Sugar substitutes and Type 2 Diabetes.

[Kaido]

Thanks Kaido, I too have tried a lot of them, and each one seem to have a downside. (taste, GI, cost, liquid nature (ugh). I will try the beet sugar, it is one of the few I have not tried. ThanksI have tried Coconut in muffins and coffee, seem fine (Wholesome Sweeteners brand).
Sorry to hi-Jack Remobz

Beet sugar is 1:1 with sugarcane sugar, tastes the same, just happens to be from a sugarbeet (vegetable) instead of a sugarcane plant (grass & grain family). I'm allergic to grains, so most sugary stuff is out for me. So beet sugar isn't so much a weird sugar as much as you're either eating that or sugarcane sugar in commercial processed food products & don't know it; it's used interchangeably in the food industry. I buy mine off Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Now-Foods-Beet...dp/B000MGWI1G/

As far as coconut sugar goes, the quality really varies. I've tried three brands; two were terrible, and one was passable (Madhava). Like you said, it's not so bad if you mix it into stuff. Date sugar is horrifically bad (not date palm, this is from date fruit, different things). There's also some more obscure ones like maple sugar & honey powder, plus the alternatives like monk fruit, stevia, erythritol, xylitol, inulin, and some other ones I forget. My catch is that I'm allergic to corn (grain) & they use a lot of corn fillers & sweeteners in a lot of them for texture & to amplify the flavor (dextrose, glucose, etc.), so those are usually no good for me.

 

[Kaido]

Thanks Kaido, I too have tried a lot of them, and each one seem to have a downside. (taste, GI, cost, liquid nature (ugh). I will try the beet sugar, it is one of the few I have not tried. ThanksI have tried Coconut in muffins and coffee, seem fine (Wholesome Sweeteners brand).
Sorry to hi-Jack Remobz

Also, what are your goals? Are you diabetic? I have a couple friends who are diabetic & still eat junk food, but they always have like a protein snack beforehand so they don't have to crash or do insulin or whatever. Sounds like especially for Type II sufferers, you can manage it through some planning - keep some beef jerky & PB crackers in your desk as sugar payload balances before you eat a cupcake or whatever.

I was on the opposite end of the spectrum, low blood sugar (hypoglycemic). I struggled with sugars because I was always craving them & always crashing. As it turns out, I'm not only allergic to sugarcane, but the corn allergy specifically caused a very strong sugar addiction. I had a misconception that sugar was basically evil, when in fact it was just an allergy & there are plenty of alternatives available. I see no issues with sugar in moderation, provided you don't have an allergy (or special needs like preloading protein if you're sensitive to sugar).

I also did a fruitarian diet for fun over the summer, which is basically pure sugar since you're just eating tons of (fruit) sugar all the time - 3,000 calories a day, minimum. Zero problems after doing it for six months or so, thanks to the high fiber & low fat content. So sugar is more complex than just "sugar isn't good for you". I would say refined sugar in excess quantities isn't good for you, but in moderation, and barring any special allergy or diabetic or whatever needs you may have, meh.

And thanks to the Internet, Whole Foods, and so on, there are plenty of alternative sweeteners available. Plus, there are lots of great recipes out there that are fantastic & don't use refined sugar. This is one of my favorites: (actually tastes GOOD, not "healthy" haha)

http://detoxinista.com/2013/09/healthy-snickers-bars-vegan/

 

[HOSED]

You post very interesting material Kaido. I am a 58 year old man who is fairy healthy, on no medications, 5'8 '' and 150 LBS. My goal is to maintain where I am at now but would like to find out if I have any food allergies ( I have numerous drug allergies) . How did you find out about your corn allergy from an alternative physician (Holistic)? That is what I am looking for. I find my conventional doctor spends too little time with me and does very limited blood work (I imagine due to pressure from my insurance company). A1C, Vitamin D levels, B12 levels, stomach acid are all things I would like to know among many others. EOR (end of rant)

 

[Kaido]

You post very interesting material Kaido. I am a 58 year old man who is fairy healthy, on no medications, 5'8 '' and 150 LBS. My goal is to maintain where I am at now but would like to find out if I have any food allergies ( I have numerous drug allergies) . How did you find out about your corn allergy from an alternative physician (Holistic)? That is what I am looking for. I find my conventional doctor spends too little time with me and does very limited blood work (I imagine due to pressure from my insurance company). A1C, Vitamin D levels, B12 levels, stomach acid are all things I would like to know among many others. EOR (end of rant)

In a nutshell: allergy tests only work sometimes, not 100% of the time. I am severely allergic to dairy & gluten, mildly allergic to corn, and minorly allergic to the remaining grains (sugarcane, rice, etc.). The best way to do it is to do the elimination diet - basically just eat really basic foods (chicken with no sauce, steamed veggies, etc.) for a few weeks & see how you feel, then start introducing the major allergens back in (the big 8 common ones are dairy, gluten, soy, peanut butter, etc.).

