So which sweetener?
kaye300
Posts: 29 Member
So with the below post....what can we use for a sweetener???
Or maybe lesser of two evils?
Thanks!
Or maybe lesser of two evils?
Thanks!
1
Replies
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I personally like the liquid stevia1
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I like Stevia. Dry or liquid. I was thinking earlier the only kind I've tried is Trader Joe's ( which I like) but remembered a bottle of liquid Stevia from Whole Foods. I don't care for it. It has glycerin in it. I have nothing against glycerin except it's thick and oily so drips off the sides of the dropper and makes it easy to get too much.1
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I hate the taste of stevia. I wish I liked it.4
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For coffee and decaf I add dark chocolate liquid Stevia, it's very good.1
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macchiatto wrote: »I hate the taste of stevia. I wish I liked it.
If you can taste stevia at all, you're probably dumping in at least 5x more than you need.0 -
macchiatto wrote: »I hate the taste of stevia. I wish I liked it.
If you can taste stevia at all, you're probably dumping in at least 5x more than you need.
I hate Stevia too. No matter how little I use.
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SuperCarLori wrote: »macchiatto wrote: »I hate the taste of stevia. I wish I liked it.
If you can taste stevia at all, you're probably dumping in at least 5x more than you need.
I hate Stevia too. No matter how little I use.
Seriously, get pure stuff and use it by the nanopixel.
(Bet you haven't gone that little.)2 -
SuperCarLori wrote: »macchiatto wrote: »I hate the taste of stevia. I wish I liked it.
If you can taste stevia at all, you're probably dumping in at least 5x more than you need.
I hate Stevia too. No matter how little I use.
Seriously, get pure stuff and use it by the nanopixel.
(Bet you haven't gone that little.)
OK, fair enough.
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Stevia tastes super bitter to me. I like pure sucralose, very sparingly, maybe a drop or two in my tea.3
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I hate Stevia too. No matter how little I use.Stevia tastes super bitter to me. I like pure sucralose, very sparingly, maybe a drop or two in my tea.
Hmm. I'm getting seriously outnumbered here..
..
Maybe I've got mutant taste genes. Bacon doesn't send me into ketogasms, either.
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[quote)]
I hate Stevia too. No matter how little I use.Stevia tastes super bitter to me. I like pure sucralose, very sparingly, maybe a drop or two in my tea.
Hmm. I'm getting seriously outnumbered here.. ..
Maybe I've got mutant taste genes. Bacon doesn't send me into ketogasms, either.
I'm with ya on the stevia. Gotta buy one that's pure or one that's mixed with erythritol.
Ones mixed with erythritol can be used a little heavier if you want something sweeter.
Pure stevia gives you a touch of sweet with 1 drop but not so much that you can taste any bitterness. You also don't get a whole lot of sweet. But I had a goal once of reducing my sweeteners to using the absolute least possible. Sweetening to tolerance, not taste preference.
And stevia works great for that for me.3 -
Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »[quote)]
I hate Stevia too. No matter how little I use.Stevia tastes super bitter to me. I like pure sucralose, very sparingly, maybe a drop or two in my tea.
Hmm. I'm getting seriously outnumbered here.. ..
Maybe I've got mutant taste genes. Bacon doesn't send me into ketogasms, either.
I'm with ya on the stevia. Gotta buy one that's pure or one that's mixed with erythritol.
Ones mixed with erythritol can be used a little heavier if you want something sweeter.
Pure stevia gives you a touch of sweet with 1 drop but not so much that you can taste any bitterness. You also don't get a whole lot of sweet. But I had a goal once of reducing my sweeteners to using the absolute least possible. Sweetening to tolerance, not taste preference.
And stevia works great for that for me.
I have the sweetleaf organic pure powder. I am giving it another go per bunny's perlmutter thread. I'll give it a good healthy try....again....2 -
A tip - you can crash through the Amazon product reviews and get a lot of good tips.
