Desert options

Raspberries and cream. A couple of squares of dark chocolate with or without nuts. Sugar free jelly and cream. Grate some dark chocolate on or add strawberries or raspberries. Plain full fat Greek yoghurt with strawberries or raspberries.

Buy or make your own brownies or cakes, loads of recipes or sites that sell low carb treats on line. My favourite is Deliciously Guilt Free, they do cakes, brownies, cookies, chocolate …

A couple of squares of dark chocolate hit the spot for me. I personally like 100% cocoa Montezuma chocolate - they do one flavoured with orange oil or almonds or Lindt do a range from 85% upwards if you need to work up to the darker ones.
Berries and yoghurt are great too and if you mix frozen berries into yoghurt or thick cream you get instant ice cream.
Sugar free jellies too are a good sweet treat especially with cream.
Like @Rachox I also buy low carb sweet things from Deliciously Guilt Free.
None of the above impact my blood sugar.

@shelley262 another fan of Montezumas 100% with orange niblets. Very rich so only a couple of squares at a time.

Asda mini ice cream lollies called Heavenly Moments. Approx 12 carbs each. Asda Ice Cream
I think other supermarkets sell similar own brands.

Pam* said:

Asda mini ice cream lollies called Heavenly Moments. Approx 12 carbs each. Asda Ice Cream
I think other supermarkets sell similar own brands.

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Just curious not being antagonistic at all. Where did you get the 12g from? Reading the packet Each lolly weighs 110g and per 100g is 21g or 19g as per nutritional label.

MissMuffett said:

Just curious not being antagonistic at all. Where did you get the 12g from? Reading the packet Each lolly weighs 110g and per 100g is 21g or 19g as per nutritional label.

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Are you looking at the mini ones that @Pam* shared a link?
They are only a total of 50g each.

In Response said:

Are you looking at the mini ones that @Pam* shared a link?
They are only a total of 50g each.

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Oops sorry my mistake x

Agree with all above.
Mug cake: mix thoroughly in a large mug half a teaspoon each of bicarb, sweetener (optional) and cocoa powder (not drinking chocolate), an egg and a generous teaspoon of peanut butter. Microwave for 32 seconds (weird, but that's what works for me). Pour on double cream. Add roast nuts if you like and grated or shaved 80%-100% dark chocolate.
I find 32 seconds leaves it a bit runny in the middle; any longer and the soft sponge on the outside goes a bit too hard.

I bake low carb cakes, cut into small portions and freeze them. Just take one at a time when cravings hit. Even 2 doesn't affect my bg, but if I can keep to 1 they last longer and become better value.

Jakeinhd1995 said:

Hi,

What desert options can people recommend that doesn't have a major impact on Blood Sugar?

Really missing chocolate ect

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Please be aware that people react differently to foods so what might be ok for me could just as easily lift your bloods. You really need to test for yourself. I can get away with cookie dough mousse which is basically mascarpone cheese mixed with cream and almond butter plus a couple of other ingredients - net carbs 6g per portion. Or what about Almond bliss bars? With a centre of Coconut. coconut cream, coconut oil, sweetener and a drop of vanilla for flavour all mixed together and formed into bars then dark chocolate poured over. Recipe uses an almond for decoration hence the name- 2.5 net carbs per bar. Just mixing and cholate melting involved. On the other hand, if you do bake, there are lots of options on the internet just put "keto" in front of a dessert you might fancy.

I don’t think you can replace chocolate/cake or sweet things with anything.

Sarah69 said:

I don’t think you can replace chocolate/cake or sweet things with anything.

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I think all the previous commentators on this thread, including my self would disagree

Rachox said:

I think all the previous commentators on this thread, including my self would disagree

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I agree completely, but would add some nuance to the chocolate angle here. From my experience, as a chocolate addict prior to my diabetes diagnosis (now a slowly reforming one), I think the battle with chocolate cravings is more than just food substitution.

Real deal milk chocolate delivers hits for caffeine, fat and sugar, which in turn stimulate pleasure centres in the brain. The more you eat, the greater pleasure pay off - it's enough you can possibly even convince yourself to ignore the obvious and downsides (I did, anyway). Psychologically, chocolate is also "naughty", so in some people (I'm one of them), chocolate consumption triggers the "I shouldn't be eating this, but...." reward.

