Sugar Free?!?!? The debate....

I'm on a super low carb diet right now and of course that means no sugar...as a bandster sugars go right down but as an obese person carbs and sugar are my addiction of course! 

I was wondering about the debate of sugar free foods and substitutes causing the same cravings and up and downs that real sugar does?  I drink alot of crystal light and I've been very hungry lately. 

Your thoughts on sugar free or sugar substitutes?

I strictly use Saccharine as splenda makes me dump and nutrasweet tastes nasty to me.  I don't crave sweets any longer.  Of course, the dumping cured my sweet addiction.  The only hard time I have is during my period, when I crave chocolate.  I'm very sensitive to sugar alcohols though, so a SF piece of chocolate is like playing russian roulette for me.

I sweeten my greek yogurt, my oatmeal, and drink crystal light.  I try to balance the sweet with not sweet though, or naturally sweet - like fruit.  I have found no personal correlation between sweeteners and cravings.

if u really like chocolate you might want to try the ones that are very high in cocoa content. 80 % cocoa is low in carbs and mighty strong flavored so goes a long way.

You will notice that most of your SF foods are higher in carbs.  It's a no win situation.

I'm a Splenda addict. Since I drink pretty much nothing but decaf iced tea and decaf coffee,  I add Splenda to just about everything I drink and it doesn't cause cravings for me. Granted, I'm not super strict about avoiding carbs, I just avoid the bad carbs as best as I can. A handful of pretzels is much more likely to have me fiending for a donut than my Splenda-sweetened iced tea. 

I can't really speak too much on sugar-free products. I do on occasion have some sugar-free ice cream or a sugar-free cookie or 2, but I can't eat a lot of them without upsetting Petey (my pouch).

i have no problem using splenda and use it a lot ....

Sigh I am finally getting back to this thread after major carb detox.  Well I had a session on the phone Friday and more and more and I feel like I am being divorced from food.  I think its hard for anybody let alone pre and post WLS to eat only "natural" foods which for beverages that would be water and fresh squeezed juices but limited.  I don't notice the drinks bother me so much but the other things with minimal impact carbs do cause me cravings.  I was doing protein bars with high protein 20gs and pretty much was told that is only for emergencies an the impact carbs were too high even though the sugar is low and protein high.

I feel like it's a never-ending learning lesson.  Maybe soon it will come second nature but this is no joke and very difficult but i think unfortunately until I get to goal I really need to watch myself.  I have slipped up and be on a slow loss for months all due to behavior. 

The band sure works and thank god for that but I need to put the other 50% in.  I am only half way to goal and am striving for my 1yr - 100lb loss and I have about 25lbs to go.  Sounds easy like it could be done but even with the carb restriction I have maybe lost 3lbs ...we'll see what next week brings. 

I hope there is some cave man watching over me giving me good vibes about the diet of our ancestors cause that is what I am on.  I even passed up a skinny latte from starbucks today because it had 12 carbs.  Last week I wanted to cry, this week I am just sighing and maybe by next week it won't bother me.  This is still a long long road! 

so you do not differentiate  between types of carbs?  I mean cause the carbs in the latted were from milk....

Oh I do....but she prefers if we have no dairy and if we do very minimal (cheese or milk) and it must count as a carb.  When you are trying to keep carbs below 50 per day...milk doesn't fit in well with the sugars.  They recommend this milk called HOOD which is low carb but they do not have it at my Giant.  I have to keep looking. 

She feels as though yogurt is a waste for bandsters since it slides so that is a no and again with milk they want us eating our calories not drinking them unless its the ever-dreaded protein shake. 

She is pretty strict! Had I been following this the whole time hell I might be at goal already and it's not even 9 months.   

I am going to try to stick to it the best I can with the less than 50 carbs but her goal is to gear away from anything man made or processed...strictly whole foods. 

This is not easy!  I now am finding I can't get my calories in either.  I will be fighting to get in what I need on a daily basis.

OMG Nikki I would STARVE... I get over 100g of carbs a day....