I just had the recent pleasure of developing an allergy for the artificial sweetener acesulfame potassium aka acefulfame-K.
The past 2 weeks I have been getting severe stomach pains, bloating and cramping that would start 20min after eating and last for about an hour. I initially thought I had a peptic ulcer but I noticed it was only occurring after certain meals and never from my 8oz of lean protein.
I decided to make a spreadsheet of all of the IP packets and EAS shakes with their ingredients and found acesulfame potassium to be the only common ingredient among the problematic meals.
I followed this observation up with a painful experiment on myself. The day prior, I had no stomach issues (nothing I consumed that day contained acesulfme potassium). The following day I replaced my lunch soup with the orange drink. Meal timings were all the same. Amount of water consumption was the same. I even consumed the same type and quantity of veggies 30min before my lunch protein. I then slowly sipped on my orange drink until eventually consuming a little over 1/4th of it and like clockwork 20min later the pain was back and lasted an hour before subsiding.
After doing a little research on the artificial sweetener I realized that it is one of the least researched ones used and side-effects include a multitude of digestive problems. Take this as a bit of caution if you start to experience any similar symptoms while on this diet.
Fortunately, my coach is letting me trade in all of my packets that contain this so I can get something else. I just need to figure out what I can have now. My favorite post-workout drink is now out and no more cost saving EAS shakes either
At least it wasn't Splenda. That would have been even harder to avoid with IP.