In my personal experience, fighting and handling chocolate cravings is about substituting the physical and/or psychological rewards of eating high carb chocolate, not necessarily trying to find something that exactly replaces milk chocolate itself from an eating experience.

For me, many of the previous suggestions achieve that in one way or another. One I'll add is melting 85%+ dark chocolate into double cream as a treat. Refrigerate it to make a ganache-like dessert, or use an electric mixer to whip it into a chocolate mousse. The overall sensation is very close to a regular chocolate dessert, plus the caffeine reward is higher in dark chocolate, the double cream emulates the fat based rewards, but it's lower sugar and lower carb as a result (but still adds some natural sugars in the cream). For me, this is as close as it gets to satisfying that milk chocolate craving and I save it for the times where, on previous higher carb and lower fat diets, I'd have broken the diet to binge on milk chocolate. So far, it's worked for me, so hoping this very long-winded post about chocolate might help others potentially.

Nice one, Paul!

My approach was not dissimilar in that the geek in me analysed the "why" of chocolate's appeal to me.

I liked the texture, the theobromine hit, the caffeine, the scent, but was not bothered by sweetness or lack of, had no issues with it being "naughty" or a "reward" or one in the eye for the Establishment (not saying the latter was yours, Paul, but it is a biggie for some of us).

Therefore in theory the Board recommendation for one or two squares of mega-dark chocolate per day would work for me. It probably would, but I haven't yet tried it, as for the moment - a "moment" lasting 2 and a bit years so far - not eating chocolate brings me the huge reward of a lot of weight lost (I was last this size in my early 30s) and therefore new or vastly altered clothes (it's a woman thing but new clothes I find very rewarding). Caffeine I get from good quality coffee plus some fabulous adaptogenic coffee that gives a real pleasure "hit" - not sure if I am allowed to name the make - which I drink black. Oddly, that fulfils the "scent" requirement as well. Texture - I love cream, butter, Greek yoghurt, natural fat that comes with meat, and all of those are fine on my T2-friendly diet.

So - that's me but it isn't everybody. Analysis is always my go-to, but again not for everybody. I may eat the 2 squares of dark chocolate in the future, or I may not. I hope this helps some of us.

Still on the subject of "sweet stuff", home-made marzipan petit fours have always featured in our house at Christmas. I've always been something of a marzipan addict and (ridiculously) almost my first thought on my T2 diagnosis at the start of the summer was, "What am I going to do about Christmas?!". Since then, I've discovered plant-based icing sugar, which I can use to make virtually carb free almond paste, and I'm planning to dip the petit fours in chocolate, which I've not done before.

Sadly, I've not had much success in the past with tempering chocolate and I'd be really grateful for some advice as to how to achieve something approaching a glossy finish.

Outlier said:

So - that's me but it isn't everybody. Analysis is always my go-to, but again not for everybody. I may eat the 2 squares of dark chocolate in the future, or I may not. I hope this helps some of us.

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I very much enjoy this approach too. It's helped with a number of my food demons, while dieting to lose weight at the same time, plus being on a low carb diet.

I've always enjoyed dark chocolate, but for very different reasons than milk chocolate. My enjoyment of milk chocolate came from the creamy texture (I'm a texture person, like you), the sweetness, and that lingering coating it leaves in your mouth. For 99% of the time, my tastes have now changed on low carb, meaning my sweet treat cravings have significantly reduced and that's admittedly helped. For the 1% of the time where they do still kick in, dark chocolate doesn't satisfy those cravings on its own as it's not creamy enough. However, 85-90% dark chocolate now tastes sweeter due to low carbing, so that's half the battle. Melting it and mixing it with double cream then resolved the texture craving for me. As with most of my tricks when low carbing, it's an idea I saw and stole from a post on this forum.

I find that all the things I used to like about milk chocolate (taste, texture, scent, ) have gone. I now find it overly sweet, tastes of bad slimy fats and smells sickly., even the good expensive stuff
I used to be able to eat loads of it or more in one binge, now one tiny taste is enough. Even that is too much sometimes . I just wish I could curb my desire to taste it.

How sweet and I am getting all confused with dark chocolate and sweet stuff. Seems like my BG is going up (lol). Good luck to everyone!