Sweeteners, Sugar, and DS, OH MY!

[BebeZed]

Hi everyone,

I'm getting myself both physically and mentally prepared for my upcoming surgery and I have a question. I read several things that said to not use artificial sweeteners. I still haven't learned to drink tea (even the herbals) without a bit of sweetener so what's a good DSer to do?

Thanks in advance

 

[southernlady]

THIS DS'er uses Splenda. I started using it back in the late 90's when it first hit the market. In fact, until it actually hit the store shelves right after it was approved for sale in the US in 1998, I had to order it thru the company that made my glucose meter. (At first only diabetics were allowed to use it). Once it hit the store shelves tho it stopped being just for diabetics.

I am a type 2 diabetic, in remission, so I try and avoid sugar. Equal and Saccharin give me issues so I avoid them as much as possible. And ANY one that ends in itol is the devil to my guts. Stevia and that group tastes like one would imagine monkey butt might taste.

I DO use honey and sugar but not often. Prefer honey as it caused far less of a rise with MY blood sugars than sugar did.

A friend of mine, also a DS'er, ONLY used sugar but she was almost allergic to all the rest.

 

[BebeZed]

THIS DS'er uses Splenda. I started using it back in the late 90's when it first hit the market. In fact, until it actually hit the store shelves right after it was approved for sale in the US in 1998, I had to order it thru the company that made my glucose meter. (At first only diabetics were allowed to use it). Once it hit the store shelves tho it stopped being just for diabetics.

I am a type 2 diabetic, in remission, so I try and avoid sugar. Equal and Saccharin give me issues so I avoid them as much as possible. And ANY one that ends in itol is the devil to my guts. Stevia and that group tastes like one would imagine monkey butt might taste.

I DO use honey and sugar but not often. Prefer honey as it caused far less of a rise with MY blood sugars than sugar did.

A friend of mine, also a DS'er, ONLY used sugar but she was almost allergic to all the rest.

That's VERY helpful! I use Splenda now, and it's really not in great quantities - I usually have one or two cups of tea a day and I use a packet each time. I don't have much of a sweet tooth so that's not an issue really... it's just the tea that needs a little bit of something. I haven't tried stevia but after you saying it tastes like monkey butt I think I'll pass. I do like honey though (in extremely small doses!) so I might try a tiny bit in my tea and see how that goes.

Thanks for the input!

 

[southernlady]

That's VERY helpful! I use Splenda now, and it's really not in great quantities - I usually have one or two cups of tea a day and I use a packet each time. I don't have much of a sweet tooth so that's not an issue really... it's just the tea that needs a little bit of something. I haven't tried stevia but after you saying it tastes like monkey butt I think I'll pass. I do like honey though (in extremely small doses!) so I might try a tiny bit in my tea and see how that goes.

Thanks for the input!

I use honey in my hot tea, splenda in my coffee and in my iced tea, and in the lemonade I make at home.

 

[Cantstalkthis]

All sweeteners bothered me until about a week ago (3 weeks out - very new) and now I can have a little splenda without problems (it's in the flavored pedialyte). Sugar was a very bad experience. This will probably change but be prepared to deal with oddball stuff in the beginning.

 

[Larra]

I use Splenda in tea and other stuff and have no problem with it.

 

[OldBroad]

I love me some Splenda in my tea or coffee. It's never caused me any problems and it tastes like sugar to me.

 

[DSRIGGS]

I use splenda in my coffee as well as half and half. I would use sugar but it takes so much to make it sweet.

None of them bother me.

 

[Munchkin]

Some people have issues with sweeteners and sugar alcohols. Others don't. Some do in the beginning and 'grow' out of it. YMMV.

 

[DSRIGGS]

Some people have issues with sweeteners and sugar alcohols. Others don't. Some do in the beginning and 'grow' out of it. YMMV.

I forgot about crap with sugar alcohols... .tearsme up

 

[DBmom23]

I use equal occasionally and have not had a problem (starting around 8 weeks out). I also had sugar free Popsicles immediately postop without an issue.

 

[BebeZed]

Thank you all SO much! This really has been helpful and has put my mind at ease

 

[newwomanin2015]

THIS DS'er uses Splenda. I started using it back in the late 90's when it first hit the market. In fact, until it actually hit the store shelves right after it was approved for sale in the US in 1998, I had to order it thru the company that made my glucose meter. (At first only diabetics were allowed to use it). Once it hit the store shelves tho it stopped being just for diabetics.

I am a type 2 diabetic, in remission, so I try and avoid sugar. Equal and Saccharin give me issues so I avoid them as much as possible. And ANY one that ends in itol is the devil to my guts. Stevia and that group tastes like one would imagine monkey butt might taste.

I DO use honey and sugar but not often. Prefer honey as it caused far less of a rise with MY blood sugars than sugar did.

A friend of mine, also a DS'er, ONLY used sugar but she was almost allergic to all the rest.

"Monkey butt"! hahahaha! Love that you put perfectly how I feel about stevia!

 

[Charris]

Dr. K doesn't want us to use artificial sweetness I use real sugar for food if needed. I drink the SF Hawaiian Punch packets that are made with artificial sweetener. Some time the make me sick sometimes they don't. Hit or miss for me

 

[newwomanin2015]

Hi everyone,

I'm getting myself both physically and mentally prepared for my upcoming surgery and I have a question. I read several things that said to not use artificial sweeteners. I still haven't learned to drink tea (even the herbals) without a bit of sweetener so what's a good DSer to do?

Thanks in advance

You might feel differently about sweeteners after surgery, especially RIGHT after surgery. I got extremely nauseous walking down (or even past) the pudding aisle in Wal-mart after surgery for the first 5 or 6 weeks and still don't feel the same about many sweet smelling things. As a diabetic, I try to limit artificial sweeteners as much as possible after reading years ago how they affect the pancreas and cause it to over react when getting regular sugars or even simple carbs (really wish this had been known back in the 80's when I used to drink a few diet Pepsi's a day!) After the surgery, I did as few as possible of the protein shakes because of this and that they tasted really overly sweet to me. Instead, I bought unflavored whey protein and blended it in soups, etc. I was lucky in that food stayed down pretty well and weird things like liverwurst tasted good and stayed down while giving me some protein.

The one thing I still use Splenda for is coffee. I couldn't drink it until a couple of months after surgery, but, can again now. I do use less of the Splenda by adding things like pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon to help flavor the coffee, but, it does not cause any issues for me and only avoid using a lot of it because of the pancreas thing.