Sugar-Free Muffin Mix

[Kelly Grace]

I'll ask my Mom what store she found the s/f Hershey's candy in. I'm guessing Giant Eagle, but I will double-check for sure, and get back to you.

Your story about the hidden egg is still making me laugh!

[carrie]

Hi All. I've been mia off this board for a while, busy with a new baby, but check in now and then. To refresh...my son Ben is now 5 and has some sort of fructose intolerance/mal-absorption.

Tammy, you refreshed my mind that I wanted to order a chocolate bunny for Easter. Thank you! I checked out the hershey's site...here are the ingredients for their sugar free chocolate:

Maltitol , Chocolate , Cocoa Butter , Cream Milk - Adds a Negligble Amount of Sugar , Polydextrose , Milkfat , Sodium Caseinate Milk , Soy Lecithin , PGPR Emulsifier , Vanillin Artificial Flavor , Sucralose

I think sucralose is something to avoid, correct?

Does everyone do well with maltitol?? My memories go back to a horrible week when Ben had medicine that contained it and I have avoided it ever since. I was told to avoid all sugar alcohol's, which is any ingredient that ends in ---ol. I don't remember where I got that information though, I think a nutritionist that wasn't too clear about the whole fructose thing. So, I just wanted to get a consensus here and perhaps sorbitol is avoided but maltitol is okay. How about xylitol in gum? I'm in a 'lets try it mood' for this Easter since he is older now, but want to make sure I order the right things!

thanks!!! Hope everyone is doing well.
carrie

[Kelly Grace]

Hi Gang,

The kind of s/f Hershey's chocolate that my Mom found did not contain sucralose.

Correct me if I'm wrong -- but isn't sucralose a form of Splenda? This is the kind I've found in the store and is not allowed.

Malitol is allowed from the information that we received from our dietician.

[carrie]

I'll keep looking around here for the hershey's. It would be nice to not have to order online for everything. Yet it is frustrating that companies change ingredients (and add sugar) in different part of the country! And watch ...he won't even like chocolate after all this, but I just want to be able to offer it, that's all. Thanks again!

[colormist]

I can't do malitol or sucralose. Sucralose is in Splenda.

[julienc]

I seem to tolerate the xylitol in gum just fine. Gum was one of those things that used to make me go hypoglycemic (prior to diagnosis and knowing my problem with sorbitol). I was thrilled when I found that Ice Breaker gum that has xylitol instead of sorbitol, and I haven't had any reaction to it.

[colormist]

I was so happy when I found out about the Ice Breaker gum. I don't have any reaction to the xylitol in it, either.

[Tammy]

Regina does the xylitol and maltitol just fine. She can't handle sucralose - which is what Splenda is.

[Tammy]

Since we all seem to be here, I have a question.
How many do and can't do peanuts? I've seen SF peanut butter cups, but I've never been brave enough to let her try the peanuts. My first old, original list said no. Then the newer ones said ok, and it seemed to go back and forth. So I just never let her try them.

Now because I can remember Fred's funny story of starving all day and eating his hosts peanuts in the middle of the night, I remember Fred can eat them. Or at least did. Do you still Fred?

What about everyone else?

Peanut Butter cups are my favorite, and I would love to let her try them. I think peanuts are something she would like.

[colormist]

I can't eat too many peanuts. I really like them and do okay with smaller amounts (about the amount for a peanut butter sandwich), but if I eat too many, then I get sick.

Of course, I always thought it was the sheer amount of salt in the peanuts that made me sick and not the sugars in the nut. *shrugs*

[colormist]

Fred,
You have to buy the really expensive, organic, natural, sugar-free kind now. Amazing how it has less stuff in it, but costs more to the end consumer.

[Kelly Grace]

I buy the Joseph's brand sugar-free peanut butter and Lily loves it occasionally on toast.

I found the peanut butter at Marc's grocery store. But you can also order online. www.josephslitecookies.com/index.cfm?method=Shopping_detail&productID=7&categoryID=7&parentCatID=1

Please call the company and verify ingredients first. It is true that some things seem to be okay in some areas, while others have found similar items that are not okay.

[Kelly Grace]

I just scrolled all the way to the bottom of the Joseph's peanut butter. All ingredients are listed at the bottom.

The also sell some cookies that are okay, but Lily doesn't like them.

I saw a s/f maple syrup that I might have her try.

Good luck!

[Tammy]

I think I'll bite the bullet and try it. I'm not a very adventurous try and see type person, but it seems as though she'd probably do a few ok. Maybe I'll try a "small" handful of peanuts. See if that goes. Then I can get the peanut butter. I'd hate to get her the PB or the PBcups and find out it doesn't work. It'd be like taking something away after she liked it.

I've never found any SF maple syrup that was ok. I'd be interested to see how it goes. I did try making some with the maple flavoring and glucose. It was HFI-ok but wasn't a very big hit. I didn't think it was all that great, though either. She still just preferred to dip her bites of pancake into the egg.

Fred, I didn't realize you also eat almonds.

Thanks for your responses. Now, what about popcorn and olives? Those are the other 2 things I could never really get an answer on.

