Hi,

I brought some "sugar free" sweets at Boots yesterday without checking the label as they were next to the till. When I got home and looked at the label they were loaded with carbs.

Are there actually any sugar & carb free sweets I can by in the UK?? What about chocolate? Any somewhere where I won't pay through the nose for them?

Cheers,
Ritchie.

What were the ingredients listed and the nutrition info in full, Ritchie?

They are called "Sula Strawberry Cream":

249 kcal
0g protein
87g carbs (87g polyols, 0g sugars)
4g fat (3g saturates. 1g polysaturates)

Does this help?

Thanks,
Ritchie.

The carbs are sugar alcohols (polyol is another name for them)and there is a theory (from the manufacturers) that officially these dont affect our bodies so can be discounted.

However many people find their body IS affected - some diabetics see their blood sugar readings responding the same as if they eat sugar, and others find they get terrible digestion problems from them.

The effects are different depending on the usual YMMV thing as well as the different kinds of sugar alcohol used.

What sugar alcohol(s) are in them?

Well I ate some yesterday to disastrous effects...

After 45 minutes of eating 6 sweets I had to run to the toilet where I then spent most of the day. I’m sure you don’t need the gory details but I will just say that I have never had diarrhea like it in my life. I know it was the sweets as I had eaten nothing else and my wife was fine (she’d eaten the same as me which the exception of the sweets).

I later looked up polyol and discovered that it has laxative effects in some people.

Also, ketosis has stopped for me and I put on half a kilo yesterday in weight.

Moral here for me is NEVER to eat those horrible sweets again. They obviously disagree with me and have now set me back at least a few days. In fact, they made me feel positively ill.

So, looks like the manufacturers claims are not totally true, at least, in my case.

I'm really dissapointed and my advice to any low carber is to steer well clear of them.

Oh Ritchie, I feel for you

The time I was given a pack of sugarfree toffees which were so delicious I ate the whole pack over one evening had me up all night sitting on the loo!

You know the phrase 'The bottom fell out of my world' used when people suffer a disappointment?
Well for me it was more like 'The world dropped out of my bottom'

Never again

The manufacturers should print a warning on the things telling people the sweets could have a laxative effect!!

This sounds exactly like me 2 days ago. I bought some sugar-free treats and they were SO good that I kept eating and eating...and I was at work. Next thing, I knew I felt that roll and tumble in my tummy and was in the bathroom all day. Then I started throwing up and dry heaved the whole way home. TRUST ME, I can relate!!!!! I learned my lesson as well...I won't touch them with a 10-foot pole. I haven't been sick like that in a long time.

I posted a similar question on a different thread......you have to be very careful about polyols....if I eat more then one or two I stop losing weight.

I try only to have any kind of sweetners if I am desperate for something sweet and I might have real chocolate lol, otherwise I avoid them.

Ritchie, would you be willing to make your own home made chocolate coconut bark? I can't recommend this stuff enough and it's actually good for you! It is dead simple and quiick to make. The only hard to get ingredient is coconut oil (usually in a health food shop) - the rest is cocoa, coconut, splenda tablets crushed, cream, vanilla extract and a bit of xylitol (Sainsburys' or H&B). The last ingredient IS a sugar alcohol, but one of the most tolerable and you only use a small amount anyway. You have to keep the bark in the fridge or freezer, but it is totally yummy and zaps a chocolate craving on the head.
Babs

Yeah, sure, have you got the recipe please? BUT is it low carb? I thought coconut was high in carbs?

You can make it without the coconut meat, just the oil.
the recipe is in the 'sweet treats' forum I am sure

ETA
Yes, here it is
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=265378
Make it without nuts or coconut meat to keep the carbs low.

Desiccated coconut (unsweetened) is only 6 carbs per 100gms - very low carb and tasty. I would leave it in, not least because it adds bulk, taste and goodness.
But try it both ways and see what you prefer. Umlike bought sf sweets, this stuff can really be counted as a food, but perhaps not for induction.
Babs

BTW, I just checked that recipe link - 1/4t sweetener is not nearly enough for this recipe, even for me, and I hate things oversweetened.
Splenda alone is useless for sweetening chocolate. You need about 1 T xylitol and about 4 crushed Splenda tablets for best results. Also, add in 1t vanilla extract and 1 T cream - you can dissolve your sweeteners in this liquid to avoid grittiness in the finished product.
Babs