I think in reasonable quantities likely yes. It is definitely considered “AP” – alternate protocol. Of course in Dr. Simeons time xylitol didn’t exist, and he did allow the use of sugar-free sweeteners around then. These days most of us replace the ones he mentioned with stevia (this is my favorite stevia brand).
What’s great about sugar alcohols like Xylitol is that they don’t affect blood sugar levels, but there are still some absorbed calories in xylitol.
When using a sugar alcohol in our P2 recipes – we use erythritol as it has a smaller molecule size than xylitol and doesn’t cause the same digestive upset that xylitol does for some. A 1994 a Japanese study found that erythritol did not increase glucose or insulin in test subjects.
Even with that, we typically try to stick with a very small amount in our recipes in 1 serving, like 1 tsp.
To make something sweet enough to the palate using only a sugar alcohol in 1 serving can typically take 1-2 tbsp though, and when I see myself spooning that much of the granules out, it just seems like too much “non-real food” – so that’s why we pretty much always combine the use of stevia and erythritol in a recipe so that the sugar alcohol lends just enough of a “real” sweet flavor, but still only needing to use a little bit. That’s just my choice on how I view it, but not law by any means!
My favorite brand of erythritol (this is non-GMO, which not all brands are):
Swerve – Granular – kind of like a replacement for regular table sugar.
Swerve – Confectioners – this one is good for cold things where the granular will not dissolve as well.
If you go with Xylitol, I’d like to suggest the idea of using a non-GMO one as well, and also one made from birch vs corn if possible – here’s a brand for that:
100% Pure Birch Xylitol Non-GMO
Many will find to their use in small amounts to not be a problem with weight loss. If you find yourself running into stalling troubles, you can always try removing it for a couple of days to see if it’s a culprit.
I hope that helps!
