Sweetner - ERYTHRITOL

(Rene Cournoyer) #1

Can someone please explain ERYTHRITOL to me. I see it in a lot of recipes. It’s sugar alcohol made from corn. Aren’t these things we are trying to stop using? I bought a keto cookbook and most deserts have this ingredient. I don’t get it.

(Sjur Gjøstein Karevoll) #2

Sugars and alcohols are classes of organic molecules that share some chemical similarity, but they’re still different molecules and have very different effects on metabolism. Sugar alcohols are molecules that are both sugars and alcohols at the same time. Erythritol has no impact on metabolism and will pass through your body completely unchanged.

(Consensus is Politics) #3

And some us dont understand it’s use as a sweetener at all. To me it’s anything but sweet. Not nearly as bad as saccarin (sp? Thanks for nothing iPhone autocorrects) which I thought made everything taste extremely bitter. And that being said, I do use erythritol in my coffee currently. I bought a small jar of it, and that’s the only thing I can put it in that doesn’t seem to corrupt. It does break the coffees bitterness, but doesn’t taste sweet at all. So I’m hoping I’m skipping the whole insulin spike due to sweet taste.

(mike) #4

While artificial sweeteners may not effect insulin or glucose they could be impacting your microbiome.

(Rene Cournoyer) #5

Thank you for this info

#6

I’ve found it’s taste can vary huge depending on which brand you go with. I use Swerve in a lot of my baking but for all other uses I’ve pretty much landed on Splenda Naturals which is a Erythritol / Stevia blend which comes out just right IMO, Stevia’s sweeter and Erythritol is a little less so they balance each other out. If by any change you try it out they also make a Stevia/SUGAR blend with near identical packaging, seriously stupid on their part!

(Clara Teixeira) #7

Try a pinch of salt in your coffee to eliminate bitterness! It works great. I use heavy cream, a couple drops of vanilla extract and salt.

(Brian) #8

n=1

Some people find it pleasant tasting. Some people do not. A few get an insulin reaction. Many do not. Some have headaches or intestinal distress, some do not.

If you like it and you can tolerate it, enjoy. If you can’t, stay away.

Brand does seem to make a difference in taste.

The quantity you consume can make a difference in your reaction. I personally will get a headache if I over-consume but have not problem with a little here and there. I also use some stevia for sweetening when I want a bit of a sweet taste. There are some blends out there, too, as mentioned above.

#9

I looked at the brand Stevia that Starbucks carries and I was shocked to see Fructose as one of it’s ingredients!!

I had to order Swerve on Amazon and I am ready to try in my coffee.

(Consensus is Politics) #10

When I was stationed in England in the early 1990’s, I knew a guy in my church that was in the navy. He taught me that trick. It never worked for me. I went from a small pinch, doing nothing. And continued to increase small punches at a time until it tasted like it was made from seawater. Bitter seawater. I think I have an over active bitter center. I can’t eat green bell peppers as well. They taste worse than a drink with a cigarette but in it. I speak from experience. Swallowed the cursed thing. Everyone sitting around the break room knew what happened. Not a single person would fess up to who did it. They guy I suspected that did it, who does these sort of pranks, was curiously quiet. Yes Scott Brooks, I know it was you.

(Clara Teixeira) #11

Interesting. I found that my tastebuds changed over the last 9 months of being keto and what I used to think was unacceptable is now almost too sweet. Good luck in finding the right balance!

#12

Wow, I hadn’t heard this yet. Thanks

(mike) #13

Just learned about it myself. The more I read and listen too, the more I believe our gut biome has as much to do with health as anything else. My goal is to rarely ever have diet soda or artificial sweeteners in general.

(Randy) #14

I use Erythritol and stevia powder together. I always make sure I get Non-GMO to avoid Monsanto’s “secret ingredient” .

I’ve cut way down on sweetners overall. But have had no issues so far.

(Consensus is Politics) #15

You just prompted me to re-evaluate. You made me think that I had gone through changes like this before too. Where I hated something, and years later found it delicious.

So this morning I pulled that sweetener back out to try it again. It’s been a month since I last tried it in my lemon water. First thing I noticed when I opened it, it didn’t smell the same at all. By the way, this is Truvia with something or other leaf. If I remember I’ll come back and correct that :face_with_monocle:. The smell it had before wasn’t sweet. But somewhat neutral. Reminded me of cactus smell. I can’t explain that. It’s just something I remember. This time it smelled pleasing. Very similar to cotton candy. So I took a pinch. Ok, I wasn’t prepared for this. It was really good. To me it’s not sweeter than sugar as it’s advertised. But it’s pretty darn close to the same. Caramel. That’s the scent. Don’t ask about the cactus, no they smell nothing alike. [desert survival tip. Yes cactuses do store a lot of water. The one known as a prickly pear is the most convienient to, um, handle. That’s because they grow sort of small and easily reached. There are also covered with little brown dots, about 2mm in diameter. DO NOT TOUCH THESE DOTS. They are not dots. They are thousands of little thorns the come free of the cactus very easily and impale themselves into your skin, or hand, palm of the hand. And it takes a long time to get them all out. And they burn like hell. :roll_eyes:

But I Verbose,

Thanks for your comment. I have found a sweetener that seems to work ok. I’m hoping it doesn’t trigger insulin. Looks like I’ll be buying some of this everytime I’m in the store.

(Clara Teixeira) #16

I spent some time growing up in the “banana belt” of Montana and we had a robust crop of prickly pears. I found it easiest to throw them in a fire until the nasty little spines burnt up then peeled and ate them! Very slimy. It was a common sight to see one of my siblings laying belly down on the kitchen table with my mom removing tiny spines from their bare bottoms. I wonder if prickly pears are keto… :thinking: Yay on the sweetener! Good luck.

(Consensus is Politics) #17

I was stationed at George AFB in souther California in the 1980’s. A went with a friend to take his wife to the Las Vegas airport, because he saved $50 on airfare (yeah, thats the reason). We dropped her off, hit a few casinos, and when we were left with just enough gas money to get home, we headed home. Only to get a flat on I-15 near the boarder. “Pops Oasis” I even remember the name of the near boarder casino/restaurant. We walked about a mile to get to it.

We called a friend who was working weekend duty, and he said he’d come get us. We knew it was about 4 hours. 4 hours later he wasnt there. we getting hungry. We didnt have much money. And the manager was ready to kick us out if we werent gonna eat or drink. So we sat outside. I saw a prickly pear. I knew it was eddible. I pulled my Buck knife out, slashed an ear off. Let it drop ever so lightly into my hand. And cringed in pain. Those fuzzy little brown dots were not so soft and friendly as they appeared! I tried to scrape them off with me knife. It helped, but also drove some deeper in. Oh it was aweful.

I learned to respect the desert flora that day. It doesnt want to be eaten. My guess, is its high in fiber. Some plants might be high in sugar (guava? guavae? isnt Tequila made from one of those?)

(Mark Rhodes) #18

The granulated and confectioners also react differently. Get the multi pack and try both. If I need the Swerve to dissolve more I always use confectionar.

#19

You don’t like sugar in your sugar substitute?

If that’s the good earth stuff, its because it has monkfruit it in, but they’re all equally bad. I use them but in limited amounts.

(Tim Adams) #20

I’ve tried looking up what people think of it in this forum and haven’t found much, but I like Monk fruit in my coffee. I’m not diabetic so don’t know about glucose spikes. All I know is it tastes ok and I stay in ketosis.
I hate stevia or most sweeteners. They’re like eating an aspirin. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: