Artificial sweeteners (Splenda included)

[garylspolar]

It's amazing, the poison that is passed on to us consumers as food. My doctor, my friend's doctor, and hundreds of health organizations and websites telling us to stay away from the stuff. I'll now have my coffee with just a little cream, thank you. Yogurts, soft drinks, anything sweetened with the stuff, I'm staying away from it:

http://www.holisticmed.com/splenda/

[NoRRmad]

A spoonful o' sugar is eighteen calories. I don't think it'll break my diet to have a spoon of sugar in my coffee.

[mad1150]

I hate the taste of all that stuff anyway, I'm sticking with sugar.

[slant]

Of course there is always honey......
healthy and tastes good.

[Ves]

For lunch we'll be having a double Whopper with extra cheese, a large order of fries and a diet Coke.... For desert, coffee with artificial sweetener, and a large bowl of ice cream with fudge topping...

I submit that the biggest damage artificial sweeteners do is they don't promote healthy eating habits. Instead of forcing our selves to minimize our intake of sweets, they allow people to feed their sweet habits, and think that it's OK... Yeah, that's it... I'll have a big old bowl of ice cream... but I'll balance that with a couple Sweet&Low's in my coffee...

Don't get me started...

[priapismic]

Of course there is always honey......
healthy and tastes good.

+1 on the honey, I've been sweetening my coffee since the late 70's with honey. Sugar just doesn't taste right to me anymore.

[Ves]

Perfect example... I come into the kitchen the other day and there's my 12 year old daughter about to put two Splenda in her drink. Now why does a 12 year old, think to put Splenda in her drink... cause she sees her mother do it all the time! So, I try to explain that if she really wants to cut out the sugar she should start with getting rid of the pop she drinks... and all the candy she consumes... Then my 14 year old pipes in and says, "Splenda is mad from sugar." (marketing at work!) .... Yeah... And Carbon Monoxide is made from Oxygen but you don't see me intentionally breathing Carbon Monoxide, do you?!

[Dr. Strangelove]

Let's see...
there is worry about the small % of Splenda that gets metabolized. There is worry that Splenda does NOT get metabolized.

And in spite of all that worry, we still ride motorcycles.

To me, and maybe just me, motorcycle riding is more dangerous than artificial sweeteners.

I still ride...and throwing ALL caution to the winds, I use Splenda.

And, just another observation, the 15-18 cals number is per "level" teaspoon. At home, a "level" teaspoon does not exist. At my work, people drink 3-4 cups of coffee a day, using 3 packs/sugar per 8oz cup. That's over 150 cals. Anyone who does any treadmill activity knows how long that takes to work off, just for the sugar in your coffee.

Of course what is best is adding no sweetener at all.

It's all a question of balance and priorities.


John

[wncbmw]

I take mine black - no sugar.

[Caol]

I'm not sweet enough yet. Real sugar!

[scottybooj]

Facts:

Splenda is still unknown as to it's effects in the body. It is now thought that it does not pass through as easily as thought. It's bastardized sugar.

Sugar: White sugar is probably worse than splenda. It's bleached and chemically treated beyond what should be legal. If you need sugar, get the raw stuff, turbinado.

Raw Honey is great for you. Super sweet and packed with enzymes and propolis. Stay away from that crap in the supermarkets in the bear shaped jar. junk. seek out raw honey. it's worth EVERY penny. There are many apiaries around, i'm sure there's one near you.

Ves makes a good point. I'm sure that people rely on these sweeteners to lessen the 'guilt'. I see it when people order a huge amount of food and a diet coke. Puh-lease! Ever hear of water?

The key is to minimize our exposure to UNNECESSARY risks. I contend that motorcycle riding is necessary, therefore a risk worth taking. Poisoning myself with chlorinated crap because it's sweet, is most definitely not.