As you will be able to tell from this post, I haven't dieted in a long time.

There is a lot of discussion on this board about Splenda. I have tried a few things that have disappointed me because of a mild aftertaste. When I check the label, the sweetener is Splenda.

I have always used Equal (nutrasweet).

I realize all this stuff is artificial and probably not good for me, but neither is the excess weight.

So can somebody please explain the pros and cons of artificial sweeteners? And, by the way, what is Stevia?

I'm not going to get into the discussion of natural vs artificial - for once! Splenda is the more natural but there's lots of controversy over it too!

Stevia is the leaf of a plant that originally was cultivated in the orient. The leaves are dried and powdered and have great sweetening power. As it is a herb(an herb in the USA! ) , it has not received FDA approval. You can get it at bulk food stores here in Canada.

It's ten times sweeter than sugar so be careful!

http://www.healthy.net/nutrit/kitchen/foods/stevia.asp

I like to use stevia in my tea or drink herbal teas that don't need sweeteners. I am making an effort to use more natural food products and organic foods when I can.

I think stevia may be available in the U.S. as an herbal supplement but the FDA won't allow it to be marketed as a sweetener.

Here is a site that talks about stevia and what it is. There are also some sites where you can order it if you just type stevia into your search engine.

http://www.stevia.net/

By Dr. Jim Bowen
In a simple word, you would just as soon have DDT in your food as Splenda, because sucralose is a chlorocarbon. The chlorocarbons have long been famous for causing organ, genetic, and reproductive damage. It should be no surprise, therefore, that the testing of sucralose, even at less than the level demanded by FDA rules, reveals that it has been shown to cause up to 40%shrinkage of the thymus: A gland that is the very foundation of our immune system. It also causes swelling of the liver and kidneys, and CALCIFICATION of the kidney.

Another thing I am reading is that our bodies don't actually know what to do with an artificial sweetener and that it still causes blood sugar spikes because it treats it like sugar. I have had my type 1 diabetic friend get up in the morning take her blood sugar and then drink a plain caffeine free beverage sweetened w/Splenda every time she has tried it, it raises her blood sugar violently as if she had just drank a coke.

I know that there is a lot of bs around the whole "what is good for you and what isn't" debates, and IF something bad happens it is normally like 1 person out of 1,000, but with my bad luck I am not taking any chances. So I'll use an artificial sweetener maybe every now and then, but other than that I will just limit my sugar intake.

I went on a kind of "Splenda binge" earlier this week when I found some Carbolite products and I felt desperate for something sweet; who can resist jelly beans and chocolate, you know? Anyway, I felt just as if I had eaten the real thing, the next morning I was up a couple of pounds as if I had eaten the real thing, AND it took me a couple of days to get my "sugar thoughts" out of my head.....again....as if I had eaten the real thing. I felt like my splurge was wasted on a Frankenfood when I could have just had dessert with the same consequences.

Just my opinion I won't be doing that again. On Easter, I'm going to have some candy and I'm planning on it. But I won't be trying the fake desserts again.

so some of the recipes call for splenda.. what do you suggest instead?

well...I haven't quite resolved that issue yet. I've been cheating here and there with sugar desserts when I absolutely have to have it and jumping back on the diet the next day. I'm just not sure the artificial sweeteners will be more helpful than a low-sugar dessert. Wait until phase two and you can have chocolate-dipped strawberries.

is store brand artificial sweetner worse than say equal.. a name brand?

Store brands should be the same as a name brand, as long as the sweetener is the same (check the labels). Equal is expensive, so a store brand should be worth checking into. I've never seen a store brand of Splenda, though. However, I have started buying it at SamsClub. A 700 packet box is less than $14.

i was able to get a store brand of equal @ food lion (our grocery store) yesterday. but its not packets.. it's the spoon out kind. i got that because i already had packets at home, plus i thought it might make it easier when trying to use it in recipes. i wanna say it wasn't more than $2.

It's going to be awhile before a generic version of sucralose (Splenda) comes out; as long as the Splenda company (I believe it's Searle) has the exclusive rights on the patent, they're going to be the sole source for the product.

Same thing happened with aspartame (Nutrasweet/Equal). After a few years, their exclusive patent ran, and then it was easy enough to find generics. In fact, it appears as though Splenda is getting less expensive - it's in more products, and I just bought a 6-oz box at Smart & Final for $2.99 (Safeway's price for the same is well over $5.00).

well....i remember hearing that sweet N low caused cancer...and then they came out years later saying it was safe. I'm just going to trust that Spenda is as safe as other types of sweetners. since Ive been on this diet, i've fallen in love with Splenda. I don't know why. I like it much better than Equal. Of course, it worries me that there might be something wrong with it. But I don't know....I don't really want to give it up. Does anyone els euse Spenda without too much worry? I use about 6 - 7 packs a day. is that bad?

I use a lot of Splenda. But I recently bought Stevia Plus at a supermarket (Ralph's). It claims "zero calorie, zero glycemic," and has 1 gram of dietary fiber. No carbs. There is a chart on the back of the box showing that the other artificial sweeteners, including the other Stevia (non-plus), all have 1 gram of carb. I think you can't bake with Stevia Plus and use it like Splenda. It is very sweet. I usually use a whole Splenda pkt. for my coffee or iced tea, but only 1/2 a Stevia Plus pkt. Stevia Plus is more expensive than Splenda. But I also like Sweet N Low and Equal. At restaurants I choose Sweet N Low first. One thing I miss is occasional honey in my hot tea!

I'm going to try stevia. I think that sounds like a great idea. At least it wasn't made in a lab...