Diabetic Chocolately Awesomeness

I've recently come back from a trip to Vienna, with a brief stop-over in Belgium either side. Belgium is not my favourite place on the planet. Don't try to change my mind; I will stick to my guns. But one of its (few) redeeming features is the range and availability of sugar-free (principally aimed at diabetics) confectionery. I managed to to pick up great slabs of two varieties of chocolate, chocolate coated waffles and a sugar-free Nutella look and taste-alike in a smallish supermarket in a provincial town for around 14 euros. Most of my haul was (I use the past tense as most of it has been consumed already - whoops!) sweetened with maltitol but some made use of a sugar substitute called Tagatose. It tasted okay but I have to confess feeling a little wary of it, it being entirely new to me. Anyone heard of it?

Sweeteners and Sugar-free Living

A Twitter friend thinking about going sugar-free (not for Candida-related reasons) recently asked for some advice on dealing with sugar-cravings. I thought it might be useful to reproduce what I told her here.

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Okay - if you were being really serious about this sugar-free thing you would go cold turkey. After about two weeks you'd stop craving sweet things and start to be able to better appreciate the natural sweetness in fruits and even some vegetables, like carrots and beetroot. But that would be absolutely no fun at all! So here's my advice:

#1 Avoid aspartame like the plague. Anecdotally it has been linked to all sorts of nasty complaints including neurological disorders. Also, it kids the body into thinking that you're consuming sugar, raises your insulin levels accordingly (I think?) and makes you feel shaky and more hungry. Not good.

#2 Also avoid maltodextrin, sorbotol, sucrose, glucose = all refined sugars.

#3 Fructose is concentrated fruit sugar and is okay in emergencies. It can be used in place of caster sugar in baking (though you only need 1/3 as much) and can be picked up in most supermarkets and health food shops.

#4 Cakes, biscuits, sweets and chocolate sweetened with maltitol (a natural sweetener derived from wheat - body doesn't recognise it as sugar) are a-ok from a 'no sugar' perspective. This is the sweetener most commonly used in products aimed at diabetics. It can sometimes have a strange after-taste - though in the time I've been sugar-free, products have massively improved in terms of taste and quality. It can also cause flatulence and diarrhoea (if you scoff too much of it at one sitting!). However, in my experience your body gets used to it after a while and the side-effects are less explosive. ;) It also helps to keep other people out of your chocolate stash if you tell them it will give them the runs!

#5 Agave syrup is becoming increasing available as a baking ingredient and as a sweetener in 'healthy' processed foods. It's derived from cactus and has been used as a sweetener for centuries. It has no side-effects, as far as I'm aware. It is certainly VERY sweet and is good in hot chocolate. You can get it in many larger supermarkets now (baking/sugar aisle). Booja-Booja chocs and ice-cream are sweetened with it. The choc ice cream is AMAZING. But you can only get it in small health food shops and fancy delis. Waitrose stocks a similar type of ice cream - though I think that's sweetened with fruit juice instead.

#6 Xylitol - the God among sweeteners as far as I'm concerned. It's derived from beech trees and has been used in the frozen north for centuries. It has no side-effects, as far as I'm aware. However it isn't commonly used in products at the moment, except in mints - because it also, rather miraculously stops and even repairs tooth damage! You can use it in baking, in the same quantities as castor sugar. I have managed to make fudge with it, though in that quantity it had a rather odd cooling taste. It can be bought in health food shops like Holland & Barrett. I've rarely seen it in supermarkets.

Some individual products you might enjoy: chocolate sweetened with fructose or maltitol. Many varieties. Available in health food shops like Holland & Barrett and Healthy Living. I have no one favourite brand. Belgian manufacturers are worth looking out for. Most expensive doesn't always equal the best.

Nak:d bars. Available from most large supermarkets as well as health food stores. These are sweetened by their high fruit content.

Village Bakery nut bars. Again, can be found in supermarkets and health food shops.

