sweeteners

[Pookie]

Can anybody advise? Rhubarb, gooseberries, plums, cooking apples! When cooking them what does everybody use as a sweetener, and what's the opinion about what is best. Should we just used normal sugar and only have a very little? I know there's Stevia and there's Erythritol but I have a friend who just uses a little elderflower cordial that she keeps in the fridge. Or orange juice. Is sugar-free squash a good drink just to vary the never endingly safe plain water? Why is slimline tonic so sweet tasting compared to normal tonic and has anybody found a tasty alternative to that? Gosh I have so many questions. Any advice anybody?

 

[Leadinglights]

Can anybody advise? Rhubarb, gooseberries, plums, cooking apples! When cooking them what does everybody use as a sweetener, and what's the opinion about what is best. Should we just used normal sugar and only have a very little? I know there's Stevia and there's Erythritol but I have a friend who just uses a little elderflower cordial that she keeps in the fridge. Or orange juice. Is sugar-free squash a good drink just to vary the never endingly safe plain water? Why is slimline tonic so sweet tasting compared to normal tonic and has anybody found a tasty alternative to that? Gosh I have so many questions. Any advice anybody?

I often only add the sweetener after cooking so I can test to see how much need to be added to make it acceptable. There is bad press about erythritol but I just use a tiny amount and add a bit of half spoon if it needs more.
The Canderel website goes through all the type of sweeteners they do and what they are suitable for.
I use sparkling flavoured water, I can't stand tonic.
As with all things it is how much you have, I assume you mean orange squash as orange juice is quite high carb.

 

[grovesy]

I find sweetener a very individual thing.

 

[Lucyr]

Nothing wrong with sugar free squash, you’ll have to test what works for you to decide whether to use sugar or sweetener in your cooking

 

[Pookie]

Thank you! I’ll see what squashes there are. I’m pretty sure there’s a sugar free ribena, just get so bored of water!

 

[rebrascora]

Finding a sweetener which works for you is, as @grovesy says, quite individual. Most have an horrid aftertaste to me and some seem to have hardly have any sweetness either. It is believed to be a genetic thing a bit like some people find brussel sprouts sweet and others find them bitter.
I have a whole cupboard full of various sweeteners in tablet and granular form that I have bought over the 5 years since diagnosis and barely one that is tolerable. I think Sweetex is about the best of a bad bunch for me and I tend to put several Sweetex tablets in a bowl of stewed rhubarb. I am coming to the conclusion that a little bit of sugar is a better option than a lot of sweetener which only makes it tolerable rather than enjoyable anyway. Of course I am fortunate that I have insulin so I can use that to counteract the bit of sugar I use in rhubarb. I tend to add a few raisins or sultanas to stewed apple but again, I have insulin to deal with the carbs in the dried fruit.

If you can find a sweetener which works well for you, then great, but it will very much be a question of taste trials to see what your taste buds will find enjoyable.

 

[Proud to be erratic]

Interesting query, @Pookie. When I was a youngster my Mum added some sugar or naturally found sweet alternatives to any stewed fruit (and we lived in the heart of Staffordshire where it felt that all food only grew locally) so I expected all stewed fruit to be sweet, sometimes unacceptably sweet. At some point in my late teens or very early 20s I was introduced to fruit stewed without any form of sweetening added, or if it was felt some was needed (eg rhubarb, gooseberries) then raisins or sultanas might be added. This introduced me to a wider variation of flavouring and allowed me to realise that even simple fresh fruits could have complex flavours enhanced when stewed (or poached) with other natural food types. Hence ginger rather than anything blatantly sweet with strawberries or rhubarb, to create a unique alteration of the primary fruit.

Even before I became diabetic I invariably would not add anything sweetening to even rhubarb or gooseberries. But every once in a while these seasonal crops might be exceptionally tart and thus not so acceptable. But adding a measured amount of raisins, which can become a measured amount of carbs from the packaging, to a large pan of stewing rhubarb still adds up to an almost insignificant total amount of carbs per 100gm. So even if a portion of 200gms at 2, 3 or even 6% of naturally sweetened stewed rhubarb is still only adding a small amount of carbs to the portion of dessert and as someone wholly insulin dependent even those few gms would not need me to take bolus for just that because, probably like most T2s, such a dessert would metabolise sufficiently slowly to be manageable without adding to the glucose potential for that day.

I think what I'm saying in a clumsy way is 3 things:

First you will probably always need to be more aware of those carbs that are likely to exceed your own body's ability to manage them without help. So if your immediate responses now bring you into remission in a few weeks or months time, you are still likely to need some lifestyle changes for any foreseeable future.​

Secondly being aware of which food types are big carb providers (and thus big glucose generators) and which are 'small or low' carb hitters and in the wider scheme of things insignificant. There are generalised % carb contents for pretty well all individual foodstuffs and for many food combinations before or more normally after cooking. However some of those % carb figures don't always faithfully apply to every single one of us; we are all different and sometimes get quite surprisingly different metabolism results. So you have to find these things out for yourself.​

