DH brought home a packet of stevia and monk fruit from SBX. Tasted a little weird. I confess ai use the pink carcinogen. At work they have stevia. When at a restaurant if they don’t have the pink, I use the yellow or the blue.
So I’m going to experiment, I’m quitting the creamer altogether (boo). I put in just half of the stevia pack. We’ll see if I bloat.
I’m guessing that Kahlua and whipped cream isn’t what you were going for on this thread?
Haha…yes, as much as I love those, it’s not what I consider “healthy”.
Can’t we consider them good for your mental health?
No?
Ah well. I’m a tea drinker. The only way I’ll drink coffee is with Kahlua and whipped cream, lol.
Would a serving of stevia or whatever sweetener really make your stomach bloat to the degree of being able to pinpoint it on the sweetener?
Do you drink water too in the morning to help flush out your system? Or is that where the lemon water comes in?! 
I didn’t read all the comments, so may be repeating what someone else suggested - you might like a product called “All Natural ZERO Calorie Free Sweetener” by Wholesome. It’s sold at Whole Foods, and probably elsewhere. It’s is a sugar alcohol called Erythritol and is used 1:1 for regular sugar. It has zero Weight Watchers smart points, zero calories, Zero Glycemic Index.
There is another brand that is available in Shop Rite, called Swerve. I don’t remember exactly why, but I won’t buy that brand - I think it has something to do with the source of the erythritol not being as healthy as the Wholesome brand. I spent time looking into it before we started to use it, since I was already avoiding Aspartame and other artificial sweeteners for health reasons, but I can’t remember any details - sorry.
If you’re sensitive to milk, try Lactaid. I get it when my SIL visits. It also tastes a little sweeter than normal milk and foams really well as well.
At the risk of derailing the thread…on the subject of bloat…
I am the queen of bloat. The issue goes all the way back to high school. It has been a source of mental and physical distress for decades. Tried all the usual recommendations - no dairy, no gluten, no carbonation, no this no that. Sometimes it helped a little. Still, I would go thru weeks of distress, and then it would resolve. But, I could start a meal just fine and within 15 minutes have bloated so bad I was in a panic and had to unbutton my pants or roll down the skirt.
Then, very recently I stumbled upon the FODMAP ‘diet’. It was during a particularly bad and lengthy bloat episode. Within 48 hours I’d lost the bloat (peed like crazy, just dumping the fluid).
The basic principle - there are some carbohydrate compounds which ferment in your system. In some people they over ferment, or those people are highly sensitive to the fermentation process. These carbs are often part of the ‘healthy’ food of the day. The irritating carb molecules fall into four categories. Chances are you don’t react to all four categories.
The FODMAP approach was developed by Monash University in Australia. Kings College in the UK is also involved in research. The original intent was to address IBS problems. They are finding that folks who do not have classic IBS - but rather simply have bloating and gas - benefit from the FODMAP approach.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4918736/
And just because this is CC. https://www.health.harvard.edu/diet-and-weight-loss/a-new-diet-to-manage-irritable-bowel-syndrome
I’d bet the contents of the fake creamer would be a FODMAP no-no.
@deb922 we have a Nespresso Aeroccino machine with the milk frothier. I always used 1% milk until switching over to unsweetened vanilla almond milk. I have never had any issues with the milk not foaming/frothing. Actually, I take that back. I did have an issue a few months ago with my milk not frothing but something was wrong with the machine, not the milk. I called Nespresso and even tho the machine was beyond the warranty, they sent me a brand new frother!
@abasket , I drink lots of water, but never have the very first think in the morning unless I was hungover. The warm lemon was to flush and all the other good stuff I read about warm lemon water very first thing.
I think if I just experiment stevia, no coffee mate then vice versus for awhile I could determine if one or the other is the culprit. But I imagine it’s probably both
@LuvsLabs , thanks I will look into that sweetener!
@dietz199 , thank you for your post. I’m going to look into it. I’m glad you found something that worked!
Any sugar alcohol that does not get absorbed higher in the gut could be food to colon bacteria.
“Polyols can induce dose-dependent symptoms of flatulence, abdominal discomfort, and laxative effects when consumed by both healthy volunteers and patients with IBS. Further research is needed to better understand the effects of specific polyols on gastrointestinal function, sensation, and the microbiome in health and gastrointestinal disorders such as IBS.”
When I ask my wife to add some sweetener for me, she stirs the cup with her finger and laughs for me.
Not sure that works on a global basis.
“Honey, can you add some sweetener in my coffee?”
“There you go!”
Lol, loved that @privatebanker !
Drinking my covfefe with just 2% milk. ?
I drink black coffee with skim milk. H drinks the same with a teaspoon of sugar. Neither seem bitter to us.
I stopped taking any sugar in my morning drinks, both tea and coffee, many years ago to lower chances to get problems later in life . We never have sugar at the table so kids grow up without developing taste for sweeten drinks. If I could not give up sugar in my morning drinks I would probably still take regular sugar over any sweeteners. I don’t think one teaspoon of sugar does much damage .
Just so the other poster doesn’t feel all alone in this thread, I too am a bulletproof coffee fan. You HAVE to blend it or it is separated and kind of yucky. Stirring it in with a spoon is just totally different. When blended, it gets a little layer of foam on top, and the coffee itself has the texture of cream in coffee. I also put powdered collagen in for my skin and hair.
I do use my regular blender, then rinse it out. It is a little more work than cream and sugar but worth it to me…that’s my breakfast so there are no cooking dishes.
@dietz199 I’ll continue the bloat digression with you.
I was excited when Halo Top ice cream came out, happy that I could eat a whole pint by myself and have few regrets. My excitement soured when I realized, the hard way, of course, that Halo Top contains a sweetener I cannot eat in large quantities, erythritol. Darn it.
I stumbled into consuming too much of that same sweetener a few weeks ago when I was out at a restaurant eating pancakes and the waitress put some kind of sugar free syrup on the table. I didn’t know it was sugar free but should have suspected when it came in this small, fancy container. I realized my mistake a few hours later. Aargh! (Think those reviews of Haribo sugar free gummis)
So it’s sugar for me.
It is my understanding that not only can this type of malabsorption lead to colon issues but also to SIBO, small intestine bacterial overgrowth.