Special food for special people

[littlelauraj]

VorFemme, I would never give someone artificial sweetener without telling them.  Like you point out, many people react.  But please, do encourage your sister to try Stevia.  It's not artificial, it's made from the stevia plant.  I sold them in the greenhouse last year with the rest of the herbs.  It was fun to reach out and grab a leaf on my way by during my day, especially if I also grabbed a chocolate mint leaf at the same time.

[VorFemme]

VorFemme, I would never give someone artificial sweetener without telling them.  Like you point out, many people react.  But please, do encourage your sister to try Stevia.  It's not artificial, it's made from the stevia plant.  I sold them in the greenhouse last year with the rest of the herbs.  It was fun to reach out and grab a leaf on my way by during my day, especially if I also grabbed a chocolate mint leaf at the same time.

I've tried it - but the prospect of three days of pain while it "clears out of her system" has her not wanting to try anything new in the way of sweetners.  And I can't say that I blame her, as she's been developing new sensitivities (the flax seed wasn't an issue ten years ago).   Her husband travels a LOT for business - so she is "Home Alone" a lot.

[littlelauraj]

I wouldn't want to try anything new, either.  Just wanted to say it's not artificial, if that were to make a difference.

[VorFemme]

I wouldn't want to try anything new, either.  Just wanted to say it's not artificial, if that were to make a difference.

She's reacted to the sweetener made from the berries - I forget the name? - so she avoids anything sweet that isn't sucrose, glucose, fructose, or one of the other "real" sugars (Mom was a chemistry teacher who went back to school & became a lab assistant - we got a bit of science background in the family kitchen & dinner table).

[littlelauraj]

And at our house we are busy trying to avoid all of the "oses".   

[SamiHami]

My Lil Sis has a bad reaction to all artificial sweeteners.  She had put off trying Splenda & Stevia - due to her reactions being painful and somewhat prolonged - someone tried to make their cooking "healthier" and used Splenda to sweeten something.  She now refuses to even think about trying Stevia or any newer ones now.  She actually allergic to flax seed, which is ground & added to food for extra fiber, to the point that some people have forgotten what they are adding to food she's being offered - until the warning prickle starts in her mouth.  By which time she has probably already swallowed the first bite....

Please be sure to let people know if it is has "no added sugar" or if has been artificially sweetened to keep down the carbs - because it can make a difference to some of the people who'd think about eating it.  But having a diabetic friendly dessert in the kitchen is a great idea - that way the people who can eat other things will try what is out on the dessert table and the ones who need to restrict carbs can ask for the other dessert option.

And now I want cheesecake - since I could serve a slice to VorGuy (diagnosed as diabetic earlier this summer - he is NOT happy about it, either).

FYI Stevia is not an artificial sweetener. I grow it in my back yard and use it as an everyday sweetener in my home. Yummy!

ETA: Oops! I see several others have already posted about stevia. Sorry!

[VorFemme]

And at our house we are busy trying to avoid all of the "oses".   

So is VorGuy the newly diagnosed diabetic who is now drinking at least half of my diet sodas

[littlelauraj]

Just a little note to let everyone know how it went.  Our party ended up being much smaller than usual so I only made one cheesecake.  I set aside three portions and put the rest out with a sign.  My daughters' diabetic friend couldn't come due to illness, so that was a non-issue.  There was one piece of cheesecake left at the end of the party, so hopefully everyone who wanted some got some.  Thanks for all of the input!

On a related note, when I get on a cooking kick I love to prepare foods for the freezer, so this week I'm preparing and freezing cheesecakes.  I'm testing my own recipes to make them fit into our eating plan.  Yesterday was Toffee Apple, today I'm making Triple Chocolate, maybe tomorrow will be Maple Walnut or Strawberry Pecan.  I'm also doing some savory cheesecake like Blue Cheese with Pecans or Feta with Pine Nuts.  As you can imagine, my family fully supports this little kick. 

