Going Sugar Free?

[BRCoats]

I am thinking about going sugar free. Why? Well, it's certainly not because I want to!!!!! But....seems like I do really awful on it. My doc has me on some meds for insulin resistance, and it does help stabalize my blood sugar, but....well....I get a yucky acid feeling in my tummy when I eat it. Problem is....I NEED CHOCOLATE!!! Anyway, how many of your are sugar free in addition to gluten free? Did you feel it made any difference in your health? And....what kind of things do you eat when you have a sweet tooth? Is there such a thing as sugar free chocolate (that actually tastes GOOD)? Any suggestions on what to eat that is sugar free are greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Brenda

[jendenise]

First off, I am so sorry you even have to think about going sugar free. I'm not, and can't fathom doing it, but my mom's fiancee is diabetic and there are some really good sugar free candies available in normal stores and health food stores. Diabeticfriendly.com has sugar free chocolate covered cherries that are good too, as well as many other sugar free products we haven't tried. Watch out for the gluten though! I hope you don't have to go sugar free for good, maybe just short term until your stomach has time to heal and then you can try sugar again? I hope so.

[jendenise]

First off, I am so sorry you even have to think about going sugar free. I'm not, and can't fathom doing it, but my mom's fiancee is diabetic and there are some really good sugar free candies available in normal stores and health food stores. Diabeticfriendly.com has sugar free chocolate covered cherries that are good too, as well as many other sugar free products we haven't tried. Watch out for the gluten though! I hope you don't have to go sugar free for good, maybe just short term until your stomach has time to heal and then you can try sugar again? I hope so.

[BRCoats]

Oh yummy....I love chocolate covered cherries! I wonder what they use instead of sugar though, because I'm not that crazy about ingesting a bunch of artificial sweeteners either. Thank you for the website, I'll definitely check it out. My doc actually put me on the blood sugar stabilizer because of polycystic ovary syndrome. Seems as though they're having great results with the insulin meds curing the ovarian cysts (odd, huh?). Well...when he put me on that, my stomach started getting better - MUCH better. I'm not even on my acid reducer anymore, which is something I thought would NEVER happen. Guess all this stuff is intertwined somehow. I have diabetes in my family, and wouldn't doubt that I'm borderline, although I've never been tested. I don't see a reason to test myself.....if going sugar free takes care of the problem, that's as good as a positive test result to me.

I'm with you.....hopefully it will be short term.

Brenda

[tarnalberry]

If you just can't have much sugar, you might be able to have small amounts of dark chocolate. It's an aquired taste (or was for me), but a quarter serving (which still isn't a tiny piece) of Tropical Source chocolate has... I think around 4 grams of sugar. ('Cause it's dark chocolate, and not as sweet. ;-) )

[BRCoats]

Hmmm....I would definitely have to acquire a taste for it. I'm not that fond of it - not sweet enough. Thanks for the suggestion.

Brenda

[tarnalberry]

That's what I used to think. I used to HATE dark chocolate - with a passion. Thought the stuff was just plain nasty. Turns out the brand makes a HUGE difference, and tropical source is fairly good, but it is still an aquired taste - one that I aquired a little bit at a time.

[FreyaUSA]

Brenda, have you thought of altering your diet ( okay, that's a hoot when talking with people who've gone gluten-free) ...anyway, altering it to regulate your sugar levels rather than go sugar free, which is kind of a way of temporarily taking care of the symptoms but leaving the overall problem there. Six months ago, me, my husband and a friend of ours went on the south beach diet to lose a little weight, but mostly to alter how we were eating AND, most especially, because we'd heard it was supposed to positively impact cholesteral and diabetes (our friend had 225 cholesterol while on meds and was told he tested pre-diabetic.) Three months later, we'd all lost the weight we'd wanted, but his cholesterol dropped to 115 and his blood sugars were no longer in the danger zone (I'm not as up on this as I could be, sorry.) Anyway, we still eat in the manner in which we'd learned on the diet, low gylcemic foods, eating more often (I have to eat every 2 hours or my blood sugar bottoms out on me,) basically taking control. We do eat real sugar sweet treats. The diet "plan" for us is now just a guideline, eat whole foods, fruits, vegis, lean meats, lowfat dairy, etc. And I've learned what foods I'm most sensitive to.

Okay, there. I said it and I'll stop now.

[jendenise]

BRcoats, I just found out I have a total of 6 ovarian cysts on both ovaries. It just recently started bothering me so I had CT scans done and lo and behold total of 6. If these blood sugar stabilizer meds help I would love to ask my md about them. I don't want anymore problems and if this helps i'd love to know about it!

