sugar free -- carb free?

[beckybuckley]

When I look at a bag of candy that says it's sugar free or sugarless but then the nutritional info still there are 15g of carbs, zero sugar but 15g of sugar alcohols. Do you still count those carbs?

We typically stay away from sugar alcohols because it upsets her tummy, but she gets a sugar free candy at the end of each dance class. Is this possibly what's causing her spike after dance? :confused:

[mommy2noah]

Hi Becky. We were told by our nutritionist to count all types of carbs, including sugar alcohols. I will be curious to see what other people post. I don't know about you but I often find that the sugar free items have just as many, if not more, carbs, that the "sugar" products. However, before Noah got celiac I did like to buy the reduced sugar versions of various cereals.

Stacy
mommy to
Noah, dxd 2/04
Max
and Hannah

[Kaylee's Mommy]

we go for the regular sugar items instead of no sugar/sugar free..typically the carb count is higher in the 'sugar' free stuff.. so I might as well go with the regular stuff.. the exception is drinks.. she doesn't get regular soda (she doesn't really like the bubbles anyway.. ) or regular sugary drinks.. diet for those:)

[MaggieM]

I was just given information about this the other day. I knew "sugar free" still meant carbs. But I was just told that anything with sugar alcohol I should use a different formula. I should take the total amount of sugar alcohol, half it, and then deduct that amount from the carb count. (ie: total carbs 26g, sugar alchol 20g - 26g carbs minus 10g from sugar alcohol and dose 16g carbs)I have yet to try it so I'm not certain what kind of effect it will have on my son. He's not a big candy eater (thank God) so I don't know when I'll come across this.

[beckybuckley]

I'll have to ask them tonite if they have the bag of candy. I feel bad because I know they bought this candy special for her -- the dance school she's in is so amazing and they really care about their kids. But I'm sure they'll understand that I'm still learning, too.

[georgia]

we were also told to subtract 1/2 the sugar alcohols. so if sugar alcohols are 12, we'd count it as 6.
Although, we rarely to never eat sugar alcohols. if we want candy we eat the "real" stuff, it is about the same carb count usually and i figure is better for all of us.
I do remember right after diagnsosis, we were at Kroger (our grocery store) and I was looking in the "diabetic" section, hoping to find some "free" snacks, because Amalia was starving all the time. I was amazed how there is little to no "free" food there. The cookies had about the same carbs as other cookies I usally buy. I suppose it was geared more towards type 2, alot of the cookies and stuff there were low glycemic and slower sugar stuff.
Now, thank goodness, we shope like regular people again.

[Lindy]

I was told that sugar alcohol takes more time to digest and hit the blood stream. It still gets there, but instead of the instant spike it is more gradual. We use the "sugar free" syrup and it is all sugar alcohol - I count it carb for carb - and as of yet haven't had a problem! Also sugar alcohol tends to have a laxative effect :eek: - isn't that great for our little ones!

At preschool this year for Valentine's day, one of the mom's gave my son a whole bag of "sugar free" peanut butter cups - while the other kids got something different. While that was frustrating enough "being different" - the amount of carbs were the same for reg. peanut butter cups - except minus the laxative issue. I gathered up all his candy, and gave him some over time and somehow those delicious laxatives disappeared and he never knew the difference.

For me I need to see a big benefit to going "sugar free" - in the syrup for instance - regular syrup has something like 56g while sugar free has 12g - yep, that's better!

[MrsBadshoe]

I'll have to ask them tonite if they have the bag of candy. I feel bad because I know they bought this candy special for her -- the dance school she's in is so amazing and they really care about their kids. But I'm sure they'll understand that I'm still learning, too.

Just curious if they bought the bag just for her why they can't just buy a regular bag. I would explain that sugar free candy isn't any different for her system them regular sugar candy with regards to counting the carbs you need to account for the carbs either way. BUT the sugar alcohols are not good for her system at all. I would prefer regular candy any day over sugar free.

[Mama Belle]

Just curious if they bought the bag just for her why they can't just buy a regular bag. I would explain that sugar free candy isn't any different for her system them regular sugar candy with regards to counting the carbs you need to account for the carbs either way. BUT the sugar alcohols are not good for her system at all. I would prefer regular candy any day over sugar free.

TOTALLY! I tell my friends with non-D kids that the supposed "sugar free" and "no sugar added" stuff is no better, and is actually really rough on the tummies.

The way sugar alcohols were explained to me is like this: side by side, same sized serving of a food, one containing sugar alcohols, one containing plain old sugar, the serving with sugar alcohols has fewer calories than the serving with plain old sugar. However, the benefit is not much and the sugar alcohols are notorious for giving kids upset stomachs, potentially leading to Diarrhea, which can potentially lead to ketones, which we all like to avoid in our D kids.

Samantha was sent a bag of "sugar free" chocolates from her Omi (Grandma) for Easter. Each chocolate contians four grams of carbs. Most of the time I pitch the sugar free stuff and replace it with the regular candy. But this time we just kept the candy and she gets a max of one piece per day. This way, she still gets the treat, but her body isn't totally overloaded with the crappy sugar alcohols and the carbs.