Loads of deserts when I go to the US stating sugarfree in retsuarants. A lot of candy here labelled sugarfree is also low carb or carbfree. Is that the same for deserts? As a few I see are sponge cakes and surely they have to have carbs?

This is more a question for someone with the interests of a dietician than for me. However, since no one else has answered it yet, I'll try, just so the question is not left without an answer.

Yes, those sugar-free desserts contain carbohydrates. Carbohydrates include the categories of both starches and sugars. Thus: All sugars are carbohydrates, but all carbohydrates are not necessarily sugars.

Bread, which is generally made from wheat, is a carbohydrate. But it is not a sugar. It is a starch, or at least the wheat component is. Ditto for beans (legumes), corn, rice, etc. On the other hand, sugar is a carbohydrate but not a starch. Don't know what those "low-carb" diets advise, but generally beans, corn, rice, are considered reasonably and comparatively desirable in that they metabolize slowly, not likely to spike (and then crash) your energy level the way pure sugar would.

But I don't know what a doctor would say. I also don't know what those bestselling books would say. Maybe to the diet gurus a carb (ouch! hate that word!) is a carb is a carb. . . . Or a book sale is a book sale is a book sale. . . .

Actually, you might want to check what the sugar substitute is. Sucralose/Splenda is low-carb-diet-friendly. Whereas aspartame/Nutrasweet is NOT recommended for low carb diets because the body thinks it's carbs and will throw people off their diet/ketosis.

I am not a diet expert but I doubt if a few milligrams of almost anything would "...throw people off their diet/ketosis".

MisterNice

I've been on a low sugar/low carb diet for quite some time now. I also just switched to 6 small meals a day which has been the best way to loose and keep weight off for me. Anyways I've always been very skeptical of the low sugar desserts because usually they substitute the sugar with more carbs. So basically it defeats the point of my diet if the sugar is low but the carbs have doubled! Restaurants are becoming more aware of customer's special diet needs so I would suggest asking for the ingredients.

I've also not bothered with the sugar free candy anymore because it is also very high in carbs. I have just become one of those annoying shoppers that stands in teh shopping aisle forever reading and comparing labels. I just try to find a healthy balance between low carb and low sugar.

I know a little bit of aspartame will not hurt my diet but i chew so much gum at work and consume a lot of diet soda so I've switched to 7-up and diet coke with splenda bc they contain Splenda. I'm just looking for some gum now that has splenda, anyone know of any? And nowadays if i'm going to treat myself to dessert I just eat the real thing since I only eat it 1 every few weeks. It tastes so much better!

That is not true. I drink diet coke like a fiend and it contains a ton of aspartame. Aspartame has has zero impact on ketosis.

Aspartame does not react to heat well (splenda does) which is why you don't see aspartame in anything that has to be baked or heated.

To the OP's question, "sugar free" is more meaningful to diabetics, not as much to those doing Atkins to lose weight. Deserts that contain flour are a big no-no for atkins, but are OK for diabetics. The key is to look at the Total Carbohydrate breakdown. Atkins or low carb products (like candy) that have proportionately high amounts of either 'sugar alcohol' or 'dietary fibre' are fine becuase they have little to no effect on blood sugar. This is why you'll see a low carb candy bar that lists 14 grams of carbs on the label, but only 2 grams of "net impact" carbs. 10 of those grams are sugar alcohol, 2 are fibre. Products with lots of sugar alcohol have a huge impact on your GI tract, so eat them in moderation.

Sugar free doesn't mean no carbohydrates. One could easily sweeten a dessert with honey and say it is sugar free. Likely, they use a sweetener in a dessert which isn't a bad thing. The taste won't be the same, but you'll save the sugar spike. What I would check for is to see if they use maltitol. It basically has ruined almost all sugar free foods. It tastes more like sugar, but really is a frankenfood. Picture this, you're at dinner and have your sugar free dessert. A half hour later, you start having gas, flatulating and then have to run to the bathroom with diaharrea. It's a great way to impress business clients, dinner guests and the perfect way to seal the deal with your date/gf/bf/spouse. Nothing says romance like farting every few minutes. If you're really health conscious, then skip dessert or ask for some fresh strawberries.

