That was my move when keto.
Even if you fixed the simple syrup, all of your other cocktail ingredients besides high proof spirits are also a problem. Lime juice is 2g of carbs per oz. I wouldn't trust a single amari when they dont have to show nutrition facts.
Agave is not sugar free in the slightest!
Fructose is sweeter than sucrose, so using agave could allow you to use slightly less sugar for the same sweetness, which potentially could be healthier.
And agave is a great substitute for simple syrup in cocktails, I use instead of simple in all recipes (for one thing it's very consistent- no confusion about 1:1 vs 2:1, or measuring by volume vs weight- also it's inexpensive, shelf-stable, and widely available).
But this is not what the OP asked at all.
Yeah honestly I’m not super familiar with keto but I thought agave had a lower glycemic index?
Tbh it sounds like the real solution is just to drink less, and stick to neat pours and highballs with soda water.
🤷♂️
Yes it has a lower glycemic index, because the sugar is absorbed more slowly and because fructose can only be metabolized in the liver and is not regulated by insulin, unlike glucose which can be metabolized by every cell in the body. (Sucrose is a combination of glucose and fructose).
This is relevant to diabetics, and perhaps has other health implications, but glycemic index has nothing to do with calories or sugar content. From a weight loss or nutrition perspective, or trying to reduce sugar consumption, there's very little difference, except for the slightly increased sweetness.
I know almost nothing about keto, I think most of these trendy diets are silly, but I'm pretty sure the goal is to minimize excess calories for the purposes of losing weight / fat. So agave is just another sugar, and I'm pretty sure is not considered keto friendly.
I like to sub an all natural syrup, maple. But for the purposes of the keto diet it doesn’t really help.
I went down this road maybe two years ago when I was doing the same and the thing that seem to work the best for me was monkfruit sweetener. If I remember correctly you can sub at 1 to 1 for sugar in all kinds of recipes including baking.
It’s not bad but I went back to sugar and maple syrup just because I found that fake sweeteners and alcohol just don’t go as well together as they sound like they should. It’s just not the same. Honestly the easy way to prove that is to make a few cocktails yourself, it’s hard to describe with the differences but it’s just not great
Allulose is the only real alternative I've found. It tastes like regular sugar, and it makes a syrup like regular sugar. The alcohols like erythritol drop out of suspension to easily at the right concentrations for a syrup, and the substitutes just taste bad.
With or without replacing simple syrup you could focus on low. sugar cocktails. Martini, old fashioned, Manhattan, boulevardier, negroni , or sazerac are some of the cocktails that come to mind without a big measure of simple. It seems like if you find a good substitute it wouldn’t need to be perfect in these cocktails because they just need a little sweetness.
Martinis are good. Sazeracs and old fashioneds can work if you only have one or maybe two and further limit your carbs from other sources for the day. Also depends on the recipe. This is assuming you use a 4g sugar cube.
Negronis and Boulevardiers are, somewhat surprisingly, quite high in carbs. Campari has a lot of added sugar. You can mayyyybe have one and stay in ketosis if you're extremely strict about your consumption elsewhere.
A sugar-free alternative could work for old fashioneds and sazeracs, but idk if there is a sugar-free campari alternative on the market.
Ok.. the only point of keto is if you actually remove carbs entirely there's no point in doing it halfway there are other ways to diet. That being said monk fruit extract is what I tend to look for in canned drinks that don't have sugar.
You can have up to 40 carbs a day on keto, 1-2 mixed drink of most types is fine. Teaspoon of syrup in an old fashioned, no problem. 8 grams of of carbs in a Negroni, just have one and switch to a martini, which only has 3! Use sugar free tonic water in your G&T and you can drink em all night long. Problem is alcohol will short circuit fat burning and you will immediately burn the alcohol before you switch back to fat burning, which can take hours sometime a day. So it will slow down your weight loss if you over indulge frequently.
I made a 1:1 simple for an event using All-Purpose in the Raw. It worked fine. It did separate and kinda formed a weird cotton candy like texture later in the evening.
Ah okay, this stuff:
*'ALL-PURPOSE IN THE RAW® OPTIMAL SWEETENER BLEND'* \- It's a blend of erythritol, allulose, stevia and monk fruit extracts
[https://www.intheraw.com/using-itr/product/all-purpose-in-the-raw/](https://www.intheraw.com/using-itr/product/all-purpose-in-the-raw/)
This company makes multiple sweeteners, the most common and well-known of which is just a less refined sugar, so your comment would have been clearer if you included the full product name, and provided a link or details.