[Kelly Grace]

Lily LOVES popcorn! She also tolerates it very well. I don't give it to her every day, maybe a few times a month. She really enjoys it and has never gotten sick.

Lily also loves black olives, and she tolerates green olives okay too. Same as with the popcorn, I probably give her some green olives a few times a month in her salad and she does really well. I found a salad dressing that she can have at Giant Eagle in the organic section. It was a lemon / olive oil vinagrette. It reminded me of something that you'd put on a greek salad, and it is so good! I don't have a bottle in the house, but the next time your in the store -- check out all the organic salad dressings.

I've been making my own kind of syrup for her. I use a scoop of margarine or butter sprinkle some cinnamon and dextrose and put it in the microwave for 45 seconds. I just spread it on her pancakes and she flips over it!

Did you ever try the McCormick pesto sauce for Regina? It comes in a packet with all the other McCormick envelopes. You add a little olive oil and water and it's great. I make that sauce for her pizza. I cut up chicken and cook in garlic and olive first -- then when the chicken is cooked I add the packet of pesto and add water -- since there is already olive oil in there. Boil pasta and you have Lily's favorite green spaghetti. She loves it and I make that for her when I make the red sauce for us.

[julienc]

I don't care much for peanuts. I'll eat them in a pinch (kind of like Fred's story), but I would never eat a peanut butter sandwich or anything like that. I think I'm partly scarred from my past, though. I was at a friend's house (as a little kid) and her mom made me eat a peanut butter sandwich (with sugar in it, I'm sure) on sweet bread. It made me so ill. She said I was not being a "good girl" since I wasn't eating my lunch. I wanted more potato chips, but she wouldn't give me more until I ate more of my sandwich. What a mess.

My dietitian said no to all nuts, but she also said a lot of other things I didn't agree with, so I don't put to much weight on that.

Like Fred, I also eat Almonds. This is my preferred nut. I can do small handfuls as long as they are raw and not roasted. I'm not sure if something happens to the nut in the roasting process, but they made me REALLY sick recently. Now I just stick to the raw.

I LOVE black olives. They were one of my favorite snacks as a kid. I could eat a whole can in one sitting with no reaction. I don't care much for green, but I'm not sure if that is sugar related.

I also do fine with popcorn. I only have it occasionally, but I don't recall having any kind of reaction to it.

[colormist]

There is Almondbutter (like peanut butter, but made with almonds) that you could try instead of peanut butter.

I love black, green, and kalamata olives. Kalamata are my favorite. I'll eat a whole jar of green olives if given a chance. ;D

I also LOVE popcorn. Orville Redenbacher makes this great gourmet popcorn (black pepper, garlic) that I particularly enjoy.

Julie, that's so sad that that mom did that to you. My dad would force me to eat baked beans and my baby sitter would force me to eat spaghetti O's. Looking back on it, it's no wonder I never really noticed I was sick until I ate ice cream, fruit, or cake. It's too bad we couldn't puke on demand back then. Then people might actually listen to us when we said we didn't want a certain food.

[julienc]

Yeah, I agree Laura. Puking on demand would have been helpful.

I often think back at how my childhood would have been soooooo much easier had we known the problem. I don't intend to pull the pity card - I survived, and I consider myself a strong person.

[Tammy]

I like the butter/cinnamon/dextrose syrup idea for the pancakes. I'm going to try it this weekend. thanks Kelly, it even sounds good to me.

Regina isn't one for a lot of different tastes. She's not big on spices, etc or sauces. She usually just eats butter salt and cheese on her spag. but I may try some of Lily's green spag and tell her that another little girl really likes it and she may like it, then too.

I won't say you've never mentioned almonds before Fred, it's just that I didn't pick up on it if you did.

I've never seen almond butter, but I will be looking for it. Even if Regina isn't fond of it, my mother would go just crazy over it. She's an almond freak.

As for pucking on demand, I use that to scare waiters in restaurants. ;D If they don't appear to take me seriously enough when I tell them the steak/chicken/shrimp whatever has to be grilled plain with no seasonings, I repeat it and then say it's very important if they don't want to be cleaning up the mess when she pukes. (She wouldn't, it takes 2-3 days for her to start) That really seems to make them care........ I actually got the idea from my daughter-in-law. She used that when we were in Amsterdam. They REALLY didn't take us seriously. When they brought her steak out with tomatoes covering it, she asked them to make a new one. They only scraped the tomatoes off leaving all the juice on it and tried to say it was a new one. My DIL got really mad and started telling them off in Dutch. After they left (and brought a completely new steak out) she told us that she said Regina would be puking all over the table. Works really well.

So......we are now going to get brave and try popcorn, peanuts, almonds, and olives. Not all at once of course. One at a time, and only when I don't have any plans for the next few days, just in case. All of these things are items that I believe she would like. New foods. She gets so excited when I find new things for her.

Maybe I won't have to sneak her snacks into the movies anymore. Although that can be kind of fun. You know, getting away with something.....

[colormist]

Tammy, Gobstoppers are the best to sneak into movie theaters, because when you accidentally drop one, you hear it roll all the way down to the screen.

I'm sure Regina will like popcorn and almonds and she'll probably like peanuts and olives. Good luck and let us know if she likes them!