zero calorie sweetener for everyone and can provide up to 50% of the carbs in any serving, so Iā€™d suggest caution and advise testing.

I prefer stevia thatā€™s occasionally combined with erythritol since they seem to complement each other.

(eat more) #48

has anyone tried/know anything about Just Like Sugar?
(chicory root, calcium, vitamin c)

apparently this princess doesnā€™t like the taste of anything ā€¦except maybe splendaā€¦but maybe not even that at this point

on top of the taste, stevia and erythitol make my teeth/mouth feel weird :flushed:

(Stickin' with mammoth) #49

My coffee wears stevia and I donā€™t eat anything else ā€œsweet.ā€

Cheese has taken on a dessert-like quality for me now so I treat it as such. The fact that brie comes in cake slices should have been my first clue.

(eat more) #50

LOL

#51

I use it from time-to-time and although it has some sweetness, it is more expensive so I use stevia/erythritol most of the time although I just used it earlier today in a mid-morning coffee with HWC.

This is getting subjective, but itā€™s almost like a ā€œstealthā€ sweetness to me where itā€™s not exactly sweet when I compare it to stevia, but it does satisfy my desire for something sweet at the time and doesnā€™t seem to trigger a desire for more sweets later.

#52

Canā€™t do any sweetenersā€¦puts me right back in craving mode. I can have a few raspberries or one square of dark chocolate without getting the urge devour the contents of my husbandā€™s junk food cabinet :stuck_out_tongue:

(Michael Wallace Ellwood) #53

hmmā€¦I have always avoided sweeteners, but was tempted to give xylityol a try for some dessert recipes, for very occasional use. The fact that Steve Phinney seemed to approve of it, and that it is reputed to have positive effects on dental health encouraged me.

I happened to notice it on a shelf in the supermarket today, and went straight to the nutritional information. As someone else says: 100g of carbs per 100gā€¦what?
OK, there is a footnote that say only 50% available, but thatā€™s still 50g of carbs per 100g.

One might almost as well use sugar, but only use half the quantity the recipe calls for. (This is actually what Barry Groves suggested in one of his books, as he said most recipes use too much sugar anyway). But if I was thinking of using sugar, I think Iā€™d actually use honey instead (although itā€™s a bit difficult to judge the exact quantity to use without trial and error).

OK, so Iā€™m now actually talking about using sugar or honey on a ketogenic forumā€¦
ā€¦get thee behind me Satan!

:wink:

(Stickin' with mammoth) #54

Back of the class!

Xylitol doesnā€™t cause nearly the insulin spike sugar does. If youā€™re gonna go down Sweet Tooth Road, itā€™s better to pack a low glycemic sweetener or run the risk of falling off the ketogenic wagon. Theyā€™re pricey, sure, but so is diabetes. I rather like the fact that keto-friendly sweeteners are more expensive than shoes. Keeps me honest.

(Cathy Schroder) #55

I was somewhat over enthusiastic when I first tried Xylitol. Ate too much and had rather a violent reaction. Take care of using for the first time.

(Michael Wallace Ellwood) #56

Well, since the mantra of The Dudes is ā€œshow me the scienceā€, can you show me the science on that one? (By the way, I was not serious recommending sugar ā€¦ I was rather un-recommending xylitol (or any sweetener, really). But back to the science, since none of us yet has home insulin monitors, how can you be so sure you donā€™t get so much of an insulin kick from xylitol compared to sugar?

Your glucose monitor will only tell you glucose and your ketone monitor will only tell you ketones. You may try to infer insulin response from those two, but it wonā€™t be reliable.

Iā€™m really only suggesting that if xylitol seems too good to be true, then thatā€™s probably because it is.

(Clare) #57

I love xylitol and it gives me no issues. However I just had an accidental run in with Maltitol and itā€™s totally gubbed my ketosis today!. I buy a supermarket brand of sugar free gum in the UK that uses xylitol and I picked up the same stuff in Spain last week. I wasnā€™t measuring my ketosis last week while on holiday because I didnā€™t fancy trying to explain what my ketonix was to airport security. But this week I am back home and back on it.

My ketosis was strong yesterday and perfectly fine this morning. I took a couple of pieces of gum without thinking about it. About an hour later I tested with my ketonix again and my ketones had plummeted to an equivalent of about 0.1
I was totally bemused. I ate some macadamias and tested again an hour later and it had risen a little. My lunch was high fat with moderate protein and only courgette and red pepper for carbs. I would expect a rise - but itā€™s still in the total doldrums. I was mystified - then I thought about the gum. Sure enough the brand Iā€™ve had before was full of maltitol! Iā€™ve never knowingly touched maltitol before but it seems to be the only explanation.
I will never go near it again!
Iā€™ve been on keto for nearly two years, Iā€™m not worried - Iā€™ll get myself back on track but what an extreme reaction to such a small amount of something!
Horrifying.

(Nathanael Schulte) #58

I tried a cookie recipe a couple days ago where I used a Lilyā€™s Milk Chocolate bar sweetened with Stevia and Erythritol for chocolate chunks and felt like crap the next 2 days. In comparison, Iā€™ve made a Keto Gooey Butter Pie with erythritol as the only sweetener a couple times now and Iā€™ve been great, and ketones have been high. Iā€™m starting to think the stevia is an issue for me.

(Crystal ) #59

I used my granulated sugar (sucralose) for everything. My tea, baked goods (for the time of my cycle when I needed something sweet) for a good month. And I slowly noticed I barely budged on the scale that entire time. I read an article on sweeteners from Doc Muscles (Keto Talk) and I started getting suspicious. I stumbled across this glycemic index chart for sweeteners and realized too late my favourite delicious sweetener was actually packed with Maltodextrin. TOP OF THE LIST!
I did some tests with my Breathalyzer and sure enough - right out of ketosis for hours.
I now use erythritol/monk fruit blend in my tea and it does nothing to my insulin!
Itā€™s much more expensive but SO WORTH IT.
HERE is the index I found.
So glad I never stop doing keto-related research and testing myself with foods/drinks.:tada:

(jketoscribe) #60

My sister in law was visiting she tried my erythritol and was not impressed because she ā€œhad to use a lotā€ to get the desired sweetness. I find that interesting because I typically use less than a third of whatever a recipe calls for. Iā€™ve lost my sweet tooth to some degree.