All I know is that when I was on the Atkins program a couple years back, I was told that Nutrasweet, Equal and other things containing aspartame were 100% off-limits. I didn't want to take that risk of stopping my weight-loss as the diet was TOUGH and I love meat... Anyway, here's the official Atkins word from www.atkins.com:

Artificial Sweeteners
You must determine which artificial sweeteners agree with you, but the following are allowed: sucralose (marketed as Splenda�), saccharin, cyclamate and acesulfame-K. Natural sweeteners ending in the suffix "-ose," such as maltose, etc., should be avoided. However, most sugar alcohols have a minimal effect on blood sugar and are acceptable.

Saccharin has been extensively studied, and harmful effects were produced in the lab when fed to rats only in extremely high doses. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has removed saccharin from its list of carcinogens, basing its decision upon a thorough review of the medical literature and the National Institute of Science�s statement that there is "no clear association between saccharin and human cancer." It can be safely consumed in moderation, meaning no more than three packets a day. Saccharin is marketed as Sweet'n Low�.

We discourage the use of aspartame (marketed as NutraSweet� and Equal�) because of clinical observations that it slows weight loss in certain individuals. The FDA has approved the herb stevia for use only as a supplement, not as a sweetener.

The Atkins preference, however, is sucralose (Splenda�), the only sweetener made from sugar. Sucralose is safe, noncaloric and does not raise blood sugar. It has been used in Canada for years, and the FDA recently approved it after reviewing more than 100 studies conducted over the past 20 years. Note that each packet of sugar substitute contains about 1 gram of carbohydrate, so don�t forget to include the amount in your daily totals.

***PLEASE NOTE THAT I CAN NO LONGER FIND THIS ARTICLE IN THE WEBSITE AS IT HAS BEEN REORGANIZED...THIS WAS COPIED FROM A CACHED COPY***

To the OP, no they are not always the same. Yes sugar breaks down as a carb, but it is one of many things that are carbs.

You could make potato bread: High Carb Low Sugar
You could make flour free cake: Low Carb High Sugar
and things to meet all the other possible pairings.

I think the food industry is trying to hit more Low-Low combinations but one is not soley dependent on the other.

On the artificial sweeters, they are chemicals they are not natural for your body to be reacting to (we werent programmed for this metabolism) because of that different people react to them differently, and different people need varying amounts to have an issue (if they will have one at all).

I personally can not metabolize them at all, I end with a headache, I retain fluid, I have stomach problems and joint problems, for 3 or 4 days after merely a single soda. I know others who live on it and never react. It really depends on the way the enzymes in your liver react to it, so there is no right or wrong on the ketosis thing, it is very individual independent.

Finally, on the comment on Milligrams being too small to ever do anything, in chemical terms for some substances Milligrams is a hugely effective amount. In the chemical world they work in micrograms or even smaller.

FWIW, very simply put, NO, sugarfree is not carbohydrate free.

Carbohydrates (C-H-O) contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen molecules.

Sugar(s) is/are one type of carbohyrate.

Carbs are essntial for proper nutrition and brain function. They are not evil!

I eat very little, if any, sugar, and quite a few "carbs" each and every day.

Hope this helps.

Mark

The thing that people should realize about carbohydrates and sugar is that all carbohydrates get broken down into sugar. For some foods this happens faster than others. The quicker it happens, the higher the 'glycemic index' of the food. Foods with a lower GI are considered to be more nutritious. The faster things get turned into sugar, the faster your body has to respond with things like insulin.

When you eat something like a potato, your body breaks it down into sugar very quickly so it is more or less the same as eating a similar amount of sugar from a carbohydrate perspective. Things like brown rice and whole wheat foods have more complex carbohydrates and take longer to be turned into sugar. This is the reason why regimens such as Atkins (since the old man died they're pretty much a joke) and Protein Power tell you that things like potatos and white bread are bad. Your best bet to be healthy is aovid the white stuff (white bread, white rice, potato, etc) and eat things like whole wheat bread and brown rice. Dessert itself is probably better left for some afternoon. It's not that beneficial to you to have a nice insulin spike after you've just eaten a full meal.