No Sugar Added

There is a difference though between sugar free and no sugar added. That's the problem. Most think that no sugar added means it's sugar free and that's not the case. They just don't use refined sugar in it. You do need to also check especially with the "No fats" or "Low Fat" foods because many of them add in sugar in place of the fat. I've run into that. So if you are watching your sugar intake you have to watch. I agree it's always best to watch those labels and see what is what. You can't assume with anything.

OMG I'm glad your mom was all right. I can just imagine what all happenned and how shocked you were to find something you thought was good wasn't. That's my father's big down fall. He eats a lot of carbs and startches. He just can't get it into his head that those turn to sugar in the body.

Well my mom ended up ok, it was a miracle she didn't go into a diabetic coma, and we became real careful about foods. One thing that we did was go to a nutritionist with the specific goal of learning about food and how it works and effects those who are diabetic. I remember at one point we watched a video that they showed and my mom said "I don't do that" She wanted confirmation from me and I said well... yeah you do. This was in reference to the diabetic mood swings where sometimes the emotions of a diabetic will swing wildly with out their even knowing it is happening. As for your dad and the issue of starches that is going to be hard, I mean for years those in my family who are older and diabetic were the kind of plain and simple meat and potatoes kind of people, with part of my family being Irish potatoes with every meal and bread was natural, with part of my family being Italian pastas and bread with all the meals were natural. Now to convince diabetics that breads, are a starch and that means they are converting to sugar right away, and that potatoes are no longer a vegatable but a starch, that pasta is a starch, and so it is now an issue was for some unacceptable. Then learning that some vegatables such as carrots, lima beans, beets and corn were high starchy foods so that they yes were vegtables but could not be eatten as much as other vegtables became a problem as well. I mean you serve lima beans and small amount of potatoes and you figure you are serving vegatables. only to find out you are serving starches which will convert to sugar rapidly. Then realizing that the sugars from fruits can not be substituted for the sugar conversion of the starchy foods since each is a different kind of sugar reaction was something we had to learn and work on. It is all very simple now, now that I know it, but it was complicated back then, while I was learning. Hope your father gets the idea to becareful of his starchs. Maybe you can get him to make an appointment with a nutritionist who specializes in explaining about diabetic menus to him. It is not like it was a few years ago now there are many foods out there that he can eat, and there are many excellent diabetic cookbooks that will supplement his foods and keep things from being boring, or to restricting.

Oh I know. My father is diabetic as well and he's run into problems due to misleading labels. Ones that say "no sugar added" are a big problem because he thinks that means he doesn't have to worry. Wish it were that easy.

Hey, I really didnt know that. I was thinking that these labels are true, but they are again misleading. I would like to have your opinion on my discussion I started on a similar concern. Your suggestions are highly required. http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/1179870.aspx?p=0 Thanks!

It would be nice if the FDA would do something like that. You can't go just by what the front label says that's for sure. They are out to sell their product and if something like that on the front does it they don't care if people don't look to see if it's misleading or not.

That is true! FDA should regulate these products carefully in public concern. If these labels are misleading the public, its not good for our health.

That's a wise thing to do, to have him check each and every label. That way you know for sure what you are getting.

Low sugar or high, it's the same treatment of having to watch your diet. Not fun at all. I know sugar is sugar whether it's refined or not. Too much of anything is not good and when you have a blood sugar problem it just makes it even more difficult.

Do you have a link to that study? I'd be curious on that. I know I have trouble with some forms of aspertame, it causes me to have migraines. I didn't know that it had the problem of metabolizing other carbs and that I'd like to know more about.

I'll have to talk to a friend for that - he's diabetic and started on aspartame and his weight loss slowed to a crawl then stopped. He found the report and switched to sucralose (Splenda) and his weight has begun to drop again. Mine too ;) I get Ugly Migraines from aspartame, any form of aspartame - Hate it! As soon as I can get the info on the aspartame report I'll post it.

You're quite welcome. It is something we need to watch for. I know we gave my dad some "No Sugar Added" Pies and it shot his blood sugar way up because it had all the other forms of sugar like corn syrup. You just have to watch.

There are a lot of myths out there about different health conditions. That's why it's always wise to double check everything with one's doctor.

Yeah it is hard. I know my dad has found a few sugar free chocolates but then you have to be careful. You can only eat a couple at a time, any more and you end up in the bathroom all night. Really cleans out the system. We once bought the "low fat" peanut butter and it tasted decent but then we looked at the calories and such and it had twice the amount of sugar. They have to make up for the loss of one with something else. As you pointed out finding something that tastes decent that has low everything isn't always easy.

Yes, sobitol and manitol have laxative effects in big doses. Of course, unless you read about them, there's nothing on a package to tell you about that effect. Oh, I know about that! When the sugar is gone, they add other stuff...and the calories are higher and sometimes, so is the carbs! Sometimes I think its better to have a little sugar and have less carbs!

Scary isn't it? I see some people who never check things out and just assume that what they are eating is healthy. When I point out some of the calories or ingredients they are flabbergasted. It gets me because it's right there for them to see. Now the fine print things I can understand not seeing but the calories and such isn't that small.

Very true but one should know what sugars they are putting into themselves. It's very easy to think that no sugar added is the same as sugar free and they aren't. One needs to check the labels to make sure of what they are putting into themselves.

Nothing personal but no carb pasta sounds a lot like sugar free jelly beans. Just doesn't sound right. I'll have to let my mom know about that because my father loves pasta.