Hello Everyone
Can anyone tell me what is so good about Splenda? Hermesetas is 0.28 per 0.5g tsp and Splenda is 0.5 per 0.5g tsp so it is a bit higer in carbs...Is it the taste?
Also why are fresh mushrooms 0.4 carbs per 100g on the container and 4.0 in the Atkins book. Very confussing.
Does anyone know?
Well dinner time so I am off.........Bye Leigh

There is masses of stuff about Splenda on various threads. I think the two important things are a) you can cook with it, and the taste stays (unlike other sweetners, apparently) and b) some people react badly to large doses of aspartame or other synthetic sweetner.
Personally I don't like it much as it seems to trigger a sugar craving. Perhaps that is just because it is very like sugar.

As for the mushroom mystery. Who knows? I think it is possibly different kinds of mushrooms?? Different avocados are very different so maybe...

All the best

Hi Leigh

I know what you mean about Splenda. I've not bothered, sticking with the artifical sweetner I already have. I think, as already mentioned, it is very like sugar and as thus it is thought the body will process it better - ie it is not such a foreign chemical. I am sure that if you do a search in the media section on Splenda you will get some good articles. I do know that some AS is banned in the US and they have embraced Splenda whole heartedly.

On the mushroom front, the carb values given on Fitday and in the Atkins books can sometimes be very confusing. They seem to calculated carbohydrate, including fibre, by difference. Not sure how it is measured in the UK. Anyway, I suspect the book includes the fibre content as well, I know Atkins does not give the ECC values. Stick to the UK labels, our food regulations are much stricter than in the US, I believe. We always have fibre shown as a separate figure and this should never be subtracted from the carb value given.

Recent European research suggests that ingesting aspartame leads to the accumulation of formaldehyde in the brain, other organs and tissues (Formaldehyde has been shown to damage the nervous system, immune system, and cause irreversible genetic damage in humans.)

An extremely large number of toxicity reactions have been reported to the FDA in the US and other organizations

A recent report showing that nearly 100% of independent research has found problems with aspartame.

Here is a link for further comments
Aspartame

Splenda is Sucralose which is a dirivitive of sugar. It is produced through a chlorination process which some would say is not natural but not shown to be harmful in any way. Certainly not in the way that other sweeteners are now being questioned. It just took a long time for the UK food authorities to approve it.

You can cook with it in spoonable form or it is available in tablets.

All sweetners have a filler as the active ingredient is ultra sweet. In the case of Splenda it is Maltodextrin. Splenda was I understand developed by Tate & Lyle here in the UK.

The general problem with Sweetners, including Splenda is that they mimick the effect of carbohydrate and can stimulate insulin production and do nothing to wean one off the sweet craving. For this reason Atkins on induction suggests no sweetners either.

If you are looking for the best tasting and the least harmful sweetener then it has to be Splenda. The food industry in this country is beginning to change to Splenda. It was available to them before the table product became available to us a few months ago.

Thank you
You have answered my questions...Thanks for the link about Aspartame....Very interesting. I shall be trying Splenda next time I go to Tesco's. I need all of my brain cells so it seems a good reason to change. Hope that it does not give me a sugar craving like you Lucyr. Thanks again Leigh

Splenda is my artifical sweetner of choice, but even here in the states it's not that widely available. I heard bad things about Aspartame which made me switch from diet sodas to regular, (I'd rather loose me teef than me brain ) which in turn is probably the reason I put on so much weight The Splenda doesn't seem to give me the sugar cravings I thought it would. I did hear about a great recipe using splenda, really simple too

whipped cream, Splenda and vanilla (or butterscotch,chocolate, whatever) flavouring. Mix together....Voila!

There are some diet sodas that use Splenda so I drink them occasionally, soda's are no substitute for water though, so I make sure I get plenty of the tasteless stuff.

Also there are those sugar alcohols, Malitol seems to be the most common (not sure if it would be called the same in Blighty), and though from what I've read they're perfectly safe. They can cause stalls and the 'thre'penny bits' I've not had that problem, though they can stall me if I'm not careful.

