I have my surgery date set for Dec. 29th and I can't seem to find alternatives to all the artificial sweeteners that pre-op and post-op liquid diets seem to involve. Anyone know of anything I can do to avoid these and still be successful?

Well, I didnt have to do a pre op diet and post op I've never done more than the very occasional Protein shake.

One of the reasons I dont consider Protein shakes a particularly healthy choice is the artificial sweeteners, not to mention I have a very sweet tooth and yet I find them revoltingly sweet, certainly too sweet for me to want them as a regular food.

If I want something sweet, I have the real thing. To me, sugary, sweet foods are something you should only have occasionally, and replacing the sugar with an artificial sweetener does not make them OK to then have every day.

I didnt have sweetened tea or coffee prior to surgery anyway, I like it plain so that wasnt an issue, and nor was I a diet coke or real coke drinker. So my issues tend to be more Cookies, cakes, wine, stuff like that. I stick to those things as occasional treat foods but have the real thing and enjoy it when I do.

Of course there's sugar also in many many things like yogurt, and mayonnaise, and baked Beans and tomato sauce and all those foods we have everyday, personally, I just dont worry about it, I think you'd drive yourself crazy. I just eat what I want basically.

I've been very successful.

It will be difficult for you except to say, chose broths and unsweetened teas and go trolling the grocery stores for things you will want to intake that don't have sweeteners. They are out there. However, with that said, I don't intentionally go seek out things like that but I don't sweat it if there is a little something in it I happen to digest. Also, be aware that you will more than likely have to do liquids for 24 hours after your fill adjustments so you will definitely need to find something you can live with that you like.

I really like agave nectar as an alternative to all the splenda I used to use in my coffee, tea, and shakes. The only problem is that agave nectar has almost as much calories as regular sugar. The real bonus w/this is that it is much lower on the glycemic index so it helps keep your blood sugar more steady (important to me because I'm prediabetic, but this may not be important to everyone). Anyway, its hard to say what would be a good alternative since I don't know the restrictions for your pre-op diet. I didn't have one myself, but for the day of surgery and three days after, I am not allowed any sugar at all so I can't even use the agave nectar. I would recommend that if you aren't allowed any except for splenda, nutrasweet, etc. (the artificial ones), then try to go without any sweetener or see how far you can cut back. I used to put a heaping spoonful in my tea and for these few days, I've been find just sprinkling a tiny bit in or none depending on the flavor of the tea. And, honestly, the diet jello is kind of grossing me out now. Its too sweet and artificial tasting. Yuk!

I feel exactly the same and have the same surgery date! I researched high & low to find a protein meal replacement & multi-vit, without artificial sweeteners. I am using "About Time" protein shake. Web Vitamins seems to have the best price. It is sweetened with stevia. The dietician was very receptive to my objections over artificial sweeteners. I have used agave nectar in the past, but she nixed that due to the calories and fructose, or something. Luckily, I'm not crazy about sweet stuff (take my coffee & tea black, scrape frosting off cake, ect). For the "popsicles," dietician approved a half water/half natural fruit juice mixture and I froze that in an ice cube tray. To be honest, I haven't even touched those. I am having such a hard time drinking 5-6 shakes a day and they are sweet enough. More on the shakes: About Time is a protein shake mix, but not a meal replacement. To make it so, the dietician has me using skim milk and adding 2 tsp of Benefiber (tasteless) to each shake. The strawb & choc are "good", cake batter flavor - not my favorite. These are very thin, more like choc milk. It doesn't thicken at all. To do this, I froze skim milk in ice cube trays and use this to blend. Works great. I have always avoided artificial sweeteners, for various reasons, but mainly because they upset my stomach big time. I wonder if some of the gas pains & distress I have read about on this board, are not due to similar reactions??? Especially, if those people weren’t use to eating sugar free products pre-surg??? Sorry if this is long or incoherent. On day 7 of this liquid diet crap and can barely think straight! :thumbup: Oh yea- forget finding a multi-vit that is chewable and NOT artificially sweetened...impossible! Good Luck!!

dlm94... not sure how good they are, but I found Puritan Vitamins and they have the labels to read online.

Multivitamins: ADULT CHEWABLE MULTI-Vitamin

Thank you 4 your reply... I am glad I am not the only one concerned with some of the possible effects of some of these sweeteners

dlm94... not sure how good they are, but I found Puritan Vitamins and they have the labels to read online.

Multivitamins: ADULT CHEWABLE MULTI-Vitamin

Thank you 4 your reply... I am glad I am not the only one concerned with some of the possible effects of some of these sweeteners

I hate the sweetners too and avoid them. They are unhealthy.

Agave nectar, stevia etc would be better. best to adjust your calories and have the real thing occasionally!

I am also concerned about the artificial sweeteners... not only because of the potential health risks, but because before my surgery, I just found the taste repulsive... my weakness was sugared beverages, and I could not stand "diet" versions...

Ironically, now that I have been banded for four days, the taste isn't as bad for me now... I don't really understand it, except that I've been off sugar for over two weeks (as part of my pre-op diet), so maybe I'm getting used to it... however, it seemed like my tastes changed immediately after waking up from surgery...

someone recently suggested a more natural sweetener alternative, but I can't remember the name... if I talk to them again, I'll post it, and see what everyone thinks...

I am allergic to aspartame. It gives me headaches, nausea and vomiting... so needless to say. It's off my list. I have found that Yoplait whips is NOT sweetened with aspartame and are pretty good. It seems like all the 'light' yogurt I've found has aspartame in it.

Stevia is the best sweetener that I've found.

I have been "OFF" soft drinks for 2 years now, so I don't miss the taste...

I am having surgery Dec. 30th and am currently on my pre-op diet. My surgeon suggests Opti-Fast for all his pre-op patients, but that contains aspartame & since I can't do THAT, I'm doing broths, applesauce, yogurt, and protein shakes.

If it's purely a taste thing what you can try doing is gradually introducing artifical sweetner to your palet by using half regular sugar and half fake stuff. That was how I got myself used to splenda. I hated the stuff but knew I had to cut some of the sugar out so I started with 1/3 splenda, then 1/2 then 2/3 and now I can use only splenda and it doesn't bother me at all. Try this method if you can't find anything you like.

Im glad others have the same concerns about the artificail sweetners. I could drink diet coke all day. But I can't stand the flavor of them in anything else. I am managing in the pre op diet but do not plan to use them after. Like others I will simply adjust my calories. I know gastric patients can't have real sugar due to dumping but I see no reason lap band patients can't have real suger now and then, again if you adjut your diet elsewhere. But that is my opinion and I am not a dietician or a doctor. Good luck to all of you.

I dont like the artifical sweeteners either. Like someone else posted, agave nectar is nice. I also use Stevia. I had to get use to the taste of it though.

And if I absolutely have to have some sweets, sometimes I do go on and eat the regular sugar sweetened stuff. I just do so carefully and limit them.

I have real adverse reactions to the chlorinated sugar sweetener (cant recall its brand name right now). So I have been avoiding the artificial sweeteners for several years now. Well before I was banded.