A Sweet Christmas Without the Sugar: Catering for Diabetic Guests

Christmas is a time for indulgence the mince pies, Christmas pudding, chocolates, and festive cocktails all seem to take centre stage. 

But if you’re welcoming friends or family with diabetes, you may be wondering how best to cater for them without leaving them out of the seasonal fun. 

The good news? With today’s wide range of zero sugar alternatives, syrups and flavourings, you can create festive treats that are both delicious and diabetic-friendly.

Why Think About Zero Sugar Options?

Traditional festive foods are often packed with refined sugar, which can cause blood glucose levels to spike. For those living with diabetes, this makes navigating the Christmas table tricky. 

By making simple swaps with sugar-free ingredients and naturally sweet alternatives, you can help ensure that everyone enjoys the celebrations without worry.

Sweet Swaps: Baking and Desserts

Zero sugar syrups – Brands now offer syrups in flavours such as vanilla, caramel, hazelnut and even festive gingerbread. Perfect for drizzling over pancakes, flavouring coffee, or adding to whipped cream.

Sugar-free chocolate – A great option for stocking fillers or to melt into sauces.

Sugar substitutes for baking – Stevia, erythritol and monk fruit sweetener can be used in Christmas puddings, cakes and biscuits without compromising taste. (However, people like my wife are allergic to Stevia)

Drinks Without the Sugar Crash

Christmas drinks are often loaded with sugar – from mulled wine to hot chocolate. Try these alternatives:

Sugar-free hot chocolate topped with whipped cream and a drizzle of zero sugar syrup.

Mulled spice tea – brew black tea with cinnamon, cloves and orange peel, then sweeten with a sugar substitute.

Festive mocktails – mix sparkling water with sugar-free syrups, a splash of lemon or lime, and fresh fruit garnish for a seasonal fizz.

Savoury Options That Shine

It’s not all about sweet treats. Luckily, most of the Christmas dinner spread is already diabetic-friendly: roast turkey, Brussels sprouts, red cabbage, carrots, and parsnips. Just be mindful of glazes and sauces – opt for reduced-sugar cranberry sauce or make your own using a sugar substitute.

Little Touches That Make a Big Difference

Label dishes so guests know what’s sugar-free.

Offer choice – a traditional pudding alongside a zero-sugar trifle or cheesecake ensures everyone has something special.

Stock your coffee corner with sugar-free syrups so guests can customise their festive lattes.

A Christmas Everyone Can Enjoy

With a little planning and the help of zero sugar syrups and flavourings, you can make your diabetic guests feel not just included, but spoiled with thoughtful festive treats. After all, Christmas is about togetherness, and that means ensuring everyone can join in the feast.

Here are some excellent zero-sugar syrup options available in the UK, perfect for making your Christmas festivities more inclusive for guests managing diabetes.

Festive classic — Christmas maple & spice

Maple & Cinnamon Syrup - Skinny Syrup - 425ml

£4.99

theskinnyfoodco

Gingerbread festive flavour

Mint Syrup | Mint Syrup For Coffee | Skinny Syrups

£6.99

theskinnyfoodco

Nutty barista‑style syrup

Mint Syrup | Mint Syrup For Coffee | Skinny Syrups

£6.99

theskinnyfoodco

Versatile vanilla for coffee, drinks

Monin Sugar Free Vanilla Flavouring Syrup (1 litre)

£9.49

Maple & Cinnamon Syrup - Skinny Syrup - 425ml

A delightfully festive blend of maple and warm spices — ideal for drizzling over porridge, cakes, or into hot beverages without any calories or sugar. A classic seasonal touch.

Mint Syrup | Mint Syrup For Coffee | Skinny Syrups

Rich hints of gingerbread with cinnamon, cloves and molasses make this perfect for spicing up hot chocolate, coffee, or desserts with winter warmth — all sugar-free.

Mint Syrup | Mint Syrup For Coffee | Skinny Syrups

A creamy, nutty favourite for flavouring latte, hot chocolate or even breakfast bowls. Totally sugar-free and delicious.

Monin Sugar Free Vanilla Flavouring Syrup (1 litre)

A versatile vanilla syrup, perfect for lattes, cocktails, baking or mocktails. Made with sucralose, delivering rich flavour without the sugar.

