Bitter sides of sweeteners?

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poma91
poma91 Posts: 181 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So I have a question about sweeteners.

Everyday in the morning I have coffee with sweetener instead of sugar. For the rest of the day my only beverage is water.
I have read that the bad thing about sweeteners is that they actually make you crave sugar more. However till now I haven't had this problem. For breakfast apart from the coffee I will have natural oatmeal cooked with water and some fresh fruit (berries, banana) and protein powder in it, so it is kinda sweet but not much.

I was wondering if the sweetener can make you retain water or gain weight and should I try to remove it from my diet? The thing is that I really cannot drink unsweetened coffee or tea and in the morning I cannot possibly wake up without coffee.
Any suggestions and advice?

For the interested I am 5'4" (162 cm), with current weight of 150 lbs (68 kg). I am eating around 1600 cals a day as I can say that my menu is relatively healthy (breakfast - oatmeal; lunch - salad; dinner - grilled turkey or chicken breasts; snacks - protein bars, apples, wholegrain sandwich). Of course I have the occasional cheat meal, or birthday party or whatever. I am only human. But I am sure that overall I am eating on deficit.

About my physical activity - I started my second week of Insanity on Sunday. For those of you that may suggest that I am retaining water from insanity - well I am not feeling sore at all (I did the first 3 days), and I was physically active before I started it, so I am not entirely sure if that would be the problem. I also think that it is too early to be building muscle. Besides even if it is muscle gain how can that be quicker than the fat loss, since I am flabby everywhere :bigsmile: ?
I have also read that I should expect to lose the weight in the second month of the program but no weight loss at all before that? Come on! :grumble:

Anyway I got off topic :bigsmile: all your comment and advice will be appreciated. Thank you!
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Replies

  • bubaluboo
    bubaluboo Posts: 2,098 Member
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    I'm afraid I can't answer your question about the sweeteners and water retention but I used to have sugar (three heaped teaspoons) in my coffee and just slowly weaned off it. It took a while but I wonder if you're only having the one cup a day, perhaps you can have the sugar and reduce the amount you have over time? I guess that depends on how much sugar you have in your coffee but one tsp is about 16 calories so wouldn't eat too much into your daily allowance.
  • poma91
    poma91 Posts: 181 Member
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    I had the same idea of reducing the sweeteners that I add with the time. I started with 9 sweeteners ( I know this sounds crazy but I like my coffee sweet) and managed to reduce them to 7 in 3 months.
    If I add sugar to my coffee then I get the sugar cravings and go crazy. On the other hand I put only 3 teaspoons of sugar when I use sugar.
    I don't know I am a bit confused as I think nobody is 100% sure if there are any negative effects of sweeteners.
  • haroon_awan
    haroon_awan Posts: 1,208 Member
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    I was wondering if the sweetener can make you retain water or gain weight and should I try to remove it from my diet? The thing is that I really cannot drink unsweetened coffee or tea and in the morning I cannot possibly wake up without coffee.
    Any suggestions and advice?

    Sweeteners are not bad for you at all. They don't do anything except sweeten your food and drink
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/990626-artificial-sweeteners
    http://cdnutritionandfitness.com/aspartame-is-the-devil/

    You can't gain muscle with a program like Insanity, it isn't a weight lifting program unless you do the actual lifting video.

    You can expect to lose weight if you have accurately measured your intake, through accurate tracking of calories. Ensure you get enough protein and fats: 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight (personally) and 0.3-5g of fats per lb of bodyweight. Remainder with carbs.
  • poma91
    poma91 Posts: 181 Member
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    You can't gain muscle with a program like Insanity, it isn't a weight lifting program unless you do the actual lifting video.


    Wrong.

    Have you ever done insanity? I am not saying gaining muscle in the form of bulking up. But you definitely built some lean muscle and get toned.
    Besides Insanity is not just the regular cardio workout. It is a HIIT workout (and quite extreme one). With my fitness level and weight I consider that my body provides enough resistance.

    But anyway thanks for the input about the sweeteners
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,154 Member
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    When people say you can't gain muscle on a deficit or with cardio, they're usually talking about a serious bulk up. If you're using your muscles consistenly to do things they're not doing, you will build muscle. You won't see dramatic gains like you would with a heavy lifting program, but if you're starting from a point of very little muscle definition, even relatively small gains are noticable. Insanity is designed as a cardio program, primarily as a fat burner, but you will see some gains in size and significant gains in definition (partly due to the fat loss).