@Sunny_Bunny_ 's concept of using sweeteners to make food palatable rather than sweet is a helpful orientation.
(For T2Ds, the mere stimulation of sweetness taste receptors can wake up the blood glucose machinery in your pancreas, which raises your BG through the release of glucagon)5 -
A tip - you can crash through the Amazon product reviews and get a lot of good tips.
@Sunny_Bunny_ 's concept of using sweeteners to make food palatable rather than sweet is a helpful orientation.
(For T2Ds, the mere stimulation of sweetness taste receptors can wake up the blood glucose machinery in your pancreas, which raises your BG through the release of glucagon)
I've also read that the sweet taste can trigger an insulin reaction...4 -
I'm not exactly sure, but I don't believe the taste alone directly triggers an insulin release, meaning that the insulin reaction - a delayed one in many T2Ds - would be provoked by the earlier glucagon release. (Memory very hazy, but I think I picked this up from an YT lecture by a Cleveland Clinic endocrinologist....)1
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Liquid Stevia for me especially for sweetening coffee, plain Greek yogurt, melted dark chocolate when making desserts/fat bombs, etc. Hazelnut flavor in my coffee, vanilla in my yogurt, clear/chocolate/or vanilla in my desserts. I even used peppermint one time in some mint ice cream but those didn't turn out well because the recipe also called for mint extract so it was too much mint.
For baking or for some other fat bomb recipes I use Erythitol and Swerve.0 -
I'm in the no sweetener camp, as a diabetic I'm just better off learning to live without any extra sweetness in my life. But I did want to share that (a) it's surprising how much your tastes change when you cut sugar out, things you wouldn't have thought of as sweet suddenly taste very sweet (carrots for example) and (b) there are lots of non-fake-sugar things you can add to tea, coffee and water to add flavour - cinnamon sticks, mint leaves, lemon, cucumber, berries, coconut, star anise, ginger, lemongrass (take a mallet and smash it first).
I never ever ever thought I could live without any type of sweetener in my tea and coffee, I had a tablespoon of sugar in every cup for years and years. But now it literally tastes gross to me with sugar.
But I get that it's a hard step to make. If you have to add something, go the liquid extract route first, there's less added crap in it, the powder stuff and tablets are full of questionable fillers.3 -
PaleoInScotland wrote: »
I never ever ever thought I could live without any type of sweetener in my tea and coffee, I had a tablespoon of sugar in every cup for years and years. But now it literally tastes gross to me with sugar.
But I get that it's a hard step to make. If you have to add something, go the liquid extract route first, there's less added crap in it, the powder stuff and tablets are full of questionable fillers.
I've been trying to do completely no sugar in my coffee or tea this week, since I found out I can't hack the stevia....but I just don't think I'm there yet.....
I'm not enjoying either without some sort of sweetness to it.....I don't need it to be super sugary, but
Edited to say: I haven't used any sugar since starting keto....just stevia, and was thinking about cutting out all sweeteners of any kind, but now I just don't know if I will be able to or not....LOL0 -
Stevia tastes odd to me. I use sucrolose sweetners. I know there are issues but my weight outweighs them.1
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About those funny Stevia tastes...
From a pure stevia extract product insert:Tip - This stevia powder is very potent and very sweet. If you find yourself experiencing a bitter after-taste, this is a good indicator that too much stevia is being used at one time.Remember, just one tablespoon of our stevia powder is equivalent to a full cup of real sugar!
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How about no sugar or any artificial sweeteners? Once you give them up, anything sweetened tastes disgusting.2
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I'm not exactly sure, but I don't believe the taste alone directly triggers an insulin release, meaning that the insulin reaction - a delayed one in many T2Ds - would be provoked by the earlier glucagon release. (Memory very hazy, but I think I picked this up from an YT lecture by a Cleveland Clinic endocrinologist....)
