Glycemic index | Sweetening liquids | In cooking | Price | Teeth | Amount | Calorie content
In diabetes mellitus, when you need to constantly limit your carbohydrate intake, sweeteners are a good alternative to sugar. And do not think that they are harmful. I recently wrote an article on this topic. Now I want to help you figure out which sweetener is best for your needs.
When choosing the best sweetener for yourself, you need to clearly understand how you will use it. Here are some criteria by which you can choose a sweetener.
Glycemic index
This parameter shows how quickly the sugar level rises after consuming the product. In diabetes, it is important that this figure is as low as possible. Here is a table of values. If you have compensated sugar levels and will add small amounts of sweetener to food, then you can afford a high-GI sweetener. These are syrups, honey, fructose, etc. In addition to sweetness, they will enrich your diet with useful substances, which will help in the prevention of complications. If you have persistent problems with sugar levels, choose substitutes with a zero glycemic index.
Sweetening liquids
To add to tea and coffee, it is better to buy sweeteners in tablets. Most often these are mixtures of several sweeteners. They are carb-free and easy to use.
In cooking
For food preparation, it is best to choose substitutes that have a sugar-like structure and texture. This will help, for example, beat the egg with sweetener, and get the desired effect. In many recipes, sugar, and hence its substitute, is needed for the mass. The sweetness should not be too great so that you can comfortably maintain proportions and use at home. The sweetener must be thermally stable so that it does not lose its sweetness during cooking. At the same time, in high concentrations, the substitute should not change the taste. The best option is erythritol or fructose.
Price
Sugar substitutes are both very cheap and very expensive. And it is not necessary to give up your only money for the desired product. For example, if you want to buy syrup, you don’t have to buy maple or artichoke syrup. Jerusalem artichoke syrup will be no less tasty, but it is much cheaper. You don’t need to buy stevia to add to your tea if it’s expensive. The cyclamate sweetener blend is 10 times cheaper.
Teeth
Dental problems are common with diabetes. If you have them, choose a non-carbohydrate sweetener, or xylitol with sorbitol. Xylitol even heals teeth by protecting them from tooth decay.
Amount
If you need to eat a lot of sweetener in a day, for example, in desserts during a holiday, do not choose a substitute with a laxative effect. These are sorbitol, xylitol and erythritol. Literally 40-50 grams (which is 2-3 tablespoons), and you will have some problems. It is better to use Sucrasite as it has the highest daily allowance (597 tablets, which are equal in sweetness to 597 teaspoons of sugar). And you will never physically exceed this rate.
Calorie content
Remember, non-carbohydrate sweeteners are also nutritious. But syrups, honey, sorbitol, etc. have a rather high calorie content. If you decide to lose weight, which is very beneficial, for example, for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, it is better to choose a sugar substitute without calories. These are cyclamate, aspartame, stevia, erythritol, sucrasite, etc. All sweeteners in tablets are carbohydrate-free.
I hope I helped you figure out which sweetener is better. Often a person buys several substitutes for different needs. One is for tea. The other is for cooking. The main thing is not to exceed the consumption rate, and to take into account GI and XE when building a diabetic diet.