[BRCoats]

I would definitely ask him! There's some info on the web too, although I don't have the exact addresses. Just punch in polycystic ovary disease, and it should bring something up. I am on a natural blood sugar med....called gymnema sylvestre (I think that's the right spelling). The prescription meds are called metformin, and glucophage. I would go with the herb first, of course. But it's an individual choice.

Good luck. Let me know how it turns out!!

Brenda

[jendenise]

And these are definitely Gluten Free? Thanks so much!

[BRCoats]

Well...if I had gone on the prescription meds, I would have made sure. But since I didn't, I don't know for positive. The herb I take is gluten free, although not every manufacturer of that herb is necessarily gluten-free. You'd just have to check. The one I take says right on the bottle that's it is gluten-free.

Brenda

[kabowman]

Here I was thinking the idea of having to give up sugar (carbs) in addition to the gluten, casien/lactose, corn, peanuts, and soy beans would be HORRIBLE! I was really feeling for you. Well, latest blood tests came back with elevated blood sugar levels so guess what, I now get to eliminate sugar too.

As to non-artificial sweeteners, you can use Spenda (which of course, I don't like or think tastes anything like sugar) which is a real sugar product. Apparently I will have to adjust. My husband and oldest son LOVE the stuff.

Also, there is a swedish chocolate - low carb - dark chocolate.

-Kate

[BRCoats]

I have heard of Splenda. What exactly is it? And I'm assuming it's gluten-free? Why don't you like it? Does it not raise blood sugar levels?

Hope that's not too many questions.

Brenda

[tarnalberry]

Splenda is essentially just a mirror image, molecularly speaking, of sucrose (table sugar), which the body doens't have the ability to break down. (The enzyme won't fit the molecule backwards.)

There was a study not too long ago that artificial sweeteners, in general, may cause problems with the body's ability to regulate the hunger feeling, but it has not been shown to raise blood sugar levels. I still primarily avoid it, being an artificially created food and not tasting quite the same, but plenty of people use it with no problems at all.

(Funny story, a friend of mine was trying Atkins, and using Splenda when it first came out. I've noted in the past how I can instantly tell if something has artificial sweetener in it - even just by smell - and he said there was no way I'd be able to tell the difference between Splenda and sugar. So we made lemonade - one glass with sugar, one glass with the equivalent amount of Splenda. He couldn't tell the difference, and most of the other people couldn't, but I got it right on the first try...)

[FreyaUSA]

I grabbed this from the Splenda website.

SPLENDA

[tarnalberry]

oops, sorry about the mistaken chemistry there... I remember _something_ being a mirror image of the molecule they were trying to replaces, but apparently had forgotten that Splenda was the one with the replacement chlorines. ;-) (this is what you get for being a physical sciences junkie... lots of useless information that gets jumbled in your head! ;-) )

[BRCoats]

Hmmm.....sooo.....is Splenda bad for you?? Kind of sounds like it's not that great of a thing to put in your system.

[FreyaUSA]

Actually, splenda is about as innocuous as an artificial sweetener can get and it tastes much better, imo, than the others. It has been thoroughly tested and again, imo, is okay to use. I do and will continue to do so. It's a personal choice.

[tarnalberry]

Yeah, I didn't mean to imply it's bad for you, more that I'm looney about artificial ingredients. ;-) As artificial sweeteners go, yeah, it probably is the most inoccuous. I wouldn't eat pounds of it a day - your digestive system won't like you :-) - but regular use won't be a problem for most people. (I'm sure there's someone out there who doesn't react well to Splenda, but it's definitely rare.)

[BRCoats]

So, if I wanted to make brownies with Splenda instead of sugar, would I use the same amount?

[FreyaUSA]

If you buy the bulk type (not the kind in little packets) then, yes, it's cup for cup. I find, however, if you use half sugar and half splenda, the artificial taste is nearly undetectable.

[glen4cindy]

Okay, now I have not read EVERY post in this topic, so this may be repeated later on, but, my wife is a type 1 diabetic, so I have some exerience in this subject.

My wife is on Metaglip 2x daily plus insulin as needed. My wife is also disabled, and exercises often. She has to use a pool to exercise because of some injuries she sustained, but, exercise is a terrific way to keep your blood sugar under control.

Another thing to avoid is low fat foods, salad dressing being a BIG offender. You would think that Low Fat, Fat Free, or whatever they call it would be really good, but, if you check the label, they use SUGAR to replace the lost "taste" that making it fat free removes.

Nutra-Sweet, the BLUE packet, and 99% of diet drinks contain this agent. Nutra-Sweet is a migraine headache trigger. I had to stop using diet drinks and the blue stuff for that very reason. I was having 2 to 3 BAD migraine headaches every week. I only stated on the diet drink kick because it was stupid to me to buy 2 different cases/6-packs etc. of soda all the time.

I am not trying to discourage you by any means, but, just keep this information in mind when you go sugar free.

Best of luck to you. Hope you find health!