The smell or even memory of a food can start the whole process, especially for folks with insulin and glucose issues. If something is strong enough to cause your saliva to start, the body goes, "Oh, yeah, I remember this!" And it releases insulin in anticipation of the food it believes is coming, it starts the stomach acid production up (saliva starts this process), and all of that. It's part of the reason chewing gum can be such a problem for digestion (it uses up valuable stomach acids because it thinks you are having food between the smell, flavor, and chewing action)...
Because once you are hungry, that means that insulin is present in your blood stream and telling your body "we need glucose, please." It's part of the reason I am glad my boyfriend vapes scents that don't appeal to me 99% of the time. Even the smell of his vapor that is appealing can make me hungry, even if I wasn't before he started...
It's frustrating, but it's getting better as I improve my insulin sensitivity.1 -
Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »[quote)]
I hate Stevia too. No matter how little I use.Stevia tastes super bitter to me. I like pure sucralose, very sparingly, maybe a drop or two in my tea.
Hmm. I'm getting seriously outnumbered here.. ..
Maybe I've got mutant taste genes. Bacon doesn't send me into ketogasms, either.
I'm with ya on the stevia. Gotta buy one that's pure or one that's mixed with erythritol.
Ones mixed with erythritol can be used a little heavier if you want something sweeter.
Pure stevia gives you a touch of sweet with 1 drop but not so much that you can taste any bitterness. You also don't get a whole lot of sweet. But I had a goal once of reducing my sweeteners to using the absolute least possible. Sweetening to tolerance, not taste preference.
And stevia works great for that for me.
I'm a huge HUGE fan of this. I always say, "sweeten to tolerance, not to taste." My guy made fun of my for a while because of the 4 diet sodas I had over the course of a year, I had to cut them half and half with water because they were intolerably sweet! I just sweeten enough to take the edge off of something. If I find after I've finished something that I immediately want another serving (food, drink, whatever), it was likely too sweet or had a trigger substance in it. The exception is when it was a warm beverage and I'm cold so it was comforting regardless of substance (or vice versa, etc.)...
And I agree with @PaleoInScotland too... I'm constantly shocked at how sweet some things taste now. I'll tell my guy something is super sweet, and he'll look at me like I'm crazy. We had some Chinese not long ago, and I was like, "wow, there's some serious sugar in that sauce." Not having low carbed or ever given up his sugary crap, he thought I was completely insane. And that is even at higher carb levels now and admitting that I've embraced my sugar demons and had some binge relapses in the last several months, I can still tell the sweeter tastes in many things...
EDITED TO ADD: And I'm a fan of Sweet Leaf products...but I also find that things like Pyure (erythritol and stevia) are okay, but I never could do Truvia. I find that liquid sucralose doesn't bother me the same way that powdered does (due to the dextrose/maltodextrin issues, likely). Xylitol I only get in supplements (B12 lozenges) and toothpaste, but I'm not a fan. Make sure to add a dash of salt with any sweeteners. It balances bitter edges and allows you to use less. Also, combining sweeteners hits different parts of the taste buds, which allows you to get more flavor impact with less actual sweetener. But be careful of anything with "natural flavors" listed on the label. It means it's generally something they don't want to tell you is there. I have no idea what it is in Walden Farms products, but I get mind-exploding headaches with the barest taste. Same with the liquid stevia in a green squeeze bottle (WM generic) while the sucralose (also WM generic with natural flavors) did not trigger me. Some Sweet Leaf products have this too, but with them, it tends to be some proprietary nonsense, as I've never had it trigger headaches...0 -
While I was doing my reading on sweeteners (natural and artificial) I came across one point that I thought was extremely interesting and could be another plus to quit them all together if possible....This was in regards to erythritol specifically but could probably apply to other sweeteners as well.
"Triggering obesity. When eating, the body releases hormones that reduce your appetite. but this is different from erythritol that does not give effect to the body. because sugar alcohols largely undigested through the body, the body will not have the same satiate signal as you would with a conventional sweet foods. This means you will continue to feel hungry even after consuming erythritol. In contrast to sugar from another source, this will certainly lead to obesity."
