Addicted to Artificial Sweetener

[dani5162]

Hi, I need to stop using artificial sweeteners-- at least not so much of them!
Hopefully i can get off of them completely, but I have become dependent on them.
I know, awful. I know.
Any tips? is it better to go cold turkey or would it be more likely that I stick with it if I ease off?
It's a total waste of money for me and I'm positive I've been feeling some negative effects from them

Thanks to any and all help!

[Elfie.]

Originally Posted by dani5162

Hi, I need to stop using artificial sweeteners-- at least not so much of them!
Hopefully i can get off of them completely, but I have become dependent on them.
I know, awful. I know.
Any tips? is it better to go cold turkey or would it be more likely that I stick with it if I ease off?
It's a total waste of money for me and I'm positive I've been feeling some negative effects from them

Thanks to any and all help!

The next time your about to buy something with artificial sweeteners in it, think about the fact that it's not just waseful but you're actually spending your hard earned money on something thats potentially harmful for your health. I think going cold turkey would be the best idea because if you have just a little bit you'll probably end having a little bit more, and a bit more and so on. Good luck!

[fitlover]

Originally Posted by dani5162

Hi, I need to stop using artificial sweeteners-- at least not so much of them!
Hopefully i can get off of them completely, but I have become dependent on them.
I know, awful. I know.
Any tips? is it better to go cold turkey or would it be more likely that I stick with it if I ease off?
It's a total waste of money for me and I'm positive I've been feeling some negative effects from them

Thanks to any and all help!

Omg, I know EXACTLY what you mean. I use soooooo much splenda, it's insane!!

[twinnett]

I switched to stevia and feel SOOO much better!

[pecan]

Originally Posted by twinnett

I switched to stevia and feel SOOO much better!

yes, definitely! stevia is a great option. it's kind of different at first, tastewise, but at least it's a way to get a sweet fix without sugar or as. you could also try smaller amounts of sugar alcohols..especially mixed with stevia to become accustomed to the taste.

[dani5162]

Thanks! It's also sort of expensive, but maybe I won't use as much...?
Are there any brands that don't have that bitter aftertaste?
I tried Sweetleaf before, and it wasn't awesome.

[dani5162]

so apart from stevia, cold turkey is the answer?
man, I am really going to miss the sweet stuff.
but i think it would be good for me.
maybe i'll eat less too.
(a whole other issue there, lol)

thanks!

[ahez1991]

theirs agave, but that has calories, its low glycemic too so its good for clean diets. i tried this sweetfiber stuff at whole foods, it was pretty good, 0 calorie, made of chicory root fiber i think

[XterraRob]

Yeah, stay the hell away from Aspartame. People are trying to get that stuff banned by the FDA for being possibly carcinogenic. But eitherway, it's not good for your body and difficult to digest lol

[JVo]

Has anyone tried the diet soda, Zevia, made from stevia? I don't think they sell it in too many places, but I'm planning on trying it.

[dani5162]

Originally Posted by XterraRob

Yeah, stay the hell away from Aspartame. People are trying to get that stuff banned by the FDA for being possibly carcinogenic. But eitherway, it's not good for your body and difficult to digest lol

yeah, i'm starting to think it's pretty bad. could using too much be the reason i am not losing any weight? i eat pretty clean otherwise.

ok, done giving life to this thread, sorry! chickory root sounds good.

[user4894514884]

i never drank diet pop or used splenda in my coffee until i started dieting for my show...and i am allowed to have one s/f popsicle or a diet pop once a day (for now) just to get that sweet fix. i never really drank pop before diet or regular but now i find myself craving it as well...i know the aspartame isnt good for you but i love that taste!

[Elfie.]

Originally Posted by ahez1991

theirs agave, but that has calories, its low glycemic too so its good for clean diets. i tried this sweetfiber stuff at whole foods, it was pretty good, 0 calorie, made of chicory root fiber i think

Agave is a high fructose sweetener (a VERY high fructose sweetener) HFCS is made up of about 50-60% fructose while agave containes up to 90% pure fructose. It's touted as a "natural sweetener" because it comes from a plant so most people automaticaly think it's good. Quite a few raw foodies use this stuff but I avoid it like it's rat poison.
http://www.naturalnews.com/024892.html

Originally Posted by dani5162

yeah, i'm starting to think it's pretty bad. could using too much be the reason i am not losing any weight? i eat pretty clean otherwise.



ok, done giving life to this thread, sorry! chickory root sounds good.

