Good morning everyone! I hope you're all doing well!

I have never liked the aftertaste of artificial sweeteners. Lord knows I've tried over and over to just get over it and drink it anyway. Now that I'm faced with the liquid diet for pre-op, (I start Thursday the 6th) I have dreaded the Water part of it a little. Although 2 weeks isn't forever, I know that drinking that much water all of the time would get b-o-r-i-n-g.

I came across an article somewhere and read that artificial sweeteners are 600 times sweeter than sugar! 600 times! No wonder I don't like them! I don't like sweets at all! This bit of trivia got me thinking. If artificial sweeteners are THAT sweet, what can I do to be able to tolerate them?

Yesterday, I did an experiment. I made a pitcher of cherry limeade Crystal Light. I just had to try! I diluted the Crystal Light by 1/2 with water. I took a sip not expecting a good result.....GUESS WHAT? That horrific aftertaste was so minimal that I drank 3 20 oz glasses of it!!!

SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!

I can knock out this 2 week liquid diet out with my eyes closed now!

Remember, those artificial sweeteners may be 300 to 600 times sweeter than sugar, but you only get a tiny, tiny bit of the sweeteners in a packet (or tube of Crys.lite, for that matter). The rest of the stuff in the splenda/whatever envelope is dextrose and some other non-sweet junk so it will flow smoothly....

That's very true, Lynneo@ Regardless, I am able to drink it diluted by half. That breaks up the monotony for me! I don't intend on using packets of splenda or any other artificial sweeteners to anything. I just wanted to be able to tolerate the artificial sweetened drinks for the liquid diet!

That's very true, Lynneo@ Regardless, I am able to drink it diluted by half. That breaks up the monotony for me! I don't intend on using packets of splenda or any other artificial sweeteners to anything. I just wanted to be able to tolerate the artificial sweetened drinks for the liquid diet!

After surgery, my tastes changed and I did NOT like sweet things very much. I found the lemonade crystal light packet for Water bottles way too TART/SWEET if that is possible. I could not drink it at all. I learned that if I didnt put the whole packet in the bottle.. . just a little more than half, it was perfect! I like the MIO water flavors too because you can squeeze in as much you need to get it right for your tastes. Try that for on the go!