I know not everyone is a fan of sweeteners. People complain they are either bad for your health, taste bad or leave a bad after taste. As my family has many fat and obese people, it has always been a habit among us to drink diet sodas and put sweeteners in our coffee and such, so I have been used to using sweeteners instead of sugar for ever! When I was young, I remember using Saccarin. However to me Saccarin is not good because it leaves a terrible aftertaste. So the sweetener we usually use back at home is Aspartame. I know people give Aspartame a hard time when it comes to health concerns, but they do that with every sweetener, so to be honest I don't mind those. If the health risks were that bad, would they allow Aspartame to be included on diet foods and drinks as widely? I don't think so.... I have lately been using a lot of Sucralose. I love it. It's a bit more expensive than Aspartame sweeteners but tastes more like sugar than any other. It also barely leaves an aftertaste. I have tried Stevia and I find that I really dislike it. I think it makes drinks taste bad, so even if it's allegedly healthier I'll stick to Aspartame and Sucralose. Do you have a habit of using sweeteners? Which one do you prefer?
The only sweetener I ever use is sugar, and I don't think that qualifies under your category. I never tried anything else and don't care to because I am concerned about the health aspects. I just cut back instead of using something artificial. I think Sweet n Low is the most popular sweetener out there, it seems like all of my friends and family are always asking for the pink packet.
I have a similar history with sweeteners. Sweet and Low is one of my least favorite but agave is alright. It's very expensive like honey but it lends itself to more like adding to coffee. It doesn't take much but I like sucralose also. They use it in lemon water and other drinks that are low calorie.
I use organic cane sugar as the sweetener, and I avoid those artificial sweeteners, those that have zero calories as I've read that they are really bad for the health. Aspartame, for example, which is used for zero calories sugar is carcinogenic. It might not be felt immediately, but later on in life, their repercussions will be.
You're right, not everyone is, but I am. I use sugar sweeteners, my favourite brand is the Splenda one. I don't find that it leaves a funny taste in my mouth at all, in fact it tastes just great! If I had a choice between plain white sugar and Splenda, I think I would go for the Splenda actually because you use very little compared to the amount you would use with normal white sugar.
I just use sugar because I'd rather deal with the calories from real sugar than the chemicals and cancer risks of artificial sweetener. Saving calories is not going to help you if your cells mutate into cancer cells.
I prefer using just plain ole raw sugar. If there's no sugar available to me, then I'll either use Stevia or Agave. I don't trust artificial sweeteners in the slightest; I'm pretty sure those things give you freaking cancer or something crazy. My Aunt used to use artificial sweeteners in her coffee every single day, and now she's got cancer.
Those diet sodas might actually be part of why your family has many fat and obese people. Many diet sodas contain "High Fructose Corn Syrup", which is a sweetener that your body doesn't register as real, even if your taste buds do, because it has been chemically altered. It leaves you feeling so unsatisfied that you crave another and another. Eating too much of anything is fattening, no matter what it is. It's not really fat itself that makes you fat but an excess of it in rich foods. That's why I use sugar, dark brown sugar, and honey to make things sweet. As long as it is used in moveration, I should be fine.
I don't use sweeteners much. Somethings do require it, and I do bake bread, and bread is pretty nasty without a sweetener. lol. For sweeteners, I use sugar, honey, agave nectar, or stevia. Stevia is an herb, and extremely sweet. It is actually my favorite one out of the natural sweeteners and is as versatile as any of the other natural ones. I do have a stevia plant growing right now. It's my second one, and I find them kind of tricky to grow, but that is another subject, lol.
I live in Brazil, we don't use corn syrup! But I agree, using sweetener does not mean you will loose weight or not gain weight. Specially when everyone in the family eats a lot. But I guess it became a habit, you know? Every party or get together has mainly diet Coke and just one or two normal Cokes for the kids. I got so used to Diet Coke, for example, that the regular Coke tastes weird to me!
I love white sugar more so I don't really pay an attention on sweeteners. I did use them quite a lot in the past but to be honest my coffee doesn't taste great with it I have to have sugar instead. I also tried switching to brown sugar once but even that I thought its taste was horrible If I really don't have white sugars then my other option is honey to sweeten my tea.
The only sweetener I ever use is Stevia. And I am not talking about the kind of Stevia that you get in the supermarket but the actual herb from the health food store. It is a green powder that I sprinkle over everything that needs sweetening. I can't tolerate any kind of concentrated sugars at all, so Stevia is a natural choice for me.
I don't think anyone should every use those artificial sweeteners. Let's protect those neurological systems! We typically use agave nectar!
I use plain sugar. I don't like to get the white, processed sugar. All the other sugars or sugar substitutes make me sick. Aspartame, Splenda, and Sweet and Low give me a terrible headache and stomach ache. I do not want to try Stevia. I will just stick to sugar.
I'm using honey when money allows it. It's not as cheap as sugar and I can't use honey in as many dishes that require sweeteners, but boy is it healthy. According to many studies sugar is a very dangerous 'food', so paying more for honey is a good choice for my health. Good thing that I live in a beekeper friendly land (many flowers) - I can buy honey cheaper than in stores.
