Artificial Sweeteners
xosummerrainxo
Posts: 112 Member
Artificial Sweeteners- Do they make you stall or increase cravings?
I do enjoy diet soda sometimes or either sweet n low or equal in unsweetened tea and sometimes I add a little bit of a drink packet mix to plain water. (Crystal light 0 cal type Kind) I also drink plain water sometimes but too much honestly makes me dizzy and lightheaded. I personally don’t seem to have a problem using any of these, and I’ve lost a lot of weight however I have been stalling some lately. Just curious what your thoughts and if this has affected any of you. And what other drinks do you have?
I do enjoy diet soda sometimes or either sweet n low or equal in unsweetened tea and sometimes I add a little bit of a drink packet mix to plain water. (Crystal light 0 cal type Kind) I also drink plain water sometimes but too much honestly makes me dizzy and lightheaded. I personally don’t seem to have a problem using any of these, and I’ve lost a lot of weight however I have been stalling some lately. Just curious what your thoughts and if this has affected any of you. And what other drinks do you have?
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I drink black coffee and water with lemon. I've JUST RECENTLY come to the conclusion that AS do in fact, light up my cravings much the same way sugar does. I'm ditching all AS for the next 14 weeks - I'll let you know my results at the end of that time.2
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They don't bother me in any way. I've been using them for years through all weights and maintenance.2
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I stopped drinking diet soda when I started keto however I have been drinking it again in the last month. Coincidentally, I’ve craved sweets more and gained some weight. So I will cut it again and see if that does the trick. Carbs and sweeteners seem to make me crave more of the same.1
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You could experiment with La Croix-type waters, the "natural flavors" might have different effects for you than AS do.1
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So....my recent experience with AS.....
I have been losing weight for the last 8 months....70 lbs so far I am doing slow carb so usually I am losing weight after a high weight on Sunday....
The last 3 weeks, I have not had my usual success. I had a day when my weight jumped 5 lbs overnite. In the middle of the week.....I should have been going down....since then my weight has see sawed up and down 5 to 8 lbs. The first time in 8 months haven’t lost weight.... This week I thought I figured out what may been causing the see saw effect......feisty Diet Coke-a Cherry Diet Coke. This Wednesday I stopped drinking Diet Coke....and my weight dropped 5.6 lbs over the next 3 days with no change in diet or exercise level. I have been drinking limited Diet Coke over the last 3 months. So I was thinking I would make sure I follow the diet for the next 3 weeks, drink no Diet Coke and watch everything.
I am thinking the feisty part of the Diet Coke may be an artificial sweetener that triggers weight or water retention.
I really want a Diet Coke now.
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They definitely increase cravings for me. And just overall hunger too1
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I like the Deer Park Setlzer waters - so yum.
And I will occasionally have a diet pepsi to kill a craving for sweets.
other than that I'm a hot coffee and tea kind of girl, generally plain0 -
There is more and more research showing that most are as harmful and in some cases more harmful than sugar. The two main mechanisms I have seen in the research so far are the effect it has on your brain where it expects the sugar but doesn't get it causing hormonal release which leads to the cravings mentioned above.
The other, and in my opinion scarier, is that at least aspartame causes problems with your gut bacteria which makes you less able to properly metabolize sugar. Basically, it causes insulin resistance, but at an overall metabolic level instead of at a cellular level.
Personally, I think if you can, try to go 2-3 months without anything sweet - real or fake. Somewhere about that time, you will start noticing EVERYTHING tastes better. I would compare it to when someone quits smoking and after a few months they realize how good everything tastes. Except this takes it to a whole other level.
Now, I will have a Zevia once every couple of weeks but that is about it. They are bit on the pricey side, so I can't see drinking them frequently anyway. When I do have them, they seem really sweet, and only having them infrequently now doesn't seem to be having a numbing effect on my taste buds like the constant barrage of sweet I used to eat did.1 -
I find most artificial sweeteners make my joint pain from RA worse. I do ok with stevia, erythritol, and monk fruit. However I don't typically use any of those in beverages. Just if I'm making a low carb dessert.
As for beverages I drink hot and iced coffee with cream only, unsweetened tea with lemon, plain water, and on rare occasions Zevia soda.1 -
As a follow up to my response, here is one of the studies to which I referred:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28402535
In case you are not a research study nerd, the results stating that the RR (relative risk) of being obese if you drink sugar sweetened drinks is 1.18 which means you are 18% more likely to be obese if you drink them. That makes sense.
However, the kicker is if you drink the artificially sweetened drinks that RR goes to 1.59 which means you are 59% more likely to be obese.
If you take the two together, the artificially sweetened drinks correlation (not causation) is three times higher than the sugar sweetened drinks in regard to obesity. Although correlation is not causation, when the number starts getting that high, it starts becoming a bit more compelling that, at a minimum, the artificially sweetened drinks are not a good idea.
