Food avalability in supermarkets

I'm a low carber (60g a day) and I used to eat loads of chocolate etc. Most of the time now I have retrained myself not to buy any sweet things BUT when I go out to dinner or have friends round I do. Cooking low carb recipes that were sweet meant I had to stock my cupboard with alternatives such as Splenda, whey protein, soya flour, coconut oil etc and I found that web surfing was the key before I went shopping. Holland & Barrett were useful and helpful. Other supermarkets stocked some things . I order the rest online and things arrive in a couple of days.Low carb sweet products sometimes react in a recipe in a different way to standard sugar, honey etc But I love trying things out and being creative.Sugar free choccy bars sometimes have a ridiculously high carb. content as I found out the other day when I thought I was being 'good.'
Good Luck with the continued hunt.

Hi Svenuk!

I know I probably shouldn't be encouraging this, but I have been buying Atkins Endulge bars . They are expensive and they contain sugar alcohols (which blip my BG a bit, and some people find give them a laxative effect), but I eat half a coconut/chocolate bar (tastes like Bounty) or half a peanut/chocolate bar (tastes like Snickers (or Marathon for those of us old enough to remember :lol: )) Anyway, they taste great and I see them as a huge treat!. They sell them in Tescos or get them on-line at AvidLite or Low-Carb Megastore.

Smidge

When I was first diagnosed I remember looking for sugar free things in French supermarkets, apart from sugar free 'flan' ( like the custard in a creme caramel) I didn't find anything so I learnt to mostly have desserts of unsweetened berries and lower GI fruit. Things may have changed but I'm glad I didn't find anything, most of these products now taste horribly sweet .
Most days though I'll eat a couple of squares of real dark choc after dinner. Here's how it compares to no added sugar chocolate.

Sainsbury no added sugar 70% chocolate.
Fat 41.0g
Carbohydrate 36.0g
of which sugars 2g
Protein 9.1g
Fibre 10.0g

Poulain 1848, 76% chocolate (my normal chocolate, probably not sold in UK but others are similar)
Fat 45.8 g
Carbohydrate 27.6g
of which sugars 22.8g
Protein 8g
Fibre 11,2g

The only difference in ingredients (apart from the slightly higher cocoa content in the 76% one) is that one contains sugar , the other the artificial sweetners Malitol and Lactitol .
Malitol may impact on your blood glucose. It has a measurable GI of between 36 and 52 depending on the form, (sugar is 60) ,in one study chocolate sweetened with maltitol elicited the same glucose response in normal subjects as did chocolate sweetened with sucrose*
in some people it may also cause a lot of 'gas' and intestinal discomfort.
Lactitol is lower in GI so but also has a pronounced laxative effect and is in fact sold under other names as a laxative .

* http://www.diabetes.ca/Files/SugarAlcoh ... er2002.pdf

svenuk said:

My partner gets along by diet rather then pills etc. The problem is getting items in supermarket. We holiday in France ,Malta and find plenty of suger free items on the shelves of small and large shops.Biscuits,cakes,puddings, bread etc.
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Seeing as this is the soap box

It may be better to reduce the amount of biscuits, cakes, puddings, bread etc. and have fewer items but not worry so much about the sugars in the individual item.
Total carbohydrate in these things is probably more important (if you believe in lowering your overall carb intake).
Bottom line - just being low/no sugar doesn't mean it is good for a diabetic.
As always, if BG testing shows that the low/no sugar stuff works for your partner then go for it.

Cheers

LGC

I loved Poulain chocolate during my time in France. Lovely!

Have you tried ordering online at Sainsburys, they have a wide range of their free from.
Or maybe change the store your asking at? or keep persisting?
Id ask friends and family to all help raise awareness and all go to the customer service desk and ask them to make note that you would like them to bring in some more 'free from' products, specify which ones.

