Zero Calorie Sweetener vs. Natural Sugar

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Replies

  • 72MonteCarla
    72MonteCarla Posts: 169 Member
    Definitely stay away from artifical sweeteners. I use pure stevia extract, and very little of it. Stevia is a natural food, not an artifical sweetener. But it's a good idea to try to wean yourself from adding any extra sweetness to foods, as it can trigger a desire (or train your pallet to anticipate) for sweets that you might inadvertently fill with some really bad-for-you foods. Here's some good info on Stevia: http://www.livestrong.com/article/268751-stevia-the-glycemic-index/ Good luck!
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
    Zero calorie sweeteners confuse the body and make you gain weight around the midsection.

    I thought confusing my body helped me loose weight

    That's muscle confusion, not fat confusion. We all know that fat confusion makes the fat get lost and end up in weird places, like your ears and toes.
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
    Zero calorie sweeteners confuse the body and make you gain weight around the midsection.

    I thought confusing my body helped me loose weight
    You're thinking of muscles.
  • contingencyplan
    contingencyplan Posts: 3,639 Member
    Real natural organic honey beats all.
  • Mighty_Rabite
    Mighty_Rabite Posts: 581 Member
    I often get tea from the store or the gas station- I sweeten as often as I can using just Truvia/Stevia, but Arizona Diet Green Tea is sweetened already with Splenda and a touch of honey.

    I have had no adverse effects personally from any sweeteners and definitely don't feel like wasting excess calories on more caloric sugars. If I had to choose though I would use the Demerara cane sugar personally.

    Cancer risks.. not afraid. I had an aunt die of her second bout with cancer and she never put any harmful substances into her body. My mom, meanwhile, has been smoking for close to 50 years without a glitch in the system. I feel like other than HUGE outside sources (like nuclear radiation in good doses or way too much tanning) you're pretty much either going to get it or not get it.

    It's best to eat/intake all natural foods when we can, but it probably isn't worth stressing big time over, either.
  • timeforme_2013
    timeforme_2013 Posts: 71 Member
    sweeteners are poison!! and I never use them,...try agave nectar, or honey, or even raw sugar
  • debformyclass
    debformyclass Posts: 2
    I was a big believer in Stevia and was using for the last year or so. Then I learned in my nutrition for nurses class that stevia was considered an artificial sweetener; it was even in my textbook! I was shocked and questionned the teacher about it. She stated that it was a natural product, but it has something to do with the way it is processed. She also shared a story how she was getting bad hot flashes that she attributed to "the change", until she stopped using stevia. Reluctantly, I decided to experiment and went back to sugar (in the raw) for a few days to see if it would effect my horrific hot flashes. I can't believe the results. They went away! I still get a little warm at night, but I used to drip sweat just trying to clean my house. Now I am back to real sugar which I am not happy about, but to mitigate its effects, I buy the natural sugar that has not been dyed white.
  • eliseofthejungle
    eliseofthejungle Posts: 113 Member
    I've been trying to limit using artificial sweeteners and switch to sugar. I like to say that it's because I'm trying to be more natural and even white sugar is probably better for me than anything artificial (no real scientific research done by me to substantiate this, btw, it just seems true) but it's mostly for budget reasons. I have yet to find anything that tastes as good in coffee as Splenda, though. It makes me sad because I used to really really enjoy my morning coffee and now it's just ok.
  • LifeChanged2000
    LifeChanged2000 Posts: 176 Member
    I use Agave, Natural co**** palm sugar, or Honey. I do believe they have higher calories but they are natural and you body can digest them.
  • lunnay
    lunnay Posts: 66 Member
    White refined sugar is 15 kcal per *teaspoon*! Not per tablespoon: tablespoon is 45 kcal.
  • MelMel7j
    MelMel7j Posts: 34
    I use real sugar. Artificial sweeteners are a bad habit to get into and I tend to talk myself into things like Diet Coke because of the 0 calories. But I personally believe that artificial sweeteners are not helpful in any way to my weight loss goals. IMHO...

    That being said... moderation in all things is the key!
  • now_or_never13
    now_or_never13 Posts: 1,575 Member
    I would just go with whatever option you prefer. I use sweeteners but only in my coffee (and when I drink Diet pop). If you have the calories and want to spend them on sugar go for it. If you don't want to spend the calories on sugar use sweeteners as long as you have no issues with them.
  • aweigh2go
    aweigh2go Posts: 164 Member
    I use sugar. The way I see it, it's 15 calories a teaspoon. I drink at most 2 cups of coffe a day so that's 60 calories. However, I do 4 minutes of jumping jacks each morning to negate the calories from the sugar.
  • LilMissDB
    LilMissDB Posts: 133
    I would personally rather just have the natural sugar then something that may (or may not) have unknown side effects.

    How do you know that sugar doesn't have unknown side effects? Just because something is natural doesn't mean it is healthy. There has certainly been a lot of research done regarding artificial sweeteners and all of the studies that have decent quality suggest that they are not harmful.
  • laurenz2501
    laurenz2501 Posts: 839 Member
    Go with an organic sugar (not the refined, white stuff). 15 calories isn't going to break your diet, plus it tastes SO much better than artificial sweeteners.

    Good idea. I haven't been able to find a sugar solution either. I think Truvia and Splenda are both disgusting. I bought a box of Truvia and ruined a huge mug of coffee. HORRIBLE! :mad:

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