Help please. 4 days in – I know the book says no diet coke etc. but can I have a Slimline tonic with a slice of lemon? (to replace my craving for a glass of wine or a g & t!)

I am no expert, but I don’t think slimline tonic is OK, it’s got artificial sweeteners, like diet coke. I’ve been trying to find a tonic which fits the bill for ages, for the same reasons as you, but no luck. Even the full fat Schweppes one has artificial sweetener as well as sugar! Some of the better quality “light” tonics have less sugar, but still quite a lot. Does anyone know if there are any tonics sweetened with xylitol which is fine, or one of the other acceptable ones? I haven’t found one yet.

Hi MaryR

I drink FEVER-TREE Naturally light tonic water with ice in it. I sometimes get cramp quite badly in my legs so drink it for the quinine content too. ( not had cramp since started this diet though). You can pretend it’s got gin in it! I don’t like tea or coffee so stick to water & hot fruit teas

Fever- few nutrition facts per 100ml. Tin comes in 150ml size
Energy : 63kJ. 15kcal. Total fat: 0g. Of which saturates: 0g. Carbohydrates: 3.8g of which sugars : 2.9g. Protein: 0g. Salt: 0g
No artificial sweeteners, flavourings or preservatives. Ingredients: carbonated spring water , pure fructose (fruit sugar), acid: citric acid, natural flavours, natural quinine
Waitrose, Tesco & I think Sainsburys stock it £3.99 – £4 for 8 cans. Sold in bottles too
Hope this helps
Eureka

Thanks, Eureka. I did look at Fever Tree, and I know it has the fewest calories, and no artificial sweeteners, but it’s sweetened with fructose which is even worse than ordinary sugar (half glucose and half fructose) for fat deposition, because the only place fructose is processed by the body is in the liver, not in other cells. In that respect the ordinary Fever Tree might be less harmful- I’m not sure. Bottle Green are doing one which tastes good, but I hadn’t analysed the ingredients before I started the BSD, I’ll look next time I’m in Waitrose. Four weeks in and not a single G&T! Three small glasses of wine though :-). I wish my leg cramps had stopped- no such luck!
MaryR

thank you MaryR and Eureka – I will keep looking and post if I find anything more.

instead of working (catching up on emails) I have spent the last half an hour searching for a good tonic water! obsessive or what!?!
Fentiman’s Light looks like it may be good but can’t find detailed info so have written to them.
Best so far: Q Tonic with following information:
“Hand-picked quinine from the Peruvian Andes
•Organic agave as the sweetener
•60% fewer calories than regular tonic water
•All natural ingredients
•No high fructose corn syrup
•85% lower glycemic rating than other tonic waters”
I will hunt for a bottle and try it and write to them to check detailed data………
M.

came across this very funny account of someone making their own tonic water (complete with recipe!)
http://portlandfoodanddrink.com/making-tonic-water-my-decent-into-madness/
M.

Noooo to Fentimans! (apart from the fact that I did not like the taste of it at all :-)) agave syrup is 90% fructose, so worse than ordinary sugar! I’ll check out their normal version next shopping trip.

The account of the tonic recipe you mention doesn’t appear in your post- is it my browser, or something else? A recipe for tonic would be great.
MaryR

http://portlandfoodanddrink.com/making-tonic-water-my-decent-into-madness/
the recipe has sugar and looks like a lot of effort – but worth the read to amuse.

obviously can’t put links in this forum. google Portland Food and Drink and then search site for Making tonic water from scratch.
M.

OK, will do- thanks!
Mary R

That has to be funniest thing I’ve read in years, M- not that I could read it very well as I was just crying with laughter!
Making it seems like a really major operation, even when it goes to plan, so will need some research and planning. I’d be aiming to do it with glucose, xylitol or stevia, since my objective is to cut out the fructose. It may just be too much of a hassle; perhaps just do without for the 8 weeks, and then go for the least unhealthy options- I like the taste of Fever Tree and the Bottle Green, so that’s not the problem. Keep us posted if you decide to give it a go!
MaryR

glad it made you lol me too. I am with you on this – looks like far too much a hard work and I am not that desperate! Will get over myself and like you wait until end of 8 weeks and then try one of the “least unhealthy options” as you put it. Only 52 days to go! who said I was that desperate!?! I do think that my withdrawl from alcohol is as tough as the calorie restriction – rarely a day used to go by without at least one glass of wine……. hope it is all going well for you. M.