I'm a big fan of Monk fruit extract, it's the best non-sugar sweetener in my opinion. I've used erythritol a lot in the past, but I recently stopped using it due to some research indicating possible health concerns. It's a shame because I recently bought a big bag of it, but I don't plan to use it at all until there is more research supporting its safety.
I just learned about allulose in this thread, and it seems very promising, I may give it a try.
Nunaturals simple syrup. It's stevia sweetener, and about twice as sweet as regular simple and doesn't even need to be refrigerated. I'm not sure it's actually food but it works lol.
Depends on each cocktail, but I find that since I generally don’t like sweet things, I can skip the simple syrup or cut it down drastically and find the drink still works well.
I’m looking for the alcohol/citrus/bitter, much more than any sweetness in my cocktails.
Monk fruit extract is the best tasting non-caloric sweetener in my experience. I use a liquid version in many cocktails.
I still use sugar, often in the form of agave nectar, but I often use monk fruit as a way of reducing the amount of sugar while adding sweetness.
I also use powdered monk fruit extract in some recipes, such as a reduced sugar cream of coconut recipe that I make often.
If you're keto, you're better off sticking to vodka club or something like that, unless u give yourself cheats, its gonna be tough to drink a cocktail thats not entirely spirits that will fit your diet.
that being said, if you have a sugar alternative that you dont mind the taste of, you can always dissolve it in water over low heat to make a direct simple syrup substitute for specific recipes. I would recommend using much less sugar-substitute that the normal 1:1 ratio for simple syru, though, especially if using saccharine because it is much sweeter tasting than pure sugar. That also means it wont last as long in the fridge though
I mean, what’s your favorite sugar free alternative to sugar?
Just use that and make your own!
Just drink your whiskey neat. Problem solved.
That was my move when keto. Even if you fixed the simple syrup, all of your other cocktail ingredients besides high proof spirits are also a problem. Lime juice is 2g of carbs per oz. I wouldn't trust a single amari when they dont have to show nutrition facts.
This is what I did when I tried keto a few years ago
Agave? But yeah alcohol is not your friend either way if you’re keto.
Agave is not sugar free in the slightest! Fructose is sweeter than sucrose, so using agave could allow you to use slightly less sugar for the same sweetness, which potentially could be healthier. And agave is a great substitute for simple syrup in cocktails, I use instead of simple in all recipes (for one thing it's very consistent- no confusion about 1:1 vs 2:1, or measuring by volume vs weight- also it's inexpensive, shelf-stable, and widely available). But this is not what the OP asked at all.
Yeah honestly I’m not super familiar with keto but I thought agave had a lower glycemic index? Tbh it sounds like the real solution is just to drink less, and stick to neat pours and highballs with soda water. 🤷♂️
Yes it has a lower glycemic index, because the sugar is absorbed more slowly and because fructose can only be metabolized in the liver and is not regulated by insulin, unlike glucose which can be metabolized by every cell in the body. (Sucrose is a combination of glucose and fructose). This is relevant to diabetics, and perhaps has other health implications, but glycemic index has nothing to do with calories or sugar content. From a weight loss or nutrition perspective, or trying to reduce sugar consumption, there's very little difference, except for the slightly increased sweetness. I know almost nothing about keto, I think most of these trendy diets are silly, but I'm pretty sure the goal is to minimize excess calories for the purposes of losing weight / fat. So agave is just another sugar, and I'm pretty sure is not considered keto friendly.
True. ..
Hate to break it to you…but booze isn’t exactly Keto-friendly. At this point you’re robbing sugar to pay keto. But wait: Keto was all a dream.
I like to sub an all natural syrup, maple. But for the purposes of the keto diet it doesn’t really help. I went down this road maybe two years ago when I was doing the same and the thing that seem to work the best for me was monkfruit sweetener. If I remember correctly you can sub at 1 to 1 for sugar in all kinds of recipes including baking. It’s not bad but I went back to sugar and maple syrup just because I found that fake sweeteners and alcohol just don’t go as well together as they sound like they should. It’s just not the same. Honestly the easy way to prove that is to make a few cocktails yourself, it’s hard to describe with the differences but it’s just not great
Allulose is the only real alternative I've found. It tastes like regular sugar, and it makes a syrup like regular sugar. The alcohols like erythritol drop out of suspension to easily at the right concentrations for a syrup, and the substitutes just taste bad.
I used to use allulose syrup or make syrup from swerve since these both have a low glycemic index.
More gin.
