Do you count the carbs in stevia/erythritol?

Blippety

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Hi,

My friend has type 1 diabetes and she always feels a little bummed out when we're having lunch at school and she can't have any of the sweets and cookies and things my friends are sharing, so I've been trying to come up with some kind of sweet thing I could make that doesn't have enough carbs for her to need to inject for it.
I'm wondering whether I could use stevia? The brand I have is Truvia, which has carbs, but all of them come from erythritol, which apparently has no effect on blood sugar.

From http://truvia.com/carbohydrates
"Erythritol passes through the body without being broken down for calories. As a result, it has no effect on blood sugar."

Has anyone on here with type 1 tried using stevia or Erythritol? Do you have to inject for it?

Thank you!
 

Andy12345

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hi, well done you for considering your friend enough to come and ask that question

im type 2 so cant help but my response will bump up your post and hopefully a t1 will have answer
 

SamJB

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Most sweeteners are very non-dense and very sweet (similar to different grades of chilli, you can get different grades of sweetness). You therefore only need to use very small amounts of them. Therefore the total carb content is very small. Other sweeteners, known as polyols, are sweet, but indigestible. These types, however, can have a laxative effect, so be careful!
 

Indiana91

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My diabetes team always used to tell me to use canderell (I'm not too sure on spelling!)
She's very lucky to have such a caring friend.

Indiana x


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Charles Robin

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I have not tried Truvia, but I have used Natvia, which is basically the same ingredients (Stevia and erythritol). I'm a type 1 and I'm pleased to say it did not affect my blood sugars :).
 

lunarlinda

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I don't believe the person starting this link is for real.
 

Blippety

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SamJB - Thanks for your reply; I'll be using the second one you mentioned, and there was a warning on the box that it can have a laxative effect of you use it in excessive amounts, but I'm not going to be using a lot of it.

Indiana91 - I think I found the one you mentioned. According to their website, it doesn't affect glucose or insulin levels either.

Charles Robin - That's great to hear!

lunarlinda - What do you mean?
 
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lunarlinda

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Hi Blipperty

I find it unbelievable that a 15 year old would go to the effort of "joining" a website like this, adding a link to a website ref: the subject matter, showing you have done some research already, and all this effort is because you want your diabetic friend to be able to join in eating sweets and cookies? Did you not get enough information from the website initially? Could you not ask your friend directly if she could eat Truvia? Wouldn't she and her Mother know things like that already?

All people with diabetes are different, so if you got 10 answers on here saying t1's were ok with using Truvia and they didn't have to inject after eating it, would that be sufficient information for you to go ahead and assure your friend that she could eat the goodies you'd made for her and you could catagorically say to her that she wouldn't have to inject afterwards, because 10 t1's on here said they didn't have to?

Indiana91 has quoted from the site that it says it dosen't affect glucose or insulin levels, why were you not happy to believe that statement? I repeat, what about your friend's Mother? Could you not ask her what she knew about what her daughter could tollerate without injecting?

It is incredulous to believe that based on what responses you got on here, you would then bake your goodies for your friend if all answers were favourable. Furthermore, your style of writing is not that of a 15 year old.

Sorry, I reiterate, you are not for real.
 

Spiker

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I have been testing almond cookies made with stevia and erythritol and on me they have a normal glycemic response in proportion with the carbs. I would strongly question the claim that stevia / erythritol are non - glycemic. However in most cases, because of the very high sweetness, the quantities used are so low that the glycemic effect is minimal.

I hope you are an eloquent 15 year old and not a shill. :-D

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
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Indiana91

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Blippety,

There is nothing wrong in looking out for your friend and being educated enough to write the way you do.

Good for you! I wish I had more friends like you :)

Let us know how the cookies work out

Indiana x


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Blippety

Newbie
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I do not have diabetes
Hi again,

Sorry for the late response; I just wanted to say thank you for everyone who has taken the time to reply so far. You've all been really helpful.

lunarlinda - Of course I'm going to ask my friend about this (I haven't been able to so far because it's currently half term, I don't have her phone number and she doesn't have Facebook), I just wanted to do research beforehand because I wasn't able to find much information regarding the effect stevia/erythritol on people with type 1. I'm not sure what you mean when you say my "style of writing is not that of a 15 year old" because I'm sure writing style varies greatly between people my age, and I'm unsure what you think would motivate me to actually ask a question like this and lie about my reasons for doing so. I do, however, see what you're saying and I apologise if I didn't come across as genuine.

I'll let you guys know how whatever I decide to make turns out! Thank you again! :)
 

AndyS

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Type of diabetes
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Blimey... I would be happy to have a fried as considerate as you at .. err. 37. I think.

It has been covered I think but the key thing that I have found is that carbs are carbs. All the artificial or non-artificial sweeteners still have a carbohydrate load the only difference is that the sweetness is super concentrated.

I typically used Splenda which is about 10 times the sweetness of regular sugar. The thing is I still count it in any baking I do and that seems to work ok. I can't comment on any other sweeteners since I don't use them but I would assume that the rule holds.

One thing I have noticed in baking with sweeteners is that since they are so dense you need to tweak any recipes to accommodate for them since it changes the consistency of the mixture. Unfortunately I have not managed to work out any kind of rule of thumb just yet.

If you friend is on a basal, bolus regimen and is carb counting then if you are able to tell them that this cookie has exactly X grams of carb then that would work. At least, I know it works for me :)
 

gpurdey

Newbie
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4
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi, Sorry I know this is a late reply but I have something to add which others didn't touch upon. I use stevia a lot but personally I don't buy it from the supermarkets because it has to have stuff added to remove the aftertaste, these chemicals although are sutible for diabetics are bad in other ways. You can just buy some of the green powder off eBay or Amazon or even better buy it in leaf form from. Cooking with stevia is challenging as Andy S mentions, but the key is to add it at just the right time for it to mix evenly through the mixture and putting it in at a high temperature removes the aftertaste slightly. I run a chocolate company that focuses on stevia sweetened chocolate bars and it took me ages to get it just right but when you do it is so much better tasting than sugar. As a few people have said, she is lucky to have a caring friend like yourself!! I hope it all goes/went well.