Halo top and erythritol

CoachJen71

I go through pots of erythritol per week. No weight gain from it, but as with many artificial sweeteners too much on any given day can make me feel bloated. (Xylitol bothers me far more that way, though. Just a pack of gum over a day leaves me in agony and reaching for the Gas-X.)

As for Halo Top, some flavors are better than others. I like their Peanut Butter cup the best so far, but have not tried all the old flavors or any of the new ones.

kathleennf

"As for Halo Top, some flavors are better than others. I like their Peanut Butter cup the best so far, but have not tried all the old flavors or any of the new ones."

^This. Exactly. I love the peanut butter cup! There's a candy-something one that's also good, and a chocolate-covered-banana that I like. Some of the other flavors, not so much.

vingogly

lporter229 wrote: »

I might be the only person on the face of the planet that thinks Halo top is just plain awful. It has a very fake sweet taste, which I assume is the erythritol? I know that it is low in calories and you can devour a whole pint for the same damage as a half cup of regular old ice cream, but I will take my meager portion of butter pecan any day.

Artificial sweeteners act differently on my palate than sugars. Stevia has a bitter aftertaste in large amounts, erythritol has a "cool" effect, the sweetness of most artificial sweeteners last longer than the sweetness of a real sugar - I suppose you might call that their sweetness "profile".

To me, Halo Top has a cloying sweetness that lasts too long in the mouth, and there's not enough fat content to give that silky smooth mouth feel I love in full-fat ice cream. I wouldn't say it's awful, but it's not worth the price or calories to me. I'd rather have the half cup of real full-fat ice cream or frozen custard.

AnvilHead

rianneonamission wrote: »

squeeeyk wrote: »

IIRC, consuming erythritol has no effect on blood sugar levels and is excreted out of the body unchanged....theoretically making it one of the few artificial sweeteners that aren't necessarily terrible for you. Is that not correct?

There is no concrete evidence through lack of good quality study data. So I suppose it's neither bad nor good: We simply don't know enough. Because even if they don't affect blood sugar levels, we don't know if they affect other things: Organs, cells, blood, gut flora, whatever. Until we have conclusive proof through a number of larger studies, we cannot say that it isn't terrible for you.

The flip side of that coin is that until we have conclusive proof through a number of larger (and properly conducted) studies, we cannot say that it IS terrible for you either.

Poisonedpawn78

stanmann571 wrote: »

jsminer827 wrote: »

I haven't read any long-term studies (in fairness, not sure it's possible given relative new-ness), but from personal experience erythritol is one of the few sugar alcohols that seem not to cause gas and bloating for me - a lot of lower calorie foods or those that are marketed as low carb use sugar alcohols in place of sugar to give the effect of sweetness without the calories and carbs. They're simply an alternative to the other, often maligned, low-calorie sweeteners on the market.

I love HaloTop - particularly the lemon cake flavor. Despite my love affair with ice cream, I don't consume it in vast quantities and I think moderation is the key to everything in life.

Without conflating the issues, I'm going to bring up aspartame... is it technically toxic? Sure, I think science has proven that... but despite my love of diet soda (which I don't drink anymore because the sweetness made me crave other sweets which was a definite contributor to my weight gain), there was never a day where I could have come close to consuming 20, 12-ounce cans which is the approximate amount required to put a 165 pound human over the limit. It's the same as eating something like 100 of those little aspartame packets - yikes.

Again, I think moderation is key. And if you aren't experiencing digestive upset, enjoy your HaloTop. Unless you have a medical condition, the proven cause for gaining weight in the long term is burning fewer calories than you consume.

I think it's closer to 200 cans or about 1 lb of powder.

The last study I read calculated it out to about 600 cans per day to reach the toxicity level. You would likely die from hyponatremia before aspartame toxicity through diet drinks.

AnvilHead

jsminer827 wrote: »

Without conflating the issues, I'm going to bring up aspartame... is it technically toxic? Sure, I think science has proven that... but despite my love of diet soda (which I don't drink anymore because the sweetness made me crave other sweets which was a definite contributor to my weight gain), there was never a day where I could have come close to consuming 20, 12-ounce cans which is the approximate amount required to put a 165 pound human over the limit. It's the same as eating something like 100 of those little aspartame packets - yikes.

Are naturally occurring amino acids which are found in every protein source toxic? Because that's what aspartame is made of - aspartate and phenylalanine.

An excellent read from a molecular biologist, more than you ever wanted to know about aspartame: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1308408/why-aspartame-isnt-scary/p1

From that post:

As mentioned phenylalanine and aspartate are naturally occuring amino acids found in all proteins. Protein is about 5.46% aspartate and about 3.6% phenylalanine on average. So let us say you have a 4oz piece of chicken breast. A small 4oz chicken breast has about 24g of protein. That means that in that chicken breast there is .036*24*1000 = 864mg of phenylalanine and .055*24*1000 = 1320mg aspartate. That means to get the same amount of aspartate and phenylalanine from diet coke as you do from one 4oz chicken breast you would have to drink 18 diet cokes. In my diet I eat around 180g of protein in a day which means to equal the amount I get from my normal diet of whole foods I would have to drink 135 cans of diet coke.

kavahni

I think the weight gain is possible because erythritol doesn’t trigger your body to signal satiation. And judging from the number of people here who talk about sitting down and eating an entire container, it may be true. I wonder if some folks are eating their entire pint of Halo Top for 260-ish calories, but moving on to other things when they don’t achieve satiety.

stind89

lporter229 wrote: »

I might be the only person on the face of the planet that thinks Halo top is just plain awful. It has a very fake sweet taste, which I assume is the erythritol? I know that it is low in calories and you can devour a whole pint for the same damage as a half cup of regular old ice cream, but I will take my meager portion of butter pecan any day.

Nope I agree, we finally found it at Bel Air and it was on sale. We were so excited and pretended to like it at first...then we admitted it was actually pretty gross. I’ll pass and stick to portion control of the good stuff.

rianneonamission

AnvilHead wrote: »

rianneonamission wrote: »

squeeeyk wrote: »

IIRC, consuming erythritol has no effect on blood sugar levels and is excreted out of the body unchanged....theoretically making it one of the few artificial sweeteners that aren't necessarily terrible for you. Is that not correct?

There is no concrete evidence through lack of good quality study data. So I suppose it's neither bad nor good: We simply don't know enough. Because even if they don't affect blood sugar levels, we don't know if they affect other things: Organs, cells, blood, gut flora, whatever. Until we have conclusive proof through a number of larger studies, we cannot say that it isn't terrible for you.

The flip side of that coin is that until we have conclusive proof through a number of larger (and properly conducted) studies, we cannot say that it IS terrible for you either.

Oh, absolutely. There is no proof. So moderation seems a sensible middle ground.

squeeeyk

I'd like to add that I bought my first pint of halo top and I have to agree that it doesn't taste like traditional ice cream. It is lacking in the creaminess department. However, it is the best alternative I have found and, since going keto, the only ice cream I consume. Side note: I'm not a huge sweets fan, never have been, and cutting sugars has only made them taste sweeter when i do encounter them....so i only eat a few spoonfulls of halo top at a time before I've had enough.

JoRocka

lporter229 wrote: »

I might be the only person on the face of the planet that thinks Halo top is just plain awful. It has a very fake sweet taste, which I assume is the erythritol? I know that it is low in calories and you can devour a whole pint for the same damage as a half cup of regular old ice cream, but I will take my meager portion of butter pecan any day.

IMHO- it's not ice cream. If I compare them- I'm disappointed- if I consider it it's own "category" I'm far less annoyed with the fact it doesn't taste like ice cream.