Artificial sweeteners

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LadyWeaselofVT
LadyWeaselofVT Posts: 77 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I frequently hear that artificial sweeteners make you crave sugar more and was wondering what your experience has been like? I use Sweet Leaf chocolate flavored sweetener in seltzer a couple of times a day and feel like it curbs my desire for sweets. I notice it after dinner in particular because I used to eat a low cal dessert but haven't been doing that with sweetened seltzer. I know stevia is a more natural option to replace sugar but I found the same thing with diet ginger ale, which is sweetened with aspartame. I switched to the stevia option because aspartame bothered my stomach but I don't think it gave me cravings for sugar.

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  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
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    My digestive system refuses to tolerate aspartame but I haven't noticed any problems with the others. And the aspartame problem is dose dependent, so I can get away with a small amount of food with aspartame in before my digestive system rebels against it. If you find that it's helping you stick to your calorie goal and not crave excessive sweet foods, then stick with it (but you don't need to give up sweet things altogether, just be sensible about portion control and stick within your calorie goal)
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    I frequently hear that artificial sweeteners make you crave sugar more and was wondering what your experience has been like? I use Sweet Leaf chocolate flavored sweetener in seltzer a couple of times a day and feel like it curbs my desire for sweets. I notice it after dinner in particular because I used to eat a low cal dessert but haven't been doing that with sweetened seltzer. I know stevia is a more natural option to replace sugar but I found the same thing with diet ginger ale, which is sweetened with aspartame. I switched to the stevia option because aspartame bothered my stomach but I don't think it gave me cravings for sugar.

    Asking for anecdotes will surely bring solid evidence to the table
  • AwesomeGuy37
    AwesomeGuy37 Posts: 436 Member
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    I hear that too, or that they make you hungry. Not sure if any studies show that, but many people are in the mindset that they just had 0 calories in a soda so they can have more calories somewhere else. I can't really answer your sweets question, while I do use artificial sweeteners, I'm not addicted to sweets. They help me with my love of tea though.
  • wenshel7
    wenshel7 Posts: 19 Member
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    I have found, for myself, that if I deprive myself of my beloved Diet Dr. Pepper for 6-8 weeks to cleanse my system, as soon as I start drinking it again, I have a marked increase in sweets cravings. Aspartame/phenylalanine are not good for the body even though they have become a regular substitute for sugar. Your mouth is like "hey, that tastes sweet!" and then your blood stream is like "Hey, where's my sugar rush?!" lol
  • LadyWeaselofVT
    LadyWeaselofVT Posts: 77 Member
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    I hear that too, or that they make you hungry. Not sure if any studies show that, but many people are in the mindset that they just had 0 calories in a soda so they can have more calories somewhere else. I can't really answer your sweets question, while I do use artificial sweeteners, I'm not addicted to sweets. They help me with my love of tea though.

    That's my feeling too--- I'd rather not drink my calories but still want to enjoy soda sometimes. I also love tea and if not for artificial sweeteners, I'd probably be racking up too many calories from sugar.

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