Substitutes for Sugar?

What do people use as a sweetener? How much fruit do you eat, typically? How does it affect your blood sugars and how much short-acting insulin do you take to cover it? I have cut waaay down on my sugar intake in recent months so I’m looking for fun, diabetic-friendly dessert recipes and there is so much info out there! It seems like there is a give and take to everything, so wondering how other diabetics feel. My most recent purchase is an ice cream maker so if you have any tips please send them my way!

I use stevia and truvia, as my sugar substitutes… And I use freeze dried fruit, instead (not to be confused with regular dried fruit, which is swimming in extra sugar). The freeze dried fruit is a lot kinder to me (even bananas!) and tends to be pretty low carb for one serving. Gesiha makes apples, pears, and strawberry/banana, in convenient one serving pouches. I got 5 for a $1 the other day… I have the fruit in fiber one yogurt, too… but other than in these two respects, I don’t have much fruit at all. It’s like candy to me. :confused:

Stevia is the way to go! I use flavored stevia sometimes. Xylitol is good too. When I want real stuff I use raw agave nectar or raw, unfiltered honey (though I leave the honey unheated). I don’t really eat much sugar of even these though, I try to avoid the kinds of food that tend to need sugar, like baked goods (baked goods being virtually poisonous in my view). The desserts I tend to make tend to be fruit based, such as apple cobbler (with almond flour/agave nectar topping) or macaroons. Baked goods are poison.

Geisha… sorry. Typo. lol

just started using stevia, found out Splenda and Equal has a high glycemic index compared to Stevia which is 0…

Stevia, truvia. I can eat a thin slice of cantaloupe without spiking and I can cover it with 2 u Humalog. I can eat a strawberry without covering if I am at 80-90. I can put bananas in almond flour muffins and figure a muffin then takes 2 units. I use sugar free jellos and their pistachio pudding. 15 grams spikes me 100, and fruit is fast.

i like stevia, but it’s quite expensive.
when baking, i’ll usually use a 50/50 blend of sugar and splenda. (if it calls for brown sugar, add a tablespoon of molasses for every cup of splenda)
for drinks (kool-aid, lemonade, etc) i’ll usually use 2/3 splenda and 1/3 stevia

At the store, I bought a huge bag - for baking, at nearly $2 cheaper than Splenda. It’s starting to come down in price a lot.

I bolus for fruit according to my I:C ratios (1:7, 1:9 and 1:18), but find I have to keep the amount on the low side or that weird thing happens where “the sum is more than the parts” (you know you bolus for the right number of carbs but our bg soars out of range!) Also, some fruits are worse than others: Berries are fine for me in decent servings, an apple is ok if it’s small, ditto a banana, but I tried a 1/2 of a mango and ended up in the 200s! (I wouldn’t even think about a pineapple!)

I personally use Splenda too. Sometimes I will use Stevia if available. So far, it has no significant effect on my bg yet. Ice cream you say? Tips: Use skimmed milk and/or yogurt. You can also add chopped nuts like pecans, almonds and walnuts. For chocolate ice creams, use unsweetened cocoa powder.Adding vanilla is okay too. And for “fruity” flavors, use berries, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries are my choice. I like peaches and bananas too…but it elevates my bg a bit.

Thanks Teena! I think to start with I am going to use this recipe for Coconut milk ice cream but cut down on the sweetener:

http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2008/05/chocolate-coconut-milk-ice-cream-2.html

I will let you know how it turns out! :slight_smile: