Hello Tom, artificial sweetners are my challenge

["M"]

HI All,

I am doing ok. I am incorporating all the good things about SB and it's getting easier. The challenge for me is I cannot use artificial sweetners. It brings on migraines for me. Anyone else with that challenge? The low sodium V8 is great and the cheese sticks are good.

Tom, thanks for the email.

[sweettfp]

this is something I've heard of, a natural sugar substitute, never tried it myself, may be worth looking into..
(from wikipedia)
Stevia is a genus of about 150 species of herbs and shrubs in the sunflower family (Asteraceae), native to subtropical and tropical South America and Central America. The species Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni, commonly known as sweetleaf, sweet leaf, sugarleaf, or simply stevia, is widely grown for its sweet leaves. As a sugar substitute, stevia's taste has a slower onset and longer duration than that of sugar, although some of its extracts may have a bitter or licorice-like aftertaste at high concentrations.

With its extracts having up to 300 times the sweetness of sugar, stevia has garnered attention with the rise in demand for low-carbohydrate, low-sugar food alternatives. Stevia also has shown promise in medical research for treating such conditions as obesity and high blood pressure. Stevia has a negligible effect on blood glucose, even enhancing glucose tolerance; therefore, it is attractive as a natural sweetener to diabetics and others on carbohydrate-controlled diets. However, health and political controversies have limited stevia's availability in many countries; for example, the United States banned it in the early 1990s unless labeled as a supplement. Stevia is widely used as a sweetener in Japan, and it is now available in the US and Canada as a dietary supplement, although not as a food additive. Rebiana is the trade name for a stevia-derived sweetener being developed jointly by The Coca-Cola Company and Cargill with the intent of marketing in several countries and gaining regulatory approval in the US and EU. Truvia is Cargill's consumer brand of Rebiana-based sweetener.
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Honey is also a good natural sweetner... not so sure how it'd be on some stuff though..
I wish you the best of luck finding something that works for you!

[RedRox]

Just be careful with stevia if you have any ragweed, daisy or chyrsanthemum allergies. They are all in the same family of plants. One member of my other board ended up in the emergency room going into anaphylactic shock from stevia because he was very sensitive to ragweeds.

Here's a page for a more complete list of precautions and interactions with stevia if you are interested.
Stevia - Drugs & Vitamins - Drug Library - DrugDigest
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Depending on the application you are looking for, I'd also look into agave nectar. lower GI than honey or maple syrup (which are about equal) and it works well in things like drinks or oatmeal. Or look into fructose itself (agave nectar is mostly fructose anyway) which is on the approved alternative sweeteners list. Others have also found things like some of the sugar alcohols like xylitol to be helpful. Just count any calories from these towards your 100 calorie sweet treat limit.

[tom]

I also have a thing against artificial sweetners in general.

The thing is that I feel that americans are used to the sweet taste of things ... I think other cultures are not ... some of the artificial sweetners are even sweeter than sugar ...

I believe in letting the body get used to not having the sweet. Let the true flavor of the food come out ... and rid your body entirely of that craving for the sweet taste.

Once that is done you will see that the sweetness will not be attractive any more . Just my opinion ...

["M"]

Hi All just checking back in. I just finished putting up tomorrows lunch and snacks. If I prepare for the day it seems to be easier.

I'm a little bit in a funk... read Dr's notes that referred to me as an obese female. I knew I was overweight but obese just seem to really hit me. All the more reason to stay on SB!!

["M"]

Thanks for that suggestion. The challenge is alot of the SB menu items contain the artificial sweetner. I am mostly drinking water and unsweet tea and doing ok.

["M"]

Thanks for the info. I did not realize that honey is ok??? I did pickup some stevia but I am mostly sticking to natural without any sweetner. So far not too bad. If I get into cooking some of the SB receipes I may run into trouble.

[sweettfp]

honey is allowed..p2 very limited, p3 limited...that is pure honey, same with fructose, sucrose, maple syrup,immitation maple syrup, reduced calorie immitation maple syrup, brown sugar, raw sugar, granulated white sugar. *** commercial blend honey is to be avoided in all 3 phases***
hope that helps!
ref:
SBD- good fats, good carbs guide 2005

["M"]

Originally Posted by sweettfp

honey is allowed..p2 very limited, p3 limited...that is pure honey, same with fructose, sucrose, maple syrup,immitation maple syrup, reduced calorie immitation maple syrup, brown sugar, raw sugar, granulated white sugar. *** commercial blend honey is to be avoided in all 3 phases***
hope that helps!
ref:
SBD- good fats, good carbs guide 2005

Thanks for the reply. I only buy honey from the farm so I will wait for P2 and use it sparingly.