Have you read this Prevention magazine article?
The Best (and Worst) Diet Foods
Can frozen dinners, liquid meals, and sugar substitutes really help you shed pounds?
Quite interesting!! I love the way it's written!!
Interesting quote: "A 2004 Purdue University study found that rats that drank liquids artificially sweetened with saccharin ate more food than those that had been fed sugar-sweetened liquids. Humans who chug sodas with these sweeteners may react by overeating, too: Your risk of being overweight rises 65% for every diet soda you down each day, according to a study presented in June 2005 at the American Diabetes Association meeting."
Down 65.6 lbs WITHOUT surgery!! 
This diet ticker is of my overall weightloss since 2/16/08.
Great post!!!!
That type of study was also done many years before that date! In my HumanNutrition course, there were studies cited of people who use "sugar free products". It was discovered that humans tend to seek, whether we are conscious of it or not, a certain caloric level. So, when given food with less cals, like no sugar items, we eat more.
It was this kind of information that led me, eventually, to eating smaller portions of all foods, even - maybe especially rich foods - rather than eat look alikes. I'd rather have real home made pudding than the sugar free stuff and savor the flavors.
I am considering buying 2% milk again!
I absolutely agree. Processed and altered foods, in my opinion, have really contributed to our obesity epidemic. Sugar free. Fat free. Chemically enhanced is more like it. In my home now, Splenda, and every other form of chemically altered sweetener, is prohibited. We have raw honey, stevia, and xylitol. My pregnant daughter is drinking whole, organic milk. I'd prefer RAW organic milk, and she does get that when we can (son and daughter in law's goats' milk). I think another thing that helps with appetite control is to have the GOOD fats we need in our bodies. I find my breakfast shakes to really stick around when I throw in the tablespoon of olive oil.
It doesn't take as long as you might think to squash that sweet craving, but it will never happen if we keep throwing artificial sweeteners into everything.