    As for sweeteners, the dietician I used to work with allowed two packs of splenda or equivalent a day as part of the weight loss program. As long as you're using it in moderation, it shouldn't be a problem.
  • poma91
    poma91 Posts: 181 Member
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    I don't want increase in size :noway: :bigsmile: But I prefer big muscles to big fat belly any day of the week :blushing:

    Did your dietitian mentioned the reason behind this? I guess I will continue trying cutting out the sweeteners. :)
  • AntWrig
    AntWrig Posts: 2,273 Member
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    You can't gain muscle with a program like Insanity, it isn't a weight lifting program unless you do the actual lifting video.


    Wrong.

    Have you ever done insanity? I am not saying gaining muscle in the form of bulking up. But you definitely built some lean muscle and get toned.
    Besides Insanity is not just the regular cardio workout. It is a HIIT workout (and quite extreme one). With my fitness level and weight I consider that my body provides enough resistance.
    You are wrong.
  • poma91
    poma91 Posts: 181 Member
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    You can't gain muscle with a program like Insanity, it isn't a weight lifting program unless you do the actual lifting video.


    Wrong.

    Have you ever done insanity? I am not saying gaining muscle in the form of bulking up. But you definitely built some lean muscle and get toned.
    Besides Insanity is not just the regular cardio workout. It is a HIIT workout (and quite extreme one). With my fitness level and weight I consider that my body provides enough resistance.
    You are wrong.

    Yeah so you are telling me my results are wrong.. WRONG
  • haroon_awan
    haroon_awan Posts: 1,208 Member
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    You can't gain muscle with a program like Insanity, it isn't a weight lifting program unless you do the actual lifting video.


    Wrong.

    Have you ever done insanity? I am not saying gaining muscle in the form of bulking up. But you definitely built some lean muscle and get toned.
    Besides Insanity is not just the regular cardio workout. It is a HIIT workout (and quite extreme one). With my fitness level and weight I consider that my body provides enough resistance.
    You are wrong.

    Yeah so you are telling me my results are wrong.. WRONG

    I have done Insanity, did it for about 4 months because I wanted to improve my cardiovascular system and endurance as I was training for a half marathon. Insanity is not traditional HIIT, which is something like 30 seconds on and 60 seconds off - or something similar - NOT 3 minutes on and 30 seconds on. I know a personal trainer who is close to Shaun T and let me tell you, Shaun T lifts weights regularly. If you listen to what Shaun T says it isn't HIIT, or extreme HIIT as you call it, he calls it "max interval training". A Wingate test is extreme HIIT.

    Your results might be amazing, but consider the human adaptation process. When fat loss occurs, it creates the illusion that an individual builds muscle. That's why, eg 12 week transformations look so good. How can you build muscle without resistance training? That said, I don't have anything against Insanity, like I said, I did it to improve CV and endurance, and I think it is great at doing those two things.
  • Melampus
    Melampus Posts: 95 Member
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    If I add sugar to my coffee then I get the sugar cravings and go crazy.

    Are you talking about the effect that once you start eating a sugary food it is difficult to stop at a modest portion or are you referring to effect whereby sometime after having eaten the sugary food you suddenly feel very hungry?

    The first is supposed to be just instinct but the theory I heard about the second relates to insulin levels. If you eat lots of sugar which is easily digestible it goes into the blood quickly and the body has to respond with a high insulin level to get blood sugar back to a sensible level. The problem is that the insulin level remains high even once the sugar has either been used for engery or stored (depending on what you're doing at the time) which cause the blood sugar level to dip and drives that hunger.

    There are those who believe that artificial sweetners can also increase the insulin level because the sweet taste acts a cue to say "prepare for a high sugar level". If so this may be a learned response (see Pavlov's salivating dogs) and so maybe something that only applies immediately after switching from real sugar to the artificial substitute. If you're not getting the craving afterwards then maybe this is not happening with you.
    On the other hand I put only 3 teaspoons of sugar when I use sugar.