If you get rid of sweetened drinks, and then focus on eating real food that tastes good, getting away from sweeteners of any kind becomes much easier. Drinks seem to be the hardest for people to give up. Desserts seem to be second. If I eat a satisfying meal, I am not hungry for desert.2 -
I rarely do diet sodas anymore and coffee these days is black with half and half or an unsweetened almond/coconut blend creamer. I never like sweeteners in my tea. Some of my protein bars have artificial sweeteners in them but I haven't noticed them causing any major problems but they tend to have a lot of fiber in them as well, my favorites are nut based without artificial sweeteners. Out of all the artificial sweeteners I really can't tolerate Aspartame it really gives me headaches and makes me feel out of sorts so I avoid it entirely.
I am pretty sure peanuts, low carb tortillas, and diet soda will cause my weight loss to stall so I eat them rarely or with the understanding that I might not lose weight and my inflammation might increase until I cut back on them considerably.
Some people lose weight fine using artificial sweeteners others not so much, I think its best to experiment a little and see if things change when you omit certain items from your diet.1 -
I don't drink coffee anymore and don't drink fizzy. I use stevia if I want to make a cheesecake. Never tried anything else.0
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cstehansen wrote: »As a follow up to my response, here is one of the studies to which I referred:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28402535
In case you are not a research study nerd, the results stating that the RR (relative risk) of being obese if you drink sugar sweetened drinks is 1.18 which means you are 18% more likely to be obese if you drink them. That makes sense.
However, the kicker is if you drink the artificially sweetened drinks that RR goes to 1.59 which means you are 59% more likely to be obese.
If you take the two together, the artificially sweetened drinks correlation (not causation) is three times higher than the sugar sweetened drinks in regard to obesity. Although correlation is not causation, when the number starts getting that high, it starts becoming a bit more compelling that, at a minimum, the artificially sweetened drinks are not a good idea.
If you get rid of sweetened drinks, and then focus on eating real food that tastes good, getting away from sweeteners of any kind becomes much easier. Drinks seem to be the hardest for people to give up. Desserts seem to be second. If I eat a satisfying meal, I am not hungry for desert.
Personally I can buy into those results and is why I work to stay away from all types of sweeteners.0 -
I drink a lot of diet pop. It seems to help my sweet tooth, which is good. I also use Splenda and liquid stevia, but I’m trying to stay away from Splenda since I learned it has carbs!2
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cstehansen wrote: »In case you are not a research study nerd, the results stating that the RR (relative risk) of being obese if you drink sugar sweetened drinks is 1.18 which means you are 18% more likely to be obese if you drink them. That makes sense.
However, the kicker is if you drink the artificially sweetened drinks that RR goes to 1.59 which means you are 59% more likely to be obese.
If you take the two together, the artificially sweetened drinks correlation (not causation) is three times higher than the sugar sweetened drinks in regard to obesity. Although correlation is not causation, when the number starts getting that high, it starts becoming a bit more compelling that, at a minimum, the artificially sweetened drinks are not a good idea.
I didn't read the study, but couldn't the correlation also work the other direction? That is, obese people are more likely to be drinking diet sodas?
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cstehansen wrote: »In case you are not a research study nerd, the results stating that the RR (relative risk) of being obese if you drink sugar sweetened drinks is 1.18 which means you are 18% more likely to be obese if you drink them. That makes sense.
However, the kicker is if you drink the artificially sweetened drinks that RR goes to 1.59 which means you are 59% more likely to be obese.
If you take the two together, the artificially sweetened drinks correlation (not causation) is three times higher than the sugar sweetened drinks in regard to obesity. Although correlation is not causation, when the number starts getting that high, it starts becoming a bit more compelling that, at a minimum, the artificially sweetened drinks are not a good idea.
I didn't read the study, but couldn't the correlation also work the other direction? That is, obese people are more likely to be drinking diet sodas?
Precisely what I was thinking while reading it and saying well if course. I couldn't begin to count the number of people I know who when they began gaining weight, switched to diet drinks to counter their calorie intake. I've joked many times with others about washing down our potato chips, chocolate cake and candy bars with diet soda.1 -
cstehansen wrote: »In case you are not a research study nerd, the results stating that the RR (relative risk) of being obese if you drink sugar sweetened drinks is 1.18 which means you are 18% more likely to be obese if you drink them. That makes sense.
However, the kicker is if you drink the artificially sweetened drinks that RR goes to 1.59 which means you are 59% more likely to be obese.
If you take the two together, the artificially sweetened drinks correlation (not causation) is three times higher than the sugar sweetened drinks in regard to obesity. Although correlation is not causation, when the number starts getting that high, it starts becoming a bit more compelling that, at a minimum, the artificially sweetened drinks are not a good idea.
I didn't read the study, but couldn't the correlation also work the other direction? That is, obese people are more likely to be drinking diet sodas?
Absolutely. However, it would also indicate, if that is the case, that drinking the diet sodas did not help alleviate the obesity problem.0
