paigepea
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Jun 26, 2014 4:28:55 GMT
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Post by paigepea on Jan 24, 2020 14:17:44 GMT
Dh is trying to cut out added sugar. It doesn’t bother me even though I do all of the cooking. He is in pretty good shape but his family has a history of diabetes so I think he’s just feeling...closer to older. It won’t last and he won’t stick 100% but I’m trying to be supportive. I made a sugar free date square that he enjoyed last week. I’d like to make some muffins. I read that I can sub sugar with puréed date paste. Does anyone do this? Also I’d love to add some chocolate chips - are there good sugar free chocolate chips out there? Or can I add sugar free chocolate chunks. Or is that not worth it and should I just add cocoa powder (is there sugar in that?) for a chocolate muffin?
He has commented that he misses chocolate. I don’t want chocolate with sugar substitute like a sweetener like stevia. So far that’s all I’ve seen so I’d rather stay away from chocolate rather then add sweetener like that.
My girls are interested in no sugar added now and have had me reduce the sugar in their baking. They did like the sugar free date square.
Any advice or recipes would be appreciated.
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peppermintpatty
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Post by peppermintpatty on Jan 24, 2020 14:23:22 GMT
Um, DO NOT use sugar free chocolate. You might as well put a box of that chocolate flavored laxative in it. Sugar free chocolate has molitol which has a laxative effect.
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garcia5050
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Post by garcia5050 on Jan 24, 2020 14:34:24 GMT
I’ve used the 1/2 Splenda 1/1 sugar baking product to make an apple pie, and to make some pumpkin bars. It still has some sugar, so it didn’t totally taste like diet sugar. Both came out pretty well in terms of texture.
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paigepea
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Post by paigepea on Jan 24, 2020 15:46:12 GMT
Um, DO NOT use sugar free chocolate. You might as well put a box of that chocolate flavored laxative in it. Sugar free chocolate has molitol which has a laxative effect. Ugh. I didn’t know. Ok. Back to dates and coconut. He can have cocoa powder in the muffins. |
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pridemom
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Post by pridemom on Jan 24, 2020 19:41:26 GMT
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Post by bdhudak on Jan 24, 2020 20:06:44 GMT
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Post by JustCallMeMommy on Jan 24, 2020 21:35:43 GMT
Some people do just find with sugar alcohols, which are what causes the upset stomachs - and most people do OK if they are eating them in the recommended serving sizes. The problem is that it is easy to go, "Oh, sugar free - I can have twice as much!" Have him try some sugar free candies, and if he does OK with those, he'll be fine with most sugar free recipes. That said, most of us who limit sugar learn pretty quickly to just have lower quantities of the real thing. It is no problem at all for me to have a BITE of a piece of cake when everyone around me is having a piece. I got a cupcake for my birthday, cut it in quarters, and ate 1/2 of 2 quarters over 2 days before someone else ate the rest in one sitting. (I'm still a bit annoyed...) Oh, and sugar free does not necessarily mean it has less carbs, so if diabetes is his main concern, he needs to watch net carbs, not sugar. Any digestible carbs will turn into sugar in the blood stream.
ETA: When I am looking for a recipe for something in particular, I google Keto {whatever} and Low Carb {whatever} and I look at what is making it lower carb/sugar. I keep Splenda and almond flour on hand, but I don't keep any of the really weird ingredients that so many recipes include.
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Post by Basket1lady on Jan 24, 2020 23:09:35 GMT
I would suggest that you use regular chocolate chips. There’s probably only about 10 chips in a muffin. That’s not that much sugar.
Know that dates are very high in sugar. It’s natural sugar, but a diabetic would definitely need to count those carbs from fruit purée.
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kate
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Jun 26, 2014 3:30:05 GMT
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Post by kate on Jan 24, 2020 23:23:08 GMT
I used to be on a whole foods (therefore, no-refined-sugar) diet. It was for nutrition, not diabetes, though. I used to bake with honey or dehydrated cane juice - you have to take care with both because they have strong flavors of their own, but I got along just fine.
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Post by anxiousmom on Jan 25, 2020 16:43:19 GMT
For what it's worth: I saw a certified diabetes educator and we talked about "sugar free" baking/cooking. I think that it would pertain to all sugar free discussions not just diabetes because sugar comes in all forms. Refined sugars (sugar, honey, etc) and carbs (flour, potatoes, rice etc) are really metabolized by the body the same way. So if you cut out the "sugar" source, but are still using white flour you really aren't going sugar free. And remember that natural substitutes (fruits) are as full of sugar as white sugar.
The key is to find the balance between baking and using the ingredients that have less carbs/sugar. That one is hard, and takes some time to sort out. Usually the keto recipes help. Or as the CDE said, bake what you bake, eat your allocated carb portion and no more-even if that is only three bites.
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Post by librarylady on Jan 25, 2020 21:08:36 GMT
Be aware that sugar free ___ (fill in the blank) often has sorbitol or other "sugar by another name." Some of those function like a laxative.
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Post by snugglebutter on Jan 26, 2020 4:47:48 GMT
For chocolate chips, if he likes dark chocolate you could try chopping an 85% bar into chunks and use that. That would be less sugar than the typical semi-sweet chips.
You might want to look at the glycemic index of sugars/sweeteners when making your choices. Coconut sugar scores a bit lower, but most other "natural" options are just as high if not higher than white sugar.
When I make muffins etc for my kids, I often reduce the sugar called for in the recipe. The King Arthur Flour website has a few articles about reducing sugar in recipes that you might find interesting.
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