Bear Nibbles - fairly new, can be found at some supermarkets (Asda, Waitrose) and Holland & Barrett.

Dried mango. Delicious.

Good Earth fizzy drinks (Cola, Cranberry, Lemonade) - sweetened with agave. Available at Holland and Barrett. They also do decent ketchup and baked beans.

Some Boots diabetic confectionery and biscuits. Some is sweetened with sorbitol and aspartame (BAD!); some has maltitol (GOOD, but farty!).

A word about Stevia. If you decide to do some baking, many North American sites suggest Stevia as a good sugar substitute. Do not try to find it on the high street; it's banned in the EU (linked with male infertility!!!).

That covers nearly everything. One thing you do need to consider: many of these products are really quite expensive. It's worth experimenting with things like fruit purées and honey if you intend to do a lot of baking.

Xylitol Recipes

I'm probably a bit late to the party here (the website looks pretty dated), but I've recently come across a list of recipes that make use of xylitol, including some 'candies and confection' (sweeties and cake?). I intend to have a go at the fudge recipe over Christmas, though I suspect it will turn out more 'truffley' than 'fudgey'.

Candida diet friendly sweets

Just taking a quick break from the thesis-writing to link to Joi's recent experiments in sweet (candy) making.  The Lemon Ginger Chews sound lovely.  Does anyone know from where one can purchase erythritol in the UK?  

Recipe: Djinn's AMAZING Instant Whip Fairy Cakes

This evening I've been doing a spot of experimental bakery. (I'd run out of butter and milk!)  I came up with a cake batter that tastes exactly like Chocolate Instant Whip!!!!  

I used this basic recipe as my guide.

These cakes have a very light texture, not too sweet, just chocolatey enough.  Enjoy!

Djinn's AMAZING Instant Whip Fairy Cakes

Makes six small cakes

25g gluten-free self-raising flour

25g cocoa power (I like Cadbury's Bournville)

50g corn oil

50g xylitol

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

2 tsps plain yoghurt

Preheat oven to 190 degrees C.  Line a muffin tin with bun cases.  In a mixing bowl beat the oil and  xylitol until pale and fluffy.  Add the beaten egg, a little at a time.  Whisk to incorporate with oil and xylitol mixture.  Beat in vanilla essence.  Sift flour into bowl and fold into mixture.  Add the yoghurt.  Sift in cocoa powder and fold until well combined.  Spoon into bun cases and cook for 12 minutes in the centre of the oven.  Remove and place on a cooling rack for a few mins. Tuck in!

Diabetic Hampers

Look what I've found! Of course, there's no guarantee that all the contents would be anti-Candida friendly, but it's a start.

Sugar free sweets

I spent last weekend at home in sunny Suffolk. My favourite chocolate shop in Woodbridge - Les Chocolats Belges (OMG! They do mail order!!!) - stocks a really good range of diabetic confectionery, most of which is sweetened with maltitol. Since I was last at home in July they've started to sell even more Candida diet-friendly treats. This weekend I picked up Cavalier White Chocolate (contains milk powder), as well as my usual Extra Dark 72% favourite, and a packet of wine gums, sweetened with maltitol, and manufactured by a Dutch company, de Bron, who make a broad range of sweets. Really 'authentic' taste and texture. I noted that the shop also had chocolate spread and individual Belgian chocolates. Now all I need is for someone to make fudge with maltitol/xylitol - what absolute bliss would that be?!

Recipe: Lemon Polenta Cake

By alasam

Anna has asked me to post the recipe for Lemon Polenta Cake. I don't normally reproduce recipes published elsewhere, but as this is an adaptation, I'll make an exception (suggested substitutes in brackets).

Lemon Polenta Cake

Serves 8

175 g butter (olivio)
175 g caster sugar (xylitol)
2 large eggs, beaten
150 g ground almonds
85 g polenta
1/2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
zest of 2 large lemons
2 tbsp lemon juice

For the lemon syrup:
85 g caster sugar (xylitol)
zest and juice of 1 large lemon

Preheat oven to 180 degrees c. Line the base of a 17 cm spring-release cake tin with non-stick parchment paper and lightly grease the sides.

