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Sugar Free Sorbet

By August 19, 2013February 18th, 2023Dairy Free, Desserts, Egg Free, Vegetarian
Quick note for all my followers in Europe.  All my books are now available in Europe through Amazon!  Thanks for your support!
Sugar Free Sorbet, low carb sorbet

Before my revelation of the biochemistry of food and our weight, I was so proud of my “perfect” diet of whole grains, fruits, and fat-free desserts (including Fat Free SORBET!), but I was still puzzled why I had uncontrollable cravings around food. By finding the correct supplements to change my biochemical imbalances, I started a high healthy-fat, grain-free, no starch diet; I finally found peace in my body. I didn’t feel deprived or compelled to overeat.

Sugar Free Sorbet, low carb sorbet

Blue Bunny Raspberry Sherbet INGREDIENTS: Water, Sugar, Corn Syrup, Nonfat Milk, Raspberry Puree (Red Raspberry Puree, Sugar, Water, Natural Flavors, Carob Bean Gum, Sodium Benzoate as Preservative), Whey, Citric Acid, Natural and Artificial Raspberry Flavor, Methyl Cellulose, Beet Color, Carob Bean Gum, Karaya Gum, Pectin, Red 40, Blue 1.

 

What happens when you eat too many carbohydrates?

No matter where the carbohydrates are being stored, liver or the muscles; the total storage capacity of the body for carbohydrate is really quite limited. Once the levels in the liver are filled with glycogen, excess carbohydrates have just one fate: to be converted into fat and stored. Even though carbohydrates are fat-free, excess carbohydrates ends up as excess fat. But that’s not the worst of it. Any meal or snack high in carbohydrates will generate a rapid rise in blood glucose. To adjust for this rapid rise, the pancreas secretes the hormone insulin into the bloodstream. Insulin then lowers the levels of blood glucose.

The problem is that insulin is mainly a storage hormone; it works to put aside excess carbohydrate calories in the form of fat in case of a future food shortage. The insulin that’s stimulated by too many carbohydrates assertively promotes the accumulation of body fat. To recap, when we eat too much carbohydrate, we are sending a hormonal message, through insulin, to the body that states: “Store as fat”. They also tell it not to release any stored fat. When this happens, you can’t use your own stored body fat for energy. So the excess carbohydrates in your diet not only make you fat, they make sure you stay fat.

Sugar Free Sorbet, low carb sorbet

After you eat carbohydrates your pancreas releases insulin and your blood sugar increases. Insulin makes sure your cells receive some blood sugar necessary for life, and increases glycogen storage. But, it also tells your body to use more carbohydrate, and less fat, as fuel. Insulin also converts almost half of your carbohydrate intake to fat for storage in-case of an energy emergency. If you want to burn fat for energy, the insulin response must be decreased. Eating refined sugars release a lot of insulin, allowing less stored fat to be burned.

Sugar Free Sorbet, low carb sorbetHigh insulin levels also suppress two important hormones: growth hormone and glucagon. Growth hormone is used for muscle development and building new muscle mass. Glucagon promotes the burning of fat and sugar. Eating a high carbohydrate meal also stimulates hunger. As blood sugar increases, insulin rises with an immediate drop in blood sugar. This results in hunger, often only a couple of hours after the meal. Cravings, usually for sweets, are frequently part of this cycle, leading you to snack on more carbohydrates. Not eating makes you feel ravenous shaky, moody and ready to “crash.” This cycle causes you to never get rid of that extra stored fat, and a decrease in energy. To read more, check out Secrets to a Healthy Metabolism.

Insulin’s actions are countered by glucagon. Glucagon alerts the liver to slow down triglyceride and cholesterol production, for the kidneys to release excess salt and fluid, to the artery wall to relax and lower blood pressure, and to the fat cells to release stored fat to be burned for energy. But, insulin is a stronger hormone and when it is high, it suppresses glucagon’s actions. After a childhood of sugar and starch consumption, metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance happen. This is why what we feed our children is so important. To find lots of ‘kid-friendly’ meals and snack, check out my new KIDS COLOR cookbook: The Art of Eating Healthy: KIDS.

Sugar Free Sorbet, low carb sorbet

A zookeeper mentioned that they often can’t feed the animals exactly what they eat in the wild because an animal that eats berries in the wild would develop a fatty liver and put on too much weight with conventional berries! Interesting!

