Sugar and artificial sweeteners are both unnecessary. The concept of sweet treats is leftover psychological addiction to sugar. Conquering it is the next step after quitting carbs and sugar as significant food sources on keto. Being enthusiastic and proud of dirty keto is a compromise to your health purely based on hedonistic pleasure over food as sustenance, saving a little cash, and being a bit lazy seeking out healthy choices. There is a huge difference between organic and not, wild caught vs. farm raised, processed and manufactured vs. natural real foods, and concocted keto “treats” over good meat and vegetables. I’m not perfect and the lines blur for me occasionally but not as a lifestyle choice thinking the only thing that matters is limiting carbs and loosing weight. I will drink a diet soda now and then on the rare occasion I eat out, I buy some vegetables non organic because some are way worse than others for pesticide residue. I eat wild caught salmon only because farm raised salmon are fed antibiotics, and a grain heavy diet. Wild salmon feed on other fish and that’s where the high omega3 fatty acid content in salmon comes from, they don’t manufacture it in their bodies and that’s the whole point of including fatty fish in your diet. Sure it might taste the same but what happens in your body has nothing to do with taste. Dirty keto is a compromise at best, not a superior way to go Chris. Oat bran and flax meal breads are high in estrogen, not good for an aging male. I buy locally farmed organic vegetables, usually cheaper for many of them than at a place like Safeway paying for conventional produce. Things I will buy not organic are cauliflower, avocados, broccoli, cabbage and a couple others. Things I avoid are tomatoes, peppers, strawberries and lettuces as they have large amounts of multiple pesticide residues, up to 15 really toxic ones on peppers and strawberries, some of the worst offenders. I know you think it’s futile to try and keep all the chemicals out of your body, but taking control of the worst stuff can go a long ways I believe. Apathy about food choices isn’t the answer and the quest for improving your health is paramount for everyone who wants to live a longer life. You have to fight for that and not let the crap bury you sooner than necessary. Keto works because it heals your body. You could be keto drinking Wesson oil, protein powder and white sugar if the macros are correct you will be in ketosis and loosing weight. That doesn’t make it healthy. That’s an extreme example granted but it makes the point clear that there is a lot more going on than “If it fits my macros and I loose weight that’s what counts”.
Sucralose is 600 X as sweet as sugar, Acesulfame potassium is 200 X as sweet as sugar, that’s why they are in tiny amounts. Artificial sweeteners are combined to try to closer resemble the taste of sucrose because none of them are perfect replacements for the taste of sugar. The small amounts don’t mean they are less harmful, just that they are 100s of times more sweet on the palate and potent chemicals. Is sucralose gross tasting if you put a teaspoon of it in your mouth? They are chemicals, not foods. We will continue to try and educate you and hopefully you do some real analysis rather just being guided by your taste buds and scale results. I won’t quit telling you because I do care about a brother Chris. 