Product Review and Giveaway
Sukrin

Sukrin Sesame Seed Flour

Sukrin Sesame Seed Flour makes fantastic nut-free bread. It tastes great in savoury recipes but as I realised, you can also use it in cakes, brownies and pies. Sesame seed flour is almost as absorbent as coconut flour and you will need to use more liquid ingredients such as eggs, coconut milk, or oil, when baking with it. I've been using Sukrin Sesame Seed Flour to make these amazing Nut-free Keto Buns!

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Sukrin Granulated and Icing Sugar Substitute

I've been using erythritol for several years - together with stevia it's my favourite low-carb sweetener. Both Sukrin Granulated Erythritol and Sukrin Melis (icing) are made from non-GMO corn. I love the extra fine icing erythritol that never gets lumpy! I've used Sukrin sweeteners in several recipes including Keto Sunbutter Cookies and Keto Electrolyte Drink.

Note: As any sugar substitute may cause cravings, I'd avoid eating it if you just started following a keto diet, at least for the first 3-4 weeks.

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Sukrin Gold Brown Sugar Substitute

Sukrin Gold Brown Sugar Substitute is made with erythritol, tagatose, glycerol, malt extract and stevia. It tastes fantastic and is my favourite sweetener from Sukrin. I used it to make Ginger Beer and even Keto Caramel Sauce with great results.

Note: As any sugar substitute may cause cravings, I'd avoid eating it if you just started following a keto diet, at least for the first 3-4 weeks.

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Sukrin Chocolate Bars

Sukrin Chocolate Bars are great for those who like milk chocolate. I'd usually go for bittersweet dark chocolate with 85-90% cocoa content so they were a little too sweet for me, but my partner likes them a lot.

They are sweetened with erythritol, stevia and inulin. There is a slight cooling effect but no bitter aftertaste from stevia. Other ingredients listed are: cocoa butter, milk powder, cocoa mass, vanilla and sunflower lecithin.

There are two flavours: milk chocolate and milk chocolate with almonds. I prefer the almond bars because they also contain a pinch of sea salt which goes enhances the chocolate flavour. Sukrin's chocolate bars are available at Sukrin US, Sukrin UK and in Denmark.

Note: As any low-carb treats may cause cravings, I'd avoid eating them if you just started following a keto diet, at least for the first 3-4 weeks.

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Sukrin Sunflower & Pumpkin Bread Mix

I love how easy it is to make this bread! You literally mix the dry Sunflower & Pumpkin Bread Mix with water, place in an enclosed bread pan and bake for 70 minutes or even less if making rolls. It's made with seeds, psyllium powder, fibre, egg powder, pea protein, salt, baking powder and erythritol. Since you don't have to use fresh eggs, the bread won't rise as much as a "regular" bread and it's much smaller. The result is still great, tastes like wholemeal sunflower bread and it's quite filling.

Is Sukrin bread suitable for a ketogenic diet?

I run a small experiment with my partner. We were interested to see how a bread high in fibre, therefore total carbs, impacts blood glucose (BG) and ketone levels to decide if it's suitable for a ketogenic diet. We both had two slices of Sukrin bread (88 grams) with a tablespoon of butter, 60 grams of tinned tuna and two small pickles on the side. This meal was low in net carbs, high in fat and moderate in protein. It was also relatively high in total carbs (mostly soluble fibre). Measurements were taken in the morning when ketone levels are typically low.

We don't follow a very low-carb diet or aim for high ketone levels. Our daily carb intake is 25-30 grams of net carbs (up to 50 grams of total carbs). Our ketone levels usually range between 0.5 mmol in the morning to 1.5-2 mmol in the evening. To learn more, read these posts: Ketones - Do They Matter? and Total Carbs vs Net Carbs: What Really Counts?

As you can see in the graph below, both mine and my partner's BG levels remained relatively stable 30 minutes after the meal and dropped below fasting levels 2 hours after the meal.

Soluble fibre is often deemed to raise blood sugar. This little experiment proved the contrary, at least for the two of us: eating a high-fibre meal decreased both mine and my partner's blood sugar while keeping ketone levels stable.

Note: As any low-carb bread substitutes may cause cravings, I'd avoid eating them if you just started following a keto diet, at least for the first 3-4 weeks.

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Sukrin Syrup Gold and Clear

Sukrin Gold and Sukrin Clear are sugar-free syrups made with prebiotic fibers called isomaltooligosaccharides (IMO) - a healthier alternative to sugar. They taste amazing and the texture is perfect. Here are some of my recipes using Sukrin Syrups: Sugar-Free Maple Syrup and Sugar-Free Honey.

As with the bread, we repeated our experiment to see how IMO syrups affect BG and ketone levels.

Are IMO Suitable for a Ketogenic Diet?

The advantage of IMO is that they have low Glycemic Index and they do not cause digestive issues unlike fluctooligosaccharides (FOS). The downside is that compared to FOS,  IMO are partially digestible, may spike your blood sugar and kick you out of ketosis.

70-80% of IMO are digested in the small intestine and will have some impact on BG, while only 20-30% is fermented and used as prebiotic.  This study found that a gram of IMO contributed to 3.3 kcal/gram (sedentary test) and 2.7 kcal/gram (exercise test) proving their partial digestibility.

 This study shows that in 6 participants, IMO increased blood sugar (6.1 > 7.6 mmol) and insulin 30 minutes after ingestion in a sedentary rested test. Because these effects vary for individuals, I recommend you do your own quick test using a blood glucose monitoring system with glucose strips. We did just that and below are the measurements we took to see how IMO affect our BG and ketone levels.

Test 1: IMO syrup on its own

We tested our BG and ketone levels after eating a tablespoon of IMO syrup in a fasted state. Measurements of both BG and ketones were taken just before, 30 minutes after ingestion and 2 hours after ingestion. What is interesting is that while IMO increased my blood sugar levels, my partner's BG levels remained stable. There was no significant impact on ketone levels for both of us. These measurements were taken in the evening - that's why ketone readings are higher (more about measuring ketones).

Test 2: IMO syrup in a high-fat meal

In this test, we had tree different breakfast meals, each day one meal: 160 grams of full-fat Greek yogurt with 30 grams of almonds and 60 grams of blackberries. On day 1, we used a tablespoon of IMO syrup. On day 2, we used a tablespoon of honey. Finally, on day 3, we used 5 drops of stevia each.

The chart and table below represents my measurements:

And here are my partner's measurements:

The stevia-sweetened breakfast had no impact on either of us. The IMO-sweetened breakfast resulted in a small increase 30 minutes after ingestion. The impact of honey was quite significant, especially in my case. This test also showed that my partner's tolerance to IMO is much better.

Unless you have blood sugar issues or are sensitive to carbs, you can use IMO syrups in moderation (i.e. a tablespoon per meal/serving). Based on my experience, when used in moderation in a high-fat meal, IMO syrups can be used a suitable sweetener. However, the effect on blood glucose can differ for individuals. Since many people following the ketogenic diet have blood sugar issues, I highly recommend you do a quick blood glucose test to see how IMO affect you.

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You can win Sukrin Icing + Brown Sugar Substitute + Sesame Seed Flour + Low-Carb Bread Mix!
Just follow the instructions below and wait for the one lucky winner to be picked in a few days! :-)

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