Okay, anyone remember when Delarla told us that her doctor said to NOT eat artificial sweeteners because it makes you crave sugar more?!? I don't normally eat artificial sweeteners & wasn't too concerned.

Well, yesterday I bought these new candy bars made with Splenda. They were the kind with caramel & nuts. It really tasted like a candy bar & only had 3 carbs. I have been doing very good lately with my calories, Protein, carbs & exercising. 1 hr. after eating that freakin' candy bar I wanted to eat the whole house!!!! I ended up drinking some pop, Cookies & grazed on junk the whole night. I was out of control!!

I was so mad at myself!! THEN, it dawned on me.......I ate that candy bar & it was all down hill after that.

NO MORE ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS FOR ME!! I have done great for 3 weeks & one little candy bar made with splenda did me in. I'm not even going to weigh myself.......ugh.

Today is a new day!!!!!

I'm glad you agree but DeLarla wasn't right, it was Dr. Billy who gave me the "no artificial sweeteners" lecture. He explained how diet foods, non-fat, lowfat, sugar free (with the exception of low fat milk) are loaded with ingredients that trigger cravings. Artificial sweeteners are derived from sources that cause the same crash n' burn effect as carbs do.

It's true based on my own experience. If I have a Diet Coke at lunch, I simply can't make it through a night without getting into crap. And I don't go looking for cheese or fruit, I need Cookies or chips. It's not a "want" either, it's a physical craving that I can't control.

I'm sick of Dr. Billy being right, but he knows what he's talking about.

Hmmmm..... I've never heard this before. That does explain a lot of things though. I live on Splenda. When I had my last fill a week or so ago, I was sitting on the gurney with the drapes drawn around me, & I heard my doc talking to the nurses & they were asking him about artificial sweeteners & he said that they were all crap that was manufactured & just not good for your body. Help! I think I'm addicted to Splenda!!! :hurt

Would honey make you have the same cravings? :hungry:

Honeybear I mean Jessiebear, I've intentionally stayed in denial about honey doing the same thing. I do not want to know! I enjoy a tablespoon in my green tea on occasion.

Tons of people are addicted to Splenda and Equal. Heck, I'll even take the pink stuff. What does it tell you when it's so hard to quit a diet artificial sweetener? Crash n' burn, baby.

I know when I was Atkins, the more artificial sweetners I ate the more I wanted junk and it drove me insane. Plus the fact that that stuff gives you gas pfffffffffffft. Also watch out for sweetners like Sorbitol, anything ending in itol will reek havoc on your system. Trust me.

Eating clean is the best way to go...IMHO.

This is interesting...

Diet Coke always made me do that, but my low carb candy bars don't make me crave anything. That is very interesting.

I will have to take note of cravings IF I have any. I haven't had a craving in a whole week.

Thanks for the info gals!

NJ Chick, Don't confuse sweeteners with sugar alcohols like Sorbitol. The Alcohols give you gastric distress, not Splenda. Because your body canot process sugar alcohols correctly, then tend to pass through the colon rather quickly and vigorously causing gas, cramping and diarrhea. Really watch out for them the most!

Splenda is simply sugar with the hydrogen molecule replaced with a chlorine molecule, making it 600x sweeter than regular sugar... so only tiny amounts are used (that is why splenda is so flaky, and not granulated like sugar.

If you are saying that splenda is giving you cravings, that may be, but it has no carbs, and therefore cannot spike your insulin... causing a normal sugar spike and food cravings. Once again, this is not the same as sugar alcohol. Sugar Alcohol does indeed cause sugar spikes in many people, and can cause a similar, although somewhat lesser, effect like sugar.

With the candy bar, it is unlikey it is only sweetened with splenda, as splenda has no ability to create the "bulk" that sugar does... that is where the sugar alcohol comes in, and it is the likely culprit. There is also Glycerin. many "low carb" foods subtract the glycerin carbs as well, but many people with sugar sensitivity are affected by the glycerin too. again, it isn't the splenda, but the other ingredients.

Diet coke contains aspartame (nutrasweet) not splenda. Aspartame is a purely man-made synthetic product, unlike splenda, which is derived from sugar.

