I have a strong dislike of artificial sweetners and I try to buy whole foods and organic when I can. My question is how to do this when we are on this restricted diet. I'm also worried about not having any veggies/fruits for this first phase. I went to Earth Fare today and spoke with the woman there about vitamins and supplements. I bought some hair/nail/skin mutivitamins and also some kelp tablets as well as several packets of their brands of protein shakes. I also picked up several bottles of coconut water. So for those of you trying to avoid artifical sweetners what did you find helpful?

Stevia is a natural sweetener as well as agave nectar, I think stevia has less calories if any than agave nectar. Google them, they taste OK. Hope this helps

I agree re: stevia and agave nectar. I do find that both are a tad bitter, though, so don't add too much. I wouldn't bake with them, for example. Don't forget that honey is also an option.

Regarding no veggies and fruits on the first stage - you can still have fresh-squeezed or organic juices. For the clear phase, apple or white grape juice works, and then afterwards any kind would be ok. When I was on to soft foods, I started having canned vegetable puree (mostly eggplant - you can find these in ethnic stores, it's quite good). You can also have bananas, baby food with fruit or veggies, etc.

I also try to avoid aspartame and the like, but it's very hard with Protein supplements. Most supplements will have sorbitol or something like that. Some Protein Bars don't have sorbitol, but then it's a battle to find one that has a reasonable amount of protein without a ton of fat and calories. I went shopping for protein bars yesterday, and saw a couple that had 320-380 calories and 22 grams of fat! :thumbup: If you are really against that, you can give it a shot and browse bodybuilding.com for a bar or shake without artificial sweeteners. Alternatively, add pasteurized liquid egg whites to your drinks, they are a good source of protein. You can find them in any big grocery store. They have a slight scent, but seemed to be tasteless in a 1:2 dilution with juice or warm broth (not hot, obviously).

I use Stevia and I like it.

The stomach needs time to heal before adding fruits and veggies. When I got to mushies, I cooked easily digested veggies to death, lol. Refried Beans are very high in Protein and go down easily. Also easy on the tummy were, eggplant and zucchini (peeled). Just remember that 75% of each meal should be protein.

Be careful with fruit juices as many are highly acidic and hard on your stomach.

Silk has unsweetened almond milk which is really good.

Instead of Crystal light, if I get bored with plain water, I use true lemon (crystallized genuine lemon) with a stevia packet. YUM.