Lakanto, and the new cookbook
Under the What's in the Crockpot? thread, Sally wrote:
A friend of mine is on the Body Ecology Diet (way to high in carbs for me, but lots of interesting information and ideas from their non-starch meals for us). She ordered a sweetener from their website that they call Lakanto. It is a mixture of erythritol and an extract from a Chinese fruit called Luo Han Guo. They claim it has 0 glycemic impact and 0 carbs. It tastes great (kind of brown sugary) has a nice texture, and is supposed to be usable for baking at a 1:1 ratio with sugar. I love your brown sugar substitute of a little molasses and splenda, but I wonder what you think of this option or if anyone out there has noted blood sugar effects from it.
I'd also love to know absolutely anything about your new book!
I haven't tried the product, but my initial reaction is positive. Erythritol has the lowest absorption rate of all the polyols, and also has the least gut reaction. Lo han appears to be a bona fide low carb botanical sweetener, similar to stevia. I have written to the company and asked if they'd like to send me a sample to review; I'll keep you posted. If it's good, I'd love to come up with some recipes.
The new book is called The Glycemic Load Cookbook. It is a companion cookbook to The Glycemic Load Diet by Dr. Rob Thompson. I liked Dr. Rob's book and thought his very simple approach to carb restriction -- no starches, no sugary beverages -- would make sense for a lot of people. I said so in print. At the same time, Dr. Rob was a fan of my low carb column. So when McGraw-Hill wanted a companion cookbook, they asked me. I was instantly enthusiastic.
It's less strictly low carb than some of my other books, since I was following Dr. Rob's very simple plan, which allows unlimited fruit, and even modest use of sugar. (I couldn't do it. I had to fudge with Sucanat*, and even then I was nervous as heck, though I didn't gain weight writing the book.) But many of the recipes are fine even for Atkins folks. The manuscript I turned in was 150 recipes, but it's too long; I may have to axe some. Probably end up with 125. Which leaves me extra recipes to post here!
Should be out in October.
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Another Luo Han Guo product
I'm new so you may have covered this already, but I just found a product that combines Luo Han Guo with inulin. It's called Sweet Fiber. I don't know a thing about it other than it's supposed to be similar to sugar.
Luo Han Guo used in Lakanto - Sweet Fiber not same?
According to Amazon.com the ingredients in Sweet Fiber are:
"Tagatose and Xylitol (Naturally Occurring Low-Calorie Sugars Found in Many Fruits and Vegetables) and Natural Flavors. All-Natural Proprietary Mixture of Inulin (a Soluble Fiber Extracted from Chicory Root)"
According to Body Ecology the ingredients in Lakanto are:
"The two natural ingredients in Lakanto are erythritol and the supersweet extract of the luo han guo fruit from China."
It doesn't look like they are the same product at all - but my question is: Do they do the same thing? Is one product better than the other? I am looking for a sugar substitute - am diabetic - and can't use artificial sweeteners except an occasional sacchrin - no sucralose, etc.
Thanks for your help.
Xylitol
Important point about xylitol: It's highly toxic to dogs. There are reports of dogs dying from chewing up a pack of xylitol-sweetened gum. In my dog-centric household, that's enough reason for xylitol to not be the sweetener of choice.
Thanks!
Thanks for the feedback on Lakanto and looking into it further. I can't wait for the new book to come out! Sally