Equal, Sweet n Low, Artificial sweeteners

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  • ajaxe432
    ajaxe432 Posts: 608 Member
    What's so bad about artificial sweeteners? Seems better than using 2-3 spoons of sugar in a tea or coffee.

    Nothing is "so bad" about them unless you are allergic to them in some way or they are causing your macros to be out of whack (which would also happen with sugar anyway, if that's the case).

    There's a lot of alarmism and fear mongering going around about them, but it is not backed up as heavily as the fear mongers want you to believe.

    I'm in the best shape of my life, appearance and internally according to doctor's labs, and I have Splenda everyday. Until a large quantity of peer reviewed studies shows me definitively that it is bad for me, I'll continue using it. A couple of studies based on the idea that readers seem to believe that correlation IS causation isn't going to persuade me to do anything.
  • MRL1107
    MRL1107 Posts: 74
    There are a lot of speculation about artificial sweeteners but no concrete evidence on what harm it actually does to our bodies in the long term.

    There are a lot of natural ways to sweeten beverages and food without upping your glucose levels or completely messing up your daily calorie intake. If you're worried about putting the chemicals in your body try these substitutes instead. The Stevia plant is used in other countries as a natural sweetening alternative for sugar. If you steep the leaves in water it turns into something similar to a simple syrup. There is also Agave Nectar, which is becoming quite popular in the states these days. Both Stevia and Agave nectar are simple to get these days.
  • Vivian06703188
    Vivian06703188 Posts: 310 Member
    Stevia is no chemical and all natural you don't know what your talking about. Excuse me I'm not being rude, I am stating a fact. I have a stevia plant in my garden and use it to sweeten my tea. Stevia products are not processed and are all natural as long as nothing is added to them. Check you labels. As chemicals go I guess anything can be a chemical compound. This is all a very debatable subject. My grandmother used saccharine everyday of her life and lived to 98. There was no debate about the use of saccharine until big business wanted to make money on the by product Aspartame and then others came along and it has been a domino effect. If we publish these results we can herd the public like cattle and confuse them. Honestly I feel perfectly safe taking saccharine.
  • thisismeraw
    thisismeraw Posts: 1,264 Member
    Stevia is no chemical and all natural you don't know what your talking about. Excuse me I'm not being rude, I am stating a fact. I have a stevia plant in my garden and use it to sweeten my tea. Stevia products are not processed and are all natural as long as nothing is added to them. Check you labels.

    The stevia products you buy in the store are processed.

    Regardless of if they are processed or not, it doesn't mean they are good for you. Natural products can be harmful and deadly. Natural or herbal doesn't mean healthy. Not processed doesn't equal healthy. Some stevia products are processed with various chemicals.

    I find the taste of stevia gross. I prefer sweeteners. There has yet to be anything proven that sweeteners are bad for us except for the few who do have issues with them (migraines, etc).

    Leaf of a rhubarb plant is natural but can be harmful... peanuts are natural but can kill people... arsenic is natural, not healthy... tobacco, cocaine, etc are all natural.
  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
    vingogly: While your point still stands, are actually eating the peach and apricot pits? :P

    The Italian cookie Amaretti di Saronno is made with ground apricot pits and/or bitter almonds, both of which get their almond flavor from the cyanide they contain. It's said the cyanide is burnt off when they're cooked, but one has to wonder. Would I eat one again? Yeah, in a heartbeat. Cyanide is delicious!
  • bio01979
    bio01979 Posts: 313
    I don't eat them because they taste like battery acid, no other reason. I had a friend once who got migraines whenever she ate aspertame, but that's rare.

    vingogly: While your point still stands, are actually eating the peach and apricot pits? :P

    flax seed has cyanide as well :)
  • susan_skipper
    susan_skipper Posts: 33
    Stevia is natural and better for u than sugar

    This is true. I started using Stevia a few months ago after hearing about it on one of these forums. I like the taste and its all natural. The other sweeteners just taste too "chemically" to me. I also found a Stevia plant at the greenhouse. I think you just dry the leaves out and then grind them up. Not sure if I am going to try It or not.
  • theycallyoumister
    theycallyoumister Posts: 222 Member
    What's so bad about artificial sweeteners? Seems better than using 2-3 spoons of sugar in a tea or coffee.

    I agree. Over time, I cut way back on sugar so I add a little bit of artificial sweetener to coffee (to soften the bitterness) since I changed out from cream to milk. :smile:
  • lj8576
    lj8576 Posts: 156
    But if Dr Oz said it would help it would fly off the shelves. Hes such an *kitten*. ANyway I have used splenda for years and I have 10 toes and 5 fingers on all three of my hands so I am good.
  • dena789
    dena789 Posts: 165 Member
    But if Dr Oz said it would help it would fly off the shelves. Hes such an *kitten*. ANyway I have used splenda for years and I have 10 toes and 5 fingers on all three of my hands so I am good.

    Ha ha ha! :D I too have used artificial sweeteners for many years. I don't buy in to all the fear mongering. I happen to like my coffee and tea sweet so I use a brand name that contains sucralose. I've tried stevia too but still prefer the sucralose. I also use the water flavours like Mio and Crystal Light which also contain sucralose. I use what works for me... YMMV
  • LongIsland27itl
    LongIsland27itl Posts: 365 Member
    I'm Actually thinking of switching from Splenda to sugar. A gram is only 1carb /4 calories right, I could afford a few daily in coffee or yogurt
  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
    I'm Actually thinking of switching from Splenda to sugar. A gram is only 1carb /4 calories right, I could afford a few daily in coffee or yogurt

    I agree. In my opinion, it's not the sugar I sprinkle on my food that's the big problem, it's the sugars cooked into commercial foods ... Including HFCS. Same deal with salt.
  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
    But if Dr Oz said it would help it would fly off the shelves. Hes such an *kitten*. ANyway I have used splenda for years and I have 10 toes and 5 fingers on all three of my hands so I am good.

    My favorite semi-artificial sweetener at present is a newer Splenda product called Nectresse made with something called monk fruit ... I prefer its taste to the others. Stevia has a bitter aftertaste to me though I don't mind it in coffee/tea.

    As for the extra limbs, I have some ideas for a Hallowe'en costume I'm working on ...

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