Fevertree Tonic Water

I don't drink that much, but when I go out I like to have the occasional gin and slimline tonic. Recently, I have noted that a lot of bars (in London at least) are serving Fevertree "naturally light" tonic water as slimline tonic. However, whereas every other slimline tonic is completely carb free, the Fevertree version has 3.9g carbs per 100ml. Even when I asked for a sugar free tonic I was presented with Fevertree.

This annoys me as I feel that I am not getting what I ask for. Most of the other normal tonic waters I have looked at (i.e. not slimline) contain 5.1g per 100ml and as such I am not sure there is a major difference between the Fevertree slimline and the normal tonics (the normal version of Fevertree has 9g so it is really sweet).

But what I really want to know is if that amount of carbs per 100ml (i.e. 3.9) is too much? Should I not drink this stuff? Or could I drink it and inject for it? I am not sure of the size of the mixer bottle they serve it with but it is probably a 200ml one as that is all they advertise on their site, so it would be 8g per serving give or take, plus the gin.

Many thanks

Libby

I wouldn't worry about it. Might be good policy to stop at 10 drinks though!
Less than 1 CP between meals...just think of it as a snack. If any correction is needed - make it when you have checked your pre-meal BG and take suitable matching insulin dose. Take care not to overcompensate however. If you have a lot to drink, remember your liver is already occupied processing the drinks and is less able to release it's safety store of glucose into your blood stream to protect against hypoglycemia.
Regards
Garry

Thanks Garry. I think this boils down to a more basic question of when is a sugary drink too sugary. I wouldn't drink a normal coke as I couldn't correct for it in time, bit what is the deal with this not really slimline tonic water?

Libby

Hi Libby. I think this is part of the whole very serious and sinister 'creep' of sugar into all our foods. It puts diabetics into a difficult position -- make a fuss with bar staff who won't really 'get it', and try to get bar managers to stock proper slimline drinks, or end up drinking in sugars that will not help us with our control. They'll also make us fat as they will probably be excess to our needs and the sugar will end up being stored as fat. It's not just fats that make us fat, but sugars too. I would suggest you try other drinks if you end up in a bar that only serves fevertree and the like. Two G&Ts with that stuff and you're up to nearly 10 carbs (or one CP if you use those exchanges). You control may not be dented too much by that, but it's another thing to have to take into consideration. If ended up pretty much stuck with white wine, as most mixers are sugary, as are many beers. It's dreadful that alcoholic drinks do not have to have carb and fat breakdowns on their labels. If they did, you could at least choose what to drink based on that info (as could everyone). It shows how much clout the drinks industry has. I rant on a bit about the 'sugar free' rubbish that gets stuck on labels as it's an actual health threat to me. I was in a pharmacy just weeks ago and they had 'sugar free' sweets on the counter. Read the label, and it was 35g of carb per 100g. OK, so that's a lot of sweets to get through, but they were NOT sugar free. When was a boiled sweet a carbohydrate. It's not called a sweet for nothing, it's full of sugar! It's not just likely to make unsuspecting diabetics have problems with their control, but it's making the population at large unwell too. So, rant rant. Read the labels. Make the choices that keep you well. And 'out' the baddies. I did not know about Fevertree. I do now. Sue

One fevertree is nearly 1 CP. Libby mentioned 200 ml/bottles and 3.9g/100 ml or 0.78 CP per bottle.
I'm not a Health Care Professional but personally speaking I don't worry about 1 CP between meals as the beauty of DAFNE is...eat normally...live normally...and OK so I may need make an insulin adjustment at the next meal time, that's easy to do once familar with your individual response to QA.
Regards
Garry