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What about type 2 diabetics

  • 21 May 2012 3:32 AM
    Message # 926117
    Deleted user

    My husband has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and has cut out all types of sugar. While we will continue to do this when eating out is it safe to use dextrose and glucose as a replacement for sugar in items we cook ourselves that need sugar. I'm thinking of things like muffins and bread and I'd also like to make an icecream we can have on the weekends. Also can he use dextrose instead of the artificial sweetners?  Whilst the doctor has said no sugar he also said no artificial sweetners except Stevia. Medical profession is a bit biased toward non at all but I think if we are careful we could broarden our diet and not ham up the system, thanks

  • 22 May 2012 1:27 AM
    Reply # 927079 on 926117
    Anonymous
    Pam Rackley wrote:

    My husband has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and has cut out all types of sugar. While we will continue to do this when eating out is it safe to use dextrose and glucose as a replacement for sugar in items we cook ourselves that need sugar. I'm thinking of things like muffins and bread and I'd also like to make an icecream we can have on the weekends. Also can he use dextrose instead of the artificial sweetners?  Whilst the doctor has said no sugar he also said no artificial sweetners except Stevia. Medical profession is a bit biased toward non at all but I think if we are careful we could broarden our diet and not ham up the system, thanks

    Hi Pam,

    Since you hubby has already been diagnosed with T2D I hesitate to make any comments which might be construed as "medical advice".  I'm not sure what effect glucose has on the level of blood sugar. But if the appetite-control system system is working and he is getting enough insulin one way or another, it may be OK. I think you need to discuss this with your doctor.

    I assume you are past the withdrawal period (?) as David does not recommend substituting glucose for sucrose during that.  There are many recipes on this site and in his books which use glucose/dextrose (same thing) in place of sucrose, including some for ice cream.

    His books deal with the subject of artificial sweeteners at length. I use Splenda  in coffee, which is based on sucralose. It gets a bad press but David says it is on the "your call" list, aka "the jury is still out" :-)  There is a variant of Stevia currently being promoted called Natvia. I haven't tried either yet but I will do when my present stock is depleted.

    You need to become avid label readers as hidden sugar is present in large amounts in most processed foods. 

    JohnN

  • 22 May 2012 3:44 AM
    Reply # 927160 on 926117
    Deleted user
    Many thanks John, yes I do realise this forum is not a medical advise system. I will discuss it with the doctor next time we go. I did notice that one 'artificial sweetner' is based on dextrose. We use Stevia as the doctor said don't touch equal.  We just did the 'cold turkey' on the sugar and high carb stuff so things are settling down pretty nicely. I just want to make sure we have as broad a diet as possible with a few 'sweet' things occasionally. I am assuming dextrose does exactly what sugar does but is not a problem like fructose. Also I am trying to find out if we use less dextrose than we did sugar would we get the  better result and more even blood sugar levels. All experimental at the moment but nice to have this forum to toss things around and maybe get ideas we didn't think of. And yes we do a lot more label reading these days. Thanks again
  • 23 May 2012 5:22 AM
    Reply # 928222 on 927160
    Anonymous
    Pam Rackley wrote:Many thanks John, yes I do realise this forum is not a medical advise system. I will discuss it with the doctor next time we go. I did notice that one 'artificial sweetner' is based on dextrose. We use Stevia as the doctor said don't touch equal.  We just did the 'cold turkey' on the sugar and high carb stuff so things are settling down pretty nicely. I just want to make sure we have as broad a diet as possible with a few 'sweet' things occasionally. I am assuming dextrose does exactly what sugar does but is not a problem like fructose. Also I am trying to find out if we use less dextrose than we did sugar would we get the  better result and more even blood sugar levels. All experimental at the moment but nice to have this forum to toss things around and maybe get ideas we didn't think of. And yes we do a lot more label reading these days. Thanks again
    Dextrose = glucose - Dextrose is a brand name.  Sucrose is a double-molecule  - one molecule of glucose bonded with one of fructose. The whole living world runs on glucose, including all the cells in your body. But fructose, as you will have read, doesn't get used this way. Most of it gets converted to fat and it has numerous other deleterious effects.

    To get approx the same degree of sweetness with glucose compared to sucrose, you need to use twice the amount. Hopefully your desire for sweetness with diminish with time.

    Hang in there :-)
    JohnN
  • 24 May 2012 8:00 AM
    Reply # 929155 on 926117
    Deleted user

    Thanks John, we have been told by the diabetes educator we are doing everything right. We have both and me in particular lost our taste for sugar

    Might mean we can use the dextrose as a substitute from time to time. I did try one of David's recipes and hubby had a small serve and the blood sugar level was around the same as it has been so we can have a small amount occasionally

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