Quit Sugar Diet

[Lynnieannie]

Hi - wondering whether there are any thermomix users who are also following the I Quit Sugar lifestyle. There doesn't seem to be a lot of recipes being circulated that are friendly to my breed. When a recipe says no sugar it sweetens it with lots of fructose instead, which is worse. Anybody?....Anybody?.... Maybe I need to be the first.

[cookie1]

Isn't fructose just another form of sugar?  Welcome to the forum. 

[Tasty]

I've just borrowed this book from the library but haven't read it yet. I had a quick look at the recipes and a lot of them use dextrose and that doesn't seem right to me.

I have however cut down a lot of sugar that I eat and used alternatives or other food items to get the sweeteners. From memory, Quirky Cooking's website using a Thermomix has a list of alternatives to refined sugar and lots of recipes using them.

[Lynnieannie]

Thank you for the welcome!  My daughter has introduced me to this way of eating and I don't want to sound superior in any way. It is complicated and worth looking into. Fructose is the enemy, it would seem. From what I have seen so far, rice malt syrup is the sweetener of choice.

[Tasty]

No, you don't sound superior at all. I got the book to see if I could get anything from it although I'm not too sure I have the time to read it.

I know it works for a lot of people for different reasons though but none I know personally.

I have heard good things about rice malt syrup but haven't tried it myself. Would be interested in how you go though.

[Bonsai]

I haven't read the book but wouldn't fructose (fruit sugar) be a fairly common sugar even in 'ancient' diets? (In moderation). All sugars get digested into basic units anyway so I'm not sure of the theory behind this versus a generally low sugar diet?

[cookie1]

I borrowed the book from the library and was surprised that it still used things like rice malt syrup. I thought it would be actually cutting out sugars.  I find that I cut a lot of sugar from our food anyway.
I tend to agree with Bonsai's statement.

[meganjane]

The book and diet should be called 'I quit sucrose'. It's all about cutting out sucrose, which is a disaccharide of glucose and fructose.

Fructose isn't  bad, but the real problem is High Fructose Corn Syrup. This is where fructose has got a bad rap. This is a modified food and the sugars hit the blood very quickly and are gone just as fast.

Fructose, from what I've learned, shouldn't be isolated from it's original source, that is fruit. If eaten as fruit it will be digested and utilised by the body properly due to the enzymes in the fruit.

I downloaded the e-book as a part of my research on various diets for my Nutritional Medicine course. I haven't had a lot of time to go through it, but I haven't seen any recipes that use dextrose yet. rice malt syrup, maple syrup and dates are great sources of complex sugars and are great alternatives to sucrose, or cane sugar.

I've cut down the white sugar in my diet and use rapidura, coconut sugar, maple syrup, honey, rice malt syrup or dates as mild sweeteners. It's made a huge difference to my health and overall well being.

[Tasty]

My mistake. I actually borrowed the book called 'The Sweet Poison Quit Plan' rather than 'I Quit Sugar' and it's that book that uses a lot of dextrose.

A book that I am reading in bits and pieces where I can at the moment is 'Kitchen Cures' by Peggy Kotsopoulos and it has alternatives to sugar and I am learning a lot from it, all of which makes sense.....but not only related to sugar.

How are you going with this lynnieannie?

[SoBlessed]

I've been doing no sugar for all of this year. I wouldn't use rice malt syrup, or the other sweeteners mentioned either, because they raise the blood sugar level too quickly. I use Stevia powder & find that I don't need to use much at all. By the way I'm not diabetic or anything, just wanting to be healthy 

[mickeydownunder]

I am like SoBlessed, I have to limit sugar in my food lifestyle and exclusively use Xylitol as Stevia is too sweet for me and find that Natvia does not break down in some recipes.

I do both cooking and baking with Xylitol and find the only think it won't do is caramelize onions (as it is sugarless sugar) and in "some" baking recipes, it won't rise as much as if one used sugar...I have done sugarless jam and English Muffins as examples (posted with photos on the forum) via my blog.

More than happy to help with any other questions re xylitol too

[Bootobethin]

Please be very careful when using Xylitol at home. It can be fatal to dogs and cats and it only takes a small amount to be ingested to cause liver damage and seizures.
I now do not have it in the house just incase.
Our vet has taken care of quite a few animals who ate food or chewing gum which contains Xylitol.
Please be careful!

[MrsG]

I can't have stevia. Oh the farts! Bahahaha.

[meganjane]

I much prefer to use dates, rapadura, coconut sugar and honey as sweeteners. Xylitol and other 'ols' are sugar alcohols and highly processed. Unless you are diabetic, there's no need to use these. Brown rice syrup is excellent as well as nutritious and it has a relatively low GI.

Stevia tastes foul and it can cause diarrhoea, which is why I don't recommend it, especially for pregnancy. Norbu is basically erythritol, a sugar alcohol with monk fruit flavour, a complete rip off.

[Kimmyh]

Ditto MJ. Couldn't have said it better 😊