What is your favourite sugar-free sweetener?
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4031isaiah
Posts: 1,253 Member
I've been trying desperately to stay true to the Keto way of eating but fall off the wagon regularly due to my sweet tooth.
Right now, I have pure powdered Stevia concentrate and, though it kinda tastes "sweet" even in very small doses, it has a strong after taste in drinks or smoothies and it over powers the flavour of any recipe I've added it to.
I'm curious to know what others are using in place of sugar in coffee, tea or other recipes that call for sugar or sweetener.
Right now, I have pure powdered Stevia concentrate and, though it kinda tastes "sweet" even in very small doses, it has a strong after taste in drinks or smoothies and it over powers the flavour of any recipe I've added it to.
I'm curious to know what others are using in place of sugar in coffee, tea or other recipes that call for sugar or sweetener.
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I'm into liquid stevia in my coffee. Counting drops lets me dial it in pretty good.
My afternoon sports drink has sucralose & acesulfame potassium in it.
Neither makes me wanting for more sweets.
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I use Stevia when I maneuvering anything sweet added to my woe. The taste is definitely acquired, but hey all.are. ive had really bad results with sucralose0
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I have a really bad sweet tooth as well. When I absolutely NEED something that tastes sweet I go with a liquid stevia. The after taste isn't bad as long as I don't use too much. I find 4-5 drops per serving is about what I can handle. Honestly what works for me the rest of the time is almost completely abstaining from anything overtly sweet because even one bite kickstarts the addiction again. I've gotten around having sweet in my coffee by using heavy cream initially and then transitioning to canned coconut milk or bulletproof coffee. It's so creamy I don't really miss the sweet.0
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I have a really bad sweet tooth as well. When I absolutely NEED something that tastes sweet I go with a liquid stevia. The after taste isn't bad as long as I don't use too much. I find 4-5 drops per serving is about what I can handle. Honestly what works for me the rest of the time is almost completely abstaining from anything overtly sweet because even one bite kickstarts the addiction again. I've gotten around having sweet in my coffee by using heavy cream initially and then transitioning to canned coconut milk or bulletproof coffee. It's so creamy I don't really miss the sweet.
I was going to say basically the same thing. The craving for sweetness goes down significantly for many of us, though not all by just not having sweet stuff. By fighting back the cravings and breaking the "addiction". For me, just the sweet flavor of something triggers the cravings. But, I seem to be ok with sweetened coffee and tea as long as I keep it to minimum amount of sweetness. So basically, if it tastes sweet and good to me, but I'm feeling like it could be better with just a drop more sweetener... That's the right point. I don't add that drop more because in a few days I will need another drop and another drop...
In the beginning I tried making some sweet fat bombs and stuff so I could still have "treats" but it wasn't very productive to keeping my calories within goal, and I kept thinking about sweets and looking at recipes and had sweets on the brain too much. I stopped trying to satisfy the sweet tooth and reprogrammed my thought process.
Of course there are times when something sweet sounds good. Typically in the evening for me. My most often go to item is a low carb yogurt I found made by Kroger called Carb Master. If you buy the large tub of vanilla (the only flavor it comes in) you can have 8 oz with only 5g carbs. 4g of it does come from sugar, but 8 oz is a lot of yogurt! You could easily have 4 oz. I add to it 1-2 squares of 85% dark chocolate, green and black brand seems to be lowest carbs I've found ( 2.3g for 2 squares). Last night I added unsweetened, flaked coconut too and it was very good! I love coconut! That whole 8oz serving as I described is only 203 calories, 10g carbs (7net), 13g fat and 14g protein. It tastes so sweet to me since I have "retrained" my sweet sensitivity that I feel like I'm having ice cream or something. It hasn't caused me to have increased cravings either. I don't have it more than once a day in any amount. I think that's important too.
Another way I have had something sweet is making bulletproof coffee or tea. I tend to prefer tea in the evening. Lately I'm loving an apple spiced chai with some pumpkin pie spice and CO and/or butter with HWC. So good! Really taking care of my typical fall flavor cravings that spring up this time of year. I could try the pumpkin spices in the yogurt too. Haven't done that yet. You can flavor that yogurt a lot of different ways.0 -
I use liquid splenda because no matter how hard I tried or little or lot I used, stevia was just yuck to me. I use Swerve (erythritol) to bake with when I make low carb sweet treats.
Monk fruit doesn't taste too horrid, but I really like the liquid splenda. One or two drops max and it's plenty sweet.0 -
I can't do stevia either, tastes like bitter soap to me. I like splenda and erythritol. I guess I am lucky because my sweet tooth likes sweet and creamy, and keto cheesecake fluff or keto custard is the perfect desert as far as I'm concerned.0
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I use sugar free Torani syrup and CO in my coffee. When I do have a craving for something sweet I'll have an Atkins bar. I had been having french toast with sugar free syrup the past few weekends but, now I'm reading Wheat Belly and I'm not sure that's really a good idea. Not an overload of carbs in 2 slices but, dang!, all that wheat!!!!!0
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I like sweet leave flavored liquid stevia for my water (lemon lime is awesome) and truvia for anything else. Truvia is a blend of Stevia and Erythritol which masks the strange licorice flavor from Stevia. (yes I work in the food industry and have some inside knowledge)
Also, if you find you are craving too many sweet things just cut back on the artificial sweeteners. I think it spikes the craving. If I find I'm feeling too hungry and wanting simple carbs, I cut back on it and it seems to help.
