Splenda -- 12 questions you need to have

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Splenda -- 12 questions you need to have
14
Mon, 01-19-2004 - 10:58am

       ~~Rhonda~~


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 01-19-2004 - 11:49am

Oh, pooh! Here I thought I found something better than aspartame. I only put it in my oatmeal and most times I use Stevia instead. I guess I will have to use stevia all the time now..but it is sooooooooo sweet.


Grace

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 01-19-2004 - 11:53am
I just started using Splenda about 2 weeks ago, but I guess I'm going back to SteviaPlus. It just has a bit of a licorice aftertaste to me if you use even a little too much.

Rhonda


Time invested in improving ourselves cuts down on time disapproving of others.

       ~~Rhonda~~


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 01-19-2004 - 12:53pm

I will probably still use splendor but I would never bake with it. I use so little it should be ok and it is more convenient when traveling. I can see where if you use it for everything from

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 01-19-2004 - 1:13pm
My mom just sent me some information on how aspartame breaks down into highly carcinogenic formaldehyde and other toxins when headed beyond a certain temperature!! Even sugar-free Jell-O is supposedly dangerous when the boiling water is added. I think you'd have to eat quite a bit of it, but when we're being assaulted from all sides with toxins, the little bits do add up. Aspartame doesn't

       ~~Rhonda~~


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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-06-2000
Tue, 01-20-2004 - 8:11am
I read some of the same articles about aspartame yesterday... and then read a bunch of other articles, written in 2003, that come to different conclusions, superceding some of the other articles. I look at my mom who's been drinking artificially sweetened drinks for years starting with saccharin in the 1960s, and she's fine at age 68 - no brain tumors, no poisoning or anything like that. On the one hand you read about the potential dangers of artificial sweeteners, some fact, some fiction; on the other hand you read about dangerously overweight children, teens and young people, and part of their problem is they drink 5-8 cans of sugar-sweetened sodas a day.

It's hard to disseminate the fact from fiction on the Internet, or to know what the bent on the research is. I'm reminded of a cartoon from a collection of NY Times artwork: A lab rat, smoking a cigarette, is remarking to his buddy in the next cage "I'm down to 12 packs a day. How about you?". Obviously, cigarettes are health hazards, but the point the artist was getting across was that research can take on extremes that most people never encounter. So I wholly agree with y'all about moderation. I'm not going to cook with artificial sweeteners; the sugar is a small ingredient compared to what else usually goes into a recipe and doesn't add as many unneeded calories as compared to other ingredients (1/2 cup sugar vs. 2 cups flour and 1/3 cup oil). But I'm not going to drink sugared drinks either.





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C

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 01-20-2004 - 8:36am

It is SO nice that we can discuss these issues rationally and intelligently on this board. I appreciate it more and more after exposure to other boards. You would not believe the hornets' nest that post inadvertanly stirred up on the SBD Board. Let's just say I'm extremely thankful to "come home" to FOF!


I know what you mean about it being hard to know what to believe. I wish I could give up any kind of sweeteners, period, but I just don't enjoy tea without it even though I've tried. I've pretty much cut out soft drinks totally because of their other horrible effects on the body, but it's very difficult to bake without sugar. Maybe that's nature's way of telling me to *step away from the oven* with

       ~~Rhonda~~


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Avatar for imthebigsister
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 01-20-2004 - 9:58am
Curiosity got the best of me and I went over to SBD to read the Splenda debate. Sheesh, all the experts and purists over there! All you did was present information for intelligent people to consider and you get your behind kicked. Can you sit without a pillow today, or does it still hurt?

I've seen a lot of info published by Dr. Mercola on his website. I don't know if he's truly an expert or an alarmist crank, but I appreciate hearing what he has to say on nutritional and food safety subjects.

Personally, on the occasions that I bake, I never use either sugar substitutes or the full amount of sugar called for in the recipe, so I have no problem eating my goodies in moderation. Other baked goods - also eaten in moderation. I don't drink pop of any kind (never did), so I figure I'm safe from the horrors of both sugar and sugar substitutes over my lifetime. Same with the Splenda or other sweeteners when Splenda is unavailable to me - until I become a lab rat, I won't be forced to eat a box of it a week, so I feel reasonably comfortable with my decision to use it for the next half-century. Plus, I still think it's too sweet to use it as a direct teaspoon-to-teaspoon substitute for sugar. I still haven't seen Stevia or SteviaPlus in my regular grocery store, and I don't know that it's worth seeking out when I feel pressed for time already.

Just tossing 2 cents' worht more into the fountain. Keep doing your research, Rhonda - some of us appreciate it!

Donna

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 01-20-2004 - 10:12am

Thanks, Donna! Shan said to tell you hi. She's a hoot!


I've been having some stomach problems lately, and I'm beginning to wonder if they weren't related to Splenda. I'm sure some people tolerate it fine, but I don't do well with too much aspartame either. I noticed when I tried the CarbSmart ice cream it made me sick, and since I've been using Splenda in my tea (until yesterday) I was having a lot of problems again. I was better yesterday and am fine so far today.


Stevia and SteviaPlus are usually found in health food stores. Did you see the thread about that --I'm a glutton for punishment. Actually, it doesn't phase me about the narrow minded posters on the board except that it's annoying. It doesn't upset me or anything. I'm actually pretty easy-going about stuff like that, no pillow needed today. ;-)


I was very happy that the Daily Dish today confirmed the point I was making yesterday about it being an evolving diet. Maybe since it came directly from Dr. A. they'll accept it.

Rhonda


Time invested in improving ourselves cuts down on time disapproving of others.

       ~~Rhonda~~


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Avatar for imthebigsister
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 01-20-2004 - 10:58am
Shan is a hoot. No preachiness from her, or the sister act Ria and Alison, either. They're very cool people. Ria and Alison are not too far from you - southern GA, I believe. I think the CLs over there are trying hard and are certainly conscientious about their responsibilities - they just need some practice with a board that's so big and diverse it's bound to bring out some touchy-testy attitudes. Ria actually thought I should apply for CL on SBD - I said thanks, but no thanks. The attitudes were already coming out back then, and frankly I don't have the time for the job or the patience for the c%$p that you caught.

I haven't been posting over there too much - it's too busy, I hate the tone it takes sometimes, and when I do post, I try to focus on the newbies or on the folks having a tough time. They need the help more than someone who already thinks she knows all. I can't deal with the debating - no one's an expert, but everyone has opinions and valuable experience to share, and the fact that Dr. A is revising the diet is proof enough that we'll never know everything we need to know. It's not our job to know everything - that's Someone Else's job. We just need to do our best with what we've got, or with what intelligent people present to us from respected sources or from experience.

Amen.

Donna (thinking of speech writing for my next career....)

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 01-20-2004 - 3:42pm

You can find stevia in health food stores and some vitamin stores. It was very inexpensive in one of the vitamin stores under their own label. Sure wish I could remember which one it was.


Grace

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