Thirdly while my Grandmother always said look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves, I don't think that is such a good proposition for containing and/or managing carb intake. I think manage the big carbs first, in whatever way works for you, then focus on the smaller carb providing food if it's really necessary. For me stewed fruits, however sweetened, will still be small carb hitters.​

I have to take insulin, my body isn't going to help me one iota. In principle I can eat unlimited carbs and I 'just' need to inject the appropriate amount of insulin at the right time. In practice I generally avoid big doses of insulin because the bigger that dose a greater risk arises from too much or too little insulin - whether from the calculation and timing that I have some control over or the insulin injection site, insulin quality and a few other secondary aspects that are not readily in my control. So I do constantly give consideration to big carb hitters, not just a lot of the time, and I do think about swaps (eg grated cauliflower rather than rice) as well as portion sizes. This has become part of my new lifestyle. Whether T1, T2 or T3c: despite best efforts none of us can achieve ideal BG management and we all have to just gracefully accept less satisfactory days and move on to tomorrow, particularly if we want to live relatively normal lives and not become hermits.

Arguably it's much more acceptable for me, as I approach 75, to have lousy D days (which will inevitably have some accumulative consequence); but that doesn't make me blatantly neglectful of my overall health considerations. The hardest part for me, I think, is in finding a sensible balance, without becoming obsessed about it all - which I could do if I don't remind myself not to.

 

[Pookie]

Interesting query, @Pookie. When I was a youngster my Mum added some sugar or naturally found sweet alternatives to any stewed fruit (and we lived in the heart of Staffordshire where it felt that all food only grew locally) so I expected all stewed fruit to be sweet, sometimes unacceptably sweet. At some point in my late teens or very early 20s I was introduced to fruit stewed without any form of sweetening added, or if it was felt some was needed (eg rhubarb, gooseberries) then raisins or sultanas might be added. This introduced me to a wider variation of flavouring and allowed me to realise that even simple fresh fruits could have complex flavours enhanced when stewed (or poached) with other natural food types. Hence ginger rather than anything blatantly sweet with strawberries or rhubarb, to create a unique alteration of the primary fruit.

Even before I became diabetic I invariably would not add anything sweetening to even rhubarb or gooseberries. But every once in a while these seasonal crops might be exceptionally tart and thus not so acceptable. But adding a measured amount of raisins, which can become a measured amount of carbs from the packaging, to a large pan of stewing rhubarb still adds up to an almost insignificant total amount of carbs per 100gm. So even if a portion of 200gms at 2, 3 or even 6% of naturally sweetened stewed rhubarb is still only adding a small amount of carbs to the portion of dessert and as someone wholly insulin dependent even those few gms would not need me to take bolus for just that because, probably like most T2s, such a dessert would metabolise sufficiently slowly to be manageable without adding to the glucose potential for that day.

I think what I'm saying in a clumsy way is 3 things:

First you will probably always need to be more aware of those carbs that are likely to exceed your own body's ability to manage them without help. So if your immediate responses now bring you into remission in a few weeks or months time, you are still likely to need some lifestyle changes for any foreseeable future.​

Secondly being aware of which food types are big carb providers (and thus big glucose generators) and which are 'small or low' carb hitters and in the wider scheme of things insignificant. There are generalised % carb contents for pretty well all individual foodstuffs and for many food combinations before or more normally after cooking. However some of those % carb figures don't always faithfully apply to every single one of us; we are all different and sometimes get quite surprisingly different metabolism results. So you have to find these things out for yourself.​

Thirdly while my Grandmother always said look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves, I don't think that is such a good proposition for containing and/or managing carb intake. I think manage the big carbs first, in whatever way works for you, then focus on the smaller carb providing food if it's really necessary. For me stewed fruits, however sweetened, will still be small carb hitters.​

I have to take insulin, my body isn't going to help me one iota. In principle I can eat unlimited carbs and I 'just' need to inject the appropriate amount of insulin at the right time. In practice I generally avoid big doses of insulin because the bigger that dose a greater risk arises from too much or too little insulin - whether from the calculation and timing that I have some control over or the insulin injection site, insulin quality and a few other secondary aspects that are not readily in my control. So I do constantly give consideration to big carb hitters, not just a lot of the time, and I do think about swaps (eg grated cauliflower rather than rice) as well as portion sizes. This has become part of my new lifestyle. Whether T1, T2 or T3c: despite best efforts none of us can achieve ideal BG management and we all have to just gracefully accept less satisfactory days and move on to tomorrow, particularly if we want to live relatively normal lives and not become hermits.

Arguably it's much more acceptable for me, as I approach 75, to have lousy D days (which will inevitably have some accumulative consequence); but that doesn't make me blatantly neglectful of my overall health considerations. The hardest part for me, I think, is in finding a sensible balance, without becoming obsessed about it all - which I could do if I don't remind myself not to.

That's a lot of info! Thank you. I hadn't thought of using raisins as a sweetener. I was using orange juice and then was told that was quite as bad as sugar! I shall try various things out and test after doing so. But basically I was managing the diabetes well just by eating healthily and not counting anything at all until this cancer struck and it was the steroids that pushed everything off-kilter and the hospital suddenly found my BG very high & started me on Gliclazide and then when that didn't work, on insulin. And now its all unknown territory. I'll work it out, but meanwhile I am very grateful for all the advice I can get. Thank you!