“HEALTHIFIED” SORBET

Maria Emmerich
Course Dessert
Servings 4
Calories

Ingredients
  

  • 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/3 cup Allulose keeps ice cream soft
  • 1 tsp stevia glycerite
  • 2 1/2 cups fresh organic strawberries or raspberries
  • 1 TBS lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp Redmond Real salt to keep it from hardening too much

Instructions
 

  • Place the ingredients in a food processor and puree until very smooth.
  • Transfer the mixture to the chilled container of your ice cream machine (click HERE to find the one I love…I make ice cream so much, I broke mine and they sent me a new one for FREE! It is also 1/2 off now.) and make according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
  • Once complete, transfer to a chilled container and store in the freezer. NOTE: If you taste the sorbet after freezing and find the amount of sweetness is not right, adjust the level of sweetener, and then refreeze the sorbet. The sorbet is not affected by thawing and refreezing. Makes 4 servings.

Notes

NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per serving)
Haagan Daas <g class="gr_ gr_93 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling multiReplace" id="93" data-gr-id="93">Fat Free</g> Sorbet = 240 calories, 0g fat, trace protein, 60g carbs, 2g fiber
“Healthified” Sorbet = 33 calories, 0g fat, 0.7g protein, 7.4g carbs, 1.9g fiber

 

Sugar Free Sorbet, low carb sorbet

Maria Emmerich

Maria is a wellness expert who has helped clients follow a Ketogenic lifestyle to heal and lose weight for over 20 years. She has helped thousands of clients get healthy, get off medications and heal their bodies; losing weight is just a bonus. She is the international best selling author of several books including "Keto: The Complete Guide to Success on the Ketogenic Diet.".

30 Comments

  • Lucy says:

    I LOVE sorbet! We’ll be making this for sure.

  • Anonymous says:

    Out of curiosity… I noticed in a lot of your recipes you list specific name brand items: such as Swerve or Jay Robb or Just Like Sugar. Do these companies provide you with compensation or free products for using there product? I’m just curious if you list these items out of love for the product or because you were provided the product by the manufacturers.

    A lot of these products are so expensive, I guess I’m hoping you might be able to provide some similar products that aren’t so pricey.

    • Well, I don’t recommend anything that I wouldn’t use myself. As for Jay Robb, I selected them as the best whey protein based on the ingredients and for its flavor. Here is a post explaining it and what to look for in a whey protein (which you can use as a guide to find a different product if you like). http://mariahealth.blogspot.com/2011/02/why-whey-protein-you-ask.html

      Just Like Sugar was the same type of process, great ingredients, flavor and baking results. Swerve came to my attention recently and they are very similar to Just Like Sugar but more Erythritol based, and at half the price of Just Like Sugar. I tried it and loved the results for flavor and baking (and in ice cream to keep it from getting hard).

      As for free products, I have used Jay Robb for years. In the last few months as my site has gotten more popular, Jay sends me a bag occasionally for experimenting with perfecting recipes (it can take many tries to get a recipe right). It is about enough to cover my experimentation. 🙂 Same thing with Swerve. I don’t receive anything from any other vendor (Just Like Sugar, NOW, Natures Hallow, ChocoPerfection, Honeyville Farms, etc). I just think their products are the best for the recipes I specify them in. Believe me, I get TONS of requests from companies offering free products. Most of them don’t meet one of the four criteria (Quality of Ingredients, Taste, Baking results, Cost).

      So in a nutshell, I recommend these products as a result of my research and in practice have found them to be the best.

      The cost is higher for these products than some others on the market, but I think their long term benefits outweigh this added cost. Also, the majority of my clients, when they look at their overall food budgets end up having lower cost of food on my plan than they did before. When you factor in baking for yourself vs. prepacked (or fast food, etc), it is always cheaper to making real food yourself. Also, these more expensive ingredients are mainly used in desserts which only make up a small part of the diet (or at least should!) 😉 The majority of the diet is grass fed beef, free range eggs, vegetables, etc. 🙂

  • Unknown says:

    Maria, My towns two Natural food stores do not carry swerve or Just like sugar. I have ordered some online, in the meantime can I use the splenda I already have on hand to make ice cream? I just ordered the ice cream machine and am looking forward to using it. Thanks, Robin

  • Anonymous says:

    I’m new to your books. Some questions:
    1) Our store carries flax seed meal in its organic bins (not in the refrigerator section). I thought if flax seed was ground, it needed to be used right away for nutrients. Also, aren’t ground flax seeds to be refrigerated??? Are ground flax seeds the same as flax seed meal?
    2) Our health food store has lots of liquid stevia products, but I could only find stevia extracts and stevia concentrates–not stevia glycerite. What’s the differences?
    Sorry for “stupid” questions, but I’m still trying to learn what to buy.