Do you have any specific problems? I had a bunch of minor things - regular headaches, fatigue, insomnia, non-focus, that sort of stuff, all the time randomly. I had no idea it was from food. I feel very good all the time now when I'm careful about what I eat & when I go to bed early.

 

[Art&Science]

I was 295 pounds and diagnosed as type 2 diabetic in January of last year. I lost 65 pounds and clinically speaking I am no longer diabetic, my A1C is now 5.1. My fasting blood glucose level is typically around 90.

One thing I did to lose weight was remove all refined sugars from my diet. This was really hard. I did not replace them with artificial sweeteners though because I was trying to alter my behaviour permanently, not continue the same behavior with a substitute.

I'm still losing weight, my target weight is 190 pounds. If I decide I want something sweet, I just have the real thing. If I want a Coke, I have one. If I want sugar in my coffee, I put it in. The different now is, I might have a 12 ounce coke once a week, maybe twice. I might put half a tea spoon of sugar in my coffee once a week. I have found that this does not affect my blood glucose levels negatively.

YMMV.

 

[xXandra]

Honey and fresh fruits are my favorite sweeteners.

 

[Kaido]

I was 295 pounds and diagnosed as type 2 diabetic in January of last year. I lost 65 pounds and clinically speaking I am no longer diabetic, my A1C is now 5.1. My fasting blood glucose level is typically around 90.

One thing I did to lose weight was remove all refined sugars from my diet. This was really hard. I did not replace them with artificial sweeteners though because I was trying to alter my behaviour permanently, not continue the same behavior with a substitute.

I'm still losing weight, my target weight is 190 pounds. If I decide I want something sweet, I just have the real thing. If I want a Coke, I have one. If I want sugar in my coffee, I put it in. The different now is, I might have a 12 ounce coke once a week, maybe twice. I might put half a tea spoon of sugar in my coffee once a week. I have found that this does not affect my blood glucose levels negatively.

YMMV.

Nice, congrats! In terms of sugar substitutes, it's interesting to see how many alternative, but not necessarily artificial, sweeteners are coming to the market. There's neat stuff like vegan-friendly apple-based "honey":

http://beefreehonee.com/

And similar liquid white-sugar substitutes that also use fruit, like Sweet Freedom: (apples, grapes, and carob)

http://www.sweetfreedom.co.uk/index.php/sweet-freedom-original

And then there's really interesting products like Sukrin Gold, which is an alternative to brown sugar, which uses a blend of alternative sweeteners to create a pretty decent product: (it's a mix of cornstarch-based erythritol, tagtose, glycerol, gluten-free malt extract, and stevia)

http://sukrin.com/en/sukrin-gold/about-sukrin-gold/

I think you took an excellent approach though, it really is all about lifestyle change. It's okay to have a treat once in awhile, but it's so easy to get addicted without even realizing it. Like half of my coworkers show up with a Coke, Pepsi, Red Bull, or Monster energy drinks for breakfast & don't think anything of it. It's funny how you get flack if you smoke or drink too much or eat too much, but if you're constantly chugging sugary caffeinated drinks all day, that's totally acceptable, despite some of the leading causes of deaths in the United States being heart disease & diabetes.

 

[StinkyPinky]

The stuff in diet soda is no good, at least for me. I noticed weight loss after I stopped drinking it. I think it just tricks your body into thinking you're taking sugar anyway.

 

[shortylickens]

The stuff in diet soda is no good, at least for me. I noticed weight loss after I stopped drinking it. I think it just tricks your body into thinking you're taking sugar anyway.

It does. Thats what I was talking about up there.

 

[Ancalagon44]

I read up on diet soda vs soda last weekend. The scientific research seems to go both ways. I mean, it doesn't seem to spike insulin levels, but is still correlated with obesity and heart disease.

So I've decided to give up soda and diet soda, much as I love my Coke. I'll have it on special occasions only.

What I've decided to do, and on weekends only, is make my own soda. I'm going to make syrups and then mix those with sparkling water/soda water. That way, I can control exactly what goes into them. I plan to make the resulting drinks FAR less sweet than Coke. And no artificial sweeteners.