Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Powdered Coffee Creamer, anyone?

Everyone has seen the powdered coffee creamer in those plastic bottles. They are everywhere. Specially in office buildings. Right next to the coffee maker and maybe a box of fresh donuts.

Coffee-Mate I believe is the leading brand. I say that because that is the creamer I see most often in public places. Years ago it used to be Cremora. But I haven't seen them in a long time.

I travel on business quite frequently. On most major airlines I ask for milk with my tea. And I generally carry my own Equal tablets in their dispenser. So there is no problem with sweetening my tea. I use as little milk as possible in my tea when I am flying because it is most commonly either skim milk or the 2 per cent kind ....yes, the kind that is higher in carb content.

On shorter flights, when United or American Airlines uses sub-contractors, like Colgan Air or Shuttle America, there is never any milk on board. Those are the times I have my tea black or I don't have any tea at all. Its tough because I take very early flights quite a lot and tea is the best waker upper for me.

So what is my beef with Coffee-Mate powdered creamer or for that matter, any other kind of coffee creamers?

Here is a list of ingredients for Coffee-mate Powder, Hazelnut, Sugar-Free. I took it from the Amazon website.

Vegetable Oil (Partially Hydrogenated Coconut or Palm Kernel and Canola, Hydrogenated Palm, Soybean, Cottonseed and/or Safflower), Corn Syrup Solids, Sodium Caseinate (A Milk Derivative), Dipotassium Phosphate (Moderates Coffee Acidity), Natural and Artificial Flavors, Monoglycerides (Prevents Oil Separation), Salt, Sodium Aluminosilicate, Sucralose, Datem, Acesulfame Potassium (Non-nutritive Sweetener), Yeast.

Pretty much the entire list has objectionable items for us diabetics.

But the worst offender is Corn Syrup Solids. Which can spike our blood sugars very fast. And yet this Coffee-mate powder is sold to us as being Sugar-Free. Amazing, isn't it?

39 comments:

  1. It's not sold as "Sugar-free" just "Fat-free."

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  2. No It is sold as "sugar Free" and then thet also have fat free.

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  3. For the longest I wandered why my blood glucose would spike after drinking coffee and all the while it was the creamer I used . After reading the ingredience I understood that it was the corn syrup in the creamer that was causing my problems. It says fat free and lactose free but corn syrup is a form of starch and that's not good for diabetics. Lesson learned.

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  4. I had not eaten, and had taken my metformin. Drank coffee w/"sugar free" and splenda. Latter I decided to test my B/S and it was 335! After looking for some advice on what to do about this scary B/S #, I found a good walk would lower it. so i walked the dog and shaved 75 pts.off.I am a coffee junkie, I like it sweet & creamy now I have to find a new source of creamer,like half n half or something?

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    1. Maggie Kingston TennesseeAugust 11, 2014 at 6:52 AM

      You may want to try some coconut powder for your coffee. I am also diabetic and was having the same problem as you with the spikes after drinking my morning coffee. I did a lot of research on the web and am going to order some of the coconut powder from Amazon, health food stores may carry it also. Another one that is all natural and and does not contain any sugar at all is Organic Manuka Honey Powder. I hope this is helpful.

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    2. Very helpful. And Me too ! If you come up with a solution...PLEASE let me know 😞

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  5. Half half also has corn syrup. I also used to
    Like that powder creamer and also tried half and half
    But it gives the bad effects.

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    1. The regular Half and Half DOES NOT have corn syrup solids in it.....Only the Fat Free kind has corn syrup solids in it.

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  6. I love my coffee and I have to have creamer in it. I have been thinking of using nonfat dry milk instead of the creamer. Any thoughts on that?

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  7. i've been recently diagnosed with type 2..and this article was very informative..thank you!

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    1. I was wanting to find out if non dairy creamer was OK for type 2, finding this article very interesting! The comments are helpful as well.

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  8. silk unsweetened almond milk 30 cal and davinci zero calorie syrups it's liquid gold trust me i tried all kinds of stuff and this work's i'm type 2 and never been on med's doc say's it's like i don't even have type 2 but losing 95 lbs helped alot too

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    1. Thank you for this information.

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  9. both my husband and I are type 2. his is better controled. we both like coffee mate in our coffee in the am. we allow ourselves two cups with two teas. of coffee mate. last week he started taking his sugar after drinking his coffee. amazing jumped 100 points. today mine did too. so will try the almond milk

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  10. We are not talking about fat free.
    We are talking about sugar free.
    Coffee-Mate sugar free has the exact
    same corn syrup solids as the non
    sugar free. To label it sugar free is
    a disgrace.