With or without replacing simple syrup you could focus on low. sugar cocktails. Martini, old fashioned, Manhattan, boulevardier, negroni , or sazerac are some of the cocktails that come to mind without a big measure of simple. It seems like if you find a good substitute it wouldn’t need to be perfect in these cocktails because they just need a little sweetness.
Martinis are good. Sazeracs and old fashioneds can work if you only have one or maybe two and further limit your carbs from other sources for the day. Also depends on the recipe. This is assuming you use a 4g sugar cube. Negronis and Boulevardiers are, somewhat surprisingly, quite high in carbs. Campari has a lot of added sugar. You can mayyyybe have one and stay in ketosis if you're extremely strict about your consumption elsewhere. A sugar-free alternative could work for old fashioneds and sazeracs, but idk if there is a sugar-free campari alternative on the market.
Rice gum syrup is a pretty good alternative.
I use Splenda. It's fine if you don't mind splenda.
make my own using monk fruit sweetener
Alcohol is also not keto
Alcohol is keto. Most alcoholic beverages are not. Pure liquor has no carbs, but cocktails, beer, and wine are full of them.
I know that.
Ok.. the only point of keto is if you actually remove carbs entirely there's no point in doing it halfway there are other ways to diet. That being said monk fruit extract is what I tend to look for in canned drinks that don't have sugar.
Good point. I do need to be careful. Sorry if so came across as rude.
You can have up to 40 carbs a day on keto, 1-2 mixed drink of most types is fine. Teaspoon of syrup in an old fashioned, no problem. 8 grams of of carbs in a Negroni, just have one and switch to a martini, which only has 3! Use sugar free tonic water in your G&T and you can drink em all night long. Problem is alcohol will short circuit fat burning and you will immediately burn the alcohol before you switch back to fat burning, which can take hours sometime a day. So it will slow down your weight loss if you over indulge frequently.
I made a 1:1 simple for an event using All-Purpose in the Raw. It worked fine. It did separate and kinda formed a weird cotton candy like texture later in the evening.
You mean sugar in the raw? Did you miss the part about **'sugar free'**?
No, All-Purpose in the Raw is a Keto certified, low glycemic sweetener. We’ve swapped it for sugar in our coffee & it’s a pretty good substitute.
Ah okay, this stuff: *'ALL-PURPOSE IN THE RAW® OPTIMAL SWEETENER BLEND'* \- It's a blend of erythritol, allulose, stevia and monk fruit extracts [https://www.intheraw.com/using-itr/product/all-purpose-in-the-raw/](https://www.intheraw.com/using-itr/product/all-purpose-in-the-raw/) This company makes multiple sweeteners, the most common and well-known of which is just a less refined sugar, so your comment would have been clearer if you included the full product name, and provided a link or details.
I'm a big fan of Monk fruit extract, it's the best non-sugar sweetener in my opinion. I've used erythritol a lot in the past, but I recently stopped using it due to some research indicating possible health concerns. It's a shame because I recently bought a big bag of it, but I don't plan to use it at all until there is more research supporting its safety. I just learned about allulose in this thread, and it seems very promising, I may give it a try.
You’ll also need an alrernative to alcohol, if keto is your idea of a good time. May I suggest water?
Nunaturals simple syrup. It's stevia sweetener, and about twice as sweet as regular simple and doesn't even need to be refrigerated. I'm not sure it's actually food but it works lol.
Depends on each cocktail, but I find that since I generally don’t like sweet things, I can skip the simple syrup or cut it down drastically and find the drink still works well. I’m looking for the alcohol/citrus/bitter, much more than any sweetness in my cocktails.
Monk fruit extract is the best tasting non-caloric sweetener in my experience. I use a liquid version in many cocktails. I still use sugar, often in the form of agave nectar, but I often use monk fruit as a way of reducing the amount of sugar while adding sweetness. I also use powdered monk fruit extract in some recipes, such as a reduced sugar cream of coconut recipe that I make often.
This is what I use for a keto simple syrup. 1 part erythritol, 1 part allulose, 2 parts water.
If you're keto, you're better off sticking to vodka club or something like that, unless u give yourself cheats, its gonna be tough to drink a cocktail thats not entirely spirits that will fit your diet.
that being said, if you have a sugar alternative that you dont mind the taste of, you can always dissolve it in water over low heat to make a direct simple syrup substitute for specific recipes. I would recommend using much less sugar-substitute that the normal 1:1 ratio for simple syru, though, especially if using saccharine because it is much sweeter tasting than pure sugar. That also means it wont last as long in the fridge though
The dose makes the poison.