More Tips on Sweeteners

Obviously some sweeteners are better than others, and refined sugar (including corn syrup, cane sugar, beet sugar) is the absolute worst thing for a diabetic to eat much quantity of.  Diabetics and those who also want to cut carbs, are recommended to reduce their use of all sweeteners, including substitute sweeteners, because it simply prolongs one's sweet tooth and makes you vulnerable to lapses -- while many substitute sweeteners have problems of their own.
Ironically enough, in an Israeli study, very few of the test subjects experienced glucose spikes after eating plain, reasonably sweetened ice cream (not the "triple fudge monkey rocky ripple pretzel in a sugar waffle cone" variety).  As mentioned elsewhere, eating fats along with carbs tends to delay glucose spikes.  So, since traditional ice cream has lots of fat, it was thought that this effect rendered ice cream among the 'safer' desserts for those cutting carbs.  But don't go overboard. 

FAQ about Sweeteners:
    + Maple Syrup contains enzymes which mitigate the bad effects of its own sugars on the human body.  It's a good "go-to" if you don't want to use the weird Keto sweeteners such as erythrytol or monkfruit.  Maple syrup is also an excellent source of important trace minerals.
    + Honey is much better for a diabetic (or most people) than refined sugars, because the carbs are more complex and take longer to hit the bloodstream.  Honey also contains helpful enzymes & nutrients.  But honey should still be used sparingly.
    + The same is true of Coconut sugar:  Not too bad, but use sparingly.
    + Stevia and Monkfruit are among the best sugar substitutes for a diabetic, in reasonable doses.  Monkfruit often appears with Erythritol (Erythritol is also sold separately as a sweetener).  There is some debate about whether Erythritol causes heart problems in the long term.  Most people don't consider Erythritol to be any big worry.
    + Allulose is an artificial sweetener that is not too terrible.
    + Chocolate in its natural, unsweetened forms (including cocoa/cacao) is actually very healthy, in reasonable doses.  HOWEVER the problem with chocolate is that it naturally tastes bitter.  Mostly we add sweeteners to it.  The problems & risks to a diabetic, with respect to chocolate, depend entirely on what kind of sweetener is present and how much.
    -- Agave and agave syrup are _NOT_ better for diabetics than refined sugar.  They are simple carbs.
    -- Other chemical artificial sweeteners should be avoided.  Aspartame is probably the worst.  Sucralose (reverse sugar) is not as bad as Aspartame.