This self-experiment is being done as part of the Keating Memorial Self-Research Project. A couple of other people from the Open Humans community are also running the same experiments. If you’re interested in joining in, let me know in the comments or send me a PM.
This post is an update on my experiments measuring the effect of food ingredients on blood sugar.
This week, I have the results from oat fiber and got started on whey protein.
Summary
Oat fiber has a negligible effect on my blood sugar, <0.05 mg/dL/g(oat fiber), or <0.5% that of glucose. Cooking the oat fiber had no significant effect. So, I’m safe to keep baking with it ☺.
Details
Purpose
To quantify the effect of ingestion of food ingredients and ingredient combinations on my blood sugar.
Procedure. From 7 pm the day before through 4:30p the day of experiment, no food or calorie-containing drinks were consumed and no exercise was performed. Non-calorie-containing drinks were consumed as desired (water, caffeine-free tea, and decaffeinated coffee). At ~12 pm, the substance to be tested was dissolved or suspended in 475 mL of water and ingested as rapidly as comfortable. For the cooked oat fiber, 100 g oat fiber was mixed with 200 g water and allowed to hydrate for 30 min. The mixture was then baked in a parchment lined muffin tin for 18 min. at 350 °F. The oat fiber was then suspended as described above. BGM measurements were then taken approximately every 15 min. for 2 h or until blood glucose had returned to baseline, whichever was longer. A final BGM measurement was taken 4.5 h after ingestion.
Measurements. Blood glucose was measured using a FreeStyle Libre flash glucose monitor and a FreeStyle Freedom Lite glucose meter with FreeStyle lancets & test strips. No special precautions were taken to clean the lancing site before measurement. To take a sample, the lancing devices was used to pierce the skin at an ~45 deg. angle from the finger. Blood was then squeezed out by running the thumb and pointer finger of the opposite hand from the first knuckle to the lancing site of the finger. Blood was then wicked into a test strip that had been inserted into the meter and the glucose reading was recorded.
Data Processing & Visualization. iAUC was calculated using the trapezoid method (see data spreadsheet for details). Data was visualized using Tableau.
Figure 1. Change in blood glucose vs. time for oat fiber tests.
Change in blood glucose as a function of time for the oat fiber tests is shown in Figure 1. Qualitatively, there appears to be no impact of oat fiber up to 100 g consumed. It was extremely uncomfortable to drink that much oat fiber in one sitting, so it’s unlikely I will ever eat more than that.
Figure 2. Maximum blood glucose increase and iAUC vs. amount consumed. Red, blue, orange, and green indicate glucose, allulose, oat fiber, and cooked oat fiber, respectively. The line is the best linear fit to the data.
To better quantify the impact of glucose on my blood glucose, I plotted the maximum increase in blood glucose and the iAUC of blood glucose (incremental area under the curve) vs. amount consumed for all ingredients tested so far (see Figure 2). While the oat fiber data shows an increase in both blood glucose and iAUC as a function of amount consumed, there’s only two data points and the magnitude is extremely small and could easily be due to experimental error. Confirming this effect would require running more measurements. I may go back and do this later, but for the moment, I would prefer to focus my time on ingredients with unknown or more substantial effects.
Since oat fiber is used in baking, I also wanted to check if heating it would break down the fibers and increase digestibility. Towards that end, I mixed 100 g of oat fiber with 200 g of water and baked at 350 °F for 18 min. (time & temperature for my muffin recipe and longer than my cookie recipe), then suspended it in water using the same procedure as with the uncooked fiber. There was no observable change in appearance, taste, or texture from the cooking process. There was a very minor increase in blood glucose response, but well within the measurement error of the meter.
Conclusion & Next Experiments
Oat fiber has a negligible effect on my blood sugar, <0.05 mg/dL/g(oat fiber), or <0.5% that of glucose. Cooking the oat fiber had no significant effect. This week, I will measure the effect of whey protein, a common protein supplement.
Note: This is an updated version of my previous post on this recipe. Since my first attempts, I’ve tried out 10 new batches, with big improvements in taste and texture. I also worked out a low-calorie version with shredded coconut instead of chocolate.
