Beware Cheap Keto Sweeteners

On the Ketogenic diet most of us obsessively check the labels on all sorts of food

Hidden sugars are everywhere

 Sometimes it is nice to have a sweet treat and so understanding keto approved sweeteners is important to stay in ketosis. (although there is a growing school of thought that it is really best to try and stay away from sweet tasting things but thats a debate for another day)
and being able to bake your own sweet treats or sweeten up a hot drink without spiking blood sugar or having nasty aftertastes from horrible chemical sweeteners is a dream.

Stevia seems to check so many boxes. its GI score is 0 which means zero impact on the blood sugar and its natural

So doing some baking over Christmas as well as using the xylotol (GI of 12) in the Lizza starter kit (see the last blog post for some of the treats we made out of that) I thought mixing in some of this Stevia from Morrisons would be a great idea - it would even lower the overall impact on blood sugar of the very amazing buttercream topping to our Keto Connect gingerbread cake  (you need to try this, it is seriously good)
So this has to be great dosent it? It says Stevia right there on the label 

Sadly

After I had used it I turned the jar around and looked at the label 

Wait 95g of carb per 100g of this product, thats pretty much as bad as actual sugar 

So what is actually in it? The first ingredient is Maltodextrin 

That has a GI of 110 - its WORSE than sugar, its actually the worst sweeter (for keto) that I can find

Only 2% of this supposed Granulated Stevia is actually Stevia 

The cake was lovely, Im not going to waste food Ive already made, and I have been in ketosis for so long I know I can get back into it easily with no side effects

But be super aware and read ALL labels, not just in processed foods but ingredients are not what they seem to be