Advice about Sweeteners

[Jennyb3011]

I drink black coffee but I take 4 sweeteners, I used to take a lot of sugar but have cut this out completely, however I like my coffee strong and sweet and it keeps me going throughout the day, is this bad and causing me to retain weight etc?? how many calories are there in this as I can't find it on any of the counters??

[Itsbab]

Hi I can't help you there as sweeteners seem to give me a headache. I have been using a fruit syrup from Aldi 1/3 the calories of sugar and a natural product I also have a lot of fruit/herbal teas with nothing added.😊

[Hidden]

I suppose a good question would be - how often do you have this super sweet coffee? If it's a one-off treat in the morning and you survive the rest of the day on it, then that seems fine but if this is what you have all throughout the day - i feel like that's a lot of artificial sweetness. I'm not sure on the health issues with it.

SOME caffeine has been shown to promote weight loss slightly (but as far as I can see - not significantly) but too much caffeine can supposedly hinder it (something I've not thought of - as I drink loads a day.) I think it's definitely less about the calories - and as Concerned has suggested - more about what the caffeine itself does.

I'm definitely going to try limiting myself to two cups of coffee a day and see how that goes!

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

I recently started limiting myself to 2 cups a day and it's quite easy. I realised the 3rd, 4th etc are just out of habit, easily replaced with a tea or just water

[Diana in reply to Hidden]

I just love coffee, I have it black no sugar, I did cut back to 2 a day, when my menopause was at its worse, I can cope without it, I prefer not to

[IndigoBlue61]

Our long term permanent weight loss journey is most successful if we take a series of small steps in the right direction 😊 To attempt to be 100% healthy in absolutely every aspect is ambitious.

So, to answer your question, I think cutting out sugar is a positive, and maybe the next step is to reduce how many sweeteners you take. 😊 Whilst some argue artificial sweeteners are harmful I take the view that being overweight is also harmful, so I choose to tackle that first, and personally continue to use sweetex once or twice a day in my drinks. 😊 I balance that against all the other very positive steps I have taken to improve my health. 😊

[albinohedgehog]

Ive heard artificial sweeteners can make you more hungry, because your body thinks its getting sugar and then it doesnt, so it starts craving it. Plus you hear all sorts of things about health problems caused by it on the internet. You might be better off weaning yourself off it, and replace it with 1 tsp proper sugar or fruit syrup, and having it just once or twice a day. Thats what i would try to do anyway, i know sugar isnt great but a couple tsps a day isnt going to do much damage.

I know thats easier said than done though. ☺

[Thingy]

There was a BBC "Trust Me I'm a Doctor" experiment on sweeteners. They concluded that saccharine could be as bad as sugar in terms of insulin spike in some people and this effect was not seen with stevia.

bbc.co.uk/programmes/articl...

[albinohedgehog in reply to Thingy]

Thats interesting thanks for info. Im might try stevia again. I didnt like it in tea, but maybe itd be better in baking. X

[Thingy in reply to albinohedgehog]

Real stevia is hard to come by. I bought what I thought was stevia in tesco and didn't like it - it gave me terrible wind (LOL). I think it was "made with Stevia" plus a bulking agent that perhaps caused the problem. You can get pure Stevia on Amazon, and maybe in health shops (?). Look for the word "pure" or 100%

[albinohedgehog in reply to Thingy]

Thanks ☺ ill have a look on amazon

[Thingy]

Perhaps it's better to retrain the palate to appreciate less-sweet coffee and have real sugar?

I don't drink instant coffee at all anymore and just fix my coffee-enjoyment on a single small real espresso every morning (Tesco Finest Columbian) with one quarter of a teaspoon of real sugar. I keep a little measuring spoon for the occasion.

[Jennyb3011]

Thanks everyone for all your comments, I suppose I should try and cut back the sweeteners but my coffee is the one thing I look forward to. I work full time, I have three children who all have special needs and I struggle at times, I lost quite a lot of weight from cutting out carbs and sugar and just eating smaller portions. It did work for a while, however now I am stuck, sometimes I lack the motivation to exercise because I am just so tired but I know I need to try. I guess I just wondered if the sweeteners were having an impact. Some days I have more coffee than others but I will try and reduce them see how it goes....

[albinohedgehog in reply to Jennyb3011]

Good luck. Maybe you could replace it with a non-foody treat so you dont feel so deprived? Might be worth a go ☺

[IndigoBlue61 in reply to Jennyb3011]

Good luck 😊 These things take time . . . You have a lot on your plate, think there are worse things you could be doing!! 😊

[Ginnybw]

Gradually reduce your sweeteners so that you can drink your coffee without them. It'll take a while. Everyone I know who regularly take sweeteners has more problems with weight loss. Great to cut out sugar in your coffee. Good luck. Ginny,

[Diana]

Read up on sweeteners to get are bad news, real sugar would be better, there are coffee alternatives out there , such as barley cup ( I did do the dandelion coffee too, at health food shops).

Go for sweet herbal teas, peppermint and liquorice is nice, Aldi, Lodi and tesco all sell it

[Hidden in reply to Diana]

Another vote for liquorice tea I like the yogi one in Holland & Barrett. Naturally sweet