I've discovered that sugarless lemon-mint Ricola 'cough' drops , and sugarless menthol type drops, really kill the craving for starches, at least for the duration they're in my mouth. So, question is, since they're medicinal type thing, the calories aren't on the package. Anybody know what a sugarless cough drop roughly pans out as? I can see that I could potentially go through quite a lot of these in a day, while at least in the stomach shrinking phase of my hardest first week of serious beginning (I"m going to lose 20 by my birthday, mid January, ... just you watch!

Any feedback would be appreciated

Hey! I tried looking cough drops up on Calorie King--but that brand isn't listed. Hall's sugar free says it has 5 calories per drop. All the nutrients are zero.

Jay

Also, please consider limiting use of menthol cough drops to the amounts listed on the package directions...even OTC products can be dangerous in high doses.

It is possible to OD on menthol, but it takes a pretty high dose to do so...still, too many can cause stomach problems, nausea, dizziness, etc.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/e...cle/002673.htm

5 calories a drop sounds about right.

When I was younger, I would eat them because they surpressed my appetite.

I think I should now have one any time I am craving food (usually bad food) and have already eaten.

Actually, I find I definitely won't OD on the menthol, because I don't really like the flavor, but he Lemon-mint Ricola brand (I found at Trader JOes), are awesome! I could eat 20 per day and only have had a 100 calories. Hey, if it helps me get through the tough times, I don't mind all that sugarless (sugar substitute), which normally I'm very against. We just have t make compromises in small doses to avoid larger consequences (20 sugarless drops vs. 40 pounds overweight.)

Ut oh, are they sweetened with sugar alcohols? If so, WATCH OUT . Do not, and I repeat DO NOT!!! eat 20 of them... unless you want to be in Crap City.

I don't know what they're sweetened with, and I've thrown away the bag (I empty them into a jar). I will look next time I get a bag.

Anything ending in -ol, like xylitol or mannitol, has the potential to cause the runs. But, most people don't eat enough cough drops that it is a problem. So if those are what the drops are sweetened with, you might want to limit how many you eat and how quickly.

Jay

Okay, I found a package, in the top drawer of my desk. Let me put on my reading glasses....oay... *ahem*, here are the ingredients of the Ricola Lemon-mint throat drops :

active ingred : 1.1 mg menthol [I hardly taste the menthol, so that must be just a little bit]

Inactive ingred : asorbic acid (vitamin C), aspartame, citric acid, extract of lemon balm and Ricola's her mixture,(elder, horehound,hyssop, lemon balm, linden flowers, mallw, peppermint, sage, thyme, wild thyme), isomalt, natural color (beta carotene) , natural flavors (lemon, peppermint)

http://www.ricolausa.com/products/sf...?ingredients=1

They are sweetened with aspartame.

They do have menthol, but only a little bit, so you're probably ok. 1.1 mg per. still, the package recommends no more than 2 per hour, so you ought to probably stick to that if you can.

Thanks Jay -- looks like 'aspartame' is the sweetener, so we're good !

Mandalinn82 ~ Thank you for the information! I will take the risk, fully aware that the 'direction's suggest 2 drops every 2 hours.

Cough drops suppress appetite?

That's the first I've ever heard of that. I wonder why? (Not that I'm gonna run out & buy cough drops, it's just that I'm a very curious being!)

Beach Patrol~ What I was saying, was that the cough drops , so far, seem to kill a craving, or satisfy the need to have something in my mouth. Besides, menthol taste kind of dominates the palate, so to speak. It may only work for the first phase of my hunger, and then I'll need to come up with other distractions.