Considering giving up all sweeteners temporarily

sweeteners
stevia
science
insulin
(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #1

I got an email from a world-renowned, exceptionally talented biochemist who I am acquainted with, answering a couple of questions I had about LCHF.

One of the points he made was that sweeteners of all kinds (both natural and unnatural, caloric/noncaloric) trigger insulin release from the pancreas. They are, in his words, “an addiction.” 6 weeks, he says, of avoiding any and everything sweet eliminates the cravings.

I respect this guy so much that I’m considering it – even though I have a bunch of recipes I want to make with pure stevia, erythritol, and yacon syrup.

Anyone else tried going off all sweet things? What is your experience with it?

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #2

I did it for a week when I did Atkins induction, didn’t use their products and didn’t make anything with sweeteners. I do not however have a sweet tooth, so I really didn’t have much of a sugar withdrawal. I have stevia/turvia/erythritol in the house and I make my own chocolates (mostly for me) and cheese cake muffins (for DH) with them. I use berries and whipped cream for dessert when I need a little extra something at the end of a meal. The other stuff is maybe once a week. I really can go days without any of it.

My addictive substance was breads. I have only had a few keto breads in the last year and just recently started to use the occasional low carb tortilla or low carb thin wasa cracker. In all honesty I miss bread horribly, but I love the results of LCHF and fasting A LOT MORE.

DH is T2D, no meds, controlling with diet and exercise. I bounces back and forth over the line from no diabetes, to prediabetes, since going LCHF, I am staying under that line now AICs are between 5.2 and 4.9.

(Allie) #3

Strangely I have more sweet things now than I did before keto because the seeeteners I use don’t give me the horrible health issues sugar did - I had avoided sugar for many years before keto. I could very easily live without sweet things again as I never get cravings at all, never really had a sweet tooth - didn’t even like chocolate as a kid.

(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #4

Interesting. I have a sweet tooth and I think my instinct is to have something sweet after a meal, especially dinner – like most of the rest of the planet, as evidenced by the very concept of “dessert.”

I’m not at all an absolutist when it comes to LCHF/keto. I lost most of my weight on relatively low carb; but I ate fruit and probably didn’t have a particularly high fat intake. Over the last 2 months I’ve mostly been in the keto zone, zero fruit except berries, but I have been using stevia and erythritol, occasionally also one of the other non-caloric sweeteners. I cut out most chewing gum because it contains 2g carbs per piece (as I discovered to my horror after a year of chewing plenty of gum each day!) and now I’m thinking why don’t I experiment and eliminate all sweets – except some berries, of course. Or maybe even berries for a few weeks!

I will say that I’ve tried preliminarily drinking coffee and my green smoothie (spinach/flaxseed/chia/MCT/almond milk/berries) without sweeteners, and neither is half bad. I suspect 6 weeks of no sweeteners could substantially change my palate, to the point where I’d find all sweeteners far too sweet.

Still wondering if anyone has completely eliminated sweeteners for an extended period and whether their cravings went away entirely?

(Allie) #5

My friend Suzanne has completely eliminated all sweeteners as none of them agree with her. She uses vanilla essence in recipes when she feels they need a little bit of something sweet.

(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #6

Does that work?

(KetoCowboy) #7

I haven’t made it six weeks. I did eliminate all sweeteners (including stevia/erithrytol) for a couple of weeks before experiencing an irresistible craving for yogurt with berries. There was no added sugar, but there didn’t need to be for me to feel that familiar sensation of satisfying a sugar craving.

(Allie) #8

It does for Suzanne, never tried it myself.

(Sonia A.) #9

In January, I followed the Whole30 which forbids every type of sweeteners (artificial and natural). At the end of that month, I was accustomed to drink my tea and coffee without any sweeteners. I did it for 6 months until I began the ketogenic diet. That’s when I resumed taking sweeteners and I regret it. It triggers cravings for me. So I decided to stop using them again.

(Erin Macfarland ) #10

Nope. I love sweets. Nothing to be ashamed of!

(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #11

Very interesting! Did you eat a lot of fruit on whole 30?

