Splenda - friend or foe?

[TitianWasp]

Ok everyone,

I am eyeing a variety of things in my current WOE as potential saboteurs (before giving in and admitting I am eating too much and exercising too little to lose weight at my current height/weight/age/gender).

Usual suspect #1 - Splenda. Has anyone every found this to be a true "staller"? Have you personally cut it out of your diet and immediately found your weightloss restarting?

Please let me know. Science reports are conflicting, so I'd like to hear some anecdotal evidence.

Thanks, as always!
TitianWasp

[not2late]

Re: Splenda - friend or foe?

Maybe I should move this to the Main Forum so you'll get more thread views?

[TitianWasp]

Re: Splenda - friend or foe?

Hey Megs - probably a good idea. Noticed I wasn't hearing much from people today (though it is a holiday, isn't it?).

Hope you had a great weekend.

Muffy

[julirama723]

Re: Splenda - friend or foe?

I don't know if it's a true staller for me, but granulated splenda has given me stomach aches and MAJOR cravings in the past. I stick with stevia or sweetzfree.

[scaleskl]

Re: Splenda - friend or foe?

I haven't stalled from using splenda.

[chicamarun]

Re: Splenda - friend or foe?

I'm investigating it myself actually - I think my diet coke "issue" is the reason I have been stalled for a little bit. So I am upping water intake and trying to "wash it" all out of my system and will see what happens over the next day or so.

First time I did Atkins I never drank water that wasn't sweetened (I'm still not a water-lover) and they were all sweetened with Splenda and I would bake and make goodies all the time and never stalled. This time (7 years later) I am having issues with it I think. Apparently my body doesn't think it's the same age as it was 7 years ago (though my mind keeps telling me I'm no different!)

[TitianWasp]

Re: Splenda - friend or foe?

I am hoping lots of people will say YES, YES IT'S THE SPLENDA!!! CUT IT OUT AND YOU WILL LOSE FREELY AGAIN!

So far, not happening.

[woodym]

Re: Splenda - friend or foe?

Yes, Yes It's The Splenda!!! Cut It Out And You Will Lose Freely Again!

[TitianWasp]

Re: Splenda - friend or foe?

Ha ha - thank you WoodyM. Do you mean it? Have you had experience with this issue?

[ValidRouge]

Re: Splenda - friend or foe?

Titian, I cannot say that Splenda is a staller or not, because, for each of us, it's an individual thing. Dairy stalls me, it may not stall you. Nuts are trigger food for me, they may not be for you.

I can see that you already suspect this as a big culprit because of this thread and one other you started. The only way you are going to get any kind of an answer, is to test your hypothesis for yourself. There isn't a single person on this board who can answer it BUT you.

I, personally, cut out artificial sweetners in the powdered form because of the maltodextrin. Occasionally I will still use the liquid saccharine or sucralose, but I truly do better without them. The sweet taste alone causes me to want more and more.

[Mickkey]

Re: Splenda - friend or foe?

Wow I can't believe I ran across this, as I just decided yesterday to give it up, as I'm stalling, and weight continues to fluctuate between a couple of pounds.

The one thing I ingest consistently day to day, aside from vegetables, is splenda with coffee. Not ready to give up the caffeine just yet, cutting back though.

So, I'm going to see if this helps. Sure hope it does.

[TitianWasp]

Re: Splenda - friend or foe?

Ah, Valid - I was afraid it would come to that. Just hoping to hold off a little longer as I had finally gotten used to the taste of splenda (semi-supertaster, so a lot of "created" foods taste like cleaning products to me).

I did cut back today, and I will clip further for the remainder of the week. Regretfully I am making a lot of changes to my diet currently and it will be tricky to identify which ones give me a positive result. Perhaps a combination of them all!

Sigh.
Wish me luck!

[ValidRouge]

Re: Splenda - friend or foe?

You know...I DRASTICALLY cut a lot of stuff out of my diet and then have been adding them back one at a time. That seems to be working because the scale addict in me is happy because I'm losing...and I get to add foods back and see what the culprits are.

Sadly, I'm finding that foods I've eaten straight from the beginning are my problem foods. Dairy in particular. Any kind of processed meat. I don't think my body is changing any, it's just that I don't have that much to lose any more, so the reaction is much more noticeable now. Looking back, I might have lost a lot faster had I removed those foods right from the get go. I just didn't know any different.

For instance...I'd been steadily losing all of last week. Every day, down a few more ounces. On Saturday, I ate some smoked sausage from this barbecue place...and BAM! Next day I was up 2.5 lbs. This happens if I eat bacon, or any kind of ham, sausage--any processed food. If I eat any dairy--cream, half n half, cheese, I stall. Eventually the stall will turn into gain.

I'm not a huge diet soda fan, so I don't really care to add those back into my diet. Nuts cause instantaneous cravings. Heck, just THINKING about peanuts or peanut butter gets a pavlovian response. Yikes.

Anything that contains the combination of dairy and artificial sweetner now causes intense cravings for me. So, I try to avoid them. The addict in me is constantly working on me to give into the temptation though.

[Promise]

Re: Splenda - friend or foe?

Dairy stalls me, it may not stall you. Nuts are trigger food for me, they may not be for you.

Hello ValidRouge! does ALL Dairy stall you? Cream, Cheese, all of it? or can you have 'some'? i noticed that i had been stalling and so 2 weeks ago i poured my Heavy Cream downt he drain and that week 'without it' i lost 2lbs... and last week i lost 1 more... im wondering if i also cut out the Cream Cheese would it help... do you not have ANY dairy?

[ValidRouge]

Re: Splenda - friend or foe?

The only dairy that I allow myself is butter. I haven't cut that out yet. BUT, I'm only having a couple tablespoons per day.

I do have problems, however, trying to bargain with this food group. Every time I allow it back in, the same thing happens. Why do I continue to let it in?? Because I am an addict, and this is my "crutch", my "methadone", my "patch", my "gum"....know what I mean?? This is one of those situations where the replacement is just as bad as the real deal.

Cream cheese, hard cheese, all of it causes me to stall.