Help finding flax, splenda, stevia, and ketostix in Germany

[michele4ad]

Help! I am living here in Germany for 2 years now, but I still can't really speak any German. I was wondering if anyone knows what flax seeds are called in German? I was at a "naturkost" (stores that are kind of like "Whole Foods") and I found Leinsamen, which are dark brown seeds, shiny and a bit bigger than sesame seeds. But I thought they must be linseeds from the name. Then I looked up linseed and flaxseed on my online English-German translator and they both say Leinsmen. Are Linseed and Flax seed the same thing? But they didn't have Flax meal (or Linseed meal) which is what I was really looking for. Does anyone know where to find that in Germany? Also can you get sucralose (Splenda) here? I looked for it at the "naturkost" and at the regular supermarkt today and the only sugar substitute I found were aspartame. I would like to try Stevia also, but alas, I don't know where to get that here either. I am assuming that in the U.S. you would buy it at a GNC, but I haven't seen any stores like that here. Also I wanted to get some Ketostix. Can you just walk into an Apoteke and ask for them? If so, are they also called Ketostix here?

[Elizellen]

Re: Help finding flax, splenda, stevia, and ketostix in Germ

Hello Michelle

Yes Leinsamen is linseed/flax - I usually buy the golden variety for baking and some people prefer the brown for cereal-type breakfast food.
The golden variety is probably 'goldener Leinsamen'

I have never seen it ready ground so use an old coffee grinder attachment on my food processor to grind my own. Takes a few minutes only, and I think it is better as it lasts much longer kept as seed till you want it ground. I think the ready ground stuff has to be kept frozen or it goes rancid quickly.

A good translation site is Altavista's Babelfish at http://world.altavista.com/tr
where you can choose your from/to languages and type in or copy/paste up to 150 words of text at a time for instant results.

I use it a lot when i am searching for things.

BTW I found this german site about Stevia - it has some English text

http://www.stevia-de.com/

And I looked for a german site for splenda but could not find a company site but here is the url for a US page where you can email Splenda and maybe they can tell you where to get it in Germany

http://www.splenda.com/vcrc/email/emailform.jhtml

Hope this helps

[michele4ad]

Thanks for the info! I didn't see any goldener leinsamen but I will keep looking. I asked one of my German collegues to look for Splenda for me. We'll see if he can turn anything up.

[Elizellen]

And I looked on my Ketostix pack to see if they had a German distributor but no luck

But I did find a german phone number at http://www.pharma.bayer.com/en/contact_us.html

which is + 49 214 301 - seems a bit short but maybe worth trying to find out which chains of shops sell ketostix in Germany.

I didnt see an email address on the english pages but I am sure they will have one somewhere if you prefer to write to them instead.

PS - I just noticed Chynna's post on the thread called 'Singapore Question' below and she says she gets hers from a pharmacy in Germany. Why not send her a PM and ask her what the packet is called so you know what to ask for. She might know about Splenda availability too!

[michele4ad]

Hello,
Actually yesterday I just walked into an Apotheke and asked if they spoke english, and they said a little, so I told him I wanted Ketostix and he had them So now I jsut need to fins some Splenda or Stevia and I will be all set. I am going home for Christmas, so I can always bring some back then. Thanks for your help and suggestions!

[Elizellen]

If you are looking in UK many supermarkets sell the granulated Splenda now.
Stevia is more difficult to find - I got mine from this website http://www.godshaer.co.uk/stevia.htm
and it turned out to be a small company based only 10 miles away from where I live!!

[ich_will_keine_schokolade]

They don't sell splenda here.I have looked everywhere.right now I use canderel,it's for diabetics.You won't find all the cool convenient stuff here like the US has to offer,but here there is a an amazingly big Wurst selection. I am also going back for X-mas and making myself a care package,and then sending it back here.

[michele4ad]

Hello IWKS,
Where in Germany are you? I am in Hamburg. There are lots of wurst here but I cant find any without sugar. Every one I see has something in it called Zukerstoffe, and I don't know what that is, but it sounds like sugar. Also, it seems like all the ham (kassler etc), has sugar in it too, and all the salami.
So I eat alot of hamburgers. I am also going to the US for Christmas, and I will bring back some stuff.
Michele

[ich_will_keine_schokolade]

Hi,michele I am from a little town called Dinklage,Landkreis Vechta....lots of farming,and it stinks really bad in the summer...it's between Oldenburg and Osnabrück. I was only 2 times in Hamburg,did you go to the big Kirmes yet? my husband had to play music there on the weekends.Zuckerstoffe is a whole bunch of sugars together....like dextrose...(there are more can't remember the names) We eat a lot of chicken,geflügelwiener,schinkenkrakauer.My grandma just sent me some splenda,so I'm pretty happy.I have also been here 2 years,actually 2 1/2. are you in the army or something,or just here?

[michele4ad]

No I am not in the army. There is a big particle accelerator here in Hamburg, and it is the only one in the world that collides electrons and protons, so I had to move here to do my research since I am studying electron-proton collisions. (I am a physics Ph.D. student.) I guess you are American too? Do you speak German? I can only say a few things in German, which makes it kind of hard to live here.

[ich_will_keine_schokolade]

yea,I'm american too.I kinda figured it wasn't the army(didn't want to be too nosy) there aren't any army bases this far north. wow your studies sound complicated,but hey I'm a musician all I have to do is count to four. Well I like to think it's a little more complicated than that. Do you have all your studies in English? I can speak(I wouldn't actually call it talking) German,have to for my job,also can't always use hand gestures,but I can say what I need to say.I'm not at the point yet of having an intense conversation,hopefully one day though.

[yemenitegreen]

Re: Help finding flax, splenda, stevia, and ketostix in Germany

You can buy stevia on ebay easily. While you won't finde pure splenda, splenda-sweetened syrups are available via mail order, I buy mine at http://www.berliner-kaffeeroesterei.de

HTH,

yemenitegreen

[Chynna]

Re: Help finding flax, splenda, stevia, and ketostix in Germany

Hi Michele,

I just noticed a post that you started in the International section (I haven't been on the board much due to an illness in the family).

I am also an American living in Germany. I've been here for 11yrs and I currently live in Mannheim (between Frankfurt and Stuttgart). So, living here so long, you find ways to obtain those hard-to-get US products!

Here are some links that can help you with your search for Splenda and other items:

http://www.lowcarbstore.be/de/ (Dutch company that sells Splenda and other low-carb goodies)

http://www.supermass.com/ (German company: They have Atkins supplements and reasonable priced supps and mins as well as a no-iron/low-carb multivitamin)

http://www.lowcarbladen.de/irw_page.534e5f486f6d65.html (German: They also have a nice sortiment of low-carb food items)

As for the flax, you can go to the DM or any Drogeriemarkt for these items. I found both golden and dark flax at the DM and also at the Kaufland.

I hope these help you find what you are looking for! If you have any other questions about where to find what, or in general, just PM me and I will get in touch with you ASAP.