By the way, I regard Whole 30 going mainstream as a huge step in the right direction for LCHF. No matter what the purists may say!

#12

I’ve given up artificial sweeteners temporarily too. No set timeline for how long. I just felt like I was stalling and/or losing the same 3 to 5 pounds over and over–no cheats. The hardest part for me isn’t the sweet treats, it’s the water/diet soda. I’ve been drinking plain water for 8 days now (I was adding MIOs). I don’t mind it, but I can tell I craved that sweet in my drink. I don’t eat fruit at all (won’t until I get closer to goal). I’m definitely insulin resistant.

I have lost some of the weight (again), but I’m not quite to my lowest (less than a pound away). I think what frustrates me is that I’m less than 2 pounds away from the “50 pounds lost” mark. I want to be there SO BAD! lol But it’s possible my body is just at a heal stage. But I keep tweaking things just in case! I have 50 to 60 pounds to go so there’s no way I’m letting my body decide this is it’s “Phinney weight.”

(Cheryl Hall) #13

Hi Gabe - I’m one of “those” individuals that really can’t tolerate “sweet” artificial or otherwise. I have eliminated all sweeteners from my diet for quite awhile – even before starting keto. I recently was in the grocery store and I came across these pre-made jello treats cut in squares - black cherry. Well I ate the whole bag! That did it for me and my cravings were back with a vengeance! I also knocked myself out of ketosis. As long as I stay away from sweet stuff my cravings dissipate! I did a 74 hour fast to get back on track. Occasionally I will have berries with whipped cream - no sweetener in the whipped cream - and I seem to tolorate that ok. I also love those little cherry tomatoes and small sweet peppers dipped in full fat blue cheese dressing - that stuff tastes so sweet to me now, I even have to be careful with that!

I’m definitely jealous of those who can tolorate the sweetners because I’ve seen some awesome keto friendly recipies! I recently purchased all the goods to make a keto friendly Cheesecake but I haven’t made it yet - I’m afraid it’s going to set my cravings off!

(Norma Laming) #14

Sometimes after I’ve eaten my meat / veg I want a sweet taste. This I think is to balance a salty or savoury taste. For example if I’ve eaten bacon or spices or too much vinegar in a dressing. So I’ve learned to have a drink sweetened with erythritol rather than make myself a dessert.

(Sonia A.) #15

I ate some fruit on the Whole30, but not a lot. What’s amazing when you stop eating sweet things is that your tastebuds change. Even a tomato seemed very sweet.

And I agree about the Whole30. It set me on the way to LCHF and I don’t think I’m the only one.

(Sonia A.) #16

I was like you until I stopped all sweeteners. Then I understood that it was just a habit that I had to break.

I admit that if they didn’t create cravings for me, I’d probably continue using them since they’re not stalling my weight loss.

(jay) #17

I made one of those cheesecakes for Thanksgiving I used Swerve and it was popular with my French/Italian not a keto faimly. The slice with coffee (heaven) didn’t seem affect my ketosis or weight loss much but to be fair I do seem to tolerate most artifical sweetners as long as they are not the maltose, sucralose kinds… aspertame, saccarin has no effect on my ketosis or weightloss but as far as I know I’m not pre/diabetic and I that might be factor.

(danjo171) #18

I stopped quite some time ago. It doesn’t take long and you won’t miss it.

(Cheryl Hall) #19

@kreb

Yummy! Honestly Cheesecake has always been a favorite of mine. I have Swerve - I think I could tolorate it not very sweet – I even do whipped cream without any sweet stuff in it and it tastes awesome to me. I really want to make it- I think I will give it a try tomorrow and use as little Swerve as possible – call it a n=1 – lol

If nothing else I can bring it to work and not tell anyone it’s basically healthy! ha! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

(jay) #20

That’s a great way to limit your personal portion control, get a slice and move it out of the fridge! If they are like my coworkers about 1/2 will recoil in horror from your evil gift. Then they will collectively pull out their “healthy” honey/sugar coated “healthy grains” granola bars like swords to defend themselves from your evil gift. :wink: