56 Names of Sugar

And this doesn’t include sugar alcohols which most people consider safe for those seeking a sugar substitute besides aspartame and sucralose. They do contain trace amounts of carbohydrates, can cause all kinds of gastral problems and even stall weight loss in some people. The big question is: do sugar alcohols spike insulin? Not sure about that one as the debate is still out since they bypass the liver and are immediately absorbed. I cannot use them because of gastral issues, so I won’t be doing an n=1 experiment to find out.

Common Sugar Alcohols:

• Sorbitol
• Xylitol
• Erythritol
• Isomalt
• Lactitol
• Hydrogenated starch hydrolysates
• Maltitol
• Mannitol

 

Stevia Products

I have mentioned before that I cannot do most sugar substitutes. I cannot use aspartame because it makes me numb and gives me panic attacks if I consume too much. I cannot use sucralose because it give me migraines (fuck you, Pepsi for adding sucralose to your products! You bastards!).

I CAN use saccharine in limited amounts, but only the liquid drops. And I CAN use stevia, but again, only in the liquid drops. I CANNOT use the powdered versions period because they contain maltodextrin, which causes my blood sugar to rise. Maltodextrin is a SUGAR.

The one thing I really miss from my lifestyle before LCHF is French Vanilla creamer. I admit, I probably consumed the majority of my carbs per day from this very product (5 grams of carbs per 1 Tbsp – no way I ever consumed just 1 Tbsp in a cup of coffee!). I love love love the flavor. I am an avid coffee drinker and love my flavored coffee. So, on this LCHF WOL, I have  had to search out alternatives.  What to do, what to do?

My alternative: HWC and flavored stevia (vanilla cream)!

Granted, it doesn’t taste nearly as good as the commercial product, but I am willing to make some sacrifices for this WOL.

SweetLeaf (the only stevia brand I trust) has a variety of flavored stevia liquid drops. Just do a search on Amazon. Admittedly, those little 4 oz. bottles are pricey (around $10 each), but they do last a while. The ones I am interested in are vanilla cream, chocolate, toffee, and rootbeer (wouldn’t be for my coffee though.. lol).

There is also a product called Stur (search for it on Amazon) that has flavored drops to add to your water. They are pricey though. They have an awesome tea with lemon and I really like the fruit punch and Garcina Cambogia varieties. Some grocers even carry it, but I couldn’t find it at my local Krogers.

Another alternative is Zevia. It is a carbonated soda with stevia added. They are not carb-free though. I see them available in my Krogers ads every week. However, my particular store does not carry them. Other Krogers might and you have to look in their health food section, not the regular soda section.

Thankfully, stevia is becoming more readily available. I just have to check labels though to make sure the stevia products I do buy do not have maltodextrin in them. This was a sad realization when I went in search of Protein powders with stevia. I think I may have found 2 products without the maltodextrin. The quantity was small and the price outrageous.

I am sure there are other stevia products on the market and I will definitely continue to seek them out. It’s all about the research, price and availability for me though.

Sugar: Addictions and Substitutions

I’ve read some articles that suggest sugar is as addictive as cocaine. Here are a few:

Sugar addiction: pushing the drug-sugar analogy to the limit.

Is Sugar More Addictive Than Cocaine?

Sugar is as addictive as cocaine, and causes obesity, diabetes, cancer and heart disease: Researchers

Sugar Is a “Drug” and Here’s How We’re Hooked

There are an equal number of articles that attempt to discount that sugar is addictive. They argue that anything can be addictive if we are predisposed for addictions, i.e. have an addictive personality. Okay, I will give them that. I have a bit of an addictive personality and I know this about myself. This is why I don’t gamble or drink to excess.

My argument is this… What if we are given no choice in how addicted we have become to sugar? I ask this because if you look at labels, at things that shouldn’t have sugar in them but do, and we consume them, are we responsible for that addiction? Sure, we could just not consume it. Easy enough if you can afford foods at say Trader Joes or Whole Foods where the alternatives are widely available. However, if you live in a small rural area like I do and you only have basic food stores like Kroger, Walmart, and Food Lion and those alternatives are NOT widely available, then you have no choice but to eat what you can afford and find. Face it, the sugar industry has many of us by the tail.

The most widely forms of sugar that I have found in commercial foods are HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), sugar (sucrose), dextrose, and maltodextrin.  Here is a list of just some of the hidden names for sugars (there are many more!):

• Agave Nectar
• Barley Malt Syrup
• Beet Sugar
• Brown Rice Syrup
• Brown Sugar
• Cane Crystals (or, even better, “cane juice crystals”)
• Cane Sugar
• Coconut Sugar, or Coconut Palm Sugar
• Corn sweetener
• Corn syrup, or corn syrup solids
• Dehydrated Cane Juice
• Dextrin
• Dextrose
• Evaporated Cane Juice
• Fructose
• Fruit juice concentrate
• Glucose
• High-fructose corn syrup
• Honey
• Invert sugar
• Lactose
• Maltodextrin
• Malt syrup
• Maltose
• Maple syrup
• Molasses
• Palm Sugar
• Raw sugar
• Rice Syrup
• Saccharose
• Sorghum or sorghum syrup
• Sucrose
• Syrup
• Treacle
• Turbinado Sugar
• Xylose

A trick I was taught is if it has “-ose” at the end, it is a sugar. I have read labels where up to 6 of those sugars has been included! And we wonder why we are addicted to sugar!

So what is a person to do who wants to go the LCHF route and eliminate sugar from their diet?

1. Be cautious of how much dairy you consume because it has the natural sugar Lactose in it. Consume only high fat, full fat dairy products.
2. Read labels!
3. Make your own homemade condiments like mayonnaise, ketchup, BBQ sauce.
4. If you can tolerate them, there are sugar-free products on the market that contain aspartame and sucralose. And there is always saccharine, although there are very few products with that in it these days. I prefer stevia as I have allergies to both aspartame and sucralose, but there are fewer stevia products on the market and even fewer offered in my rural area (I purchase some stevia products on Amazon). Some people sing the praises of Xylitol also. I’ve never tried it.
5. If you are just beginning the LCHF diet (like me!), then eliminate the known things first: bread, starchy vegetables, pasta, rice, cookies, cakes, candies, etc. Worry about the unknowns later as you progress with this WOE, but again, do read labels!
6. If you have Type 2 Diabetes, it is very important to get off of sugar, in all of its forms and switch to a suitable SS for your tolerance.

One more note about sugar substitutes: Some on the LCHF diet have noted that SS like aspartame and sucralose stall weight loss over time. There have been no reports that I know of on the use of stevia stalling weight loss.

Note: I do not include honey as an addictive sugar or as a substitute. It is not approved as a sweetener for the LCHF diet. However, there are many health benefits for consuming honey (in small amounts) and I will not vilify it on my blog.