I work part time at a sainsburys while im studying to be a nurse. But while in work i always persist on bringing products in that customers would like and we can usually always get them in and trial them and if its sucessful the store will keep them in. It all depends usually on the size of the store and whether they sell good.. it may be possible though they could get in a small demand from another store, we do this with some magazines that only a few people buy.. i dont see why it cant be possible to get food in from another store to suit you

(What i've said is from what i've gathered from working there, im not talking on behalf as sainsburys.)

http://www2.sainsburys.co.uk/food/allergies-intolerances/freefrom-range/freefrom

Im not sure where you live so i couldnt help you myself, but id suggest talking to the store manager and trying to appeal to him of the struggle you find to get food for your partner.

Best of luck!

Having travelled in the USA, wher you can get "sugar-free versions of pretty much anything, I get pretty cross with our supermarkets, however I also know tha sugar free baked goos are not much help, since only 50% of each Sugar molecule, becomes blood glucose, but 100% of each starch molecule does so. There are on-line sources of low carb poducts, but they tend to be pricy. It's easier to keep to fresh unprocessed foods and home-made.
Hana

hanadr said:

, .. since only 50% of each Sugar molecule, becomes blood glucose, but 100% of each starch molecule does so.
Hana

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If that's because the other half is fructose, I'm not sure that's much of an improvement. One's as bad as the other.

There is some very low carb chocolate in our local Tesco. Lindt 90% has only 14g carb (7g sugar) per 100g. That's 1.4g per square. Tesco 85% has 18.2% (13.1 sugar). Neither has any soy fillers.

I live in a town of 50,000 people in the South East with 6 supermarkets plus umpteen convenience stores. Trying to find organic veg and food free from additives involves visiting most of them. Only two have a good selection of fresh fish, only one sells Lindt Excellence 90% cocoa, very few sell organic products other than carrots, onions, mushrooms and milk. Only one sells sugar free sweets, which I don't buy because of the laxative effect On the other hand it's all exercise

I have also been searching supermarkets in London for sugar-free products. Mostly I get directed to their 'free-from' sections, but these contain lots of gluten-free, nothing about sugar. Even so-called health food or organic shops have no sugar-free products... in one, I was told to read the ingredients on the back of anything I wanted to buy to see whether it contained sugar
I recently had the experience of being in Spain where all supermarkets, even small local ones, have a range of sugar-free biscuits, cakes, chocolate etc. Even ice-cream parlours have delicious sugar-free ice-creams. I can't understand why the supermarkets here can't see a marketing opportunity, but perhaps we diabetics need to make a noise and show them there's a demand out here!!

The sad thing is,there IS a big niche in the market for Low carb products that could be very lucritiive for manafacturers and retailers alike,but I guess any advertising for these products regarding the benefits to Diabetics or people who wish to lose weight through a low carb diet would contravine the NHS's dietary advice regarding starchy carbs and the 'Supposed' dangers of Atkins style diet regimes that has been in the media of late.{Sigh}

I hate to be the fly in the ointment here, but I wouldn't thank you for free from sugar produce. The one major lesson that although I knew pre diagnosis but ignored, that I can no longer ignore is, foods that are 'faffed' about with ie processed are going to be full of things I have no wish to pump into my body.

I confess, since diagnosis I have turned into a food snob, there is not a crumb that passes my lips these days, that A. is not home made from scratch using only wholesome, nutritious ingredients B. is where ever possible organic C. of single ingredient not packed with dozens I can't pronounce. The only things I buy pre made are things like yogurt, green tea bags etc things I can't make at home, but I have got some loose Earl Grey tea leaves that I use, hell I even grind my own coffee beans now. :lol:

I am fortunate and I know I am, but seriously I really wouldn't want sugar free things, I would rather bake my own. I love to bake and there is something baking most days, I am working on banana loaf at the moment, last nights was ok, but not quite right. I think that is part of the fun, trial and error in making your own foods, and you also know what is in them, which is more than can be said for supermarket food.