Delarla, honey is pure sugar. So is Fructose, sucrose, corn syyrup and maple syrup. If you use these products, it is the exact same thing to yor body as using regular sugar... pure carbohydrate, nothing more, Honey may have a minimal amount of other nutrients, but they are negligable compared to the carbs.

Of course you should be careful with artificial sweetener, but read the label... you may be being affected by somehting other than what you thought.

I was quite the Atkins guru years ago, way before the advent of low carb products on the market, so I learned a lot about the ingredients,and how to read them.

Just my 2 cents.

it might be that you are sensitive to the chemicals in the artifical sweateners

I don't seem to have a sensitiveity to splenda in that it makes me want to eat the house, but I try to limit my artifical sweeteners.

As for your question if honey will make you go wild, the only thing I can tell you is to try it, but be mindful of what you are doing. Use the honey to sweeten whatever it is you were going to sweeten, but then watch your behaviour, what how you feel and act. It might be that you are fine with honey, it might not. Oh, one more thing. For this experiment, do NOT have anything with protien or fat, because they will stay in your system longer and help cut a spike. Because what you are looking for is a wild spike.

Honey doesn't do this to me, but give me some corn, and watch out! Corn sweetener is the worst. But because I know what corn does to me, I take care when I choose to have it. I always make sure that I have some protien and fat when I have corn. Because it will stay in my system longer than the wild spike and help even out my hunger.

I hear such conflicting information about artificial sweeteners and I'm convinced that until I see the tests myself I'll never know the truth. I have read that our brains get used to what "sweet" is, no matter what it's made out of, and anticipates a boost in energy. If it doesn't get that energy boost it sends out that sugar craving so you will get the boost. Seems plausible, but you never know...

"Delarla, honey is pure sugar. So is Fructose, sucrose, corn syyrup and maple syrup."

Paul, duh... did you NOT see the part where I'm intentionally staying in denial? Honey is evil, but I prefer putting bee poop in my pie hole instead of synthetically adjusted powder. And you know way too much about artificial sweetners for a guy. Damn boy, where'd ya get all dem smarts?

I'm only talking about personal experience, and I'm very much addicted to diet cola. I'm not picky about brands, but the chemical addiction is very strong. Artificial sweeteners aren't the only chemicals in diet soda. Phenylketonurics are cautioned against the Phenylalanine. Maybe I'm a Phenylketonuric.

Fructose has a low glycemic index compared to white sugar, and is not recommended as a combatant to low blood sugar due to excess insulin for diabetics, because it does not create the blood sugar spike that white sugar or glucose does.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructose

Fructose is often recommended for, and consumed by, people with diabetes mellitus or hypoglycemia, because it has a very low Glycemic Index (GI 32) relative to cane sugar (sucrose). However, this benefit is tempered by concern that fructose may have an adverse effect on plasma lipids. The low GI is due to the unique and lengthy metabolic pathway of fructose, which involves phosphorylation and a multi-step enzymatic process in the liver. See health effects and glycation for further informations.

However, I just read two articles that make it sound even worse than white sugar - and here I am with several boxes of the stuff, thinking I was doing myself a favor as I try to reduce the amount of artificial sweetner I use. Sheeesh.

http://www.mercola.com/2002/jan/5/fructose.htm

http://www.thenutritionreporter.com/fructose_dangers.html

MY QUEEN! Where ya been, Donali?

Draggin, draggin, draggin....

Oh where, oh where has my energy gone???

Not that I had that much to begin with.

I want to vent on Francesca's thread, but what's the point. Sigh...

This is interesting...

Diet Coke always made me do that, but my low carb candy bars don't make me crave anything. That is very interesting.

Replace diet coke with diet pepsi, and that's me all over.

Splenda doesn't do it to me, but nutrasweet does, for sure.

Okay, I just had to report back in! I didn't eat any artificial sweeteners today & I had NO PROBLEMS with junk!! I hope to lose the weight I gained from eating the house yesterday!!

Big Paul, I looked at the ingredients in the candy bar I ate & you were correct. It had Sorbitol in it!! You are a very smart guy!!! What are you feelings about low carb diets now?!?!