[VorFemme]

My Lil Sis has a bad reaction to all artificial sweeteners.  She had put off trying Splenda & Stevia - due to her reactions being painful and somewhat prolonged - someone tried to make their cooking "healthier" and used Splenda to sweeten something.  She now refuses to even think about trying Stevia or any newer ones now.  She actually allergic to flax seed, which is ground & added to food for extra fiber, to the point that some people have forgotten what they are adding to food she's being offered - until the warning prickle starts in her mouth.  By which time she has probably already swallowed the first bite....

Please be sure to let people know if it is has "no added sugar" or if has been artificially sweetened to keep down the carbs - because it can make a difference to some of the people who'd think about eating it.  But having a diabetic friendly dessert in the kitchen is a great idea - that way the people who can eat other things will try what is out on the dessert table and the ones who need to restrict carbs can ask for the other dessert option.

And now I want cheesecake - since I could serve a slice to VorGuy (diagnosed as diabetic earlier this summer - he is NOT happy about it, either).

FYI Stevia is not an artificial sweetener. I grow it in my back yard and use it as an everyday sweetener in my home. Yummy!

ETA: Oops! I see several others have already posted about stevia. Sorry!

She's had bad reactions to every sweetener known to man but sugar and honey.  Some well meaning "friends" of hers, convinced that it's all in her head because they've never seen her get sick from artificial sweeteners, have snuck Stevia, Splenda, and other sweeteners into food or beverages that they have served her, trying to tell her that she'd never know...they aren't at her house for the next three days as she lives through the reaction...

Well, flax she gets an immediate reaction to (burning sensation down the entire digestive tract - for up to three days) so she can stop after one nibble.....Artificial sweeteners don't give immediate symptoms but do cause severe and painful gastrointestinal upsets for three days...and for the next few months, she's gassy and everyone around her knows it (seriously - weapons of mass destruction potential here, if it were produced in larger quantities than one digestive tract can manage) - it just takes a couple of hours for her to realize what happened since there is no immediate prickle of pain.    But nobody connects the artificial sweetener in their "healthy" dessert two months ago to the eye-watering cloud...for some reason.

Everyone keeps telling her that artificial sweeteners are healthier for her now that she's in her fifties than "real sugar" (expression and tone of voice imply that real sugar is equivalent to cocaine mixed with strychnine in how bad it is for the human body) - doctors, dentists, friends, and some more distant family members......except me - I've been in her house after she got dosed and the gas really is just about as horrible as she claims. 

Seriously - skunks would complain...

But since she doesn't have an immediate reaction that she can point to (like hives, projectile vomiting, or something equally visible) - a lot of people think that she's exaggerating....and that she should stop using sugar because everyone knows white sugar and white flour are "poison"...

[Ms_Cellany]

And at our house we are busy trying to avoid all of the "oses".   

[pedantic chemistry major ON!]

All sugars end in "ose" - glucose, fructose, sucrose (table sugar, which is made up of one molecule of glucose and one molecule of fructose bound together), lactose (milk sugar), galactose, amylose (found in plants; when polymerized, it makes starch), etc.

[pedantic chemistry major OFF]

ETA further pedantry: the stuff in stevia that tastes sweet isn't a sugar; it's called steviol glycoside: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steviol_glycoside

[littlelauraj]

When I say we're trying to avoid all of the "oses", I mean it literally.  Milk is off of the list, as is honey, sugar, etc.  Anything with any kind of sugar.  Any and all processed foods that have "hidden" sugars, all of it. 

[iridaceae]

I wouldn't want to try anything new, either.  Just wanted to say it's not artificial, if that were to make a difference.

My sister's a supertaster or something and to her stevia is unpleasantly bitter.  If she needs anything sugarfree she has to use Splenda or another artificial sweetener.

[etiquetteE]

Could you put a note on the dessert table that a sugar-free cheesecake is available and to ask you for it?  That way anyone who can't/shouldn't/would rather not eat the sweetened stuff can get it, but it won't 'go' as fast.

I like this. I think Oh Joy nailed it.