Artificial sweetners

[mudrunner]

Are artificial sweetners good for me? I drink a lot of tea but hate to load it up with sugar. I have been using Splenda and like it but was not sure it if was good for me or not.

[Rich Knapp]

Originally Posted by mudrunner

Are artificial sweetners good for me? I drink a lot of tea but hate to load it up with sugar. I have been using Splenda and like it but was not sure it if was good for me or not.

There is NO solid evidence either way.

[TitanCT]

Speaking as a bodybuilder, as in appearance driven. Spelnda can bloat some people, most i know prefer truvia. That said, the artifical sweeteners are def broken down differently in your body than sugar.

[Chillen]

Originally Posted by mudrunner

Are artificial sweetners good for me? I drink a lot of tea but hate to load it up with sugar. I have been using Splenda and like it but was not sure it if was good for me or not.

Why are you personally using an artificial sweetener?

I use artificial sweeteners for a couple of important reasons and separate foods/drinks into two difference categories: Strategic Benefit and Health Benefit. The post would be far to long to explain this.

Insulin tends to get a bad name because most really do not understand that Insulin is actually a multidimensional hormone that performs a variety of functions other than stabilizing blood sugar levels and an assistant in storage. One of the other beneficial uses of Insulin is shuttling important nutrients (and other things) into cells, where needed, and its just not simply a fat storage hormone.

I bring the above up, because whether some choose to believe it or not, stabilizing ones blood sugar levels (especially in-between meals), is ONE key in stabilizing one's hunger cravings. And, one needs to be proactive and aggressive in understanding hunger in order to defeat this enemy in ones deficit diet, and blood sugar level, is only one component in the overall equation.

Therefore, I will sometimes use an artificial sweetener (such as in coffee), for the times I do not want a blood sugar spike, and this has served me rather well, though there is some "papers" on Splenda in which suggest it does effect blood sugar to a degree. If this is true, it is not on the same playing field as regular table sugar (at least with me).

In reference to Splenda, do some research on the net, and come to your own personal conclusions. What I will say is apply some common sense, and ask yourself this question: Was the body meant to consume bleached white and granulated sugar in which is encased in a chlorine molecule (to put it simple), so the body will not recognize it as a calorie source or sugar, and just pass through the digestive tract? Most would say no.

Likewise, I had a grandfather whom lived to 92 years old. He drank a lot of coffee, loved his sugary foods (mostly bleached white sugar), fatty meats, and his Hershey's candy. Some persons are more genetically preconditioned to handle certain foods better than others. The problem is we do not know where we are individually.

[bikx43]

I have never used them. I just reach for the sugar. I find they leave a bad aftertaste in my mouth.