I was thinking about how bad everyone is saying that the aspartame is for us, but what about the pesticides on our fruits and vegtables, or the hormones our chickens are injected with, or the chemicals they put in our tap water? It seems to me that there is really nothing that we eat/drink that is 100% safe.

^i agree

and it's not affordable to eat organic nor practical to grown your own veggies and slaughter your own meats.

i pick what i can that's natural or organice but i'm not going to go broke doing it. i told them at the center that my body was revolting at the thought of water, that i cldn't even choke down the drinks i was supposed to have after one weekend and they acted like they'd never heard that before. i told them i thought i'd just had too much water and that i'll get thirsty again but they insisted i continue to try to get in my water.

one thing i will say, NEVER DO ANYTHING THAT YOUR BODY IS TELLING YOU NOT TO. if the THOUGHT of water makes your stomach turn, you've probably had TOO much. if you just don't like it cuz it's boring and we're a society spoiled by flavors then cowboy up. i admit that i'd rather drink tea than water ANY DAY but i've had to cowboy up to get to where i want to be. i get mildly nauseated after anything that has aspartame in it so i avoid it. that's my body and i intend to listen to it before a bunch of scrawny women that might not pay enough attn to their own bodies to discern what's going on when they get to feeling that way. *shrug*

I think crystal lt is fine in moderation.... as with all the artificial sweetners. I have found with my body that if I have too much it does have the opposite effect though and I tend to have more food cravings.

I think limiting the amount of crystal light and diet rite and other artificial sweeteners also has to do with changing our over eating habits and decreasing the sweet factor. I have noticed that I have less cravings overall for sweet things with drinking just water, perhaps it is all psychological to me. But I also noticed in addition to the 64oz water, an additional 8oz for every 25 pounds you have to lose and 8 oz for every 15min vigorous exercise. I live in the desert so I add another 8 oz, so for me I drink around 80-96 oz a day

I just talked with my doctor about the water thing, and sigh, he does think Aspartame (and soda) is like poison, so maybe I should limit my CL darn). He said water was really the only good beverage out there, but when I told him I was drinking about a gallon a day, he told me that was too much - that I only need half that amount - much more than that taxes your kidneys and can deplete your body's vitamin/mineral balance.

Good news for the ones who hate water - bad news for the ones who love Crystal Light! lol

When I talked to my doctor about artificial sweeteners, he said "well, there's no evidence that they're good for you," but he said that they're probably safer for us (hubby and I) than sugar (because husband is diabetic, and I am borderline diabetic/ insulin resistant), and that if artificial sweeteners helped us avoid real sugar, it was probably not a terrible idea. He's been very supportive of our efforts to improve our diets gradually, but consistently rather than trying to change our diets drastically (which he says rarely works, most folks go back to their old ways).

I use a lot less artificial sweeteners than I did when I started. I went through a big bag of Splenda every couple months, and now that same bag lasts nearly a year. I used to drink undiluted Crystal Light every day (and never the tea, only the fruit drinks). Now in a gallon pitcher, I mix one Crystal Light tub, 2 qts of water and at least 2 quarts of unsweetened herbal or flavored tea (I'm not afraid of cafeine, because cafeine helps with the pain and fatigue of fibromyalgia, and I'd rather take cafeine than prescription meds like Provigil, considering it the lesser evil).

I don't eat much junk or processed foods. I almost never eat deli or lunch meats, and when I do I buy the higher quality, least processed ones. I'm trying to eliminate most grains. I buy organic when the price is reasonable (like Sam's club's Organic fuji apples and baby spring greens - awesome).

I tend to think that the effects of all these artificial ingredients are cumulative. Avoiding or reducing them is a great idea, but it's the overall diet that's probably the most important. Does it matter that I use artificial sweeteners, specifically - or is it more important that I keep my artificial ingredients to a minimum. Is a glass of Crystal Light more dangerous than a twinkie or even a Big Mac? You can say that all three should be avoided, and in a perfect world that's true, but the perfect diet isn't what I'm aiming for yet, a better diet is.

My first step was to reduce my consumption high calorie junk and processed foods. Then, I eliminated almost all of them. Then I moved on to decreasing my reliance on low calorie junk food (eventually, I may elliminate them, but for now, I'm still reducing them).

I think it is important to pick your battles, and focus on progressing in a direction and at a level that you find comfortable. Otherwise, it's easy to start feeling sorry for yourself, deciding "it doesn't matter" or "what's the use" and it can be very tempting to just throw in the towel and eat whatever you want no matter how horrible it might be for you.

In the guidelines, it says that days 5-10 you can have 16 oz of caffeine free/sodium free diet soda. Then day 11 you can increase to 32 oz/day. You must drink 64 oz of water and additional oz are recommended for excess weight and excise. Weren't you gals given that in class?

Also, the liquids use splenda if you have an aversion to aspartame.

Well, what they tell us to do, and what we ACTUALLY do are probably two different things! lol Honestly, I am just going with what feels right for me and listening to my doctor's recommendations.

If you are on any diuretics (prescription or over the counter), or on blood pressure medications (even the smallest of doses) or other prescription meds, talk to your doctor about your fluid requirements before drinking more than 100 oz of any and all fluids (even alcoholic and/or caffeinated beverages, milk, even soup - because it all "counts" and can overtax the kidneys, especially if you're on certain meds....).

I'm new to the forum. My wife and both joined and are on day #4 of the program- hence my username. I have about 30 lbs to loose ( really I want to reduce my waist size from 40 in to 34in ) and my wife wants to loose 40lbs. I have a medical background and I still find the biochemistry confusing. I don't care how much one has studied the body it is easy to overdo alcohol, high cal foods, ect- I've been doing it too long and I realized that I need help to break the cycle. It is good to hear the stories of others going through the same thing. I don't think that artificial sweeteners make a difference , but I'm not sure. The more that I read the more confused I get.
I have e-mailed a researcher at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada who does research on sweeteners- hopefully he can answer the question. I'll let you know if he emails me back.