Hello,

Me and my girlfriend have recently started on the low carbohydrate diet.

During this time, we've been researching and reading articles on the web, relating to things like insulin, sugars, hidden sugars, etc... while trying to understand the diet better.

Recently, we came across an article that talked about artificial sweeteners. This article claimed that while artificial sweeteners have no calories per say, their sweet taste, can in fact, trigger your body to release insulin.

Does anyone else have any information on this, as to weather its true or not?

Thanks,
Paul

If you are just starting into the induction phase of low carbing you are best to stay away from any type of sugar. Some people will suffer cravings just from using even the artificial type ones.. I know myself I can so I choose to stay away from any types. And Paul welcome to the group...

Does even *tasting* something sweet trigger an insulin responce?

- Paul

If you are very carb sensitive you can.. It will be hard at first to stay away from . You may even suffer headaches the first three days but in the end it will be worth it all. I don't know if you looked at my homepage picture but you will definitely be able to see what low carbing has done for me in 6 months. I lost 62 pounds...Just click on the www on the bottom of this posting and you can see for yourself..teehee

Hi PAUL!!

I've had good luck with SPLENDA and sugar free JELLO!!! I've found it impossible to go without something sweet.I've lost 15lbs in one month.

Hi Paul and Girfriend, Welcome.

I drink diet coke and have no problems. I do believe one finds out as they go how sensitive they are to these fake sugars.

I have been low carbing since the end of Feb. and have lost 14lbs. Even though you are finding information on the web you may want to also get the Atkins book to explain in better detail of this woe (way of eating)?

Good luck and looking forward to your postings on your success.

Wendy

Actually, we just started the forth week two days ago. My two biggest problems during the first week was a near constant craving for something (anything) sweet, and I was almost constantly cold. The cold part freaked me out the most, because I'm usually the first to wear shorts at the first sign of spring, and the first to kick off the blankets at night. Both of those side effects were gone by about the middle of the second week.

But I find the encouragement to be awesome. Thank you.

Generally, if I want something sweet, I eat some grapes or an apple or orange (, I find all of those to taste almost to sweet by now.

I'm still concerned about artificial sweeteners, due to articles I read on the carbohydrate addicts web page. At these two links:

http://www.carbohydrateaddicts.com/plateau.html

http://www.carbohydrateaddicts.com/nonsgr.html

The site claims that artifical sweeteners can trigger insulin responce, and can also be responcible for the plateaus that some seem to reach. They also mention hidden sugars, sugar alcahol and other things.

Its kind of difficult to know who is right and who isn't, since it can generally be expected that if someone is motivated enough to write a book, they will fill the book with things that support their viewpoint.

All kinds of people are writing low carbohydrate books, there's the Sugar Busters, Atkins, Carbohydrate Addicts, The Zone and more more more... While most generally agree on low carbohydrates, they all seem to vary in reguards to how low, which ones are acceptable or not, and even have different view points on the effects of artificial sweeteners.

- Paul

Hi Paul, welcome aboard. I think both view are correct as some people are more sensitive than others. Some may be so sensitive as to smell donuts or chocolate cake baking to send some triggers as reaction, like salivating when you think lemonade

I got a sugar buzz once when I tried stevia, my favorite sweetner (real natural sweetner). And I still use it occasionally and it doesn't take me out of ketosis. That's just how my body reacts to it, and this is different for everyone.

Wa'il

Hi, Paul, welcome to the board!

Just nosey - what plan are you on? I only ask because you mention eating some rather high-carb fruits (grapes, apples, oranges). They are too high in fruit sugars to be acceptable on Atkins or Protein Power, at least in the earlier stages.

Just curious!
Rachel

yep fruits are very high in sugar.. Anything with fructose, glucose, or sucrose are considered sugars so you would have to watch for labels...and like I said earlier some people are more sensitive to sugar than others.. I know aritifical sweeteners can cause and almost instant craving to me...

I'm allowed to have a few grapes or something of that nature in the morning, at least an hour or so before any kind of meal, or if I eat grapes or apple or something in the evening, it has to be several hours after a meal.

