• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

To Gin or not to gin….

JayBee28

Well-Known Member
Messages
69
An odd question….I was diagnosed Type 2 in Mid September, HBA1C of 56. I take no medication, eat very low carb have lost 1 stone 9 pounds so far. I had a blood test 2 months after diagnosis and my HBA1C had gone down to 48. I’m going in the right direction.

Pre diagnosis, I probably drank 2 bottles of wine a week, now it’s just 2 small/medium glasses if that. I was partial to a gin and tonic, but haven’t had any since diagnosis. I find a glass of very dry white wine doesn’t affect my glucose levels. Occasionally, maybe once a week or every 2 weeks, I’d love a G&T. I’d have slimline tonic and a flavoured gin such as Strawberry and Lime or Rhubarb.

Does anybody here have the occasional gin, if so does it affect your levels at all?

Thanks in advance
 
I tend to have a shot or two of it neat. Sipsmiths and or Aldi Botanics.
GnT on high days and holidays.
 
I hadn’t an alcoholic drink sine May before last weekend, had 2 elderflower gin & slimline tonics & had no affect on my blood sugar, had a lousy hangover on Sunday though
 
The flavoured spirits tend to have sugar added, as well as the flavourings. The trouble is they don't have to be labelled. Sometimes you can find ingredients on a website, but rarely on a bottle.
So you either test the effects on you yourself, or you stick to the plain ones.
I just find one is OK, but the second goes straight into the bloodstream and I get drunk quite quickly, irrespective of bg
 
I drink gin on a weekly basis tends to be a Saturday evening treat for me. Key is to stick to straight gin and avoid the flavoured ones and you also need to be very very careful with the slimline tonic - the most expensive ones are the worst with claims like only natural sugars you need to go for the completely sugar free cheaper ones. I find though that soda water is the most reliable especially if you are out and you can’t guarantee a sugar free tonic. I’ve bought completely sugar free bitter lemon or lemonade and added a dash to my dry gin and soda water to give it a bit of flavour when fancy a flavour. Soda water does grow on you though and brings out flavour of gin and slices of lemon and lime are essential. Hope this helps I’ve been keto and managed to keep my sugar levels in normal range for more than four years now but managed to drink small amounts on a regular basis. I also drink dry white but make it go further as a longer drink by adding a dash of wine to soda water to produce a spritzer. Hope you manage to find a way of drinking the occasional gin without raising your bgs. Avoid those posh tonics like feverfew with a barge pole they really do impact your bgs.
 
Thank you. I was thinking plain ones would be better. Thanks for the advice
 
Thanks for the great advice on the flavoured gins and soda water. I’ve already poured the FeverTree light i had down the sink and bought a cheaper tonic. There are a couple of plain gins I like, so all is not lost. I’m not planning on drinking it every week, but occasionally only a G&T will do.
 
I don't know about flavoured gins, but regarding tonic, Schweppes Slimline is zero carb but Fevertree Light has 3.8g of carbs per 100ml. Unfortunately pubs now seem to mostly stock Fevertree, probably they make a better margin.
 
Mr_Pot said:
I don't know about flavoured gins, but regarding tonic, Schweppes Slimline is zero carb but Fevertree Light has 3.8g of carbs per 100ml. Unfortunately pubs now seem to mostly stock Fevertree, probably they make a better margin.
Click to expand...

Done the same as you with Schweppes slimline and going to have it with a bit of vodka
 
Mr_Pot said:
I don't know about flavoured gins, but regarding tonic, Schweppes Slimline is zero carb but Fevertree Light has 3.8g of carbs per 100ml. Unfortunately pubs now seem to mostly stock Fevertree, probably they make a better margin.
Click to expand...
Oh how things change - in my younger days it was sneaking gin in a pop bottle to put in my tonic into the night clubs, now I take a couple of little cans of shwepps with me and ask if it’s ok to use them . Shwepps is out of fashion now with all these fancy mixers, can’t beat a bit of old school
 
Quick shout out for Adnams Copper House gin which is superb on its own.
 
Not to Gin! Vin! I'll have a glass of red wine instead, please.
 
Definitely the occasional Gin and Slim. Upper limit is two though as I am now a very cheap date.
I also make a mean martini.
Have tried various flavoured gins but find them sickly.
 
Gin itself is zero carb and therefore fine, although it will "artificially" lower your BGs. It's what goes with it is the problem usually. I don't touch the flavoured stuff at all, no idea what's in it. In this house gin gets used for very very dry martinis and negronis. Negronis are unfortunately a definite rarity these days as the vermouth and campari are too carby for regular drinking.
 
I used to drink the teetotal version - fizzy water and bitters. Looks convincing, and stopped people trying to force drink on me when I was driving.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…