Artificial Sweeteners and other fake foods

[wosnes]

I watched Dr. Oz today -- a rarity for me -- because he was talking about artificial sweeteners and other fake foods.

I don't think it's a big secret that I'm against all fake foods. I'm not sure about stevia and agave.

[reinhard]

There have been some heated arguments on both sides of this issue over the years here on these boards.

My personal take on this stuff is I find the idea of it disgusting, so the science as to whether or not it's actually going to dissolve my insides in thirty years is almost besides the point.


Relevant blurb from the book:

pages 72-73

...you might be fooling your taste buds, but
you’re also fooling the habit-forming portion of your
brain that’s supposed to be learning to live with fewer
sweets. It’s bad psychology, and the whole premise of
the No S Diet is that psychology is the most essential
component of weight loss. As a member of the No S
Diet bulletin board put it, you are training “a poor and
stupid part of the brain. Don’t confuse it by thinking
like a nutritionist. Think like a dog trainer.â€

So, do artificial sweeteners officially count as an S?
No, not technically. But I’d be surprised if you could
eat a lot of them without reverting to genuine sugar.
Consider the fact that despite (or perhaps because of)
the proliferation of sugar substitutes in recent decades,
consumption of actual sugar has still gone up. People
seem to be eating artificial sweeteners in addition to,
not instead of real sugar. They probably feel so virtuous
for eating this artificial stuff that they think they
can afford to indulge in more real guilt.

Naturally slim people do not cram themselves with
diet products. Neither should you. Save your sweets
for S days, when you can really enjoy them, in their
unadulterated form. It’s so much less risky in terms of
habit building and so much better in terms of taste.
By sticking with real sugar, you’ll enjoy it more and
wind up eating far less. You’ll know what you’re dealing
with and won’t feel the false sense of security and
entitlement that comes from food substitutes.

Besides the statistical likelihood of your reverting to
the real thing anyway, the idea of eating fake sugar and
fake food in general has always seemed intrinsically
awful to me. According to Greek mythology, the food
in the underworld, Hades, looks beautiful and tempting;
but when you bite into it, it tastes like dust. And then you
have to stay in the underworld forever. Modern fake food
has always seemed a little analogous to this to me, tricking
the appetite with insubstantial, and perhaps dangerous,
illusions. I’ve found the image of the dusty, damning
food of Hades useful fortification in those rare moments
when I’ve been tempted by simulacra.

That being said, some people do find artificial sweeteners necessary/helpful/not disgusting, and that's officially OK, no-s wise.

Reinhard

[marygrace]

I've started to hear some buzz that agave is highly processed, despite the fact that it's touted as a natural sweetener. I used to use it almost exclusively, but if I want a syrup-y sweetener now I just use maple syrup or local honey (there's so much good honey available in Texas!). Other times, I just stick with cane sugar. When it comes down to it, all sugar is still sugar--no point in trying to make it healthy.

[wosnes]

I've started to hear some buzz that agave is highly processed, despite the fact that it's touted as a natural sweetener. I used to use it almost exclusively, but if I want a syrup-y sweetener now I just use maple syrup or local honey (there's so much good honey available in Texas!). Other times, I just stick with cane sugar. When it comes down to it, all sugar is still sugar--no point in trying to make it healthy.

I'm not sure that agave is highly processed, but it's closer to high fructose corn syrup than other sweeteners.

[Aleria]

I use honey as a sweetener for drinks and such. The only reason I still use sugar in baking as honey drastically changes the texture, etc, and I'm not a good enough baker to experiment with that!
I once accidentally bought iced tea with aspartame in it and I had a sore stomach all day long.

[marygrace]

I've started to hear some buzz that agave is highly processed, despite the fact that it's touted as a natural sweetener. I used to use it almost exclusively, but if I want a syrup-y sweetener now I just use maple syrup or local honey (there's so much good honey available in Texas!). Other times, I just stick with cane sugar. When it comes down to it, all sugar is still sugar--no point in trying to make it healthy.

I'm not sure that agave is highly processed, but it's closer to high fructose corn syrup than other sweeteners.

From Marion Nestle's blog, http://www.foodpolitics.com/?s=agave:

Q. Can you please explain what benefits, if any, there are in using a “natural†sweetener, e.g. agave, over regular sugar? Are there any differences in terms of glucose/fructose makeup?

A. Agave is more expensive so you probably won’t use as much of it. Beyond that, it is higher in fructose than table sugar or honey. This is because agave contains inulin, a polymer of fructose, which must be hydrolyzed (broken down by heat or enzymes) to fructose to make the sweetener. It’s a processed sweetener requiring one hydrolysis step, requiring more processing than honey and less than high fructose corn syrup. It has the same number of calories as any other sugar, about 4 per gram or 16 per teaspoon.