Miscellaneous Forum

I'm trying really hard to give up artificial sweeteners. It's really not as easy as I thought it would be. I have no problem not drinking diet sodas or things like that but I drink a lot of herbal tea and it's KILLING me not to put Splenda in it. I tried using sugar, but the amount of sugar required to match the sweetness level of just one Splenda is obscene. Has anyone else tried giving them up? I'm not liking it at all. :(

What's wrong with the real thing, pure cane or honey?

Nothing, I guess. It's just a habit I developed over time. But I don't want to use a ton of sugar either--which is what it takes to make things as sweet as the fake stuff does.

I'm prejudiced here, I love sugar and candy and all the happiness it brings me. One hard candy and I'm wistling another fifteen minutes!

A friend gave me some Stevia years ago to use in place of artificial sweeteners. It is a herbal product- but since I don't drink coffee or tea, it hasn't been used that much except in lemonade. You might want to give it a try.

I've heard of stevia but never tried it. I suppose it's worth a try. :)

Why give up Splenda at all ?
It doesn't use aspartame.

splenda isn't as bad for you as the others, but I use either that or stevia extract. When I brew tea from leaves, I just put a small pinch of stevia leaves in when I infuse. I use the liquid drops for cold drinks or when I use tea bags.

Hope this helps em .... my sweet tooth is something fierce!

Hi Emilie
What a coincedence ,tonight we went for dinner and this restaurant had no artificial sweetener(or they hide it because some people actually take some home )
Anyways I used white sugar and boy I had to put in soo much in my coffee to get that sweet taste .
I much rather use artificial sweetener ,but some are sweeter then others I have found .
Can't help it but I need sweets and if I had to give it up well that would be a bit difficult so I hope I don't have too .

Hansi

You can always compromise and use 1/2 Splenda and half sugar in the raw. That's what I do and yeah, it took a bit of getting used to. I've also read that the consensus is still out on Splenda being bad for you, but just in case...

Well I eat lots of sweets I use lots of sugar .

NOT good for me I know but I do it anyways ,I do try to cut down a little (at times) .

Ohh well .

Hansi

Hansi, when I sweeten a cup of coffee it more resembles candy. Double caramel latte please, heavy on the whipped cream!

The jury is in on aspartame though ( Nutrasweet et alia ), Its deadly. Stay off diet soft drinks.

i think the key would be to slowly cut it down and not traumatize yourself... i have the same situation, only it is with salty food.

what i do it to cut the saltiness slowly until i get used to it.

good luck.

Funny because I just sat next to someone in my flight to San Jose who said he thought he was addicted to Splenda.

Unless there's something highly addictive in Splenda, you should be able to quit if you go two weeks without it. I was raised in Cuba, and in there we used to put sugar in milk and in orange juice (I know, yuk!) - so needless to say I used to put three heaping teasponfulls of sugar in my coffee. Drank lots of coffee to get my sugar fix. One time I did a diet which required I drink BLACK coffee. I gagged for the first week ... the second week was not so bad, and after that, I was never able to put sugar or cream in my coffee again. I only put a tiny bit of sugar if I drink expresso, which is rare.

So try it! Hope it's not the splenda that's addictive as the guy in the plane said.

>> when I sweeten a cup of coffee it more resembles candy <<
ahh ... for some wicked coffee try sweetening it with some condensed milk! You'll be in heaven.

I've never thought of putting sweetners into herbal teas, don't think I'd like them. But then, I'm sweet enough myself already ;O)

I drink herbal tea, I love camomile. I made a switch from coffee to herbal teas, I used to have sugar in my coffee and when I gave up coffee I was looking for a healthier option.
I sweeten my tea with pure honey (straight from the hive). Since I have been doing this I have never had a cold or a virus. But like you the honey is almost an addiction.

As a diabetic with a very sweet tooth, the only thing I can have without sweetener is tea with milk.
Just now I'm trying to avoid aspartamane, so depend on Splenda. to make my coffee taste nicer.
If you ban us from even that we have no alternative but to give up all pleasures in life !

I don't know if Splenda is as bad for you as the others, but I want to stop being so dependent on it--and I read something recently that says if you use a lot of artificial sweeteners they actually do something to your brain to make you crave sugar/sweetness even more than if you just used regular sugar--so I think the addiction theory might be valid. I know that I'm having trouble not using it. The half sugar/half splenda is a good idea so is the stevia. I've been to Latin America before and had condensed milk in coffee--you could get really used to that! They do use a lot of sugar in everything though--and drink a ton of soda. I remember once in Mexico really confusing a waiter because I wouldn't let him give my daughter Sprite and asked for plain milk instead.

i was just thinking about this today em. im trying to move away from them as well. i dont use sweetener in the green tea i drink but sometimes i get black tea from dd's or sb's and i ususally use a few splenda with cream. ive been trying to move over to sb's natural sugar packets they have, but i cant even taste it when i use those, unless i use 20 (exaggerate a bit). ive started doing a slow move instead, ill still use one splenda and then some sugar packets. hoping that one day i will wean myself off the super-sweet stuff and can then be able to taste the sugary goodness of real sugar.

i dont want to use spelndas anymore.

I think you and I have the same problem, Renee. It does take like 20 sugars to make tea as sweet as a couple of Splendas does. Oh, the sadness of it all.

ive tried blue agave nectar and that is really sweet. it also has a low glycemic index to prevent blood sugar spikes. it is all organic. i think it was bought at like whole foods, or trader joe's. but that is something to try too if you need sweet but don't want artificial sweeteners or too much sugar. it was tasty, and not bad for you.

http://www.thebetterhealthstore.com/ItemDetail.asp?ovchn=FRO&ovtac=CMP&sku=1251121122&ovcpn=1251121122&amp;ovcrn=1251121122

that site even says its sweeter than sugar. i've had it and can attest to that :)

Sweeter than sugar. That's the way to be. :)

How long have you gone without having a sweet drink?
I believe that when you are trying to break a habit/start a new one, it is recommended that if you stick to it absolutely for 3 weeks, by then you will be used to it.