djnzlab1

HI,
Many of use CD's try to avoid Sugar, some experts are saying that sweetner substitues may be more dangerous that sugar.
One expert said that tricking the Body by eating substitutes may increase insulin production that causes weight gain and increases hunger.
So I have been looking for a safe alternative, I found ((Ultima Replenisher)), made with Stevia and has a higer ratio of Potassium to Sodium which is important for active people , and even more important to Hypertensive people.
Doug
Google (stevia) pretty neat, may catch on one day, its been used for decades in Japan and other countries.

JoelS

I just use sugar, in moderation.

wandalynn

I use powdered stevia in iced tea, yogurt smoothies, oatmeal, and a few other foods I can't think of just now. It has no aftertaste like Splenda although it isn't a true 'sugar' sweetness. The biggest downside is the cost - a spice jar sized container is $10. It does go a long way so I only need to buy it every 6 months or so.

cyclokitty 

I haven't tried stevia yet. I'm always a little wary of non sugar sweetners. But I do love sweetened tea!

CollectiveInk

agave nectar

ScrubJ

This is what I use. A natural plant product with no glycemic impact.

cod.peace

I've just been doing without. Dropping sweeteners from coffee & tea removed about 6 tsp/day. This was my main source of refined sugar and I've noticed I'm becoming a bit more sensitive to tasting sweetness in other foods, which is good.

For steel-cut oats, nothing but a bit of Grade B 100% pure maple syrup will do.

flip18436572

I will be the person that will get flamed for saying this, but I don't think the use of non-sugars as a sweetener make a difference in fat loss, or at least not for me.

Now, should we eat natural items, yes. We should get the sweetness from our fruits and vegetables. Will I change from drinking sugar free Kool-Aid? No. It is a great way for me to get extra fluids into my body when I am tired of just water. I will put that in a water bottle and drink it up. Is it tricking my body and making my body produce a million chemicals that it would if I was drinking something with sugar. Possibly.

This is just me and my opinion of how my body reacts. I know that my body really depends upon the calories I intake each day. When I increase my caloric intake, I don't lose the weight. I also understand that as I lose weight, I need to decrease my caloric intake to continue to lose weight and not hit a plateau. I have lost over 100 pounds, and hit a plateau. Then checked my caloric intake and noticed that I was eating the same as 100 pounds ago, and it was too much. The more weight you lose, the fewer calories it takes for your body each day.

bakerjw

I can't abide NutraSweet but I like sucralose. I've thought of trying stevia, but I don't eat that much in the way of sweets.

TurboTurtle

You won't get flamed from me. The only reasonable post in the thread. We've been using artificial sweeteners for at least 50 years now and all we get is anecdotal evidence, non-repeatable studies and plain myths. Artificial sweeteners or natural sweeteners are neither good nor bad. Their abuse may be, but they are not. What we have to get over is this belief that somehow 'natural' is good. I've made up a nice nightshade casserole - like some? - TF

andrelam

So far there is no clear indicator that articial "sugar" is bad for everyone. I can definitely have a sweet tooth, however I do try to keep that under control. Personally I try to avoid refined sugar as much as possible. My biggest weekness is for good black liquorice. Growing up in Holland "dropjes" are just a part of life. Since getting good liquorice is expensive to order or else requires a trip to Holland I am limited in what I can consume. Otherwise I am pretty descent about keeping losts of cookies and other sweats out of the house so that I am not tempted.

Since every sugar substitute that I've tried tastes nasty to me I will NOT buy a product if it has artificial sweetners in it. I also have friends (a mother and a daughter) were both have a sensativity to artificial sweetners. Once they stopped using artificial sweetners their migrain headaches dropped by over 90%. Neither one of the friends is willing to go back and try the various artificial sweetners to see which one(s) will triggering the migrains,... they are far to happy to be mostly rid of them.

I still love my Pepsi, but now I only buy cans and strictly limit myself to one can per day. I enjoy eating to much that I am NOT going to consume lots of liquid calories. I don't want to have to starve myself because I drank a bunch of extra sode/pop and therefore consumed all my calories and carbs for the day. Thankfully I realy like water, so drinking a 24 oz bottle in the morning and an other one in the afternoon is no problem. I also drink an other 24 to 36 oz of water after I get home after work. I also enjoy a nice cup of tea. Thanks to my upbringing I was never allowed to tea with sugar and therefore like it very much plain. My Mom did alway serve the tea with a cookie, usually a tradition Dutch "Marietje" so Mom was not against having a little suger in our life, but just figured tea tasts just nice all on its own.