Cream butter (olivio) and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in eggs. Fold in almonds, polenta, baking powder, lemon zest and juice, and mix thoroughly.

Spoon mixture into prepared tin and bake for 45-50 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside to cool.

To make syrup, place sugar, lemon zest and juice, and 2 tbsps water in a small pan and heat until sugar (xylitol) dissolves. Simmer for 5 mins, then remove from the heat.

Remove cake from tin and transfer to serving plate. Using a cocktail stick, prick the cake in several places. Drizzle over with syrup.

Blueberry Muffins - yum!

I'm making candida diet friendly muffins for a party tomorrow. I found this great recipe for the blueberry variety on the BBC Food website. Just substitute sugar for xylitol. The muffins don't rise very high (perhaps I should have left the batter over night as the recipe recommends), but taste LUSCIOUS! And I love the way the blueberries pop as the muffins cook and leech purple juice everywhere. Not something for everyday consumption, but perfect as an occasional treat.

Oh, and I can definitely recommend the silicon muffin tray I rescued from TK Maxx on Monday.

In other news, this blog has been, and is likely to remain, fairly quiet for a bit, cos my thesis has to take top priority at the moment...

I think I'm in love

...with Joseph's Sugar-free Pecan and Walnut Brownie bites! I think, when I'm old and grey, I'll define my life by the time before and after I discovered them in my local independent health food shop.* They are GREAT, and VERY more-ish; I managed to polish off a 312g packet in 24 hours ALL BY MYSELF!!!

The brownies are sweetened with maltitol, but a special formulation which (according to the company website) doesn't upset one's tummy. Plus, they appear to be fairly low in fat and calories. Even better!

* I haven't seen them stocked anywhere else in the UK sadly.

Hot chocolate - a plea!

Dear Readers,

Has anyone come across a candida diet friendly hot chocolate/cocoa powder/recipe? It's freezing cold here at the moment, and I'm in desperate need. Green tea just doesn't cut it when you want a lovely, comforting and warming mug of cocoa!

Yours hopefully,

Djinn x

***UPDATE***

Take half a teaspoon of Cadbury's Bournville Cocoa, and mix into a mug of warm goats milk. Add a teaspoon of xylitol and mix well. Delicious!

Lemon Polenta Cake: A triumph!

I made it - and it was good! Very good, in fact. Even though I managed to stick too much polenta and not enough lemon juice into the batter! A great gluten-free recipe.

I'm doing this Thing-A-Day project in February. My lemon polenta cake is my Day 1 contribution. See the link for a photo and a bit more information about the cake.

N.B. I replaced the caster sugar in the recipe with granulated xylitol.

Experiments with Xylitol: Banana Cakes

After picking up some granulated xylitol at Holland & Barrett the other day, I thought I'd experiment with a bit of baking. And, as I had several very ripe bananas hanging about the house, I decided to try making banana cake. And, even if I do say so I myself, it was a bit of a triumph!!!

Banana Cakes

Makes 24 small fairy cakes

3 large overripe bananas
2 large beaten eggs
6 oz granulated xylitol (brand name 'Perfect Sweet')
8 oz plain flour (I didn't use wholemeal this time)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp vanilla essence
walnut pieces
plenty of paper cake cases

Mash the bananas in a bowl. Add the beaten eggs and sugar. Sift the flour and bicarb into the bowl and beat all the ingredients together well (you could use an electric mixer, but I managed perfectly well by hand). Spoon into paper cases. Top with a piece of walnut. Place on a baking tray and bake in the centre of a preheated oven at 180 C for 12-15 mins, until the cakes are golden brown. Cool and then enjoy!

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What I really like about these cakes is that they're really not too sweet, and the flavour of the banana really comes through. Yum!