I’ve been trying to work out a low-carb chocolate chip-cookie dough ice cream to go along with my other ice cream recipes, but I haven’t liked any of the low-carb cookie dough recipes I’ve found on-line. All of them either didn’t really taste like a traditional chocolate chip cookie dough or were too soft even when frozen.
Since the oat-fiber muffins turned out so good, I decided to see if I could use an oat-fiber/whey protein base to make a cookie dough. The results turned out surprisingly good for a first attempt. Still needs some work, but I thought I’d share now to get some advice before I keep developing.
Flour → 80g oat-fiber + 44g whey protein + 16g gluten (same ratio as my oat-fiber muffins)
White sugar → allulose (1:1 by weight)
Brown sugar → allulose (1:1 by weight) + molasses (10% of sugar by weight, adapted from here)
Chocolate chips → 1 cup shredded coconut (I didn’t have any sugar-free chocolate chips, wouldn’t have done this otherwise.
Added 50% more egg to get to the right dough consistency.
Added a sprinkle of flaky sea salt to the top of the cookie before baking.
This was a pretty good start:
Good:
They tasted very similar to chocolate chip cookie dough (minus the chocolate)
They froze to a good texture.
While not as good as chocolate chips, the shredded coconut gave a nice flavor and texture to the dough.
Con:
When baked, the cookies puffed up and had more of a bread/muffin texture than a cookie texture.
The amount of coconut was more than I’d like.
First attempt at oat-fiber cookies. Taste was good, but they puffed up and had more of a bread than cookie texture.
To fix the texture problem, I made the following changes:
Removed gluten (it prevented the muffins from deflating, so removing it should reducing “puffing”)
Went from 2 eggs to 1 egg + 1 yolk (less egg white should give a less stable structure)
Halved the amount of coconut.
This was a big improvement. The taste of the dough stayed the same, but the cookies spread and gave a texture very similar to a chewy chocolate chip cookie.
Second attempt, with gluten and half of egg white removed. Taste, texture, and appearance of a chewy chocolate chip cookie (without the chocolate for now).
Reduce the molasses content (would help the carbs count, but probably make it taste worse. Could try substituting some “brown sugar” erythritol instead?)
Lower the temperature to let the cookies spread more before setting
Reduce the amount of egg white (hard to do as I’m already at 1 egg, but I could add yolks and whites separately).
At this point, I posted the recipe to r/ketorecipes on Reddit and got additional suggestion to try a blend of erythritol and allulose (erythritol for crispier texture, but keep some allulose to mitigate “cooling effect”).
Round 1: Optimizing Texture
Based on the ideas above, I tried the following experiments:
All: I bought some Montezuma 100% cocoa chocolate from Trader Joe’s (surprisingly not bitter!) and used that in all recipes. I really l like the taste and texture it adds, particularly the contrast with the sweet taste of the cookie.
Reduced baking temperature and increased time (375 °F/11 min., 350 °F/13 min., 325 °F/15 min., 325 °F/16 min.)
Taste: no change
Texture: no significant change, maybe slightly less chewy…
Spread: no change
Conclusion: Original time/temp (375 °F/11 min.) is best
Went from 1 egg + 1 yolk to 2 yolk, plus added 10 g almond milk (needed to get dough to correct consistency)
Taste: creamier, less drying
Texture: slightly crispier
Spread: Much more spread during baking, similar to a regular cookie
Conclusion: Definite improvement in taste and I prefer the more spread out/thinner shape
Replace 50% of allulose with erythritol
Taste: no change (no perceptible cooling effect)
Texture: much crispier
Spread: no change
Conclusion: Much closer to my preferred texture
This was a big improvement in just a few tries and pretty close to what I wanted. I had originally planned to try out a bunch more variations (flour:fat & flour:protein ratio, amount of molasses, type of protein, etc.), but these were so good I decided to just combine the improvements and see if that did the trick.
Replaced whole egg with egg yolk and added almond milk. Improved taste and spread like a regular cookie. Still too chewy, thought.
Replaced half of allulose with erythritol. Crispier on the outside, but still chewy in the middle.
Round 2: Combining Changes & Low-Calorie Version
Based on the success of round 1, I made a batch combining all the improvements together. I also made a couple batches using yogurt and shredded coconut in place of the butter and chocolate to reduce calories.
