I am trying to find out how to add flavoring that I like to my water. I probably have had way too much aspartame by using crystal light. But can anyone tell me what artificial sweeteners like aspartame will DO to me while on IP? Will they make me go out of ketosis? Or will they simply make me feel hungry? (I am willing to be a bit hungry) I guess I just want to know the real reason! I have a desire to be 100% OP and do not want to jeopardize my weight loss. This program is possibly the best diet that has ever happened to me!

I am pretty new to this, but I have read that it can cause your pancreas to create insulin, which we do not want. Try to stay away from Aspartame and go with sucralose. Mio water inhancers work great for us

The best thing is Stevia.

Agree! No Aspartame.

Any sweetener, natural or artificial, will trigger the brain to make you crave more. This was demonstrated in a study.

I don't believe it is correct (or the same) to say they stimulate the pancreas to release insulin. I have seen no data to support that. You have to look at the glycemic index to judge. The higher the value, the faster the pancreas reacts to release insulin. Sugar is on top, sugar alcohols somewhat lower but still not good, aspartame/splenda are 0. Stevia is 0. Splenda is in the Walden farms stuff and IP. Aspartame is in all kinds of stuff, and there are other health concerns with it, as far as longterm side effects. I still use the crystal lite because there isn't much out there with Stevia, which I prefer.

There are a bunch of posts on this. If anyone has data to prove that artificial sweeteners generate insulin, I'd be interested in seeing it.

What does your coach say? My IP handout said crystal lite was okay, but just once a day. Maybe you could use diluted portions of it and make it stretch more...?

Thanks for your replies! I think the issue is just something I am going to have to toughen up on and just deal with . Oddly enough I am fretting over not having crystal lite in all of my water than the other food issues of this program. i guess we all have our oddities ! LOL

I use Mio but I don't use the amount they say you should use on the bottle, I use about half that. I find it's enough to give my water a boost and keeps me from going overboard with "extras".

I mostly drink plain water but for a treat I make cool aid sweetened with Stevia. I recently discovered Ice drinks which are sparkling water in different flavors containing Splenda.

I make a cup of flavored hot tea and then pour it over a big glass of ice. This gives me the flavor of the water but no sweetner.

Would you mind sharing what exactly you buy for the cool aid with stevia? Is there actually koolaid made with stevia now, or do you buy something else?

I buy the original unsweetened cool aid that costs around 15 cents, which I sweeten with 11 packets of raw stevia.

I loved my crystal light too, but now I am just doing water with lemon.

There hasn't been much research on the effects of stevia, and being a plant extract, it has to be proven unsafe before it can be taken off the market (as ephedra was). And while it has a long track record of apparent safety in it's natural form, even that has never been used in the amounts or concentrations that people are now using them. The little research that has been done (that I could find) found a link to reproductive system birth defects in rodents born of mother rodents eating stevia during pregnancy.

I'm not going to be bearing children, so I'm not overly concerned with moderate use of stevia, but I'm not going to be replacing other sweeteners until I know more (probably checking the german research, because germany does far more research of herbal products than the USA.

I've done a lot of research of the various sweetners, and some do have some risks, though not more than other foods artificial and natural. It just reinforces in my mind, that variety and moderation are key. There are many foods that are safe in moderation, but potentially harmful in large quantities. Eating tons of soy is also not very good for you, but moderate soy intake is fine unless you have some very specific hormonal problems.

Aspartame is associated with some problems such as benign (noncancerous) pituitary tumors, and neural tube {spinal} birth defects to the fetus, however it's not really the aspartame - it's the folate deficiency. Aspartame (like many natural foods) depletes folates {I'm not sure by which mechanism, just that it does} So if you're not eating enough folates in your diet, aspartame can cause or worsen a folate deficiency. Folate deficiency is a cause of most (if not all) of the problems associated with aspartame.

There's a very easy fix - if you're going to be using aspartame regularly, make sure you're eating 5 or more servings of veggies. And if you're not going to eat a lot of veggies, at least take a folic acid supplement.

As for the insulin response, there's been a lot of research and the vast majority of it has found that the artificial sweeteners endorsed by the ADA (American Diabetes Association) do NOT cause an insulin reaction. The few that found insulin response in non-caloric sweeteners was not with aspartame and Splenda it has been with the "natural" sugar alcohols. Some of these seem to cause greater and lesser insulin responses in individuals (meaning some people have an insulin response and some do not).

Personally, I'm happy with using artificial and natural low-calore sweeteners, but I use less than I used to, and I use a wide variety (including stevia) because I believe that the problems associatated with all and any of the sweeteners occur because of overuse.

Though I definite suggest taking a folic acid and spreading out one's sweetener use to include as much variety as possible.

Also there does seem to be some truth to the argument that all sweeteners can exacerbate a sweet tooth, and the more you use, and can increase one's threshold for tasting sweets (the more sweet you eat, natural or not, the less sweet foods in general start to taste, so you may find yourself using more and more.

Personally, I find that sugar does so far more than artificial sweeteners, and I've also found (since switching from mostly aspartame to a wide variety of sweetners) that using a variety of sweeteners also seem to have less of an effect than using just one.

And I've found that gradually reducing sweetener use and sweet fruits, has made my taste buds more sensitive to all food. And by doing it gradually, I didn't even feel any deprivation (for example, I started mixing in more water or unsweetened tea into my Crystal Light).

Kaplods,
Great explanation - thanks!

From what I've read, aspartame also ignites the part of your brain that makes you crave carbs. I recommend mio (and the off-brand) water enhancers, which are tasty and don't have aspartame.

I'm not sure this theory is based on the research. It started appearing right after one study that found that rats who were given aspartame-water to drink, ate more carbs when given the opportunity than did rats given sugar-water.

That was one theory, but to my knowledge has never been proven (I usually am up on the aspartame research, but if I've missed any newer research on this, and someone can point me to actual research, I'd love to know).

The biggest difference between rats and people in this regard, is that people can use a food journal to limit their food intake. They can trade off "a little extra hunger" for a sweet treat occasionally.