Sugar Free and Low-Carb aren't the same thing?

[bk_metro]

I bought some sugar free gummy bears this afternoon and thought they tasted too good to be true. I googled the nutrient values for sugar free gummy bears and they actually have a ton of carbs!! Why would they do that? They aren't lower in calories or carbs! I wish I had done my research before buying them, I just unwittingly ate 40gms extra carbs. I feel like an idiot.

[Synne]

Lots of people get scammed on this. I've found a few things that were sugar free and got excited wondering why it wasnt on the SB phase food list.. cuz its so high in carbs! Its silly and kinda cruel LOL

[AussieTonz]

Yeah I can be kind of disappointing when you think you have made a new low carb discovery and haven't. Sugar free is generally intended to be suitable for diabetics rather than a weight loss or low carb product.

[Adell]

dont feel like an idiot!!! Now, got that out-

It is a learning process, in time you will know like the back of your hand what can go in.

Its great you googled the nutrition info on the gummie bears. Now, you know and just move foward.

[bk_metro]

Thanks for the support!

So what does this mean, I assume I'm out of ketosis? Will everything I eat the rest of the day turn directly into fat? What should I do now? I'm so upset, I feel like all my hard work has gone straight down the drain! :help:

[neverwhere]

No, it doesnt mean that at all! PLEASE dont start thinking that way. That is the first seed of derailment.

You never know, you might still be in ketosis! And if you arent, it doesnt mean everything turns to fat, it just means your body is going to burn the gummie bears off before it goes back to burning the stored fat. So one error probably wont set you back too much.

Just drink a lot of water, keep the rest of your day happy and fatty :)

[neverwhere]

What are the ingredients? Did you deduct the SA? Do you deduct SA, or do you count total carbs?

SF doesnt necessarily mean carb free, as you now know. But remember, sf is always a better choice :)

[KvonM]

since sugar alcohols have flooded the market, there are now TONS of candies out there that can claim to be sugar-free and yet still have carbs up the wazoo. that's probably what you got your hands on. technically, sugar alcohols aren't sugar, but if you're not spending the next 4 hours in the bathroom, then your body is treating them as if they WERE sugar.

keep in mind too, anything in the ingredient list that ends in -ose is a sugar... but that doesn't mean that the product doesn't have starches, flours, gluten, etc. technically, a bag of flour is sugar-free, but it's still all carb.

[AndieLyn]

Yeah... I thought you were suppose to deduct the sugar alcohols?!

[bk_metro]

since sugar alcohols have flooded the market, there are now TONS of candies out there that can claim to be sugar-free and yet still have carbs up the wazoo. that's probably what you got your hands on. technically, sugar alcohols aren't sugar, but if you're not spending the next 4 hours in the bathroom, then your body is treating them as if they WERE sugar.

Hmmmm...I've been back and forth to the bathroom, so I guess that's good news? :)

[/QUOTE]keep in mind too, anything in the ingredient list that ends in -ose is a sugar... but that doesn't mean that the product doesn't have starches, flours, gluten, etc. technically, a bag of flour is sugar-free, but it's still all carb.[/QUOTE]

I got it at one of those candy stores that sells candy by they bulk so I don't know the ingredients. I really don't like equal, splenda etc... so I expected the candy to have a slightly bitter taste that let me know it was made from other ingredients but the candy tasted so incredible that I got suspicious. I'm sure it's sugar free, but what does that really mean. On one website the first ingredient on the sugar free candy was malitol syrup? That sounds sugary to me :confused:

[Helen H]

If there's a nutrition label, read it. Even if something says "sugar-free" it may still have a ton of carbs. Rice cakes, for instance, claim to be sugar free, and they certainly taste it, but they have loads of high-gi carbs. And anything which tastes very sweets is probably a bad idea. Even if it is sweetened entirely with Splenda or some other zero calorie sweetener, chances are that all that sweetness can spike insulin anyway.

[Dodger]

Yeah... I thought you were suppose to deduct the sugar alcohols?!At one time the belief was that sugar alcohols were not digested and therefore were acceptable. The manufacturers of products using them still support this as being true. Now it is known that, depending upon the exact sugar alcohol, they are processed into the blood stream and act like sugar. They are taken in slower than sugar, so the insulin reponse is dampened. The ones that do not enter the blood stream are used to feed intestional bacteria, which is what causes the digestive distress that many report.

A compromise that is used successfully by many people to to count them as only 50% carbs. I have found it better to not eat them at all.

[KvonM]

On one website the first ingredient on the sugar free candy was malitol syrup? That sounds sugary to me

malitol is a sugar alcohol, and one most people find gives them the worst "bathroom effect".

[oakdryad]

Gummi Bears are pretty much starch and sugar, although sometimes they use gelatin instead -- however corn starch is CHEAP. So sugar free would be starch and whatever sugar alcohol they're using. So they're still packed with carbs, even without sugar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gummy_bears
http://inventors.about.com/od/gstartinventions/a/gummi.htm