2 egg yolk + 30 g almond milk + 50% erythritol
Taste: Fantastic, really tastes like a Nestle’s toll house cookie.
Texture: crispy on the edges, soft/chewy on the inside. I’d prefer a little crispier, but this is great.
Spread: Just like a regular chocolate chip cookie
Conclusion: Got the combined improvements from Round 1. While it could always improve, this was almost exactly what I was looking for.
Replace butter with yogurt & chocolate with shredded coconut. Removed almond milk (dough was already too “wet” before adding)
Calories: Drops from 106 to 36 calories/cookie
Taste: Not as good as the butter/chocolate version, but pretty good. Much “lighter”.
Texture: Way too “bready.” Must be an effect of the yogurt.
Spread: Much less
Conclusion: Ok for a first try, but the “bready” texture is a real problem. Will try less yogurt.
Same as above except half as much yogurt + 10g almond milk
Calories: Drops from 106 to 36 calories/cookie
Taste: Same. Not as good as the butter/chocolate version, but pretty good. Much “lighter”.
Texture: Back to normal. Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside.
Spread: Still didn’t spread as much as the butter/chocolate cookie, but not a big deal.
Conclusion: This was great. I prefer the taste of the chocolate/butter based cookie, but I can eat a lot more of these. Will definitely make again.
All improvements combined (no egg whites, 50% erythritol, added almond milk). Taste, texture, and spread exactly how I want!Cross-section so you can see the crispier outside and chewy center.Goes great with almond milk!Low-calorie version with yogurt instead of butter and shredded coconut instead of chocolate. Almost as good and 1/3rd the calories.
My original plan was to do a whole bunch more batches with different substitutions and varying ratios, but I’m really happy with how these turned out. I might come back to this recipe in the future if I want to really dial it in or get a different effect, but for now I think I’ll leave it as is and start working on something else.
Hope you enjoy it,
– QD
Low-carb Adaptation of Nestle Toll House Cookies
QD
A low-carb adaptation of Nestle Toll House Cookies
Whisk together oat fiber, whey protein, baking soda, and salt.
Cream butter, allulose, erythritol, molasses, and vanilla with a stand or electric mixer.
Beat in egg yolk and almond milk, then slowly beat in oat fiber mixture, then fold in chopped chocolate.
Transfer to a lined baking sheet (I use a 1″ cookie scoop) and bake for 11 min.
Let cool on a wire rack, then serve.
Notes
0.9g net carbs per cookie.Nutrition information calculated by adding up macros of the individual ingredients. Allulose not included in the Total or Net carbs.Cookie dough can be frozen and stored for at least 1 month before baking.Unlike regular cookie recipes, this does not benefit from letting the dough rest in the refrigerator before baking (spreads less and doesn’t taste quite as good). If you don’t want to bake immediately, put the dough in the freezer.
Whisk together oat fiber, whey protein, baking soda, and salt.
Cream yogurt, allulose, erythritol, molasses, and vanilla with a stand or electric mixer.
Beat in egg yolk and almond milk, then slowly beat in oat fiber mixture and shredded coconut.
Transfer to a lined baking sheet (I use a 1″ cookie scoop) and bake for 11 min.
Let cool on a wire rack, then serve.
Notes
0.7g net carbs per cookie.
Nutrition information calculated by adding up macros of the individual ingredients. Allulose not included in the Total or Net carbs.
Cookie dough can be frozen and stored for at least 1 month before baking.Unlike regular cookie recipes, this does not benefit from letting the dough rest in the refrigerator before baking (spreads less and doesn’t taste quite as good). If you don’t want to bake immediately, put the dough in the freezer.
Low-carb replica of Nestle Tollhouse Cookies – Still a work in progress
I’ve been trying to work out a low-carb chocolate chip-cookie dough ice cream to go along with my other ice cream recipes, but I haven’t liked any of the low-carb cookie dough recipes I’ve found on-line. All of them either didn’t really taste like a traditional chocolate chip cookie dough or were too soft even when frozen.
Since the oat-fiber muffins turned out so good, I decided to see if I could use an oat-fiber/whey protein base to make a cookie dough. The results turned out surprisingly good for a first attempt. Still needs some work, but I thought I’d share now to get some advice before I keep developing.
