Dangers of Splenda?

[sockmonkey 0]

I recently had my first nutrition class (pre-op) and the conversation was steered to artificial sweeteners. According to my nutritionist, all artifical sweeteners lead to weight gain except for one derivitive of Stevia which you can get at Whole Foods. At first this seemed perfectly do-able, however the more I think about it, the more outlandish that sounds. Does anyone have any experience with this or have any other advice?

[honk 780]

I think that equal can cause a spike in bloodsuger, due to it's chemical make up. I don't think that Splendra has that affect. I find Stevia to be crunchy like real suger and in some applications (I add splendra to my fat free greek yogurt) it does'nt work as well. My personal opinion is that health care professionals see splendra, equal as "gate way drugs". That you are used to the sweetness of fake sweateners and will be seduced into eating real sugar. Not entirely convinced of this. Having drunk Diet Coke now for 25 years I could never go back to regular Coke way to sweet!

[bigtruk_us 56]

So you can actually drink a diet carbonated drink??I read in an post that someone tried diet coke or whatever the diet drink was.and it didn't make them feel well.

[honk 780]

I am preband so I can still drink soda.

[bambam31 168]

Way too simplistic of an approach IMO... Some people tolerate sweeteners fine - others do not.

And since it was raised - same thing with carbonated beverages - some surgeons will tell you that you'll explode on contact - while others say go ahead if you tolerate it well.

I just drank two beers and was able to type this... :thumbup: (my surgeon does not outlaw carbonated beverages)...

Brad

[Jachut 487]

I think sugar is probably the biggest cause of heart disease and obesity in the western world and I'd still rather have real sugar than an artificial sweetener.

We simply have to face facts - sweet foods are not meant to be part of our everyday diet.

I very rarely eat products that contain artificial sweeteners and I avoid a lot of sugar, although cutting it out entirely is not really practical. Its quite doable. You just have to wean yourself off the products that contain them. The ONLY foods you'll find artificial sweeteners in are unhealthy processed foods that you really shouldnt be eating much of.

I drink plain coffee with a dash of skim milk. I never have diet softdrinks OR regular ones, I just drink Water. I dont eat packaged cakes, biscuits or slices and I dont make them either. I dont eat a lot of processed foods, I generally get by on eggs and wholegrain bread, oatmeal or yogurt for Breakfast (and I only buy whole natural yogurt, never flavoured. Generally, I like it plain with nuts and seeds in it, I might mix a few natural prunes in for some flavour so a bit of *natural* sugar, but I dont overdo fruit either). Dinners are foods I cook from scratch by and large and usually revolve around meat and vegetables, brown rice or potato on the side. Lunches are salads (usually spinach based, lots of fresch vegies and a Protein like tuna, olive oil as a dressing). I eat a lot of good fats like avocado and tuna.

I get plenty of calories in there becuase a lot of what I eat is calorie dense. I just try to make everything from scratch, I really believe living out of packets and cans is probably the worst thing you can do overall for your health, but of course I do use canned products like Beans and tuna. I dont really eat foods like lean cuisines, canned Soup or bought salads.

And lest I sound like a fanatic, based on my observations, I eat quite "normally". This is the way I was raised to eat, its how my family functioned, its just not hard. But I have a healthy outlook to sugar in that if I want a stinking big piece of cheesecake once in a while as a treat, I just have it. I have a wicked coffee habit that I really should curb and a good deal of my sugar intake comes from wine. But my everyday diet is not sweet and full of processed stuff. Its just a matter of retraining your taste buds.

Edited July 6, 2010 by Jachut

[elcee 3,341]

I eat very similarly to Jacqui except I'm not quite that good. I still can't stand plain Water except in summer and it has to be icecold so I sometimes have a diet soda or Crystal light. The rest of the time I drink tea with skim milk.

I don't buy lots of processed foods and when I do I no longer buy the diet versions - I just buy the standard version as I am eating less of it anyway.E.g I always buy full fat Greek Yogurt. However there are some things that I cannot stand unsweetened and then I use a small quantity of Splenda or whatever. I use it on my oats even though I cook them with raisins and also on my yogurt along with some cinnamon.

The quantities are minimal and I do not believe that it makes me crave sweet foods more. Most things are OK in moderation it is when you overdo them that they become a problem.

Lets face it even too much Water is dangerous and can lead to death!

Interestingly for years fructose was pushed as a healthier alternative to sugar - its also natural , is low GI and I'm not sure but it may be lower in calories too. They have now discovered that fructose actually causes problems similar to the ones your NUT told you about for the artificial sweeteners!

It's actually quite hard to know who and what to believe when it comes to nutrition as they change their minds so often.

For example.We have had fats being the villian then sugar then fats again then carbs, told not to eat more than 2 eggs a week, then told we can eat them daily, told soy is great then told that that causes problems............................................................................

[Jachut 487]

Moderation in everything is the key I think!

You dont have to give up sugar cold turkey either, any positive changes you make for your health are worthwhile, even if its to cut back on sugar rather than cut out. When I was first banded I ate nowhere near as clean as I did now, I've made changes as I felt ready./

For example, I'm not a low carb advocate as in I dont think extreme diets like Atkins are at all sensible, maintainable or even supported by totally unquestionable irrefutable science. But over time, being banded, my diet has gotten a LOT lower in carbs, we bought a really nice loaf of bread about a month ago and put it in the freezer and i have eaten exactly 1 slice of bread in an entire month. I never have more than one serve of grains in a day and some days none. So I've naturally morphed into a much higher Protein lower carb diet.

I could NEVER have done that cold turkey before. With a band and over time, I never even felt it. And it really doesnt matter to me now whether I did it all in one hit, quickly and lost spectacular weight in 2 months or whether I did what I did, slowly and steadily. Either way, the weight is gone.

so it is with sugar and sweeteners. Start with what you're ready to cut out and that will benefit you and over time you can gradually get rid of your sweet tooth, so that sugar and sweetened foods are only a small part of your diet. If your main sugar intake is incidental - in canned tomatoes or ketchup, the odd glass of wine etc then you really dont have to worry that you're having too much.

I'm about to do the same with caffeine - again. I keep weaning myself onto Decaf and then over time drifting back. I'm having WAY too much coffee at the moment.