Some more motivation to stay away from splenda.
http://www.foodnavigator.com/Science...ght-gain-study

[XterraRob]

Originally Posted by dani5162

yeah, i'm starting to think it's pretty bad. could using too much be the reason i am not losing any weight? i eat pretty clean otherwise.

ok, done giving life to this thread, sorry! chickory root sounds good.

Yeah if you take in enough of it, I think they're coming out with new better natural sweeteners now, check out Whole Foods or Wild Oats or any organic food store around your area, should have something.

But anyways yeah..

I hate the new commercials about "you heard about High Fructose Corn Syrup right?"

<insert bull**** line here about coming from corn>

Yes corn is a natural food, no High Fructose Corn Syrup is not natural. I mean it's hard to avoid HCFS because it's in so much of the food that people consume on a daily basis but it's not good for you, and for most people, they take in a lot of it.

I'm not over-crazy about keeping it out of my diet but I try to limit it. For instance I try to buy bread without HFCS in it or yogurt etc.

[darkangel]

Cold turkey. Do a search on the dangers of artificial sweetners and that'll make you want to drop them like a hot rock. Here are a couple to get you started:

Dangers of Nutrasweet (aspartame):
http://www.mercola.com/article/aspartame/symptoms.htm

Dangers of Splenda (sucralose):
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...e-dangers.aspx

[HardcorSancez]

Hi everyone, just something to think of, when you "crave" sugar, thats when your body is detoxing from it! So yes, go cold turkey for about a week then start adding stevia (I use sweetleaf, but it has to be steviaplus, it taste better). If I crave sweets I have a 1/2 cup cooked brown rice with a little stevia (1/2 packet), cinnamon and lowfat milk, then I micro for 1 minute, its really good and good for you. Give it a try. Maybe the stevia tasted bad because you compared it to the artificial stuff, so by taking a week off it won't be so bad?!! Good luck

[ethereality]

Originally Posted by dani5162

Hi, I need to stop using artificial sweeteners-- at least not so much of them!
Hopefully i can get off of them completely, but I have become dependent on them.
I know, awful. I know.
Any tips? is it better to go cold turkey or would it be more likely that I stick with it if I ease off?
It's a total waste of money for me and I'm positive I've been feeling some negative effects from them

Thanks to any and all help!

To be honest, I would make myself go cold turkey... It will be MUCH easier to get rid of the habit if you cut yourself off. It will be difficult at first, but after a while...your tastebuds will re-set themselves, and you'll tune into more subtle tastes.

You could also just stick with a natural sweetener, such as stevia (calorie-free). It's just made from flowers.

[dani5162]

thanks everybody!
I definitely will try to go off of them immediately-- and see where it goes from there.
It seems that i should have been able to come to this conclusion on my own.
Thanks for the support!

[JVo]

Originally Posted by dani5162

yeah, i'm starting to think it's pretty bad. could using too much be the reason i am not losing any weight? i eat pretty clean otherwise.

ok, done giving life to this thread, sorry! chickory root sounds good.

I would think that the only reason it could prevent you from losing weight is if the artificial sweeteners are causing you to be hungrier than you'd otherwise be (studies show they can increase appetite), thereby causing you to eat extra calories. Otherwise, I don't think they have any effect on weight loss.

[user4894514884]

i went out and bought some packets of stevia today from the brand sweetleaf! i really like it! i mixed some into my protein brownie! yum!!!

[sweet.sarah]

I made a post about this a while ago.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=112990021

I tried stevia but it has a funny taste... I can't stand it in my coffee. I only use it to cook. On my morning coffee (which is mostly milk and is the only one I have all day) I use sugar. It's been more than 8 years since I've been using artificial sweetener, that thing is like poison! I'm not getting that into my system ever again.

[darkangel]

I've heard different brands of Stevia can taste quite different. May be possible to find one that tastes better than another.