A delicious apricot fool

This evening, craving something sweet, I decided to make Miriam Polunin's Apricot Almond Fool, minus the almonds, but plus chopped brazil nuts. It was delicious!! So good, in fact, that rather than just direct you to the page in the book (p. 130, btw), I'm going to reproduce it here. A great recipe for the candida diet repertoire.

Apricot Almond Fool

Serves 4 (I made half the quantity and got two decent servings from it)

250g dried apricots (go for the dark, unsulphured type - much better flavour, almost caramelly)

500ml live, low-fat natural yoghurt (I actually used a half yoghurt, half creme fraiche mixture, cos that's what I had in the fridge!)

1 tbsp honey (optional, I felt the mixture was sweet enough without it, to be honest)

40g unblanched almonds, roughly chopped (I used brazil nuts instead)

fresh mint or edible flowers (for poncey decoration, if that floats your boat!)

1. Place the apricots in a saucepan, cover with cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for five mins. Drain and add fresh cold water to cover the apricots.

2. Return to the boil, cover, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 mins, or until the apricots are soft.

3. Cool slightly. Liquidize with just enough cooking water to make a thick puree. Cool until lukewarm.

4. Stir in the yoghurt and honey, if using. Chill until ready to serve.

5. Just before serving, heat the almonds in an ungreased frying pan over a low heat for two-three mins, until just starting to turn golden. Sprinkle over the fool, decorate with the fresh mint or edible flowers, if using, and serve.

Two more fruit bars and a rant

Was delighted to find a couple of new (well, new to me) brands of fruit-based bars at my local independent health food store. Larabar Cherry Pie (very tasty) made entirely of cherries, dates and almonds and Go Natural Fruit Medley, which comprises dried peach, apricot, apple, pear, mango and pineapple with some rice flour and non-scary preservatives.

American and Australian manufacturers lead in this area. Off the top of my head I can only recall one manufacturer, Village Bakery, that produces candida-friendly (although, it should be pointed out that these - and those referred to above - aren't specifically marketed as suitable for the diet) in the UK. And the resultant food miles really bothers me. Come on all you snack and cake bar producers - get your acts together!!!

Chocolate Cookies - oh yes!

I have just eaten what could be my most exciting candida diet-friendly discovery to date: Nana's No Gluten Chocolate Cookie. 100g of fairly passable, ultra-chocolaty greatness! It contains no refined sugars (sweetened with fruit juice, but not too much), no dairy, no hydrogenated oils, no cholesterol, no eggs and no added salt. Just one item on the list of ingredients caused me concern, i.e. dextrin. But a quick google revealed that this isn't dextrose, but an alternative (American?) term for modified starch. So, that allayed my worries.

To be fair, when compared with a 'normal' chocolate cookie this would seem pretty lame. The texture is a little strange; not so much cloying as dense and yet fine at the same time (difficult to get one's chops around), but hey, beggars can't be choosers!

Anyway, I bought it from Holland & Barrett (never seen it before). They also had a Chocolate Chip version in stock.

***UPDATE 16/08/07***

Tried the Chocolate Chip version today. Much superior to the plain chocolate version (see above). It's made with oats instead of rice flour, which improves the texture. I shall be buying these again!

Non-farty sugar-free chocolate!

As I've previously described, diabetic plain choc with maltitol isn't bad in terms of taste and texture, but can have rather unfortunate effects should one over-indulge! So, I was delighted to see dairy-free, sugar-free plain chocolate in my (new) local health food shop (I've recently moved). Made by Plamil, it's sweetened with Xylitol instead and while too much will have a laxative effect, you would need to eat several bars a day. Which, given that the chocolate is quite cocoa rich (60%) and bitter, would take quite an effort. I've been slowly eating a 100g bar over the last couple of days and so far, I'm pleased to report, I have avoided an outbreak of acne, which is the other side-effect of maltitol I've experienced.

So, to summarise, it's not as chocolaty or 'sweet' as the previous 'Belgian' versions of dark chocolate I've tried before (with maltitol), but it does satisfy that ever-present craving for chocolate!

