Sweeteners Vs Sugar

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  • dewdrop
    dewdrop Posts: 1,715 Member
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    Why not trying drinking it with no sugar? Ween yourself off of it slowly, just go down be a teaspoon every couple of days and get adjusted to the taste. I haven't used any sweetener in tea, hot or cold in years. I actually prefer it more now, and actually get more flavor from the tea. **That's coming from down South where we are known for our Sweet Tea** :smile:

    Agreed! It's a matter of habit. Once you get used to it, you enjoy the flavor and need no more sugar.

    Honey is more natural and yummy.
    Try a few drops of lemon - not in the very hot tea, as that destroys the vitamin C.
    Also, brown sugar is the unrefined version of sugar, afaik.
  • Sallerina84
    Sallerina84 Posts: 138 Member
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    haha us Brits and our tea!!!

    Yeh no sugar in tea is gross, I just found myself not drinking it at all, and I enjoy a cuppa in the morning!!!!!!!!!
    oh yes absolutely - made from loose leaves though!!


    And honey goes on my toast not in my tea!!
    [/quote]

    haha I agree!!!
  • dewdrop
    dewdrop Posts: 1,715 Member
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    And honey goes on my toast not in my tea!!

    Have you tried it in your yogurt? :wink: Yummy!
  • Noctuary
    Noctuary Posts: 255
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    I'm diabetic and so have consumed more than my fair share of sweeteners in the last 12 years, but I've stopped that recently. I've read up on all the various sweeteners and decided that all the various chemicals are more dangerous to me than just plain ol' sugar. All things in moderation...
    That takes a good amount of determination to quit sweeteners. Can I ask how your blood sugar levels are with the 17 grams of sugar in the honey you eat? That would send me sky rocketing! But if you are managing it, I'd like to know your secret!
  • rfcollins33
    rfcollins33 Posts: 630
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    Apparently all of us Fatty Diabetics who are loosing weight must be eating sugar. I was sure I was eating artificial sweeteners. I guess I was so wrong about my own nutrition. I must be gaining weight even though my little ticker says otherwise. Silly me.:laugh:

    *waits for the Aspartame nazis to come and take me away....

    I LOVE this, thanks for the giggle!! :laugh:
  • rfcollins33
    rfcollins33 Posts: 630
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    And honey goes on my toast not in my tea!!

    Have you tried it in your yogurt? :wink: Yummy!

    YES, it is so good in greek yogurt. It's not just for toast, try it and maybe you'd like it in your TEA lol
  • MyNameIsNotBob
    MyNameIsNotBob Posts: 565 Member
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    I think it's fine to use sugar in moderation. I would rather use sugar than artificial sweeteners. JMO. In tea, I prefer honey. But here in the states, we get that beautiful amber-colored translucent honey. So nice. I know in Canada they have that thick, opaque, creamy honey. Perhaps that's what you have in the UK? I can't imagine putting that stuff in my tea, either. I've actually ordered some nice Scottish heather honey online. It's fab.

    P.S. Local honey is good for allergies!
  • cupajoe
    cupajoe Posts: 155
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    Well, I'm more of an Earl Grey with a splash of milk person and don't care for sweetener in my tea...but my kids are crazy for tea! My 4yr old asks me to make him a cup of tea every afternoon...And I'm from IOWA-lol. They like sweetener in their tea so I usually opt for honey for them. I've used sugar and splenda...but they prefer the honey as well.

    And the "opaque, creamy honey" that was mentioned-or spun honey...My 14yr old LOVES THAT STUFF! He always gets upset when I buy the local "amber colored" stuff-lol. But my husband uses a lot of honey and says that you should not have to spread your honey on your toast like you do the spun stuff-you should be able to DRIZZLE;).
  • Sallerina84
    Sallerina84 Posts: 138 Member
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    I think it's fine to use sugar in moderation. I would rather use sugar than artificial sweeteners. JMO. In tea, I prefer honey. But here in the states, we get that beautiful amber-colored translucent honey. So nice. I know in Canada they have that thick, opaque, creamy honey. Perhaps that's what you have in the UK? I can't imagine putting that stuff in my tea, either. I've actually ordered some nice Scottish heather honey online. It's fab.

    P.S. Local honey is good for allergies!

    I might try it sometime....but I think it's really just an American thing!! In the UK we just tend to have milk and sugar in it! lol.

    I think there's just some things that haven't crossed the pond....like syrup and pancakes on the same plate as bacon and eggs??!!?? MADNESS! Can't mix sweet with savoury, it's just wrong! haha.

    But I do love all the peanut butter stuff out in the States! Last time I went I had peanut butter Ben and Jerry's........OMG HEAVEN!!!
  • MyNameIsNotBob
    MyNameIsNotBob Posts: 565 Member
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    I think there's just some things that haven't crossed the pond....like syrup and pancakes on the same plate as bacon and eggs??!!?? MADNESS! Can't mix sweet with savoury, it's just wrong! haha.

    LOL, Clearly you've never experienced the euphoria that is bacon or sausage dipped in maple syrup. (I'm with you on the syrup / eggs, though... blech.)
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
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    If you are choosing an artificial sweetner such as Splenda over normal sugar because of calorie content then you may want to consider the following:

    100g of Splenda amounts to 331 calories or thereabouts
    100g of granulated sugar amounts to 387 calories of thereabouts

    Not a huge amount of difference right? If you prefer the taste of normal sugar then have that as calorifically there's only a cigarette paper's worth of difference.