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    1. I just found out I have type 2, this forum has been really helpful, thank you

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    2. its so hard being diabetic and watching everything i eat and drink,plus im disabled ugh,its hsrd to exercise, there is ALWAYS a hidden ingredient that can harm me i drink cofdee and like it light and sweet,i tried so many variations but it seems i get so tired right after drinking my coffee anyone have any ideas what i can do about my coffee problem,thanks

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    3. Yess..right after a drank my coffee with that non dairy cream I felt sleepy and lazy. Then I checked my sugar levels and it was 165..that scared me, my type 2 diabetes is controlled without meds. So I got on the treadmill fir 30 minutes went down ti 110. I will try silk almond milk. Or just stick with my green/black tea. Your body will tell you right away if your sugar is up. Start moving soon after...either walking, treadmill or just keep moving. Praying the best fot all.

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    4. I know right. I bought the sugar fee read it when I got home gave it away the next day. Go figure

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  11. I just got diagnosed and went raw, my numbers were perfect until I checked after drinking coffee mate and nothing else and it was 152 What the heck???? yesterday it was 98 upon waking. LESSON LEARNED!

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    1. Type 2 here...I was suspicious of this powdered creamer I have been using for a long time..... no more non-dairy coffee creamer for me. Just one more thing I have to adjust to because of Diabetes! Looks like those corn syrup solids are the main culprit for me...gotta watch out for them.....read those labels!!!

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    2. Wow! I just learned I am prediabetic. I too love my coffee sweetened a bit and just creamy enough to take the edge off. I have been using a non-dairy flavored creamer. Caramel Macchiato. Well, Now I know ! Gotta find something better for me. Gonna be hard to change.

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    3. I know this is an old (but good!) article by the dates of these responses, but I thought I would add that I started to test my glucose and ketone levels daily since I am returning to a ketogenic eating routine.

      For the first two days I had a baseline glucose of 85 mg/dl. I would drink a black coffee with a packet of stevia to give it a little sweetness, and I observed that after an hour, my glucose blood test was around 95 mg/dl. But on the third day I tried two tablespoons of basic powdered creamer in the same coffee, and my glucose had shot up to 118 mg/dl, which is pre-diabetic! I thought I would share this for anyone who wanted some more data to consider. I will be sticking to full fat half and half from now on!

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  12. Ahhhh...thank you. I checking mine and it was op 48 points by drinking a cup of coffee with sugar free hazelnut cremate. To the trash can it goes

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  13. I have adding non-dairy, no carb, creamer (NJoy brand) to my coffee for years thinking it has no impact on glucose levels. Recently I began monitoring levels throughout the day and noticed hideous spikes after breakfast, I thought it might be the caffeine. I have gone 'cold turkey ' without the coffee and saw the spikes dissappear. However as I was 'Njoy'ing my coffee today, I read the label, first ingredient is corn syrup solids. After reading all these posts, I will be trying something else. BTW, Sugar Foods Corporation makes this stuff.

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  14. I knew that Non Dairy Creamer was poison for me as a Diabetic. Switching away from that stuff helped a lot but I was also having trouble with midday spikes after lunch at McDonalds. A Double cheeseburger with a side salad was a treat for me. I would usually only eat the bottom bun and put half the pack of ranch dressing on my salad. I couldn't figure it out because I have done this in the past without issue. I began to suspect something in the Salad dressing and checked it out. What do you know? One of the ingredients, corn syrup solids. My dressing at home doesn't contain that garbage. Now I check everything for that regardless of what the label on the front says.

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  15. Wonderful informative thread! I switched to sugar free french vanilla thinking I was not only going sugar free but lowering my carbs too. Now I am switching to Torani Sugar free vanilla flavoring. No sugar (they use sucralose/splenda, the next thing I'm going to research) so it's sugar free and 0 grams carbs. NO corn syrup! It's super concentrated so you don't use a lot, but I can taste the splenda which I"ve always thought was bleck. Can't imagine life without coffee so we have to figure this out, haha!

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  16. Such an useful post about how to control diabetes in 60 days by using Non Dairy Creamer or powdered coffee creamer.

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  17. Thanks. Just started checking blood sugar in am and couldn't figure out the spike until I realized it was the regular old non dairy coffee creamer, primarily the corn syrup solids.

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  18. Now I know why my blood sugar has been rising …..it is the corn syrup solids in the coffee mate. To hell with it.

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  19. True my sugars are good in am until I have morning coffee with creamer. A huge rise

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  20. In this document it states that "Occupational medicine is a specialty of physicians; occupational health covers a broader spectrum of different health protective and promotional activities. what can a diabetic eat at whataburger

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  21. coffee/caffeine is what is increasing it, not the TINY amount of corn-syrup in a teaspoon of creamer (2g is NOTHING compared to eating just about anything).

    IF a diabetic finds post coffee glucose spiking,may want to give up on coffee.
    here's how it happens:
    coffee--> caffeine-->epinephrine --> break down glycogen to glucose-->rapid spike in blood sugar.
    stimulants simulate a flight/fight response readying your body for action with big glucose release!
    be smart, don't confuse things. be healthy. if u got type 2 ur problem is NOT coffee or creamer, its eating way too much, being fat, and not exercising enuff.

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