Sugar Free?

What's the dealio with "Sugar-Free" products? I like to buy Sugar-Free iced coffee. Usually I go to DD's and get it with just half&half and then put either Splenda or Stevia/Truvia which I usually carry around with me.  At McDonald's they have a Sugar-Free French Vanilla Syrup for their Iced Coffee, it's cheaper and taste pretty good. Since I am hypoglycemic I pretty much watch my sugar and try to stay low carb.

My wife buys a lot of Sugar Free products which she thinks is better for me but I do have concern regarding them with their Sugar-Alcohols and so forth. Are Sugar-Free products better for us or are there a few negatives? I heard that we have to be careful with Diet Soda's, Crystal Light and No-Calorie Sweeteners and so forth, but as far as puddings, jello, yogurt, cookies and etc, are Sugar-Free a better choice for us? I could probably do a forum search on this but would not mind some fresh suggestions?

Negatives usually depend on personal sensitivity.  Most artificial sweeteners are safe despite claims to the contrary.  An exception is if you are hyper sensitive to them.  Some people have headaches when they have aspartame, for instance.  Is it real?  Is it placebo effect?  Doctors argue either way, however (obviously) avoid substances you have personal issues with!  Saccharin is also safe.  The studies where they have had cancer risk, the mice were fed the equivalent of us drinking a bathtub of it a day.  

Dunkin Donuts actually has flavor shots which are sugar free (toasted almond, coconut, vanilla, etc) however their swirls are NOT sugar free.  

I eat a very low carb diet (generally 20-50g a day).  The past few weeks I have been going lower to reboot weight loss.  Insulin drives fat storage, so keeping serum insulin levels higher impairs fat storage.  Additionally, any sugar you eat gets used by the body first if insulin is the dominant digestive hormone.  Dr. Peter Attila is good reliable source on this.

I avoid all sugar free cookies and baked deserts.  Sugar free jello and yogurt, why not?  SF yogurt is hard to find and so I either make my own greek yogurt or just add Mio to plain greek yogurt (a tip someone here gave me).  It works really well.

I don't drink soda.  Carbonation irritates my stomach and I frequently find them too sweet and overeat after drinking it.  So, YMMV there, too.  I dilute crystal light by 1/2 for that reason.

I forgot to say, I try to avoid artificial sweeteners only because I avoid most processed food.  My concession is the 2-4 Truvia I use daily in my coffee, or (rarely) diluted crystal light.  I find that any sweetness triggers overeating for me.  Again, everyone is different. :)

really based on the person- some on the board are anti sugar free- or only consume certain types like stevia instead of splenda or aspertame.

personally I stay away from aspertame but use splenda, stevia, and swerve.

i like the sugar free vanilla syrup from mcd's and have that and spenda in mine with whipped topping- I just log the whipped topping- i thinkit is 40 calories. OR if I know i will be out I will carry a cup of my own carbmaster milk or fairlife and add it myself since I know the stats on it and will usually need the protein boost also.

dunkin dnuts and starbucks i choose their sugar free syrups. sometimes with unsweet almond milk- sometimes my own.

sometimes I go to raceway or QT gas station also since I can fix it the way I want it.

I also use SF puddings to add to my plain homemade greek yogurt. Very little calories and it is yummy.

It's like weighing one evil against another...hmmmm...sugar or chemical ****storm?  There's always an advantage and a disadvantage.  Go for the most natural sweetener you can, like stevia.  Too many sugar alcohols (anything that ends in "tol") can have you running to the toilet if you consume too much.  

sugar free baked goods are not really any better for us cause the flour in them turns to sugar as soon as it hits our systems.

If you really want to dig into the science, here's a very thorough article with some great information on all of the main sugar substitutes out there.

Thank you. I know that having processed foods are not really good-learned that from these boards! SO thankful for the surgery, originally for the weight loss but now for the ongoing education.

This forum have taught me so much-especially that we have to keep working the program, keep learning, keep asking questions, keep trying to obtain a healthy lifestyle!

Our journeys are so unique, so individualized: Different ages, surgeries, ethnicity, cultures, metabolisms, backgrounds -yet so much the same! 

"Knew" a lot of the information (head knowledge) before but the "application" (heart motivation) process was missing! Appreciate the input!

Try them at first. Sometimes sugar alcohols really can mess up your bodies. 

I use just splenda. The other stuff can give horrible gas. 

Take a look at the comments

https://www.amazon.com/Albanese-Assorted-Sugar-Gummi-Bears/d p/B00FDXBP7G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482344824&sr=8-1-spons& keywords=sugar+free+gummi+bears&psc=1

Just a warning with sugar-free

Sugar alcohol as still carbs.  They have calories. They affect my BS.  Plus - they give me wicket gas  and pain.  I avoid them more than I avoid sugar. 

Aspartame - more than a 8 oz once in awhile - and I have a headache. 

Splenda - if I use too much of it - my kidney and bladder gets irritated.  

I use stevia, Saccharin, or sugar.   BTW: dextrose added to splenda or truvia - is another form of sugar. 1 small pack is not a lot - butif someone uses 20 packets - that is like having 10=15gr gr of sugar of that thing for baking - it can adds up rather fast. 

"Splenda is a natural sugar substitute made from sucralose and maltodextrin. While it is touted as being a "no calorie" sweetener, this is only true when you use small amounts. When substituting for sugar in baking or other recipes, you must consider the calorie content per cup.

Calories

According to the Low Carb Freedom website, Splenda contains 96 calories per cup. In comparison, sugar contains 774 calories per cup, reports Calorie King.

Conversions

The Splenda company website states that you should use the same amount of Splenda as you would sugar when following a recipe. If you choose to use Splenda Sugar Blend or Splenda Brown Sugar Blend, however, you should use only half as much of the sweetener. If you purchase Splenda packets, use 24 packets to equal 1 cup of sweetener.

Carbohydrates

If you need to limit the number of carbohydrates that you consume, using Splenda in place of sugar may make sense. While sugar contains 200 g of carbohydrates per cup, Splenda contains only 24."