Splenda vs. Sugar

I've been out of Splenda, actually, for the last 4 days and didn't buy any more until this afternoon. I make a Vitamin C tea in the winter - especially when sick people cough on me, as they have lately. This is 1/2 a teaspoon of pure C powder in a cup of hot water. Without sweetener, this is very, very tart. I've been used to putting 3 or 4 packets of Splenda in it. Wow, if you use sugar, this adds 60 calories! I can drink green tea unsweetened and take my coffee black. But I must have something in the hot cocoa, too. At least a little bit of sweetness. Either my calories would go up if I used sugar - or I would have to adjust my diet.

Someone asked what Splenda tastes like. To me, it tastes just like sugar. When you cook with it, I think you can taste the difference. It also does not result in the right texture when you cook. But in uncooked foods it works great. I use it in a fresh cranberry relish I make (food processed raw cranberries and an orange), as well as in beverages.

Someone else was concerned that other people might use more Splenda than me - and it would be less safe. Even if you used 10 times as much as I do - and you would need a serious sweet tooth to do that - then we are still talking 10 mg a day. The rat study fed the rats an amount equivalent to a pound and a half a day for me! My whole family took a year to consume a mere ounce. So, we're talking 60,000 as much as I eat. And the rats were fine. Pregnant rats had normal babies. Remember, most of it doesn't even go into your bloodstream and your kidneys flush the rest of it out. Rat's kidneys could handle that enormous dose. I feel really sorry for the rats having to eat something that sweet. GAK! Imagine 60,000 spoonfuls of sugar worth of sweetness.

Someone else asked about xylitol and stevia. I bought xylitol a few times. A lovely sweetener actually with a very bright and pleasant taste. It's pretty expensive, though and gives you diarrhea in significant quanities. But, it's really good for your teeth. I bought some xylitol gum and mints and really loved those.

I've also used stevia, which does not seem to be as sweet to me. The form I bought it in was pretty expensive. But, looking on the Web, I can see that you can buy it as drops - like my sucralose solution - which is more convenient to me. Perhaps I will try this!

I was very good today on food. I just was not hungry today when I woke up and had only a cup of V-8 before I went off to the hairdresser. I let her talk me into "something new" today and she layered my hair. She hates my blunt cut, the one in my picture - which was my idea - that I have had for 2 or 3 years. I am really hair challenged and cannot style it at all. So, we will see how I do with my new complex hairstyle the first time I have to blowdry it myself! Sigh. I am truly tempted to cut it very short - like Liza May (from the CR Society). I threaten this every now and then, which really alarms her. She is this lovely Iranian woman, very chic, who seems to think she owns my hair and rents it out to me. She complains to me all the time about how thick my hair is - "must be your diet". It takes forever to dry, so there is a practical side to her complaint. The new style has this big piece of hair that hangs over my left eye - but is too short to go over my ear and out of the way. Sexy - but totally impractical.

When I got home, I made these low fat crab cakes for lunch along with some raw carrots. I ate 8 oz of fresh strawberries as a snack. For dinner, I ate a green salad with feta cheese, some homemade, relatively low fat eggplant parmesan, and chicken breasts covered with marinara sauce.

Total calories for the day - 992. Quite good nutrition - high in B-12 due to the crab cakes. High in A from the carros. It was slightly low in zinc, calcium, E, and riboflavin.

We needed to go to the regular grocery store today, to get the Splenda. How I hate going there! I dread seeing the stuff people are buying. Every time, I go down the aisles thinking about how much of the food is gak. I am really grateful my husband is willing to eat like me and won't buy the gak either.