Talking to friends at work who have been on low carbohydrate diets for more than a year, I'm told the Sugar Busters plan is one of the more leniant plans available.

- Paul

Cool, I don't know much about that particular plan. How does it work, and how is it working for you? (Just nosey, again!)

Most of us here are on Atkins or PP, which is why I asked about the fruit. But ALL low-carb plans are welcome here - we are all here to learn from each other!

Rachel

There is an initial 14 day plan, that has 3 meals a day. The book talks about insulin and the effects on the body, it discusses insulin resistance, and type II aquired diabetes, it talks about the changes your body will go through when you get away from a high carbohydrate diet. There is discussion about why eating lots of carbohydrates leads you to constantly be hungry. Lots of things like that.

One of the more interesting chapters in the book talks about our ancestors and refined sugar.

Really if you think about it, our bodies are the products of quite a bit of evolution over time. For a LONG LONG LONG time our ancestors didn't have things like refined sugar, refined starches, microwave meals and things such as that.

They ate natural things, things they grew, things they hunted and killed, sometimes they had feasts, sometimes they had famines, and their bodies had to be able to adapt and survive all of that. Our digestive systems are a legacy left over to us by our ancestors. We live in a time of eternal feast, has anyone in this forum ever experienced a time of famine first hand? (And no, I'm not talking about dieting)

To me, it seems the focus of Sugar Busters seems to be in encouraging people to get back to preparing their own meals from basic ingrediants like meats, vegetables, herbs, spices etc...

Another thing I read about was milk...

Have you ever paused for a moment to realize that we (humans) are the *ONLY* mammals on this *ENTIRE* planet that drink milk after our infancy? Why do we have an *ENTIRE* dairy industry (I live in the USA) telling us that we *NEED* milk to be healthy? Why are we (humans) the only mammal on the planet that needs milk after infancy to be healthy?

We don't, and thats a concept that Sugar Busters tries to get across. Basically, the food industry has been lying to us, trying to convince we need things we don't, trying to convince us that the junk they are pushing on us is healthy, when its not.

Don't you find it odd is that there are so many different points of view about diet and losing weight? Why are there so many conflicting points of view? I'll tell you why, because no one *REALLY* knows the entire story of whats going on in our stomachs. I don't care how many fancy letters they have in front or behind their names.

In France, they have a saying, "Potatos and carrots are for pigs.". Is it any wonder that we (Americans) are getting fat eating that stuff?

Sugar Busters has a bunch of low carbohydrate recipies, and it tells you to avoid things like potatos and carrots and starches and refined sugars and refined foods.

Instead of quick meals, now I go to the fridge, get out some meat, some veggies, some herbs and spices and cook it up on the oven. I'm not constantly hungry like I used to be, I don't have energy spikes and energy droops anymore, and I am losing weight. (my clothes are getting baggy)

But in the back of my mind I wonder to myself, "Am I feeling good and losing weight because I'm eating low carbs, or is it because I'm simply eating 2-3 healthy, natural meals a day?"

Maybe I think to much.

- Paul

Which plan/book is this? Sugar Busters, or Dr. Bernstein? I'm just curious, and enjoy hearing about various plans, especially anti-sugar ones!



That's where we went wrong, I think. We never knew heart attacks and diabetese until agricultural discoveries of sugar/bread. I'm trying to be a modern day cave man.



Good point, I never considered this, since I wasn't into milk anyway.



Amen, brother. This is one of the things I strongly beleive is that while most professions don't understand the science of dieting the closest profession to comprehend it is biochemestry. And doctors (physicians) are not qualified to address this issue since they don't have the necessary background. It just happens that some physicians were open-minded enough to consider other possibilities.



Maybe both? But make it 3-6 healthy meals a day.

Now here's an issue to ponder as well. When people say "healthy" meal, they mean different things. High-carb, low-protein for me is totally unhealthy. But the "health" professionals means exactly that!

Wa'il