    You obviously have a very sweet tooth though I suspect it is all a case of what you are acustomed to. My parents never had more than one teaspoon of sugar in any drink and I had a maximum of two as a child just starting out on "adult" drinks such as tea and coffee.
    I don't know I am a bit confused as I think nobody is 100% sure if there are any negative effects of sweeteners.

    There are many who believe that artificial sweetners have other negative effects and plenty of others who believe they are harmless. Personally I don't add them as a subsitute for sugar as I have got used to drinking tea and coffee unsweetened. I don't scour the ingredients list of everything in a crusade to avoid them but I have drastically cut down on the amount of carbonated soft drink and at the same time feel generally better.
  • lublue
    lublue Posts: 123 Member
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    If you're worried about developing too much of a taste for sweet things why don't you try not sweetening your coffee and tea, you might not like the taste at first but after a while you'll get to like the actual tastes of the drinks, rather than just the taste of sugar/sweetener, which is all you're tasting when you sweeten tea anyway, because it overpowers it. I know a couple of people who stopped putting sugar in their tea from having three or more sugars, and like it now. Just something to get used to.
  • kelly_c_77
    kelly_c_77 Posts: 5,658 Member
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    Bump
  • AntWrig
    AntWrig Posts: 2,273 Member
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    You can't gain muscle with a program like Insanity, it isn't a weight lifting program unless you do the actual lifting video.


    Wrong.

    Have you ever done insanity? I am not saying gaining muscle in the form of bulking up. But you definitely built some lean muscle and get toned.
    Besides Insanity is not just the regular cardio workout. It is a HIIT workout (and quite extreme one). With my fitness level and weight I consider that my body provides enough resistance.
    You are wrong.

    Yeah so you are telling me my results are wrong.. WRONG

    I have done Insanity, did it for about 4 months because I wanted to improve my cardiovascular system and endurance as I was training for a half marathon. Insanity is not traditional HIIT, which is something like 30 seconds on and 60 seconds off - or something similar - NOT 3 minutes on and 30 seconds on. I know a personal trainer who is close to Shaun T and let me tell you, Shaun T lifts weights regularly. If you listen to what Shaun T says it isn't HIIT, or extreme HIIT as you call it, he calls it "max interval training". A Wingate test is extreme HIIT.

    Your results might be amazing, but consider the human adaptation process. When fat loss occurs, it creates the illusion that an individual builds muscle. That's why, eg 12 week transformations look so good. How can you build muscle without resistance training? That said, I don't have anything against Insanity, like I said, I did it to improve CV and endurance, and I think it is great at doing those two things.
    Well said.

    Losing weight gives the appearance of being "toned". That being said, you need a base of muscle in the first place.
  • poma91
    poma91 Posts: 181 Member
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    @Melampus Thank you so much for your input.

    First - I am talking about the hunger after eating sugar. And it is not just any hunger but hunger for something sweet and unhealthy. I don't have problem controlling my portion, although I prefer to totally avoid it otherwise sweet always stays on my mind. LOL :D

    Second - Yeah I love sweet (but as I said I've learned avoiding it) The weird thing is that I put that much sugar only in my coffee, in my tea I use 1-2 teaspoons max, if the tea is fruity I can skip the sugar (and when I use sweetener I use only 3).

    Third - yes I've read many different articles about sweeteners and I am on the opinion that anything that is artificially produced and goes into your mouth could not be the best thing for your body.


    @lublue - no I am not worried about that. I learned self-control the hard way :D I prefer to cut out the sweet with the time not suddenly.
  • poma91
    poma91 Posts: 181 Member
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    You can't gain muscle with a program like Insanity, it isn't a weight lifting program unless you do the actual lifting video.


    Wrong.

    Have you ever done insanity? I am not saying gaining muscle in the form of bulking up. But you definitely built some lean muscle and get toned.
    Besides Insanity is not just the regular cardio workout. It is a HIIT workout (and quite extreme one). With my fitness level and weight I consider that my body provides enough resistance.
    You are wrong.

