Alternative Sweetners
amckholmes
Posts: 119 Member
I have been eating low carb for almost a year, have lost 55 lbs and am trying to settle into maintenance. I have not eaten much made with alternative sweetners, but I want to do some baking and also keep some of the bars (love good fats, good to go) on hand in case of emergencies (like travel). Swerve, Stevia, Monk Fruit... I am overwhelmed by all the opinions but would love to hear some real world, non-compensated experience. I am not diabetic, so I’m more just trying to understand carb count and pros/cons. Thank you.
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Ok I am diabetic. And I love to bake, and have successfully converted some of my old recipes using the alternative sweeteners. I have baked cookies, breads, muffins, candies, cakes that everyone eats. Including my hubby who is not a diabetic, nor has a weight issue. And he has mentioned that he likes some of these type recipes better as the flavor comes out more. For example in peanut butter cookies.
I have tried Swerve as well as the Monkfruit, and I think it comes down to personal preferences. At this point I have decided I like the Monkfruit better, reason is I get less stomache upset from it. Now take the next person, they may not get any stomach upset from any of the artifical sweeteners, or maybe from all.
You can get Monkfruit in granular, powdered and brown. Swerve the same.
And lots of alternative flours as well. The two I like blanched almond flour, and coconut flour. Unless it is all coconut flour, I really do notice a heavy coconut flavor coming through.
Something I have learned and actually saw on a youtube recipe is that coconut flour really sucks up liquid. So if you mix up a recipe and go do something else for a few minutes you can come back and wonder why is recipe so stiff now. It will be because the coconut flour was absorbing the liquid.1 -
I pretty much exclusively cook with swerve and stevia. It comes down to preference. But from all my non keto friends who eat my deserts, they certainly don't realize it's not sugar sweetened.2
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I like Erythritol. Great for baking, tastes very similar to real sugar. Often I cannot tell the difference.
Here are some great articles for more info:
https://draxe.com/nutrition/erythritol/
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/erythritol
And here is a good breakdown on low-carb sweeteners:
https://draxe.com/nutrition/keto-sweeteners/1 -
I pretty much exclusively cook with swerve and stevia. It comes down to preference. But from all my non keto friends who eat my deserts, they certainly don't realize it's not sugar sweetened.
So true, if I do not tell people that I used an alternative sugar and or flour. None of them are the wiser. Interesting side note, my hubby who does not have a weight issue and is not diabetic like me. Has let me know that he really has noticed that some flavors are more intense and much better with cookies and breads with the alternatives. Example with peanut butter cookies he is like yes can so taste the peanut butter not overly sweet.1 -
Thank you for sharing your insight! Does everyone find that the carbs in these sweetners do not impact their quest to stay in a low carb way of eating? Is it truly “safe” to subtract the carbs from your daily intake?0
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I do not subtract sugar alcohols or carbs from artificial sweeteners from my daily carb intake.
I like stevia for baking...I don't like the flavor of the other sweeteners, they have a weird aftertaste to me.1 -
I use Swerve or monkfruit. Or stevia mixed with erythritol. My husband doesn't like the aftertaste of erythritol. It has a weird thing of making other things you eat or drink with it taste sweet even if it's not and he has to have milk with all sweets and he hates how it makes the milk taste so I use monkfruit more if he's eating it. I do find mixing stevia with erythritol takes away some of the weird aftertaste weirdness.0
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I'm just back to low carb after a hiatus but during the years I was consistently low carb I never found subtracting the sugar alcohols in erythritol to cause any issues.2
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Yes! I too noticed things taste sweet after I eat erythritol. But I generally only eat it for desert, which means when I drink my unsweetened night-time tea, it tastes sweetened, so I actually like that.2
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I like stevia for veggie smoothies and like heavy cream, cream cheese, and even sour cream is still sweet to me and adds sweetness to bitter stuff.1