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While I was doing my reading on sweeteners (natural and artificial) I came across one point that I thought was extremely interesting and could be another plus to quit them all together if possible....This was in regards to erythritol specifically but could probably apply to other sweeteners as well.
"Triggering obesity. When eating, the body releases hormones that reduce your appetite. but this is different from erythritol that does not give effect to the body. because sugar alcohols largely undigested through the body, the body will not have the same satiate signal as you would with a conventional sweet foods. This means you will continue to feel hungry even after consuming erythritol. In contrast to sugar from another source, this will certainly lead to obesity."
The observation is interesting... but the crude conclusion omits the exception for us ketophiles (and others who are able to control their eating patterns or don't experience the same triggers).1 -
While I was doing my reading on sweeteners (natural and artificial) I came across one point that I thought was extremely interesting and could be another plus to quit them all together if possible....This was in regards to erythritol specifically but could probably apply to other sweeteners as well.
"Triggering obesity. When eating, the body releases hormones that reduce your appetite. but this is different from erythritol that does not give effect to the body. because sugar alcohols largely undigested through the body, the body will not have the same satiate signal as you would with a conventional sweet foods. This means you will continue to feel hungry even after consuming erythritol. In contrast to sugar from another source, this will certainly lead to obesity."
The observation is interesting... but the crude conclusion omits the exception for us ketophiles (and others who are able to control their eating patterns or don't experience the same triggers).
I agree.....0 -
But it stands to reason that if your hunger is increased, so too likely is your insulin level (insulin levels are supposed to be what drives hunger - your glucose dips, body releases insulin to tell you you're hungry, etc.) in anticipation of glucose, and that will STOP fat burning on the spot...until the insulin/glucose situation is handled. So the correlation above is ... seconded? ... I guess...
So even though we can control the hunger itself, the insulin reaction of stopping fat burning, etc. still happens...1 -
While I was doing my reading on sweeteners (natural and artificial) I came across one point that I thought was extremely interesting and could be another plus to quit them all together if possible....This was in regards to erythritol specifically but could probably apply to other sweeteners as well.
"Triggering obesity. When eating, the body releases hormones that reduce your appetite. but this is different from erythritol that does not give effect to the body. because sugar alcohols largely undigested through the body, the body will not have the same satiate signal as you would with a conventional sweet foods. This means you will continue to feel hungry even after consuming erythritol. In contrast to sugar from another source, this will certainly lead to obesity."
The observation is interesting... but the crude conclusion omits the exception for us ketophiles (and others who are able to control their eating patterns or don't experience the same triggers).
I agree.....
Did the article happen to mention stevia?0 -
I've decided to go completely 'sweetness free' apart from the occasional diet drink, which in the UK are usually sweetened with Aspartame or acesulphame. I've had a bottle for about 2 weeks now that I can only take a couple of swallows at a time from because it just tastes so damn sweet - far too sweet for my adapted tastebuds! As I have inherited our family trait of an incredibly powerful sweet tooth I felt it was necessary to try and avoid anything which might fire it up and cause me to cheat - last time I went keto I was still eating sugar free, artificially sweetened desserts and ended up dipping into the biscuit jar because my sweet tooth got the better of me!3
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While I was doing my reading on sweeteners (natural and artificial) I came across one point that I thought was extremely interesting and could be another plus to quit them all together if possible....This was in regards to erythritol specifically but could probably apply to other sweeteners as well.
"Triggering obesity. When eating, the body releases hormones that reduce your appetite. but this is different from erythritol that does not give effect to the body. because sugar alcohols largely undigested through the body, the body will not have the same satiate signal as you would with a conventional sweet foods. This means you will continue to feel hungry even after consuming erythritol. In contrast to sugar from another source, this will certainly lead to obesity."
The observation is interesting... but the crude conclusion omits the exception for us ketophiles (and others who are able to control their eating patterns or don't experience the same triggers).
I agree.....
Did the article happen to mention stevia?
No...this article was specifically regarding the pros and cons of erythritol.1