Flour → 80g oat-fiber + 44g whey protein + 16g gluten (same ratio as my oat-fiber muffins)
White sugar → allulose (1:1 by weight)
Brown sugar → allulose (1:1 by weight) + molasses (10% of sugar by weight, adapted from here)
Chocolate chips → 1 cup shredded coconut (I didn’t have any sugar-free chocolate chips, wouldn’t have done this otherwise.
Added 50% more egg to get to the right dough consistency.
Added a sprinkle of flaky sea salt to the top of the cookie before baking.
This was a pretty good start:
Good:
They tasted very similar to chocolate chip cookie dough (minus the chocolate)
They froze to a good texture.
While not as good as chocolate chips, the shredded coconut gave a nice flavor and texture to the dough.
Bad:
When baked, the cookies puffed up and had more of a bread/muffin texture than a cookie texture.
The amount of coconut was more than I’d like.
First attempt at oat-fiber cookies. Taste was good, but they puffed up and had more of a bread than cookie texture.
To fix the texture problem, I made the following changes:
Removed gluten (it prevented the muffins from deflating, so removing it should reducing “puffing”)
Went from 2 eggs to 1 egg + 1 yolk (less egg white should give a less stable structure)
Halved the amount of coconut.
This was a big improvement. The taste of the dough stayed the same, but the cookies spread and gave a texture very similar to a chewy chocolate chip cookie.
Second attempt, with gluten and half of egg white removed. Taste, texture, and appearance of a chewy chocolate chip cookie (without the chocolate for now).
Reduce the molasses content (would help the carbs count, but probably make it taste worse. Could try substituting some “brown sugar” erythritol instead?)
Lower the temperature to let the cookies spread more before setting
Reduce the amount of egg white (hard to do as I’m already at 1 egg, but I could add yolks and whites separately).
At this point, I’m going to post the recipe to r/ketorecipes on Reddit and see if I can get more suggestions (worked for the oat-fiber muffins) before making another batch.
Recipe as it stands now below.
Hope you enjoy it,
– QD
Low-carb adaptation of Nestle Toll House Cookies
QD
A low-carb adaptation of Nestle Toll House Cookies
Whisk together oat fiber, whey protein, baking soda, and salt.
Cream butter, allulose, molasses, and vanilla with a stand or electric mixer.
Beat in egg and egg yolk, then slowly beat in oat fiber mixture.
Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet (I use a 1″ cookie scoop) and bake for 11 min.
Let cool on a wire rack, then serve.
Notes
0.5g net carbs per serving.Nutrition information calculated by adding up macros of the individual ingredients. Allulose not included in the Total or Net carbs.Cookie dough can be frozen and stored for at least 1 month before baking.
To avoid significantly increasing my total calories, I first tried just adding protein powder to my breakfast and lunch shakes. That got me the protein I wanted, but it diluted the flavor of the shakes, which I didn’t like.
Next, I tried searching around for a solid low-calorie, high-protein food. Not finding anything, I decided to make my own (still looking, so please comment if you have any suggestions). I started off with a recipe for oat-fiber bread from The Fruit of Her Hands. The oat-fiber, egg white, and glucomannan combination gave me the bulk and texture I wanted with almost no calories.
INITIAL ADAPTATION
To add protein, I substituted whey protein isolate for 36% of the oat-fiber and dropped the cooking time to 18 min. I also swapped cinnamon and liquid sucralose for the onion and garlic powder to make a slightly sweet instead of savory version.
The resulting muffins tasted decent, but the texture was always either a bit too dry or (if I lowered the cooking time) the top center of the muffin was undercooked.
This is what they look like after cooling down. When they were pulled from the oven, they had the normal muffin shape, but the tops deflated during cooling.
To fix these problems, I tried:
Increasing cooking time (went from 14 to 19 min. and the muffins went from underdone in the center to too dry, with no happy medium.
Removed water (much drier).
Other observations:
The tops of the muffins deflate when they cool. Not a big deal to me, but seemed like a symptom of the texture problem.
The batter was extremely thin and bubbled more vigorously than a normal muffin batter. Again, not a problem in-and-of-itself, but it made the recipe more time sensitive and made me think something was not quite right.