 

[NotWorriedAtAll]

I use different sweeteners for different recipes. When I am baking I tend to use erythritol or allulose (I buy allulose online from a US website) when I make jam or jellies or anything that will be wet I use a couple of drops of monk fruit. When I am bread making I use a mix of inulin and sugar for the yeast to have something to work with.

I don't have sweeteners in drinks.
I have found cranberry juice in Aldi in the chilled cabinet that is very low carb (1.6g per 100ml) as it is sweetened with sucralose and I dilute it down even further by adding another carton full of water to the full carton of juice and keep it in a jug so it is even lower carb than that again.

I don't mind about using sweeteners as I find there is usually one I like for whatever purpose I require and I use such a small amount that I am not worried about any side effects. If I chugged large amounts every day in my drinks I might be worried but I mostly drink water, decaf coffee or tea without milk, or diluted unsweetened almond milk and don't eat much bread or baked sweet stuff and the amount of monk fruit drops needed is minuscule for chocolate mousse or yoghurt and chia jam.

 

[Leadinglights]

I use different sweeteners for different recipes. When I am baking I tend to use erythritol or allulose (I buy allulose online from a US website) when I make jam or jellies or anything that will be wet I use a couple of drops of monk fruit. When I am bread making I use a mix of inulin and sugar for the yeast to have something to work with.

I don't have sweeteners in drinks.
I have found cranberry juice in Aldi in the chilled cabinet that is very low carb (1.6g per 100ml) as it is sweetened with sucralose and I dilute it down even further by adding another carton full of water to the full carton of juice and keep it in a jug so it is even lower carb than that again.

I don't mind about using sweeteners as I find there is usually one I like for whatever purpose I require and I use such a small amount that I am not worried about any side effects. If I chugged large amounts every day in my drinks I might be worried but I mostly drink water, decaf coffee or tea without milk, or diluted unsweetened almond milk and don't eat much bread or baked sweet stuff and the amount of monk fruit drops needed is minuscule for chocolate mousse or yoghurt and chia jam.

Interesting about the monk fruit as I was looking and all the ones I could find were a mixture with erythritol.

 

[Dragonheart]

I try and avoid artificial sweeteners, for reasons nothing to do with diabetes, not least of which is micro biome. I use erythritol mostly as it doesn’t affect my blood glucose whereas anything with maltitol, multodextrin, dextrose etc (bulking agents in many sweeteners ) is as bad as sugar glucose level wise with added gastric side effects. Xylitol is another option I use occasionally. I dislike the taste of stevia and monk fruit but they’d be good options otherwise. My digestive system hates allulose and inulin with a passion. All I’d say is test your choice against a meter and don’t trust that because it’s zero calorie it won’t raise you.

Orange juice and raisins are sugar bombs, even used as hypo rescues and will raise glucose levels so you may as well stick to sugar in that regard imo

Way before my diagnosis I’d begun cutting the amount of sugar in any recipe, less than half in many cases. These days I do the same with alternatives too as it’s just too sweet otherwise.

I regularly use just cinnamon in my rhubarb (home grown and delicious) along with a dollop of double cream. I don’t really eat many fruits other than this or berries. I’ve had a very small amount of apple cooked with cinnamon too once in a blue moon. It works for me as a suitable alternative to sweetness.

 

[stephenS50]

I tend to be careful with sweetener to be honest.if I'm having sweetener in my decaff coffee and Rooibos tea I use silver spoons granulated sweetener.I think it's very good.

 

[Dragonheart]

I tend to be careful with sweetener to be honest.if I'm having sweetener in my decaff coffee and Rooibos tea I use silver spoons granulated sweetener.I think it's very good.

Almost all maltodextrin which has a higher gi than sugar, that over time can disrupt the gut and cause much the same glucose level response. Forced with the choice I’d take the sugar.

 

[rebrascora]

I tend to be careful with sweetener to be honest.if I'm having sweetener in my decaff coffee and Rooibos tea I use silver spoons granulated sweetener.I think it's very good.

I have coffee with double cream instead of sugar/sweetner. I always said I would rather not drink it as drink it without sugar but having it with cream is now my little daily luxury and I really really enjoy it.
Rooibos tea doesn't need sugar or sweetener in my opinion as it is less bitter than black tea. You can train yourself to drink it and enjoy it without being sweetened. I used to take sugar in tea but can manage it fine without now.

 

[Quizzy]

Most interesting contributions about sweeteners in cooking, drinking, etc. 4 months sugar free tea and coffee has not "caught on" so this morning I tried Sweetex, tooooo sweet! Thames tap water strongly chemical. Now what? I am waiting for my 3 month bood test so must not give in to temptation but will try cream in coffee, sounds good.

 

[Quizzy]

4 days later: I've made some progress! When pouring water on the tea bag I also pour water on the tiny sweetener in a separate mug and use half of that to sweeten my tea. Better than nothing and probably I am half way to weaning myself off sweet tea.