Sugar free foods without aspartame?

As I am moving through the process and getting closer to a potential surgery date I am noticing a strong emphasis on a sugar-free diet post-op. However, I am a bit concerned as I cannot consume aspartame and this chemical seems to be in almost everything that is labeled sugar-free. Consuming the tiniest amounts results in massive migraines for me and I doubt this issue is going to change after surgery.

I'm wondering if any of you have this or a similar issue when it comes to eating aspartame and sugar-free foods. If you do could you help me try to come up with a list of things that do not contain aspartame that I might be able to eat after surgery?

I am also worried that this will be an issue in the hospital when they bring me things to drink and eat once I am allowed to consume things.

I don't have an issue with aspartame or most other artificial sweeteners. But almost everyone I've met have serious problems with sugar alcohols -- sorbitol, malitol, anything that ends in -tol. Lots of sugar free items have sugar alcohols, and they will give you really, really bad gastrointestinal distress.

I also get migraines with aspartame, and it has been a huge problem for me, especially during the liquid/soft food phases when I needed to eat jello, pudding, yogurt, and such.

After discussing it with my doctor, we decided that for the very early on stages post-op, it would be better for me to have sugar than to tangle with aspartame if those were my only choices, since I wouldn't be able to take any NSAIDs directly post-op. Since I would only be able to eat a few ounces at a time, I wouldn't be able to eat enough for the calories from the sugar to really matter. I tried to find as many non-sugared options as I could... I used the syntrax nectar mixes to make popsicles, and found that some of the pre-made SF gelatin & puddings have splenda/sucralose instead of aspartame (but never found a dry mix that had anything but aspartame). I found that some of the sugar-free yogurts use Splenda/sucralose instead of aspartame. So at home I used all of those.

At the hospital, I made sure the staff knew how serious I was about my aspartame sensitivity (we put it on record as an allergy) and they brought me juice and jello with sugar instead.

ETA: Oh, and the MIO-style drops water flavorings often are sucralose instead of aspartame, so that's been handy. :)

Essentially I've been able to (with effort) find sucralose options for most of the things I needed, at least for when I'm at home or can take my own supplies with me.

Check your local health-food store (Whole Foods, Sprouts, etc.), they often have things made with stevia, Splenda, or other low-cal sweeteners. I've gotten a powdered drink mix (like Kool-Aid) made with Splenda and it was great for getting my liquids in early on!

Soon after surgery, you probably won't be taking too many things that require artificial sweetener. Your post-op diet will include things like protein shakes and soup, and once you start on "normal" food it'll be dense protein almost exclusively.

Tell the hospital staff that you're allergic to aspartame and they'll make sure to steer clear. I was given the choice between Crystal Light and chicken broth at the hospital, so you should be ok with things like broth.

I always have had the same issue with it triggering migraines. I don't really eat the sweet things and when I do I find things made with Splenda. Kroger has really good sugar free popcycles made with Splenda and they are the Kroger store brand.

I use sugar or honey as a sweetener. I use is sparingly, about 2-4 teaspoons a week. You would obviously need to avoid processes, pre made desert foods and things like "fruit" drinks, pudding and jello that are mostly sugar anyway.

Most anything you get in the hospital will be packaged so you can read the ingredients. Have ascertained listed as an allergy to be on the safe side.

I use Unjury unflavored protein powder because all the pre made drinks tasted sickly sweet to me. Though the meal trays had pre made shakes, this was the brand my hospital had available. I mixed it with 2% milk in a shaker I bought from home.

Premier Protein shakes are sweetened with sucralose instead of aspartame. Some Quest bars have stevia as their sweetener, and some Mio drops use stevia as well. You have to check each one :(

The good news is that you soon won't really need any processed, pre-made foods and at that time, you can transition to an unflavored protein powder which you can add as needed to different foods. I still eat sugar-free Popsicles, but that's the only artificial sweetener I use. I put monkfruit in my coffee.

Ditto the monkfruit.... I'm one of the people who gets the gawds-awful taste from Stevia, and a lot of times Splenda leaves an odd aftertaste in my mouth. I use monkfruit in my coffee, and if I dran****d tea I would use it there as well. It's loverly.

I used to find it in the grocery store no problem, but lately I've had to order it from Amazon.

Premier Protein now makes a clear protein drink that uses sucralose. It's fruit punch flavored and has 20g protein. It's just like the Atkins Lift protein drinks (not sure about the sweetener in them) They are a great way to get liquid and protein! I found them at Sam's Club.

Once I began reading the nutrition labels, I found that many of the products that say "No artificial sweeteners" are Stevia sweetened, and taste pretty good, like Oikos triple zero greek yogurt. Chobani also has varieties of greek yogurt that I ate for the protein early on.