Round 1: Finding the right ingredients
At this point, I decided to ask for advice on r/ketorecipes. From that post, I got a number of good suggestions, all in the vein of adding an ingredient that either better retains moisture (allulose, gelatin) or one that would coat the oat-fiber to mitigate drying (oil, egg yolk). From these ideas I tried the following experiments:
All: For all experiments, I removed the water from the recipe, as that made the muffins drier and (I hoped) would make it easier to taste the difference made by the substitutions. I also wanted to increase the density of the muffins.
Replaced liquid sucralose with 6 tsp. allulose mixed with dry ingredients (suggested by u/NSGod as allulose should retain water and is bulkier)
Batter: No change in consistency or taste
Deflation: No change
Moisture & texture: Perceptibly softer and more moist, but still too dry. Was slightly undercooked in the center of the top.
Taste: No change
Added two packets of knox gelatin mixed with dry ingredients (suggested by u/Samr1221 to retain water)
Batter: Much thicker, similar to a quick-bread batter
Deflation: Almost none
Moisture & texture: Even softer and more moist than allulose, but still a bit drier than I’d like. Top was less dry than the bottom.
Taste: No change
Added 1 tbsp. commercial ice cream stabilizer mixed with dry ingredients. Same concept as gelatin, but it’s a mix of different thickeners and moisture absorbers, so I thought it’d be interesting to compare.
Batter: Much thicker, similar to a quick-bread batter
Deflation: None
Moisture & texture: Similar moisture to gelatin, but denser and a bit tougher texture.
Taste: No change
Added 2 egg yolks (suggested by u/Samr1221 to reduce dry taste, presumably by coating other ingredients)
Batter: A little thicker, but closer to the original than the gelatin or ice-cream stabilizer
Deflation: Almost none
Moisture & texture: Not softer but more moist (in between allulose and gelatin).
Taste: Subtle improvement in taste (creamier?), but might be in my imagination.
All-in-all, a big improvement. All five changes increased moisture and reduced deflation. If I had to pick one, I’d go with the gelatin, but I figured it could be even further improved.
Oat fiber muffins from Round 1
Round 2: Further ingredient screening
With these initial results, I went back to r/ketorecipes for more advice. From that post, the main feedback was to try gluten as a replacement for gelatin or oil/butter instead of or in addition to the egg yolk, so I gave those a shot.
Added 14 g vital wheat gluten mixed with dry ingredients. Same concept as the gelatin.
Batter: Slightly thicker
Deflation: Almost none
Moisture & texture: In-between allulose and gelatin in moisture, but texture was more bread like.
Taste: A subtle savory taste that I liked.
Added 20 g vegetable oil
Batter: no change
Deflation: Almost none
Moisture & texture: In-between allulose and gelatin in moisture, less dry feeling when eating
Taste: no change
Added 20 g melted butter
Batter: much thicker, seemed like the butter may have solidified (egg whites were cold)
Deflation: Almost none
Moisture & texture: Much less dry feeling, but the muffins were smaller and too dense. If these had been the same size/texture as the rest, they’d have been great.
Taste: no change
Round 2: Butter
Round 2: Vegetable Oil
Round 3: Combining changes
From rounds 1 & 2, I was getting significant improvements from allulose, gelatin, egg yolk, gluten, and vegetable oil, but I thought I could do even better by combining them. I didn’t want to add the additional calories from the oil (15 calories/muffin), so I didn’t include that in the combinations.
6 tsp. allulose + 2 egg yolk + 2 packets gelatin
Batter: Slightly thicker, same as just gelatin
Deflation: Same as just gelatin
Moisture & texture: Slightly moister than just gelatin.
Taste: Same subtle creamy texture as when adding egg yolk to the base recipe
2 egg yolk + 2 packets gelatin
Batter: Same as above
Deflation: Same as above
Moisture & texture: Slightly less moist than above, but still moister than just gelatin or egg yolk by themselves.
Taste: Same as above
Based on these results, combining the egg yolk and gelatin seemed worthwhile, but I wasn’t getting much milage out of the allulose. Since I get stomach issues when I eat more than 20-30 g of allulose per day, I decided to keep the liquid sucralose.
Round 3 combinations
Round 4: Optimizing for taste and convenience
Now that I had the basic ingredients figured out, I did a couple rounds of optimization of quantities. Specifically, I tried to figure out the right amount of gelatin/gluten, water, and seasonings (changes in bold).