Other Notable UK-Friendly Options

The Skinny Food Co is a notable British brand offering a wide range of zero-calorie, sugar-free syrups. They're stocked in major supermarkets including Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Lidl, and health stores such as Holland & Barrett. 

Wikipedia

NextDayCoffee.co.uk features sugar-free syrups from Amor, Monin, and Simply, including festive picks like:

Monin Gingerbread Sugar-Free Syrup

Monin Vanilla Sugar-Free Syrup

Amor Caramel / Hazelnut / Vanilla Sugar-Free Syrups — all priced around £4.99 for 750 ml 

Nextday Coffee

Bulk™ Zero Calorie Syrup is another UK-available option sweetened with sucralose, offering calorie-free choices in flavours like maple and butterscotch. 

Community recommendations include:

“I quite like the Skinny Syrup ones. I find that the Maple one has the most flavour but the Salted Caramel is also pretty good.” — a user from r/AskUK

Sweeteners & Health Considerations

While syrups offer festive flavour, many use artificial sweeteners such as sucralose or aspartame, both generally have minimal impact on blood glucose levels, making them acceptable for diabetic guests. 

However, experts advise moderation as some individuals may experience digestive discomfort or changes in appetite or gut health. 

Stevia, monk fruit, or allulose are natural or low-glycaemic sweeteners that can be used in baking; allulose behaves more like real sugar in recipes, though it’s currently more niche. 

Quick Recommendations for a Diabetic-Friendly Festive Spread

Ingredient Recommendation

Syrup for coffee / drinks Skinny Food Co Maple & Cinnamon or Monin Gingerbread

Dessert drizzle Skinny Food Co Hazelnut or Chocolate Fudge Cake flavour

Baking sweetener Consider sucralose-based syrup or natural substitutes like stevia/allulose

Label clearly Mark sugar-free options at your buffet to minimise confusion

Offer variety Include one traditional sweet alongside sugar-free alternatives so everyone can enjoy

Using zero sugar syrups lets you create festive menus—think flavored coffees, mocktails, baked treats—that are both indulgent and considerate of diabetic dietary needs. 

The Skinny Food Co range stands out for availability and flavour variety in the UK; Monin offers rich, barista-style quality; and Bulk™ is a reliable calorie-free alternative.

Female Entrepreneur Targets Hospitality Industry with Healthier Choice Prosecco Brand

33-year-old Kath Jones, from Aigburth, Liverpool says she is targeting high-end foodservice and hospitality venues with her products thanks to a huge shift in behaviour towards veganism, ketogenic lifestyles and a growing number of people  who are cutting sugar from their diets. 

ThinK Wine is an award-winning brand of prosecco and sparkling rose offering consumers a healthier alternative to its full sugar competitors without losing the taste or the percentage volume. And it has been wowing judges in blind taste tests.  

ThinK Wine has just 75 calories and 0g carbs, 0g fat, with 0.58g of residual sugar per 125ml (this is legally classed as zero sugar under UK standards), while still retaining an ABV of 11%. The product contains no artificial sweeteners or ingredients. 

So far, Kath has been selling direct to customers via the ThinK Wine website https://www.thinkwinegroup.co.uk, with the product available in a small number of exclusive, independent hospitality venues. 

Kath now aims to grow the trade side of her business after her own research discovered a gap in many premium restaurant and bar drinks menus for a luxury brand like ThinK Wine. Customer feedback also highlighted strong demand for it. Consumers would dearly love to see healthier alternatives on menus and in restaurants and bars where sugary, calorie-packed alcoholic drinks are often the only option. 

Kath says she wants her sparkling wines to be available in as many premium restaurants and bars as possible and has put in place a dynamic business development strategy to target the sector. 

“My customers want the same healthier choices they have at home, when they are out for dinner or on a night out. It's a premium product so we're hoping to target fine dining establishments, premium restaurants, luxury hotels and cocktail bars, initially.” 

“I know this concept is a winner,” Kath explains. “It's a hugely popular product.  