Well done you for getting through the first few days, hang on in there! They are certainly the most challenging as you get over the change from carb burning to fat burning, and the carb cravings and maybe headaches at the beginning. I’m in the fifth week, and loving it, not finding it hard at all, enjoying the challenge, the recipes, the tracking, (using Cronometer). The cravings DO go. I was the same as you, a glass of wine with supper, and may be a (small) G&T beforehand. The best bits are the huge increase in energy and clearing of the brain fog (I think from being wheat and gluten free) as well as the weight loss (17lb to date and another 14 or so to go). I’m fortunate that I don’t, as far as I know, have a blood sugar/diabetes problem, but undoubtedly risk factors for it, so this plan has got to be a good way of reducing those factors and the flab. Will report on the other tonics next time I shop.

Hi MaryR
Re: Fever-Tree Tonic
Received this email reply today:
Thank you very much for your email & interest in Fever-Tree. I am afraid I cannot be specific about the fruit used to sweeten our lower calorie mixers. We use a number of different fruits in varying quantities. However, they are all natural & we DO NOT use HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP or anything artificial

I am also a big fan of Michael Mosley & hope the diet is working well for you! I am sorry that I cannot be more specific.
Please don’t hesitate to ask if there is anything else you would like to know
Kind regards. Andrew Harris, International Marketing Coordinator Tel: 0207 349 4923

Eureka

Thanks Eureka,

“Natural sugar” -yeah! On with the search 🙂

Hi, M and Eureka,
I have spent a happy half hour having a good look at the ingredients in all the tonics in Waitrose!
1. Fever Tree: Light is sweetened with fructose, so not an option a far as I’m concerned. All the other FT options, Classic, Mediterranean, and Lemon, all with cane sugar, and cals per 100ml all the same at 36.
2. Bottle Green: Classic, Cotswold Spring water, and Elderflower, all with sugar, and cals are 29 or 30.
all these are the same price, in 500ml bottles, apart from the FT lemon which come sin packs of 4 200ml bottles and is more expensive.
3. Fentimans: all have sugar, 23cals per 100ml, and more expensive than the others. And the “light”version appears to have exactly the same ingredients and calorie count!
4. The Waitrose own brand is sugar, no artificial sweeteners, but has quinine flavouring not quinine, is 31 cals per 100ml, and 50p/L
5. All the Schweppes ones have artificial sweeteners, so again no an option for me.
So, once the eight weeks are over (three more now!) it’ll be Bottle Green for me, since I don’t like Fentimans- too strongly botanical. Unless I decide to try that recipe!
Next question, whats your favourite gin? Cork ,or Bombay Sapphire Star of Bombay with lime, or Hendricks with cucumber, for me!
MaryR

Mary R. wow what thorough research! fantastic, thank you. the bottle of Bombay Sapphire has been put in the back of the cupboard so I can’t see it! no alcohol and under 800 calories for 11 days now. 41 to go. I keep telling myself that this is good for me.
I had a great email from Q tonic
“Each of our products is crafted from all-natural ingredients with no artificial sweeteners to make the best mixers and sodas in the world.
For example, we use:
• Real quinine and organic agave for Q Tonic……”
Unfortunately they are not available (yet) in the UK anyway!!
A huge well done to you for doing so well for 5 weeks!
In spite of the absence of the wine and g&t, I must admit I am not finding the diet too hard’, only issue is that I am so tired (by 8.00 p.m. I am ready for bed) and I feel more emotional and ‘touchy’. (Doesn’t help that I have only lost 1lb this week.) Even so, trust this will shift and I will get the energy high soon and I am committed to seeing it through.
Keep posting how you are both doing.it is very encouraging.
Have a great weekend.
M.

Interesting that you are very tired- I’ve found quite the opposite, loads of energy, which I’ve put down to either no wheat/gluten, and/or no sugar. Others have said they’ve noticed energy levels up, so let’s hope that’ll happen for you too a bit further in. Great that you’re not finding it too difficult, I am amazed to find that I’m actually enjoying it!

I managed to finish my bottles of both Bombay Sapphire and the Hendricks just before day one! (And no it wasn’t a binge 😉 )

WRT to the Q tonic, I’ve never heard of that one, but agave is another no no for me, organic or not, it’s still 90% fructose!
A good book to read for the lowdown on fructose is David Gillespie’s “Sweet poison” available on Kindle.

You have a good weekend too,
MaryR

Try drinking gin with a squeeze of lime, ice and fizzy water instead.. The lime makes it!

I have been having fizzy water with ice and lime as a substitute for gin – to make it more exciting I have been out to buy different types of fizzy water then ask myself if I am in a badoit mood or plain lidl homebrand! Gives me an illusion of choice,