Sugar Free Baking

finc

melt71 wrote:

anguk;

The reason I use Splenda is because it's actually made from sugar, whereas the other sweetners on the market are man made products/chemicals and have been linked to causing cancer in rats. In small doses I don't think there is a real danger, ie if you have the occasional spoonful in a cup of tea, but to use it for cooking you're putting quite large amounts in so I wouldn't want to risk it - especially as my 8 year old will be eating it. I'll check out the Asda and Tesco own brands to see what's in them though, thanks for the tip.

I normally use splenda but last week I bought the Tesco version as it's almost a third of the price. It's not very nice _pale_ and has a very strange aftertaste. I'm going to try the Asda one next but think I'll end up sticking with the Splenda.

anguk

melt71 wrote:

anguk;

The reason I use Splenda is because it's actually made from sugar, whereas the other sweetners on the market are man made products/chemicals and have been linked to causing cancer in rats. In small doses I don't think there is a real danger, ie if you have the occasional spoonful in a cup of tea, but to use it for cooking you're putting quite large amounts in so I wouldn't want to risk it - especially as my 8 year old will be eating it. I'll check out the Asda and Tesco own brands to see what's in them though, thanks for the tip.

Both the Tesco and Asda sweeteners are aspartame and I do understand that a lot of people are concerned about the health risks. Splenda also gets a fair bit of attention about it's safety as some people think it's healthy because it's made from sugar but it is not a natural product and there have been some concerns about it's safety and lack of testing.
http://www.truthaboutsplenda.com/
http://www.laleva.cc/food/splenda_dangers.html

If you're just wanting to cut down on sugar you could use fruit sugar, it's natural and almost twice as sweet as normal sugar, you can use about a third less in cooking and it looks and tastes the same as sugar. I know that Asda sells Fruisana fruit sugar.
http://www.fruisana.com/cms/connect/fruisana/en/home/
http://www.britannia-health.co.uk/fruisana.html

Imelda

Hi all on OS, I have never posted here before but love reading about all the scrummy things you cook!
I use tate and lyle half and half, it's half sugar, half sweetner. Could be good to use while you're cutting down, it has a guide on the side of the packet to tell you how to adjust recipes. Otherwise, fruit sugar is pretty good but I found it a bit expensive.

MiniLaura

Another post! been diagnosed with diabetes and trying to figure out safe foods to eat! I dont have a really sweet tooth but i like cakes and biscuits, as snack.

Wondering if anyone has any good recipies for cakes/biscuits - favourites are gingerbread, scones, fairy cakes - low fat ones would be great if possible.

I dont want to be adding sweetners in.

Any other food/recipe help appreciated - im veggie also. Trying out lots of new healthy food, trying to increase vegs in diet to keep me filled up.

System

instead of sugar in baking use splenda [think thats what its called]

angie_loves_veg

Hello:hello:

My dd (age 5) is diabetic, so I know the fun it can be with food!

Re your baking: Sweetner (Splenda) does indeed make a good subsitute in baking, but, if you don't want to be using sweetners or added sugar, you will be somewhat limited in your sweet treats. There are basically two approaches left to you:

look for recipes that whilst they contain no ADDED sugar, they will contain sweet fruit eg raisons, apricots, sultanas..... these ingredients obviously do contain sugar (and quite a lot of it in fact) but would reduce the added sugar burden. Also, because fruit contains fibre, they have a lower GI than sugar itself.

Bake with added sugar, but lower the GI (Glycemic index) of the recipe in order to slow down the release of the sugar into the blood. A good example is Twinks Hobnobs - they use oats (very low GI) so the sugar in them has a far slower release into the blood stream than, say a biscuit made with flour (med/high GI). My daughter enjoys these biscuits and they have a very steady release, thus not playing havoc with her levels.

Re the rest of your diet, I would advise firstly that you ask your hospital for an appointment with their dietician - it is their job to help you! Other than that, aim for a low GI/GL diet (lots of books available, and easy to do as a veggie) as this will help to stabalise your blood sugars and keep you fuller for longer allowing you to be less reliant on (sweet) snacks.

hth

Big_Nige

Hi,
If you have just been diagnosed, you should see a dietician soon. "safe foods" you can eat are fruit & veg, potaotoes boiled/baked etc (try to avoid the chip pan), pasta (wholewheat, tastes the same as white pasta when cooked) granary bread again avoid white if you can. If you are a tea/coffee drinker you will need to cut out sugar & use sweeteners instead. Soft drinks need to be diet. If you like the odd biscuit stick to plain ones like digestives or rich tea, no more jammy dodgers. The basic rule for food when diabetic is, the less refined the product is, the better it is for your blodd sugar level. Also don't live like a monk and avoid all sugary produc, a little treat now and then doesn't do any jarm.

HTH

Big.

windowshopper100

Yup, agree with the above.

Splenda is fine as it's based on sugar (none in it though obviously), so should have less of aftertaste. It's not cheap though.

If you do crave something sweet, and it is quite (added) sugary, try not to have it in isolation, i.e. have as a pudding after a meal, or have a glass of milk or a yoghurt with it. I know they (biscuits) are 'snacks' in their own right, but you need to try and avoid blood glucose spikes and try to keep it stable.

hth
WS100

thriftmonster

For my FIL, I used to make a Cranks recipe called Cheesejacks - sort of flapjack but savoury version. He used to like them at teatime when we were having sweeter stuff - and the oats in them were quite low GI

windowshopper100

Big Nige

"... doesn't do any jarm..." ...

Not craving anything sweet are you....?;)

WS100