“People are increasingly health conscious, they are more switched on to things like sugar addiction, additives and sulphites, but they also still want to be able to enjoy a drink now and again. With no palatable alternative available on the market, I felt moved to create something. That's how ThinK Wine was born, and we've been growing exponentially ever since.” 

Kath has been on a journey of discovery since she began her mission to bring ThinK Wine to fruition and as well as getting her products onto drinks menus is also keen to change people's perceptions of prosecco. She continues:  “Done right, prosecco is a premium product; it doesn't have to be filled with sugar, or worse, artificial sweeteners and sugar alternatives. The problem is much of the cheaper prosecco that's readily available uses lots of sugar to mask the quality of the grape. It's giving this fabulous drink a bad name; but it doesn't have to be that way.  

“We're not using sweeteners or artificial ingredients instead of sugar either, I want to be very clear on that. When you choose a premium quality grape, the natural flavour is all that you need. 

“Our customer feedback is that they love the product, and can't get enough of it, but they also want to keep their diet low carb, vegan or low calorie without having to forgo dinner dates and nights out, or having to switch to a drink that they don't like.  

“Unfortunately, at the moment, there just aren't enough viable healthier choice sparkling wines out there on menus and wine lists, that also deliver on taste. I want to change that.”   

ThinK Wine is available in a select number of independent restaurants including Pullman Hotel Liverpool, ACC arena Liverpool, Pendergast's Warrington, Castle Street Townhouse, Chester Townhouse and Hope and Smoke. 

The brand has continually outperformed its full sugar and non-vegan/organic competitors in blind taste tests and has won the following awards: People's Choice Wine Awards 2022 (silver), London Wine Competition 2022 (bronze), Glass of Bubbly 2022 (silver), The Drinks Business Global Pinot Grigio Masters 2020 (bronze) and Las Vegas Global Wine Awards (silver), as well as gaining a 4.96 rating on Judge Me. 

ThinK Wine – The Products 

Quality and taste is everything to the team at ThinK Wine, who believe being Prosecco drinkers has given them an edge over the competitors in creating the perfect blend of flavours for wines with a fresh and revitalising finish, despite the health-conscious benefits. 

The company is proud to say all of its wines are 100% vegan/organic and have low sulphites. As a business ThinK Wine operates as sustainably as possible and as of March 2023 ThinK Wine Group has been a certified B-Corporation. 

The brand currently has two main product lines, with more product development in the pipeline for 2024. 

ThinK Prosecco 

ThinK Prosecco is a vegan and organic sparkling wine with both reduced sugar and calories.  

It is made from the finest Glera grapes from the heart of Treviso, north-east Italy for a Prosecco that is fresh, satisfying and luxurious. Its appearance is fine and persistent perlage, straw yellow colour. On the nose its intense bouquet with light notes of green apple and citrus. The taste is fresh, aromatic and elegant, with light notes of bread crust and green apple. 

ThinK Prosecco is a delicious complement to fried fish, tempura vegetables, tofu and fine meat. 

ThinK Pink 

ThinK Pink is a Pinot Grigio Sparkling Rosé. It is a vegan and organic sparkling wine with both reduced sugar and calories. ThinK Pink is made from the finest Pinot Grigio grapes from the heart of Treviso, north-east Italy. Its appearance is fine and persistent perlage with a light pink colour.  

On the nose its refined bouquet is characterised by delicate hints of strawberry, gooseberries and pink grapefruit. The palate is fresh and delicate with a soft mousse. 

ThinK Prosecco pairs nicely with fish, vegetable and tofu dishes with light sauces 

After consulting with her client-base, some of the UK's biggest online influencers and celebrities, she confirmed that the idea was a winner.  

“I work with a lot of celebrities and influencers in my 'day job' and I honestly haven't found one of them that thinks having a healthier prosecco on menus is a bad idea. They have busy schedules and always out attending launches and events in the evenings; they all agree that a less calorific version of their favourite fizz should be an option. But we're not just reliant on word of mouth, as a brand we've conducted extensive market research, and the outcome is always the same. A resounding yes please!”  

“My job now is to raise the ThinK Wine brand's profile among the bigger players in the foodservice industry and hopefully bring some positive changes to wine lists across the country.”