Therefore my big belief is in moderation. My personal avoidance of artificial sweetners is purely because I can't stand the taste. I'll take one nice cookie over 10 that taste nasty.

Happy riding,
André

dcrowell

I cut soda out of my diet. I drink unsweetened tea and coffee. Sometimes I drink hot tea with a bit of honey. Nutrasweet gives me headaches. I find other artificial sweeteners to taste bad. guess I'm just more sensitive to it that most. I use sugar for cooking. My diet plan is pretty modest.

bongo_x

I find that sweet is like salty, you get used to it and the more you have the more you want. I ingested quite a bit of sweetener for years because sugar tends to affect me negatively. I quit almost all sweeteners over a year ago and it's been great. I think I crave foods much less now.

I still have sweets occasionally, but usually real sugar. I will only eat a certain amount of real sugar because, as I said, it has it's own built in punishment for over indulgence.

bb

sstorkel

As an insulin-dependent diabetic, I eat very little regular sugar. One thing I've discovered is that artificial sweeteners and natural sugar don't mix well. Most of the time, I don't notice any after-taste when eating something that includes an artificial sweetener. If I've recently eaten natural sugar, however, I really notice the taste of most artificial sweeteners... YMMV.

JoelS

I really notice aftertaste with artificial sweeteners. They're terrible. Chemicals created to trick your body. At least sugar is natural. Chewing on sugarcane is even more natural.

Regular sugar is what I use. I won't touch the artificial sweeteners knowingly.

terbennett

+1, and i agree with Joel S. The taste of natural sweetners is not that good and the aftertaste is horrible. I'll stick with my sugar- just smaller portions of it.

EasyEd

I personaly don't like any of the artificial sweetners I've tried. I'm another who eats real sugar, just a lot less of it than I used to. I do like honey in my tea. I'm leary of injesting so many strange chemicles. The more natural my diet, the better I feel. YMMV.

TurboTurtle

???? Why are you agreeing with Joel S. and answering my post? I never have been able to define 'natural' by it's use in pop-nutrition, but I would have thought sugar would be considered a natural sweetener. - TF

TurboTurtle

Is "...articial "sugar"..." artificial or actual? There are many, many more studies that show sugar is bad for you than artificial sweeteners.

More anecdotal evidence with zero value. Why is it that all the actual studies of headaches, allergies, etc. show nothing?

TF

JusticeZero

I use Agave Nectar myself. It is a natural sugar, but it digests very slowly and thus doesn't cause blood sugar spiking.

wandalynn

I didn't know that about agave nectar. The blood sugar issue is my biggest concern with sugars and refined carbohydrates. How is the taste and does it disolve easily?

Wogster

With sugar it depends on a number of factors, refined sugar is bad for diabetics, although some find that other things can be just as bad or worse, some find carrots and potatoes particularly bad. The real issue is that sugar has been around in various forms for thousands of years, the oldest substitute is maybe 100, and no longer in use. It really comes down to the devil you know versus the devil you don't. Many of the artificial sweeteners have been developed in the last 20-30 years, nobody knows what the health effects are long term, and we can't know until these products have been on the market long enough. For example if sweetener X with 50 years of exposure causes some horrible cancer, we will not know until someone has been exposed to it for 50 years, The danger in a lot of these things is that at that point some 75% of the population will have been exposed to it for 50 years.

Missbumble 

The bee uses liquid stevia. I do agree that it would be great not to crave sugar - and kicking the habit would be awesome. But I haven't so - Liquid stevia is what I uses. I do understand that one reason not to have sweeteners is to retrain the body not to crave it. But - I am not willing. So I have stevia. i would really like to stop the Diet Coke - but have not had the willingness. In the past I have substituted water, lemon and stevia for my dietcoke and it has helped.

JusticeZero

It's a liquid, like a thin honey, and mixes easily. It does have it's own taste, which is similar to honey, though a bit different. I use the light sort, the darker blends have more of a taste. I can get it in the health food section of a small town grocery store, though I go to a specialty store to get the bulk containers. You can do some research on it to find any other subtle quirks.

andrelam

Sorry for the typo... that was supposed to be "artificial." Yes, I know the problems my friends have is anecdodal, but the problem is that they are not willing to go back and see of the pain comes back if they start using artificial sweetners again.

Happy riding,
André