WTG RR
Bengal tea does sound very good. Which brand do you buy? (i see, celestial)
I have been drinking green tea with blueberries, sweet without sweetener. At work I drink lipton black tea with 1 sweet n' low, like every other cup.

I just have my tea or latte now with no sugar or sweetener. Once I got used to it, now I really enjoy the nonsweetness of it. Sweet would ruin it, so it's not even an effort anymore. You start to appreciate the flavors of the tea or the coffee more.

I've been cutting back on the artificial sweeteners too. I use half what I used to. I've also cut way back on the diet soda. I used to drink 3-4 cans a day. Now I have maybe two in a week. Someone mentioned mystery stomach pains from artificial sweeteners. That might give me incentive to cut back more. The only problem with eating so healthy is my stomach issues, but maybe part of it is the sweeteners

I'm a tea drinker, but not an artificial sweetener drinker (can't stand the flavor). I used to put sugar in my tea but cut it out a couple years ago. My current favorite tea is Stash decaf vanilla nut creme tea. It is SO good! No sweetening needed. When I was a kid my favorite was Celestial Seasonings Harvest Spice, but they discontinued it. It was also so good it didn't need any sweetener.

http://www.celestialseasonings.com/p...s/bengal-spice

The brand is Celestial Seasonings. The link is above. I've also stock piled it. Now that I hear discontinuing tea is a common practice, I'm REALLY going to stock up. Okay. Now I'm getting all nervous. Okay. Breathe.

I haven't completely eliminated artificial sweeteners. JUST in my tea. For now. Truth is, I really have no plans for cutting it out completely. We shall see.

It is amazing what one gets used to though, isn't it? I wonder if in a short period of time I will feel as if, "How did I ever drink tea with sweeteners?" For now, I'm not there yet. But I'm on the road to it.

I have zero stomach/head/anything issues from the sweeteners or anything else for that matter. I consider myself very fortunate in that area, given the enormous quantities of produce I consume a day. VERY fortunate.

After this thread I was moved to try my cinnamon tea this afternoon with no sweetener and & I love it! Woo hoo!

Way to go Robin!

I still use 1 drop of stevia in some fo my teas. Bengal Spice and Chai teas are great plain, but there is something about black and green tea that I just want that hint of sweetener.

I still bake with some Splenda, but otherwise, I have given up artificial sweeteners completely.

I'm a former Diet Coke addict, so I consider this a major accomplishment.

My favorite tea is probably Good Earth Chai (regular and decaf), but I have so many that I love. I went wild with buying teas when I stopped drinking soda. Hot tea is truly an indulgence I savor every day

Way to go, Robin! Backing off the sweet tooth can be a real bugger - I've never been a sugar craver, but SALT - yikes, that was tough! Over the course of this year and relearning how to eat ... I've swung the other way and need intense spicing/heat on more food. I put chili seasoning on steamed broccoli, and paint corn on the cob with Tabasco! I love tea also and have been a big fan of Celestial for a long time. Tazo makes some good stuff too. My DH brought back a big selection of green and black loose teas when he went to China, and one of the green teas is distinctly sweet all by itself - very different.

Finished my first mug of tea this morning, while on the computer browsing around and doing a tad of work. And I was drinking that tea and enjoying it just as much as I had been with all the Splenda in it. No. That's not true. I was enjoying it MORE. Because I knew that the Splenda was NOT in there. So that made it even more enjoyable!

It was definitely yet another "why the heck didn't I do this earlier?" moment...

ICUwishing, I also HEAVILY spice my foods. I like tasty foods, I find them much more satiating. I too use chili powder on broccoli, cauliflower and some other veggies as well. I use cayenne pepper too. The more taste, the more flavor, the more I'm satisfied. I stopped relying on oil and frying and other fats and caloric items to make my foods taste good - and turned to spices. Spices I never even used back in the day - rosemary, thyme, cilantro, cumin, etc. A whole new world of food opened up to me when I gave up the caloric stuff.

Robin, I should take a picture of our spice drawer - you'd get a chuckle out of it. We have a Penzey's spice store that's about 10 minutes from my piano teacher's house ... FUN place! Best recent discovery: Tabasco on popcorn - omg. Fire and crunch - life is GOOD!!!

I love spice on my foods, as well... I use a lot of Ring of Fire hot sauce (best hot sauce ever IMO), cook with fresh peppers, use a lot of cayenne, chili powder, peppers, curry powders, etc. Love Penzey's - no store near me, have to do mail order...

LOL, my sister and I usually make an annual trip to Penzey's, it's a 40-mile trip. We could just mail order, but it's so fun to browse the store and smell stuff. She has to supplement during the year with mail order (she's an excellent cook and has a big family). I get to supplement from her cabinet .

I'm sooo jealous of people who actually get to go to Penzey's!!!!

I've never liked sweetener in my tea. I can always tell when I'm in the South, cause I usually forget to say "unsweet" when I order tea, and oooohhhh boy! I always think, "Yep, I'm in the South!!"

Okay. All this Penzeys talk. I had to investigate. And I am drooling. I think I'm in love. But quickly had my heart broken when I searched further and found there is no store any where near me.