Thanks for all of your responses! At the induction level the Atkins diet is so limited that I was "cheating" occasionally with sugar-free Jell-o, but then worried that when I didn't lose any weight that week, that 1/2 cup of Jello-must be the cuprit! In retrospect though, I really don't think a small amount of aspartame will make any difference to most people (including myself.)

I agree with triplemom, moderation is the key. i drink an occasional diet mountain dew once or twice a week....Mostly depends on the individual.

You might want to look up "aspartame hoax" on the web too.

A Hoax?....On the Web???.....Inconcievable
I just posted it so that everyone can form their own opinion....not to push it as bad, I drink it too, but i do make sure not to drink it very often.

Wow, imply that the people's favorite no carb soday, Diet Coke, and people get vicious!!! You would have thought that that somebody just suggested that you cut out all but 20 grams of carbs per day.

I HAVE to consume aspartame/its in my medicine (Questran). This IS the sugarfree version/and by GOD I am not having the version of this medicine that contains SUGAR no matter what!!! It does not affect my success with Atkins diet. I must take a packet of Questran powder before each meal. Not a problem.

Weight loss naturally fluctuates from week to week. IMHO we are sometimes a bit quick to pin the blame for it on something we eat or drink.

Next thing you know, it'll be dangerous to drink anything with dihydrogen monoxide....

Hey, do you have any idea how many people that stuff kills every year?

dihydrogen monoxide LOL! Well potatofree, in cirtain parts of the country......unfilterd......blah......blahblah.....

I've heard it's infiltrated our whole food supply chain. There are no government regulations or ANYTHING!

I've even heard rumors our local bar is adulterating the liquor with it.

Its often fatal if you inhale it!

Strangely, it's not dangerous for fish. In fact, it's a required additive to any aquarium. I am very careful when I handle it, though.

ROFLMAO!!!
TRANS-FATS SHOULDN'T BE ON THE MARKET EITHER!
In fact they're illegal in Europe--have been for several years, I understand. Pressure from (certainly not the manufacturers) various groups finally convinced the FDA to have them pulled from the market, but not until 2008. Alot can happen B4 then, including the FDA changing its mind, and a lot more people dying. The manufacturer of Nutrasweet knew that it caused brain damage (killed brain cells in vitro) B4 it was approved. Do you think that this scholarly knowledge has ceased to exist since then?? Scholarly research is rarely, if ever done for pure altruism--unless the doctoral candidate and/or college professor is independently wealthy. Only funded research projects get scholarly blessings and approval. Even Dr. Atkins had to knuckle under to the scholarly establishment to get positive scholarly attention focused on what he had been observing in his practice--by creating a "non-profit foundation" to pony up the funds for some scholarly research on the subject. And where do you suppose the major scholarly funding comes from (to prove or disprove the hypothesis that, for example, Nutrasweet is a health hazard)? If you guessed manufacturers and/or foundations with an agenda, then you'd be correct. What if the results aren't what was planned or expected? Just about any research can be written (or re-written) to minimize, or even bury unpleasant findings. Why do you think that the tobacco companies were able to PROVE through scholarly research that cigarettes were at worst benign, and at best actually good for you for so many years, even when, by their own belated admission, they knew the real facts from their own privately funded studies since at least 1949? Do you honestly believe that the major food companies are less unscrupulous that Big Tobacco was?

Yes anyone can put anything on the net. And in books. There are still active members of the Flat Earth Society too. And ostriches (of the avian and human variety) still put their heads in the sand when they don't want to believe in the danger surrounding them. Contrary to common public opinion, the FDA is NOT on the side of the consumer. If they were, they would never have knuckled under to Big-Ag and adopted the Food Pyramid to replace the "4 basic food groups" (that incidentally, though probably outdated, at least kept our parents and grandparents thinner and healthier than the Pyramid has done for us).

I think Frekl was onto something--I think some people ARE sensitive to aspartame. I drank diet cokes for years and years before beginning LC, and I notice that they have a similar effect to sugar, as least as far as my body goes. If I drink a Diet Coke in the morning, I am starving, starving starving! It really sparks my appetite. I have limited myself to one diet coke directly after lunch. That seems to inhibit the sugar-effect, hunger feeling I get.