“All the nonnutritive sweeteners - stevia, saccharine, aspartame, sucralose - I don’t think they’re fooling anyone’s pancreas. Or helping us get a hold of sweetness addiction. So, pass the good stuff!”
I don’t think stevia belongs in that group. It is a natural plant, may be good for blood pressure and improve glycemic control in diabetics. It’s 100 X sweeter than sugar. I don’t think you’re better off consuming 100X the amount of sugar.
I figure, if your grandparents lived to a physically and mentally healthy older age, feel free to eat as they did. (In my case, Grandma liked fruits and veggies and a good drink once in a while.) Lots of foods go in and out of favor over the decades. Coffee is a good example. Even the diabetic assn has revised their stand on sugar when used sensibly.
Anyway, yes one of mine got a basket of fruits and veggies. Really pretty. She was delighted.
acollegestudent- I was assuming you were 18 or so. I was saying that you might change your mind about absolutes, not that you would start drinking diet soda. Many people do not drink it and that’s fine. I have significantly cut back. I don’t like coffee, and I sometimes get tired of tea. I really, really like diet colas, especially from a fountain. It’s something that I should not have due to bone density issues, but even my endocrinologist said they are fine in moderation. I have 3-4 a week now instead of 2 a day.
One of my grandfathers lived to be 95. He was borderline alcoholic, didn’t eat well, was pessimistic and negative about everything, and feuded with most of his family. I don’t think I’ll be emulating that!
Abso-frickin’-lutely. I have diabetes. I have given up so many carbs - most bread, pastas, refined sugars, potato chips (which I loved, pre-diabetes), soda. I exercise at least 45 minutes every blessed day. Most of what I eat is so disgustingly healthy. Honestly, there’s so little joy in my diet that I’ll be da**ed if I’m going to give up diet coke and dark chocolate (although to be fair, dark chocolate is supposedly good for you and it barely raises my blood sugar at all.)
My endocrinologist agrees. And my grandmother lived to be 99 on a steady diet of lard and bourbon…
I think as a personal choice it’s totally fine, but I am glad for all the negative media attention that’s given to sugar/processed foods/soda, etc. (and I have a huge sweet tooth, by the way, and strong sugar cravings, so I am definitely not immune). I find that it helps me with motivation. I also find that it brings to light a problem that a lot of people (myself included) didn’t really know about. Before, all the health discussion was about calories or weight gain. Period. I didn’t even know about the recommended added sugar limits (including NON-sweet foods) until last year, and that made a HUGE difference in my life. Artificial sweeteners dangers is also something many people were not really aware of until fairly recently. I think there is a real food problem in this country (and throughout most of the world), and I am glad it’s finally getting some attention, beyond “as long as you maintain a ‘healthy’ weight, you can eat whatever you want,” which is an unhealthy approach to nutrition, in my opinion, or all the diets based on highly-processed foods that are really bad for the body.
I think that the information about sugars, carbs, and added sugars is definitely helpful, and I agree people need to hear it even if they don’t agree.
I question the adding to that of artificial sweeteners–it almost seems Calvinist–No, you can’t have that thing that makes things taste good, because reasons.
I know I don’t get the kind of blood sugar spikes from diet soda that I would from sugar soda, and I know it doesn’t encourage me to eat more. My blood sugar is fine. Everything about its risk seem super-theoretical, as opposed to sugar and other simple carbs, for which it’s easy to see and feel the effects. So while i don’t go crazy about them, I too will drink the occasional diet soda without qualms.
Garland, I agree. Diet drinks don’t do anything to me as far as spikes or increasing what I eat. My biggest issue is that the diet colas are not good for my bone density (I did everything I could to find some proof against that, but, unfortunately, it is true for females) and that’s why I need to limit them. I also don’t love putting chemicals in my body, but most of what we eat is loaded with chemicals.
If people love sodas, but they don’t want the sugar in regular, and they don’t want the artificial substitutes, why not just drink soda sweetened by stevia? There are many flavors, and they taste pretty good. No calories, no carbs, no artificial substitutes. Why not?
I don’t like the taste of stevia, though I’ve tried to. Also, I don’t drink diet soda, I drink diet Coke. (and more also, the main thing argued against aritificial sweeteners is that they body may react to the taste of sweet even when there are no calories, so if that were the case, it would be true for stevia also.)
What diet colas are Stevia sweetened? I guess my problem with that is that those aren’t the ones available when I go out to lunch or at other events I attend, such as work seminars.