Equal, Splenda, or Stevia?

People have told me for years that Equal and Splenda aren't good for us.  The PA at my doctor's office told me today that Splenda and Equal make people crave carbohydrates.  But thestuff is in everything. I am trying to avoid Equal and Splenda.  I am substituting the natural Stevia instead.  But I really miss my diet Coke and diet rootbeer.  I have found nothing in the soft drinks that is free of Splenda.  I may have to create something using club soda. I bought plain ff yogurt and plan to flavor it as I please.  The other stuff always tasted too sweet. Are any of you avoiding the two brand sweeteners?  Are any of you using stevia?

I've been using Splenda ever since it came out.  Atkins actually recommends splenda suggesting that the others stall weight loss.  I don't crave anything with splenda... 'cept maybe another cup of coffee!!  :)

I don't have any problems with Splenda causing cravings but then again I don't eat a lot of sweetened foods with splenda, sugar or otherwise since I sugar is one of my trigger foods anyway.

There are tons of controversial articles about splenda and equal.  My take on it is simple. Everything in moderation. I use Stevia for adding "sugar", but I do not shy away from items with splenda in them like juice drinks or yogurt or when used as a sweetener.  I do not eat "sugar free" items which basically mean splenda.  I choose mostly whole foods.  I also don't drink diet soda. Again, everything in moderation.  I will say though that there ARE people out there who are very sensitive to any sugar substitutes.  That's mostly the people they are targeting when they say how things aren't "good" for us.

several months ago I posted something on here about splenda and sweet n low and saccharin being evil and I got a bunch of replies back about how sometimes you have to make compromises and i realized that that's right... I don't avoid artificial sweetners as much as possible because my education is in biochemistry and molecular biology and I don't like the research I've read about what these sweetners can do to my body...however, it is true that the studies have been performed with higher than physiological levels of the compounds, so it is probably not very harmful, I just figure...its unnecessary to mess with things if I can avoid it, you know? however, I do use stevia in my oatmeal in the mornings.  also liquid stevia is really good to put into teas and to make lemonade with (the powdered stevia is not very soluble in water and ends up being sort of chunky unless you mix it realllly well).   maybe you could try some sort of earthy-crunchy store for non-sugar/non-artificial sodas?  like whole foods or trader joes or some sort of local co-op?  I haven't looked for stevia soda at those places because I never did much soda, but I would think that there'd be a market for naturally-sweetned non-sugar drinks.  I know that whole foods does not sell things w/ artificial sweetners, and I know that trader joes sells these candy bars that don't have sugar or artificial sweetners in them, either. good luck and let me know what you find out!!

damn, how do you all get paragraphs to show up as paragraphs!?!?!?!?!

I am glad you mentioned the earlier posts.  I went back and found them:  http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/non_postops/board_id,5493/ cat_id,5093/topic_id,3339100/a,messageboard/action,replies/# 25886351 My younger sister learned years ago that she began to feel better when she got off the Equal she used years ago.  She had inflamatory conditions that significantly improved after 2 weeks off the stuff. I have had problems with the flare-up of the Sarcoidosis and other inflammatory problems.  It is worthwhile for me to try getting off of this artificial stuff for a while and see if the problems improve.  If they do, then it will be worth it for me to get away from these as much as possible.  I guess I will experiment in this area for myself and my health.  I would rather be off the artificial sweeteners and be able to get off the Methotrexate my doctor uses to halt progression of Sarcoidosis.  Whatever works best for my health is what I need to do now. I went to the Vitamin Shoppe this evening.  They sell their brand of Effervescent C (with 1000 mg. of vitamin C) is an individually packaged mix that goes in water.  It contains Stevia in it.  It is available in orange or lemon-lime flavor.  The packets cost $.25 each.  But you can buy a box of 30 for $8.00.  I need the vitamin C anyhow.  So I can enjoy a flavored drink and get my vitamin C at the same time. I plan to research the non-sugar drinks and find what is available out there.  I also plan to add some lemon and stevia to club soda and see what I can get. They also sell Xylitol at the Vitamin shoppe.  It is supposed to be another natural sweetener.  Do you know much about that? Please do share all information available about these sweeteners.  I'm looking for the facts and for things that will help improve my health.

Hey there... So I don't know much about xylitol, I know it is used in gum and I also remember reading that it's bad for dogs, I think the effects are pretty extreme, soo if you have a dog and you feed him table scraps, don't let him (her) eat the stuff that you've sweetened w/ xylitol. Some people have really unique biochemistry and will react to certain things more severely than other people...my significant other gets massive headaches when he eats things sweetend w/ aspartame and he claims his tongue burns when he eats stevia...so he's thrown his hands in the air and is sticking with plain old sugar (lucky for him-he somehow keeps the pounds at bay).  I also know someone whose father has a severe alergic reaction to stevia.  I think that really what you have to do is find the right thing for yourself.  If you've tried Stevia and it doesn't hurt you, then I'd stay stick with that, and xylitol...since both are natural.  The thing that I don't like about splenda is that they've replaced some of the alcohol (the -OH) groups on the sugar (sucrose) molecule with chlorine (-Cl), making it a new molecule named sucralose.  When you look at the molecule's chemical structure, it now becomes what is known as a chlorocarbon, which is the same as other historically harmful chemicals, such as DDT.  The problem with DDT was not that it was a deadly chemical in small doses (which it was...and for that reason, it was an advantage, not a problem), the problem with DDT and other chlorocarbons is that they don't break down over time, and they accumulate in animal tissue.  It was the effects of the accumulation that was the real problem that lead to the outlawing of DDT in the united states. Now, having said that, there is a lot of contridactory information about how bad splenda actually is.  The chemists who make it and work for splenda maintain that it isn't soluble, meaning that it should pass right through you and not settle into your cells and tissues and wreak havoc the way DDT did.  Other chemists and scientists say otherwise.  And there is also conflicting evidence given by independent researchers.  So what you come to is that you have to make the decision for yourself and determine for yourself what is good and what isnt good.  For example, My mother eats a cup of activia yogurt (sweetened w/ splenda) with her breakfast every morning.  You won't convince her to do otherwise and she maintains that a small amount like that won't hurt her...she's probably right. Personally, I rarely if ever eat saccharin or aspartame, I avoid splenda as much as possible (and eat maybe a package worth every two months, if that), and I stick to small amounts of regular sugar, and stevia (and xylitol-gum). Doing a quick search on google for "stevia soda" I came up with a websight that is selling it...so chances are you'd be able to find it in whole foods or a similar store.  best of luck!  - Julie -

Also, I just wanted to add, before I get jumped (lol), that I do realize that just because something is natural doesn't mean it's good for you....there are a lot of bad natural things out there, like cocaine, and I do realize that.  . 

What do you know about saccharin?  Some people say it is safer than Equal or Splenda.  Do you have any idea of their reasoning about that? Btw, I don't like most of the diet yogurt.  It tastes too sweet to me.  I bought plain yogurt and plan to experiment with it.  I also plan to experiment with the club soda and see what I can make with it.  I will also search for natural diet sodas. I don't know if I can get an easy recipe for the diet puddings.  I wish they had some without Splenda in them. Thank you for the ideas.