I drink about a gallon of hot tea and iced tea a day. I always used Splenda. Dr. Oz said to use Truvia because it has stevia leaf instead. I told this to my doctor the other day and he would rather I use nothing. I have tried cutting back and hate the taste. Has anyone been told to use Truvia instead?

Another food item. I watch America's test Kitchen and they say when making meatballs to brown them in the oven on a wire rack. I just made some and the pan had about 1/2 cup or more of fat in the bottom of the pan. UGH! That was one pound of 90% ground beef.

Thanks for any help with the sweetener.

I only use Stevia (Truvia is the same thing). It's plant based like real sugar, whereas asparatame and nutrasweet are essentially chemicals.

I, my doctor, and my nutritionist all think Stevia is a great alternative to sugar or artificial sweetners.

Artificial sweeteners have aspartame, and it apparently causes you to crave high calories food after you have it, which defeats the purpose of it being low-cal. Aspartame is also a nasty piece of work in terms of what it does to your body (feel free to google it), which is probably why he wants you to move to a natural sweetener. They taste more bitter than products containing aspartame, but is better for you in the long run.

Though I agree that you're better off trying to go sugar free. I don't use sweeteners. Never have. If something requires sugar, I use raw sugar in small quantities. I don't have sugar in my coffee or tea and haven't in years. It takes getting used to (I used to have 2 teaspoons of sugar per cup of tea), and you might get some sugar withdrawal symptoms, so take it slow by reducing the amount of sugar you consume each time until you get rid of it completely. I used to drink 2 bottles of coke and untold amount of sweetened tea 4 years ago and now don't touch soda at all, and drink my tea black with no sugar. It took time to 'change' the way I did it but now it feels completely natural and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.

I just switched to Truvia from Splenda. I use less and I dont taste it like splends.

My doctor said no pink and blue and splenda is made with sucralose not aspartame. I use truvia or stevia because I like it better. At work I use splenda because that is what they have. I believe you about the ground beef though even if you get 97 percent lean it will still have lots of fat but by baking them you are gettting rid of the extra fat. I love meatballs lol

I can't stand Stevia. I think it tastes bitter. My dr recommends Splenda, as it's actually made from natural sugar (unlike Equal or Sweet and Low). And you can bake with it (also unlike Equal and Sweet n Low, and Stevia).

"While the process to make sucralose begins with sucrose, or table sugar, the final product is different from sugar. Sucralose is made by replacing three select hydrogen-oxygen groups on the sugar molecule with three chlorine atoms, resulting in an intensely sweet, no-calorie sweetener.

Unlike sugar, the body does not break down sucralose into calories for energy. Yet, both sugar and sucralose activate the same taste buds on your tongue. " (Taken from The International food Information Council)

Recently, however, I've found that Splenda does have 1 gm of carbs per packetm and since I'm watching carbs now, I've cut down on it tremendously. I used the sugar free coffee syrups in my coffee (which I drink alot of daily). They have 0 carbs.

Good luck to you!

Marci

PS: Now clue why it won't take off the green background that I got when I cut and pasted the info! Anyone know how to remove the green background? lol

I have to admit I didn't know what was in Splenda, because I don't use sweeteners at all, so thanks for that info. Though even so, I personally would rather use raw sugar in cooking than anything else, but that's my choice. I have tried a coffee with stevia in it before (a friend thought she was doing me a favour) and it was really ick tasting. But that might be because I don't have sweetened coffee or tea anyway.

Well I have used sweeteners my whole life so anything taste better now then sweet and low lol. I guess when you are used to them they dont really taste bad. I dont cook with them either. Cake taste much better with real sugar lol (naw I make cake for my hubby because it doesnt like my band)

Before my leak I could not eat cake either. Then when I stopped having restriction I tried some cake and thought, yeah, this isn't as good as I thought it would be! I will have a tiny piece at a birthday or something but usually give the majority of it to my partner to eat. It so dense! Oh and donuts. I can't imagine why I used to love donuts pre-band!

I have used Truvia for a long time.. it has a good taste to me.. much better than the chemical sweetners.. sweetn low, equal all of those are like poison .. You can cook with Splenda easier, it does better heated than truvia. at least what I have tried...now they say that the aspertame and such cause memory loss... my Dr. and nutritionist are happy with truvia...

I use Purevia which is a brand of Stevia. It comes in individual packets and in larger bulk bags so you can measure it like sugar. I do not cook with it, but I have cooked with some of the blended sweetners with stevia or spenda and sugar mixed without problem.

I saw a study recently that stated the the aspartame and nutrsweet sweetners cause the same sugar rise in insulin as real sugar. Stevia does not. My doc and nutritionist approve.