Good luck!0 -
I can't do stevia either, tastes like bitter soap to me. I like splenda and erythritol. I guess I am lucky because my sweet tooth likes sweet and creamy, and keto cheesecake fluff or keto custard is the perfect desert as far as I'm concerned.
Keto Custard? Oh wow that sounds good! I'll need to google the recipe!0 -
I use liquid sucralose and Torani SF choc syrup. I take my sweetness in my coffee, I have 1 diet soda in the afternoon. And often make a sweet mug muffin for breakfast. With these, I am able to stay out of the carbage brought into the house by my rabid-carbivore family.0
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I can't do stevia either, tastes like bitter soap to me. I like splenda and erythritol. I guess I am lucky because my sweet tooth likes sweet and creamy, and keto cheesecake fluff or keto custard is the perfect desert as far as I'm concerned.
I googled that, and OMG, it looks YUM! Picking up some Torani sugar free syrup tonight if I can find it. 0 -
I'm a Splenda/sucralose girl. I tried stevia and Truvia, but just couldn't do it. I try to eat sweet stuff sparingly, so my splenda intake is pretty low, but I haven't noticed any increased sweet cravings with it.
The only low-carb "dessert" I've done so far was a cheesecake made with Splenda (crushed pecans and almonds with butter for the crust). SO GOOD.0 -
Doing keto too and the only protein shake I use is Trader Joe's soy vanilla, but when I started getting bored - I added unsweetened cocoa or cacao. Now I am experimenting with powdered almond butter (love it) and just about any product from Navitas company - they have powdered super foods - so we don't lose out on micronutrients.
Any of these must have masked the Stevia bc I don't taste it.0 -
I like Splenda and having really found anything else I like. I have a HUGE sweet tooth and every night for the past 4 nights I have had to fight to keep myself from giving in (which I have not). I know it is a habit/addiction and those take 14 days to change. I have splenda and heavy cream in my coffee every morning and it hasn't really made me crave more. I used to be big on having a candy bar or something sweet after lunch but that craving seems to have gone away now, just that night time craving now and it is difficult (luckily I have a TV show on Netflix that I have gotten totally addicted to and usually the craving will start right before I watch my nightly episode and I will get so wrapped up in the show that I forget the craving.....guess Rumplestilskin is going to help me loose weight, just hope there isn't a price for that magic---if you don't get it I'm sorry LOL)0
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Yum! The keto custard does look delicious! I will have to try that this weekend. I've been wondering what everyone uses for a sweetener, too.0
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I can only use Sweet Leaf brand Stevia - powder or liquid. Anything else either has natural flavors that trigger migraine-like headaches for me, taste horrible, have fillers that trigger my insulin resistance, result in cravings, etc.
I'm also finding that the more creative I get (I'm in LOVE with hemp protein this week), the less stuff I crave.
Also, when my cravings for sweet junk got totally out of control (all the last four weeks), I started a mid-day water fast (lunch triggered afternoon cravings for whatever reason) this week, and it's really helped cut down. I'm one of those who never imagined that I could cut out AS at all, but I'm starting to wonder if it might be possible for me after all.0 -
chaoticdreams wrote: »I can't do stevia either, tastes like bitter soap to me. I like splenda and erythritol. I guess I am lucky because my sweet tooth likes sweet and creamy, and keto cheesecake fluff or keto custard is the perfect desert as far as I'm concerned.
I googled that, and OMG, it looks YUM! Picking up some Torani sugar free syrup tonight if I can find it.
I've been pretty much eating that for a few meals per day as a part of my fat fast, and what a treat. I usually don't eat 'keto treats', and the real stuff is a major trigger for me, but I can eat a little portion of the fluff and be happy, plus it destroys cravings and hunger for hours for me. My next cooking adventure will be 'tapioca' pudding with miracle rice - if it comes even close to the real thing, I may never eat real sweets again.0 -
KnitOrMiss wrote: »I'm also finding that the more creative I get (I'm in LOVE with hemp protein this week), the less stuff I crave.
Okay... totally off topic but can you please share some recipe ideas or websites that use more hemp protein?!?! I bought a bag for one recipe and now I don't know what to do with the rest of it! I really want to use it because it's so healthy but I'm completely stuck.
Now, back to the real topic: Swerve (erythritol) is my favorite. Works for use in coffee or baking as it measures the same as real sugar.0 -
Liquid stevia in my iced tea, powdered stevia in my BPC, Sweetnlow at restaurants. I will eat SF jello, but infrequently. Sometimes, if I just gotta stomp a craving, I will eat the regular stuff and take the consequences. Luckily I am at the point where that does not happen often anymore.
(I find that if I am craving something, and I try to eat LC foods to bypass it, I just keep trying one thing after another, eating all afternoon/evening. So I have decided if eating what I crave prevents that scenario, I will just go ahead and have it, albeit a smaller portion than I used to eat.)0 -
LadyMcClure wrote: »KnitOrMiss wrote: »I'm also finding that the more creative I get (I'm in LOVE with hemp protein this week), the less stuff I crave.
Okay... totally off topic but can you please share some recipe ideas or websites that use more hemp protein?!?! I bought a bag for one recipe and now I don't know what to do with the rest of it! I really want to use it because it's so healthy but I'm completely stuck.
Now, back to the real topic: Swerve (erythritol) is my favorite. Works for use in coffee or baking as it measures the same as real sugar.
Go to www.healthfulpursuit.com. She has a ton of recipe and usually offers swaps for some of her ingredients too.0