    • Hi and welcome! 1) Yes, you only get the health benefits from the healthy fats if you use it right away. It is best to buy whole and grind in a coffee grinder. 2) Stevia Glycerite is a non bitter form. Some stevia extracts can have a bitter aftertaste. 🙂

  • Stacy says:

    We got your new cookbook yesterday and just love it. There are so many things that we want to try, including this sorbet.

  • JoBlue says:

    Delicious! Just made this recipe, using fresh raspberries. Oh my, yum!

    I used 1/3 cup erythritol (can’t get Swerve in Canada) and 2 drops liquid sucralose to sweeten. I also added 2 Tbsp of alcohol (used Cuervo) to keep it a little on the softer side when i freeze some for tomorrow.

  • Anonymous says:

    My husband was just placed on insulin for his uncontrolled type 2 diabetes. Based on what I just read isn’t too much insulin bad? Why would one want to injecy insulin? Can you help me understand the process of how injecting insulin is helping him?

  • Anonymous says:

    Can you explain why diabetics have to inject insulin? It sounds like too much insulin is a bad thing, I’m confused

    • Instead of injecting insulin because you are eating too many carbs/sugar, I decrease the carbs for my diabetic clients, so they no longer need injections. If you “google” insulin injection photos, you can see just how detrimental this can be.

  • castleofblue says:

    Thank you so much for this great information. I started following your blog a while ago for the grain-free recipes, but I’m loving the educational side of it, too. My dad has been type 2 diabetic for years, and I’ve struggled with my weight since my early teens. Recently I’ve gotten control of my weight and I’m helping Dad finally loose the weight he needs to, and a lot of it has to do with a low carb diet. Once you start cutting carbs out of your diet, it becomes glaringly obvious how most of us Americans eat way too many carbs, and don’t have any idea what they are putting into their bodies. I’m going to read this article, and some of your others, to my Dad so he can understand for himself and not just eat what I tell him to! Again, thank you for your generosity in sharing this information.

  • Lucy says:

    It’s churning as I write 🙂 So the Swerve makes it NOT hard? Would I still want to add a tsp or so of alcohol or would that amount of alcohol not even effect the texture? Thanks!

    • I like the results without just a little salt. Some people like it softer. If that is the case for you, you could try a little more salt or vegetable glycerine.

  • France says:

    Ooh Yeah! I’m getting through your recipes, one at a time! Sometimes two at a time! (read on)…

    To cut a long story short… I made the Caramel Apple Crisp Ice Cream but with Vanilla flavouring yesterday morning, and it never froze (now I know it’s because our spare freezer doesn’t freeze as cold as the chest freezer so my ice cream bowl wasn’t chilled enough). So while waiting for the machine bowl to freeze again, I put the custard mix in the fridge.

    I wasn’t sure if I hadn’t cooked the custard enough or if the bowl wasn’t cold enough, so instead of playing with the custard again, I figured I’d make the sorbet, and if it worked fine, refreeze the bowl for 24 hours and finish the custard based ice cream…

    Well, the sorbet was very nice but a bit too salty for my taste (I think the strawberries weren’t as sweet as they ought to be)… the Ice Cream was a bit sweet to my taste (probably because I didn’t let my custard cook long enough or I’m just no longer used to really sweet ice cream) so I had another one of those light bulb moments! I tasted half a spoon of the sorbet and half a spoon of the ice cream on the same spoon, it was delicious!

    So I mixed the two together and now I have the most fabulous Strawberry Ice Cream Sorbet!!! Thanks to you. So that’s why I can now say I am trying your recipes one at a time, sometimes two at the same time!!!

    Have a lovely day! 🙂

  • Lisa T. says:

    Yum! I have everything but the stevia glycerite. I have Swerve powder and granulated. What will happen if I don’t use the stevia glycerite?

  • france says:

    wow! look at that recipe formatting, it’s GORGEOUS! I better stock up on ink!!!!! 😀 ♥

    • cemmerich says:

      Thank you! We are still working on it and plan to add it to the most popular recipes (and of course any new ones from now on). 🙂

  • Valerie Pergolizzi says:

    I noticed most of your berry recipes use either strawberries or raspberries. I live blackberries and wondered if there is a reason they aren’t used in your recipes or is it just personal preference? Dumb question? 🙁

  • Sandra says:

    Finally got my hands on Swerve here in New Brunswick, Canada. Made this sorbet tonight. The unfrozen taste was delish. Looking forward to the full experience tomorrow. 🙂 Great summer treat for non-dairy people. Thank you!

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