the problem with low-carb everything

[quietann]

So, hell, I'm diabetic; I was aware of the glycemic index before any of this Atkins or South Beach craze started. I'd eaten "diabetic" ice cream and candy, which is basically exactly the same as the low carb stuff (uses sugar alcohols for sweetener), but hated it. It never tasted right, and it upset my digestive system. And while my blood glucose wouldn't rise immediately, some hours later it would go through the roof.

So now that all these "low net carb" products are available, I've been trying a few. Here are my conclusions:

1. Sucralose (the "left-handed sugar") is disgusting. It's far worse than Nutra-sweet in my book, but I am worried that manufacturers are going to drop Nutra-sweet in favor of sucralose, because (so far) there isn't a rampant "I'm ALLERGIC to sucralose!" cult, and sucralose is cheaper.
   
2. Sugar alcohols (maltitol, sorbitol, etc.) still taste bad, and still send my digestive system into rebellion, with unpleasant effects on me and everyone around me. I don't want to have to take an anti-diarrhea or anti-gas product just to enjoy a sweet treat.
   
3. WRT number 2, a calorie is still a calorie is still a calorie. If you're eating stuff sweetened with sugar alcohols instead of sugar, you're still eating calories even if the stuff is "low net carb." These products used to be labeled "not for weight control" and also had a warning about diarrhea. Not any more... Then again, if you're on Atkins, you're probably not getting much fiber anyway, and sugar alcohols will loosen you up right quick :)
   

Of course if I do end up having celiac, this will be a non-issue, because most of the "low carb" foods also have wheat or some other source of gluten...

Comments

gluten?

[cthulhia]

I don't eat a lot of stuff with wheat products. then again, I don't eat a lot of packaged foods anymore, "low carb" or not. That rather misses the point of trying to eat healthier.

Sucralose was tested outside the US for decades. I definitely prefer its taste over Nutrasweet. Although I don't have bad reactions to either, I am trying to make sure I don't consumer too much of any of those. I'm with you on the laxative qualities of the sugar alcohols, which, in fact, has been useful in times of "What? how is two green salads a day Not Enough Fiber?" GI moments.

Re: gluten?

[quietann.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you were on my friends list in early September, but somewhere back there is a post that explains how it came to be discovered that I may have celiac disease (which is basically an autoimmune problem that causes gluten intolerance). I have an endoscopy tomorrow to (hopefully) confirm or disconfirm this.

As for food... yeah, I'd kind of like to eat less processed food. I rather suspect that gluten intolerance may force me to, if that's what's going on. I'll keep my diet soda, though.... gotta have ONE bad dietary habit :)

I've discovered that I like potatoes (microwaved) with broccoli and a little shredded cheese as a meal, or just the broccoli and cheese as a side dish. This is the kind of thing I'd like to be eating every day... give up the frozen food and so forth...

Not quite

[madbodger.livejournal.com]

Sucralose isn't just an invert sugar (as the marketers would have us believe). It's
actually a chlorinated sugar, which is a much more dangerous animal.

I wish the manufacturers would resubmit cyclamates for approval as an artificial
sweetener -- their drawbacks were much fewer than most of the modern ones,
and they actually tasted nice.

Re: Not quite

[klingonlandlady.livejournal.com]

Yeah, i recall hearing that sucralose was actually dangerous and nasty- I'm trying to stay away from it. Stevia is a little bitter, but i'm not as suspicious of it.

[gingicat]

With the PCOS diagnosis, I've been allowing myself a little sugar-alcohol-sweetened chocolate or ice cream every now and again. Sucralose *only* tastes good in chocolate, IMO.

But, again because of the PCOS, I have to stay away from low-density lipids, so it's not like I can go hog-wild on low-carb things, which also have an awful lot of saturated fat.

So, whole wheat bread, brown rice, beans, and the like have become a much larger part of my diet. And whole fruits (alas, most of my favorites have to be cooked because of allergies). No fruit *juice*, on the advice of my doctor. And so far the PCOS hasn't turned into type II diabetes, and I feel better.

sugar dilemma

[wren13.livejournal.com]

Now me, I'm kind of allergic to sugar (the right handed kind), and definitely have a bad reaction to Nutrosweet (like I need anymore short term memory loss), so I'm stuck with saccharin and sucralose. Can't make a cheesecake that I can actually eat without sucralose. I would like to hear more about the dangers, though. Mostly, I just don't eat any sweets anymore.