Canada’s new dietary advice is to avoid sugar substitutes. Will U.S. follow suit?
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...m=.693554b9f0ab |
Interesting. Artificial sweeteners is one of the reasons why I've been as successful as I have been, its prevented me from going off plan many, many times. I've met all my health and weight goals while using a.s. several times a day, going on 7 years now. So for me personally, there's definitely benefits to including a.s. into my diet.
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During my 47 years of LC eating, I've never stopped using AS. I import my favorite (Sugar Twin with cyclamates) from Canada. I first started using cyclamates in Germany all those years ago. The USA is one of the few countries where they are illegal, hence the import necessity.
No AS would have made it virtually impossible for me to stick to LC eating. Culturally, as a child I drank thick, sweet tea so I guess I'm imprinted. My pantry is filled with my attempts to use natural LC sweeteners, but yuck. At 74, there are few LC foods left which I can consume, having developed intolerances over the years. Taking away my AS might push me over the edge. Hope that doesn't happen. |
As a side-note, I recently watched this video and thought it was pretty interesting, I use sucralose (splenda), so I was pleased to see that it was one of the sweeteners they tested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYfqvTZWilw&t=8s |
I've managed to become mostly sugar-substitute free. I do use some stevia occasionally.
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Have you seen any benefits from cutting it out? |
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Nothing other than I found that I don't really miss the sweet taste of things. |
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I have noticed that since I've cut way back on diet soda over the past few weeks and have replaced it with unsweetened flavored sparkling water, that I've been naturally cutting back on the splenda in my coffee, I'm probably at half of what I was using. I can see myself at some time just cutting it out, but we'll see :) |
I was such as sugar addict that I think if I'd tried to go LC without any artificial sweeteners at all to ease the way, I'd still be on the sugar roller coaster. I was never much into sodas to begin with - candy and cookies were my preferred sugar delivery substances.
Currently, I use stevia, mostly because while I'm sure I could get used to unsweetened greek yogurt, I really like vanilla and chocolate yogurt. When I mix some vanilla or unsweetened cocoa powder into my plain greek yogurt, adding a little stevia brings out the vanilla and chocolate flavors. Doing so hasn't sparked much of any kind of desire for any other sweets - well, once every few months, I'll make a LC mug cake or something along those lines, which I sweeten with stevia, but that's about as far as the craving for sweet ever goes. |
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Same here. Rarely use stevia, as I too no longer miss the taste of sweet things. |
I think they are a good tool for tricking body during weight loss. Helps to not be deprived of everything in one hit! but ideally to be phased out for long term. I try to only eat healthy food, actual food now. So for me
I don’t think they have a place in regular kids foods: I don’t want my kids having anything sweeter than an apple or other whole fruit. Processing food, even if technically LC into other things is a slippery slope. Things blended, puréed and baked like almond flour, sweeteners, butter and cream... just going to encourage over consumption. So, I think best largely avoided. Same with drinks: my toddler loves my black coffee and 100% cocoa, it’s bitter as anything, I think because he’s never had sweeter stuff or anything baked. |
I enjoy artificial sweeteners and haven't seen any benefit when I've cut them out. So I use them. I don't think an official stance against them is any better than an official stance for them, the research is sort of divided. Don't need it, so go with prudence and don't use it, just in case it's bad? Again, I enjoy the sweetness, and I don't consider enjoying food/taste a trivial benefit. Food is not just for nourishing our bodies, any more than speaking is merely for passing on data.
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I haven’t used sweeteners since quit using it in coffee years ago. I’ve been lucky as I never was much if a sweet tooth person. Salty carbs was my downfall. I think it is a good substitute for getting sugar cravings out of your system and better for you.
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I think drinking unsweetened beverages is better for you in most cases. Especially when it comes to drinking water instead of soda pop, sports drinks, and so on.
However I don't think stevia or monk fruit has ever been suspected as being bad for you by a peer-reviewed, published scientist not working for the sugar companies. I avoid aspartame and other artificial sweeteners just to be 'on the safe side of doubt'. It may be an overkill, and they might be perfectly safe, but I don't need them, so I avoid. I drink a lot of water, and I put stevia in tea and coffee, neither of which I consume in excessive amounts. I drink water from my tap (underground well) which goes through a water softener. I add a trace mineral blend to the drinking water to replenish some of the good minerals the softener takes out. A gallon a day isn't out of the question. I don't buy bottled water, because it is nothing but tap water put in plastic that leeches out into the water and probably isn't very good for me. I have glass bottles that I use to take water with me when I go out. Since it's unethical to run complete human experiments, and since so many people with financial interests send tacit or outright bribes to governments and health organizations, we have to go with out 'gut feelings' in the long run, and hope we are right. Bob |
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Like several others, I still use a sugar substitute when I want something sweet. And I've had the same experience that being LC really shifts your sweet tooth, so wanting something becomes less and less often. I've never found a "natural" substitute that I don't think is disgusting, so I stick with Splenda. But I don't fundamentally disagree with the idea that sweeteners aren't necessary for a healthy diet. They're fine when we want treats. Where I disagree is that they're saying it doesn't make a difference whether you have sugar or substitutes if you're using sweeteners rarely because the calories difference is minimal. This is only true if a) you really do eat sweet things very rarely and b) your metabolism can tolerate sugar. But for people that eat sweet things more often (even a couple of times a week) their theory relies on CICO and the old saw that it's fat that really matters because theirs more calories in it. Sigh. |
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