OMG!!!! Ice Cream!!!!

Quick. Open your copy of Cooking Without by Barbara Cousins (see previous post), and turn to page 245. Seriously, it is AMAZING!!! I realise I haven't actually consumed any ice cream for two and a half years, but this candida-friendly version (maintainers only) seems fairly evocative of the real thing, at least in taste. The ice-crystally texture is more akin to sorbet, but who cares? It's ice cream people!!! (Can you tell I'm just a little bit more than ecstatic about this find?!).

The recipe calls for frozen fruit, and Tesco very handily produces ready chopped frozen fruit (I used banana and strawberry) for smoothies. Which makes this recipe an absolute breeze. Oh, and I used full fat goats milk instead of the recommended soya, rice or almond milk, and it worked out fine. A sturdy blender or food mixer is essential too.

Right, I'm off to have my third helping this evening! *stuffed to the brim with luverly stuff*

Update and Book review: Cooking Without by Barbara Cousins

First things first. As I'm sure my regular readers must have noticed, I have been absent for several weeks. To cut a long story short, I haven't been very well recently (completely non Candida related!) and had to come home for some much needed R&R. Blogging hasn't been my top priority. And apart from anything else, I have - as a result of leaving Leicester - lost my super-fast broadband connection, to be replaced by an antiquated dial-up modem thingy. It's frustratingly slow. However, that doesn't mean that 'developments' on the Candida front haven't occurred.

I am now on new medication. In fact, the medication I was so concerned about taking before. For the first couple of weeks I really did struggle with the side-effects, which included nausea, complete loss of appetite, aches & pains and feelings of unreality, but since then I've felt increasingly great. And now I'm a super happy bunny - or at least I would be if it would stop raining for five seconds. But, here, we're not interested in that. We're bothered with Candida...

Surprisingly my thrush symptoms have all but disappeared. To reiterate, the symptoms I've had for the past THIRTEEN YEARS have disappeared. The constant itching and soreness - GONE (providing I make sure I drink plenty of fluid)! Ever since I started on the SSRI! Was my Candida problem simply an allergic reaction to stress hormones? I'm starting to think 'yes'. Since I started popping the happy pills I have been able to relax as I haven't been able to relax since, well, I don't know when. The low-level, generalised anxiety has gone. I've turned from a 'glass half empty' to a 'glass half full' kind of girl. IT'S A BLOODY MIRACLE!!! ;)

Oh, and did I mention that I haven't been taking my (extortionately priced) supplements (apart from the multivit and iron)? NO ANTI-FUNGALS at all! It's only been a month, so I'm not going to count my chickens quite yet. But, really, I have made SO much progress over the past month I'm delighted regardless. There's light at the end of that there tunnel. :)

Okay, now onto the main business of this post. The review (or more precisely a brief report) of Barbara Cousin's Cooking Without: Recipes free from added gluten, sugar, dairy products, yeast, salt, saturated fat. Eagle-eyed and sharp of mind regular readers might remember that I reviewed Barbara's similarly titled recipe book on vegetarian cooking 'without' last summer. I was pretty impressed with that (though I had a bit of trouble with some of the recipes), but this meat-friendly collection of recipes is even better. Especially the baking section. So far I've tried the Chewy Fruit Bars (p. 225) - which benefited from 10 mins in the oven - and the Apple, Date and Nut Muffins (p. 216) - which I had with apple juice-sweetened dried cranberries instead of the dates and raisins. Both delicious (relatively speaking!). Keen to make a start on working through the savoury recipes when I get back to student life.

Cooking With Monkey

This is great. And I like this recipe for chocolate truffles. Am thinking it might be possible to do a Candida diet-friendly version with maltitol or fructose-sweetened dark chocolate and goats cream (available in UHT cartons from some health food stores). But how to replace the icing sugar? A spot of corn flour perhaps?

I must experiment...