    "Zero" calorie sweeteners manipulate the food labelling regulations by using low serving sizes (less than 5g if I recall correctly) to market themselves as having no calories when in fact that is not true.
  • jemmur
    jemmur Posts: 57 Member
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    Yeh no sugar in tea is gross, I just found myself not drinking it at all, and I enjoy a cuppa in the morning!!!!!!!!!
    maybe a silly question but have you tried nice, loose teas (or the fancy bagged versions of them)? i totally understand how folk can find some supermarket tea undrinkable without milk and/or sugar - the flavour can have all the depth and subtlety of a brick through a window!
  • writtenINthestars
    writtenINthestars Posts: 1,933 Member
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    Unless it's unavailable (or I'm using a flavored creamer) I choose natural sugar over sweetener any day. I have tried Truvia and Stevia but there is a certain after taste that I just don't care for. So generally speaking, I'm better of with a tsp of sugar than a few tsp's of anything else.
  • Sallerina84
    Sallerina84 Posts: 138 Member
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    I think there's just some things that haven't crossed the pond....like syrup and pancakes on the same plate as bacon and eggs??!!?? MADNESS! Can't mix sweet with savoury, it's just wrong! haha.

    LOL, Clearly you've never experienced the euphoria that is bacon or sausage dipped in maple syrup. (I'm with you on the syrup / eggs, though... blech.)

    haha no i havent! although I'm vegetarian so probably never will...........would veggie sausages work?! haha.

    it just seems a very odd concept to us Brits........maple syrup on meat?!

    Suppose I can't knock it 'til I've tried it!!!
  • phinners
    phinners Posts: 524 Member
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    Sorry to disappoint but local honey does nowt for hayfever. I and several other consultant doctors worked on this several years and the claim is a myth but can act as a placebo which is why it is propagated around so much.
  • phinners
    phinners Posts: 524 Member
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    I think there's just some things that haven't crossed the pond....like syrup and pancakes on the same plate as bacon and eggs??!!?? MADNESS! Can't mix sweet with savoury, it's just wrong! haha.

    LOL, Clearly you've never experienced the euphoria that is bacon or sausage dipped in maple syrup. (I'm with you on the syrup / eggs, though... blech.)
    I was on holiday in Canada very recently and maple syrup with ANYTHING is pure sexiness! Indeed with bacon too! omg!
  • bettyboop573
    bettyboop573 Posts: 610 Member
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    Why not trying drinking it with no sugar? Ween yourself off of it slowly, just go down be a teaspoon every couple of days and get adjusted to the taste. I haven't used any sweetener in tea, hot or cold in years. I actually prefer it more now, and actually get more flavor from the tea. **That's coming from down South where we are known for our Sweet Tea** :smile:

    Agreed! It's a matter of habit. Once you get used to it, you enjoy the flavor and need no more sugar.

    Honey is more natural and yummy.
    Try a few drops of lemon - not in the very hot tea, as that destroys the vitamin C.
    Also, brown sugar is the unrefined version of sugar, afaik.

    Brown sugar is really just white sugar with molasses added to it
  • summalovaable
    summalovaable Posts: 287 Member
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    I recently posted a similar comment about aspartame. I wrote an entire esssay on the chemical structure of aspartame. Within this research essay I included a short extended summary as to why the us government has not made aspartame illegal. It's highly reactive and its benzene ring is a fairly baffling structure. It's alternating bonds have characteristics unlike many normal chemicals. What do you get when you have a chemical that is highly reactive but nearly impossible to break down? Oh right, the impending threat of cancer, diabetes and the potential for methanol poisoning. So if its obviously dangerous long term why is nothing being done? Because everyone has an obsession with being skinny. So if it doesn't make me fat now....who cares if it kills me later right? Completely your choice..I'm telling you scientific fact you get to decide if you agree I suppose
  • Noctuary
    Noctuary Posts: 255
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    I recently posted a similar comment about aspartame. I wrote an entire esssay on the chemical structure of aspartame. Within this research essay I included a short extended summary as to why the us government has not made aspartame illegal. It's highly reactive and its benzene ring is a fairly baffling structure. It's alternating bonds have characteristics unlike many normal chemicals. What do you get when you have a chemical that is highly reactive but nearly impossible to break down? Oh right, the impending threat of cancer, diabetes and the potential for methanol poisoning. So if its obviously dangerous long term why is nothing being done? Because everyone has an obsession with being skinny. So if it doesn't make me fat now....who cares if it kills me later right? Completely your choice..I'm telling you scientific fact you get to decide if you agree I suppose
    Maybe because if I keep on eating my sugar I'll die way before Aspartame will get to me. I had a heart attack at age 37 due to Diabetes complications. I'd be blessed if I could hang on longer enough for 'later'
  • lilmissy2
    lilmissy2 Posts: 595 Member
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    Artificial sweeteners available in the UK have been shown to be generally safe when consumed in a 'normal amount' (ie it has not been tested as though you were have 2x 2 litre bottles of diet coke per day). Stevia is banned because it has been shown to be dangerous - not just in the 80s, also in recent studies

    The jury is still out on sweeteners and cravings. The research that has been done isn't very high quality but it is interesting none the less and really just leads to more questions because it isn't an area that has been properly researched.

    Personally, I find that my sweet cup of tea helps keep my cravings for sweet things in general at bay.

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