The FastDay Forum

Hi all

I've been using sweetners in my tea and coffee but I have been told that you might aswell have the sugar in your tea (.5) of a teaspoonful as this will still make your body create insulin thus slowing the fat burning down, is this correct?

I have also been drinking pepsi max on my fast days and have been told preety much the same about artificial sugars. ?......really confused as to what I should do, any advise would be great.

i don't think any of the common sweeteners cause you to secrete insulin. Evidently they make you crave sugar/calories, though.

If you're worried, try stevia--it's a natural sweetener with fewer calories than sugar.

I've been trying to cut down on artificial sweeteners, mainly because I'm trying to cut out all processed food. I still have a coke zero almost every day (down from 2-3 per day), but I use stevia in coffee now, so only use Splenda in fruit/herb tea, which I don't have frequently.

edit to add reference: if "common" above refers to sucralose (Splenda) and aspartame, my statement is true; here's an article with links to references included: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/artifici ... z2xaiLTDgT

[Tracieknits]

I can't see any good reason to use artificial sweeteners. I used to drink a lot of diet coke every day - all through the years where I gained so much weight. I can't help but wonder if there's a correlation.

I think in general, aside from the conflicting data about whether artificial sweeteners are killing us or messing with our insulin levels, I think in general it's better to avoid all the sweets we can avoid and get used to items with less sugar. Wanting that sweet taste makes us crave more sweets, ice cream, candy, etc.

I no longer have any diet sodas. I'll drink unsweetened iced tea, seltzers and lots of plain water. I no longer put any sugar or sweetener in my coffee -- I slowly decreased over a few weeks until there was no more sugar in my coffee.

And now I don't like desserts or candy that are too sweet. I am definitely satisfied with less. One or two bites of dessert satisfies me now.

I agree with you, @Tracieknits. I've been eliminating artificial sweeteners for the last couple of years. The only place I haven't cut them is sugar free gum on fast days. Sometimes that's the only thing that saves me. I am starting to agree with the line of thinking that whole fat, real honey or agave nectar for occasional sweetening & lack of processed foods are going to transform my eating forever, along with 5:2. Wish I had learned all this in the 1980's!!

Me too @MLCDz .... X x

I've always preferred real sugar, however after joining Slimming World I kinda got into the habit of using Splenda in my tea as I love a cup of sweet tea first thing. I've never been happy using sweeteners so am yo-yo'ing between using sweetner one day, unrefined brown sugar the next. Not sure I could or would want to give up all sugar. Had a cup of herbal tea today instead of real tea so have not had any sugar so far and not feeling in any way like I'm depriving myself.

I do add stevia to my one cup of coffee I have a day and on fast days I have one can of diet cream soda with my meal. Rest of the time it's normal sugar.

Ditch it all. Go cold turkey. After about 4 weeks you stop craving it and your addiction is gone!
The thought of sugary water is pretty horrible to me now.
I realise that this isn't a helpful answer for the original post, but ditching sugared drinks makes the other aspects of 5:2 much easier and certainly helped me crave more nutritious foods.

I've seen a few discussions about this on the forum from time to time, and as I drink diet coke I have looked into the subject quite a bit. I have decided to cut out all refined sugar as much as possible because I do think that's bad for you for many reasons. I look at artificial sweeteners as being a bit of a no mans land - neither good or bad for you, but why not in moderation. If you can cut out all sugars that's obviously the best solution but not everyone is ready for that! I think you have to look at the research, find something that makes sense to you and go with it.

Hi all
thanks for the reply to this message.
had alot going on so not been on here for awhile.

Bit confused as to what to do now......the way I look at it is this.....any restriction of sugar is ment to be good and seeing as sweetners are a substitute I thik I will stay with them.

altho I will try stevia....never heard of this before not sure where to buy it....as for splenda did not like that the aftertaste was rancid.

Anyway thank you all for taking the time to answer my question

Hi @robinson In the meantime I've also given up sugar I do believe that the higher carbs stop us fatburning and I'm stuck weightwise my trial with Debs went well for me and I lost again followed with 2 gains.
carorees told us to go very low carb to force our bodies into fatburning and my sugar was stopping me deffo, I tried stevia last year found it OK on cereal but didn't like the aftertaste for tea+ coffee I'm now trying canderel sweeteners not good for me but I know from past if I once have sugar again I'll never give up so I'm persevering but unfortunately not many teas being finished.
Stevia all good supermarkets think I got mine fro Morrison's in a box near other sugars.
Good. Luck

I used to drink a lot of Diet Coke. I mean, a lot. Back in 2012 I decided not to have artificial sweeteners anymore as I'd rather have sugar than aspartame/sucralose. Now whenever I consume anything with any artificial sweetener in, I get a pounding headache which is deeply unpleasant. Plus the aftertaste isn't nice.

The headaches alone are enough to keep me well away, does anyone else find they get aspartame headaches?

I avoid artificial sweeteners and aspartame as much as I can, there is enough information out there now that clearly state they're not good for us or are even harmful (depending on what you read). I even gave up gum a few years ago as it felt like I was popping poison in my mouth a couple of times a day. I spoke about the aspartame thing on the WW forum once (as some people were drinking 2L of diet soda a day) and got a load of abuse, saying I was discouraging people from losing weight. And that some people could only get through the day by drinking diet soda. Just because some people are addicted to diet soda does not make artificial sweeteners/aspartame safe. (Maybe they were on the wrong plan). I'm not saying sugar is safe but at least it's not a chemical. I would say go for sugar over sweeteners but even try to reduce that. It's really not has hard as people think to give up fizzy drinks and sugar in hot drinks, after a week or so you won't even want it anymore.

YES! Exactly what @justdee said!

*high fives*

Yes Imcountingufoz! In 2010 I had continuous headaches and hubby was worried about the amount of painkillers I was popping. I went to docs and had test after test including CT scans the works. Then process of elimination totally put the hat on aspartame. I was drinking it daily in a water additive from another diet company. Threw that lot out and the headaches stopped straight away.

Unfortunately it's very hard to totally eradicate it as it's in a lot of things but I check the labels if I happen to buy processed. Saying that I much prefer plain yoghurt and add fresh fruit than buy a made one ect. It's a bit like having butter rather than plastic, sorry, margarine. A little of the good stuff is better than anything bad.

I have also cut out caffine now because of the tummy problems and feel even better. It does rather show when I've had a coffee with it in though!!!