Best sweetner & is replacing sugar bad?

ReallyBigJAWS

I try to cut back on sugars as much as possible. Sweet stuff is my weak spot. Everything else I can avoid pretty easily (greasy foods and such) but I always get those cravings where I want to eat an entire chocolate bundt cake. Obviously I don't cut out sugars entirely, but I've gotten into the habit of replacing a lot of things I'd put sugar on/in with sweetener; is this harmful to a diet or body?

Example: Mornings I like to have around 120cal (1 cup) worth of bran flakes, half a cup of almond milk (15 cal) and put at least 1 packet of Stevia, sometimes two, on it. Since I can't stand bland cereal.
Instead of chocolate milk I'll have a cup of almond milk with olvaltine (70 cals) but it's not that sweet, so I'll put a pack of stevia in it as well to make it taste more sweet/chocolaty to curb the craving.
To be clear I'm not downing like 15+ packets of the stuff a day, there aren't too many foods/drinks that I eat daily to put it on.

If it's not that concerning; what do you find is the best sweetener? Most I've tried always have a bitter after-taste, Stevia seems to be the only one with such little of said taste that I can tolerate it easily. Sweet n low, for example, makes me feel like I'm eating sweetened rat poison because the bitter taste is so prominent.
I would love to be able to make diet-alternative things that require significant amounts of sweetness (Thai Tea, for example) without having it taste like I squirted some dish soap into it.

ParkerH47

hmm thats a toughy. I find sweeteners are good for weening off sugar, but IMO I don't know if I would make them a regular part of your diet. The problem I find is that they tend to simply remind me that I want something sweet with out satiating my sweet tooth. That is just my experience. Personally I think you would be better off having real sugar, honey or [real] maple syrup and just cut back.

Some people don't mind switching sugar for sweetener - but it seems to me that your cravings are still there, and your not enjoying the taste. As far as I know almost no tasty sweeteners exist - although I find splenda is the most tolerable.

I find to make long term success and good eating habits a part of my life - actually enjoying the food is key. Therefore my vote is for real sugar

mickey9694

i use splenda

Snow3y

I use Xylitol, it's quite a healthy substitute however, it's quite pricey.. Alternatively you could use Stevia, I personally prefer a normal sweetener over stevia, stevia is just not a preference for me

ReallyBigJAWS

It's done pretty successful so far in terms of curing my craving. Like with chocolate milk and cereal, I hate having them bland. When I load it up with sweetener it does a decent job. Plus I have good will power when it comes to craving something that really is naturally sweet. Instead of like a hostess cake I will instead eat a chocolate rice cake.
It's basically allowing me to eat more sweets without going over my calorie limit.

I'm living with my sister and she's pregnant so she's had a LOT of junk/sweet foods in the house. We have a freezer full of reeses. Cold/frozen reeses = my favorite sweet treat in existence. I've been good not to eat a single one.

MelonJMusic

Most I've tried always have a bitter after-taste, Stevia seems to be the only one with such little of said taste that I can tolerate it easily. Sweet n low, for example, makes me feel like I'm eating sweetened rat poison because the bitter taste is so prominent.
I would love to be able to make diet-alternative things that require significant amounts of sweetness (Thai Tea, for example) without having it taste like I squirted some dish soap into it.

While cancers have been found in animals that were tested in a small sample with the artificial sweeteners, there hasn't been enough evidence to link the two. However, I find that the small case sample was enough to keep me away from those. There's really nothing wrong with raw sugar. Heck, many people where cane sugar grows, eat them by the stalk and live quite long lives. It really is all about moderation. Anything that has been refined (like granulated white sugar) will be less healthy than that in its raw state, and that included Stevia. It just depends on how much you care about that aspect of it. LOL

Aside from that, it's also been studied that those who prefer diet drinks (which all have artificial sweeteners) are more likely to gain weight because their body does not process the calories intake properly. However this was also a small study.

Another question on top of that was who funded the study? If a medical school did the research and it was funded by a company associated in anyway with those who manufacture artificial sweeteners, chances are the studies will always be considered safe or at worst "inconclusive" because people are biased and will pay for what they want to hear, not necessarily truth. Independent studies on sweeteners will be what you want to look for when making your final decision. (If it matters that much lol). Sometimes I over do it with the explanations and people don't really care for the extra info. LOL

LoupGarouTFTs

I use Xylitol, it's quite a healthy substitute however, it's quite pricey.. Alternatively you could use Stevia, I personally prefer a normal sweetener over stevia, stevia is just not a preference for me

If you have a dog, be very careful with your xylitol. Even a tiny amount of xylitol can kill a medium-sized dog.

jenilla1

I use stevia all the time when I want to add a little extra sweetness to things like almond milk or whatever. Over time, I've noticed I don't seem to need as much as I used to. As far as baking is concerned, I use real sugar. Too much sugar makes me feel like crap, though, so I try not to eat a ton of it.

As far as artificial sweeteners (like Splenda, etc.) go, I use them occasionally, but not often. I'm not worried too much about whether they are harmful, since I rarely consume them.

ReallyBigJAWS

Yeah, I researched the stuff like crazy before buying and found the whole "sweeteners have significant adverse side effects" crap to be mostly just that. From the articles I read; in order for them to get any negative results (which were still inconclusive) they pumped lab rats with enough of the sweeteners to equal anywhere from 200 - 3000(yes, thousand) cans of diet soda daily...That much of ANYTHING is going to have side effects, if not kill you. I was still concerned, though, and found out Stevia-based sweeteners are one of the much healthier, or rather, less potentially harmful sweeteners.

I was just wondering if anyone personally had experienced much negativity with it. So far it's been about a week and I've seen nothing adverse.

As for the weight gain from it: I think it must depend on the person. About a year ago I quit real soda and went to diet/low-cal sweet teas. I lost around 25lbs from that alone, not doing anything different.