2 egg yolk + 4 packets gelatin
Very thick batter, less deflated than 2 packets gelatin, soft & moist, but only slightly more than 2 packets
2 egg yolk + 2 packets gelatin + 60 g water
Thin batter with some deflation. Much more moist and soft. Huge improvement.
2 egg yolk + 4 packets gelatin + 120 g water
Slightly more dense and a bit less “wet” than 2 packets + 60 g water. Very good, but I slightly prefer 2 packets + 60 g water.
Texture is near perfect, but taste is a bit bland. Needs more seasoning.
2 egg yolk + 2 packets gelatin + 60 g water + 1.5 tsp. cinnamon + 2 tbsp. vanilla
Flavor improved a bit. Still not perfect, but I’m happy with it and don’t want to add more ingredients.
2 egg yolk + 2 packets gelatin + 90 g water + 1.5 tsp. cinnamon + 2 tbsp. vanilla
Slightly thinner batter and more deflation, but moister. I prefer this to the 60 g water.
2 egg yolk + 14 g gluten + 60 g water + 1.5 tsp. cinnamon + 2 tbsp. vanilla
Much thinner batter, more bread-like texture, less “dry” taste, and less wet than gelatin. I prefer the gluten to the gelatin, but it’s a little less convenient and adds a slight amount of carbs (0.15 g/muffin or ~0.5 g per meal for me)
0 egg yolk + 2 packets gelatin + 90 g water + 1.5 tsp. cinnamon + 2 tbsp. vanilla
A little more wet and less creamy/drying vs. with the egg yolk, but it removes an ingredient.
0 egg yolk + 2 packets gelatin + 80 g water + 10 g apple cider vinegar + 1.5 tsp. cinnamon + 2 tbsp. vanilla
This was an attempt to improve the flavor, but ended up with a very interesting effect.
The muffin had holes riddled throughout the structure (gas generated from vinegar reacting rapidly with baking powder).
I couldn’t taste the vinegar, but the slight bitter and dry tastes from the oat fiber were completely gone.
2 egg yolk + 2 packets gelatin + 80 g water + 10 g apple cider vinegar + 1.5 tsp. cinnamon + 2 tbsp. vanilla
Indistinguishable from above, so with the apple cider vinegar, the egg yolk no longer has an effect.
2 egg yolk + 2 packets gelatin + 50 g water + 40 g apple cider vinegar + 1.5 tsp. cinnamon + 2 tbsp. vanilla
Slightly denser and chewier than 10 g vinegar. Still no vinegar taste, but I could detect a slight vinegar smell.
2 egg yolk + 14 g gluten + 70 g water + 20 g apple cider vinegar + 1.5 tsp. cinnamon + 2 tbsp. vanilla
Very good taste & texture, but not as large a vinegar effect as with gelatin, probably because the gluten already reduced the bitter and dry tastes.
0 egg yolk + 14 g gluten + 70 g water + 20 g apple cider vinegar + 1.5 tsp. cinnamon + 2 tbsp. vanilla
Slightly more drying than with yolk.
The effect of the apple cider vinegar is extremely interesting, however, I noticed a greater rise in my blood sugar on the days when I ate muffins containing it. That could be a coincidence (it doesn’t contain any carbohydrates), but I need to experiment more before I start using it on a regular basis.
Based on all these experiments my final set of changes from the original recipe are:
Add 2 packets of gelatin or 14 g gluten
Reduce water from 180 to 90 g
Increase cinnamon by 50% and vanilla by 33%
Add 2 whole eggs & reduce egg whites by 60 g (equivalent to adding 2 egg yolks)
Final Recipe
Low-Calorie, High-Protein Oat Fiber Muffin
QD
A low-calorie, shelf-stable oat-fiber muffin. I use it as a protein supplement.
Whisk together wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls, then combine and mix until fully incorporated.
Transfer to parchment-lined muffin pans (8-12 muffins) and bake for 18 min.
Cool completely before eating. Can be stored in a sealed container for at least 4 days (haven’t tried longer).
Notes
Net carbohydrates: 0.4 g/muffinNutritional information calculated per muffin for a 12 muffin batch with gelatin by adding up macros of the individual ingredients.