Cheers,

Duncan

Thanks for your reply Dunkun.
I will definately try the recipe as it sounds easy and tasty. I have bought some splenda to try. I wonder how brainy i would have been if i had not had been on so many diets lol. Oh well i can try and save my last cells. Mind you i think i might prefer teeth so i can still eat...
You are close to getting to your goal...well done. Keep on going. Take care Leigh.

Thanks Leigh, having recommended the recipe I thought I might as well try it to make sure it's good. So, bought the whipping cream and dug out some vanilla extract and my box of Splenda. Mixed together in a bowl and Yummy!!!! Just like very soft vanilla ice cream. I also bought orange and lemon flavourings to try out in the future. I checked out the carb count for whipped cream though and it's not zero carbs as I thought. it says 1g carbs per 2 tbsp of cream, not that bad though . I got a can of chocolate whipped cream too and made a gorgeous sunday (vanilla whipped cream, strawberries, chocolate whipped cream sprinkled with some crushed nuts and a little shreaded LC chocolate on top I'll take it easy though, it just doesn't feel right eating too much whipped cream (I just wanted an excuse to use the puke icon)

Duncan

Hello Duncan
Thanks for your reply. That recipe looksso good but dangerous. But i shall definately try it out.
I have been having cravings for chocolate this evening but have kept it at bay by eating lots of jelly (or should i call it jello for you). I actually feel a bit now (Lol ....I have never used that icon either).
I have never seen chocolate whipped cream here...sounds good.
Do you like to try different recipes to keep the diet interesting?
If i eat chocolate i cant stop so i tend to avoid it. It was funny today i got caught sniffing the chocolate powder as i filled the drinks machine at work....It was heaven
Well going to wobble away now...take care Leigh

Now that you mention sniffing chocolate........I remeber reading an article that just the smell of chocolate could overcome the cravings for the dark milky stuff. apparently even just the smell of it releases some hormone (endorphines or summat??) that eating the stuff does. so don't feel too bad, if youy get caught, just tell them your having your fix of choccy for the day!

Can you belive it, I bought my niece a tee shirt that smells of chocolate. they make these Tee shirts that are dyed in various different things (wine, beer, waste dollar bills and chocolate). the idea is that as well as having the colour, they also have the smell (imagine having a tee shirt that smells of money! I called my sister last weekend and after several washes it still smells of chocolate.
You may think I'm kidding but check out:

Crazy Shirts

Go to the Tee shirts link and you'll find all the speciality shirts (though I see chocolate is not listed )

I occasionally try new stuff, but it's getting thin now. I'm more inclined to go out and o for the low carb options at restaurants to add variety to the diet (chinese food without rice, steak and lobster without the loaded spud etc,...).

Have fun!!!!!

Duncan

Can I say something interesting about Splenda ?


When I first started LCing , about 1 year ago , I decided to buy Splenda online from a US provider , made and manufactured in the US . It was expensive ,as can be expected , about $10 for 400g of the stuff .

It tasted great ,but I was used to our powder Hermasetas and felt that it was very comparable tastewise and far less expensive . So I decided to kick the imported splenda habit

Then some months later ,splenda began to appear on our shelves , I was thrilled and of course bought some . Do you know what? I was not thrilled with the taste !!

I PREFERRED OUR HERMASETAS

I also tried the splenda tabs and yuck !!

I am convinced that US splenda and Uk splenda are not one and the same thing

any experiences similar ?



Rob

Hello Dunkboy
Thats amazing.... Would you be on a high all day if you wore a tee shirt smelling of wine I think that the chocolate one would drive me crazy...i would have to eat it.. lol..It is good if it stays smelly after washes. Your Idea of going out for a meal sounds good and saves on the washing up too....although, you probaby have a dishwasher. I visited Florida last year with family and one of the things that amazed me what that all the toilets flushed automatically. Got a real scare the first time...lol...sorry you probably dont want to know that. But the place we stayed in had a dishwasher which was a real luxury. Anyway thanks for your reply.
Rob that is strange. Maybe you should put your own thread out and see if anyone has experienced that. I have not started my splenda yet as i have not finished the Hermasetas (dont want to waste it). I would have thought that they should be the same. Good luck with that...off to make some LC ice cream. Bye Leigh