    Yeah so you are telling me my results are wrong.. WRONG

    I have done Insanity, did it for about 4 months because I wanted to improve my cardiovascular system and endurance as I was training for a half marathon. Insanity is not traditional HIIT, which is something like 30 seconds on and 60 seconds off - or something similar - NOT 3 minutes on and 30 seconds on. I know a personal trainer who is close to Shaun T and let me tell you, Shaun T lifts weights regularly. If you listen to what Shaun T says it isn't HIIT, or extreme HIIT as you call it, he calls it "max interval training". A Wingate test is extreme HIIT.

    Your results might be amazing, but consider the human adaptation process. When fat loss occurs, it creates the illusion that an individual builds muscle. That's why, eg 12 week transformations look so good. How can you build muscle without resistance training? That said, I don't have anything against Insanity, like I said, I did it to improve CV and endurance, and I think it is great at doing those two things.
    Well said.

    Losing weight gives the appearance of being "toned". That being said, you need a base of muscle in the first place.

    First I don't think this is the place to discuss this since it is awfully off topic.

    So, guys chill a bit. I am not saying that I will and can become a bodybuilder with insanity. But during the program you are breaking and building muscle. So you cannot tell me that at the end of the program your muscle lever or whatever is the same and you haven't built absolutely anything.
    And of course lost fat = more definition.
    Yes I have listened to Shaun T and I have also done HIIT. For me insanity is like cardio HIIT if that makes any sense and I get better results with it than with HIIT.
    Enough said I don't think that I can change your opinions or you mine, since nobody except me can tell me how my body functions or not. Let's just leave it at that.

    P.S. Normal weight lifting is extremely boring (for me) :bigsmile:
  • SkinnyMozza
    SkinnyMozza Posts: 66 Member
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    I think it depends what kind of sweetners you are using. I havent heard of the specific side effects you are talking about, but some sweetners are chemicals, and some sweetners are very natural and safe. I prefer Stevia from what I know it is one of the most natural and is very sweet and has the fewest side effects. I would stay away from Aspartame!! Ive read nothing but bad things about it. Im no professional but if there is a choice.. its a bit of a no brainer... natural all the way for me :flowerforyou:
  • Jasmine_James
    Jasmine_James Posts: 188 Member
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    I love bulletproof coffee (Google it, but here's my combo): coffee + melted grass-fed butter + MCT oil + a few drops of flavored stevia (I like Vanilla and English Toffee from Whole Foods) all blended together. Some days, I also add 100% raw cocoa.

    This makes my morning coffee taste like a treat and I find I don't crave anything sweet the rest of the day.
  • shannashannabobana
    shannashannabobana Posts: 625 Member
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    I have been working up to trying bulletproof coffee!!! Ever since I read 'butter in your coffee' I have been all kinds of curious.

    I started drinking coffee with a splash of heavy whipping cream and I hardly need any sugar at all. I put half a sugar cube in yesterday. I don't think I'll want even that soon.

    (I hate the taste of artificial sweeteners, too sweet/chemicaly for me. I tend to think they should be avoided but I don't think any studies have shown that it will actually hurt you if you have a little)
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    I was wondering if the sweetener can make you retain water or gain weight and should I try to remove it from my diet? The thing is that I really cannot drink unsweetened coffee or tea and in the morning I cannot possibly wake up without coffee.
    Any suggestions and advice?

    Sweeteners are not bad for you at all. They don't do anything except sweeten your food and drink
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/990626-artificial-sweeteners
    http://cdnutritionandfitness.com/aspartame-is-the-devil/

    You can't gain muscle with a program like Insanity, it isn't a weight lifting program unless you do the actual lifting video.

    You can expect to lose weight if you have accurately measured your intake, through accurate tracking of calories. Ensure you get enough protein and fats: 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight (personally) and 0.3-5g of fats per lb of bodyweight. Remainder with carbs.

    ^^yep.

    To gain muscle you need progressive loading.

    If sweeteners trigger cravings, use real sugar. If real sugar triggers cravings, just don't sweeten your coffee.
  • pcastagner
    pcastagner Posts: 1,606 Member
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    When I first started exercise, "cardio" WAS more resistance than my muscles were used to. So for about five weeks, I got stronger and put on muscle. I was eating above maintenance with no clue, and gaining.

    Progressive overload will build muscle even if your muscles don't see or smell any "weights". They don't know the difference. Of course, as you can see from my skinny arms, even progressive overload can't put on serious muscle if you eat at a deficit.

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