I avoid them because of the odd taste. Even Splenda, which people insist doesn't have an artificial taste, is noticeable.

I hate the fake taste of sugar substitutes, but I am often cooking for a diabetic.I've been experimenting with natural alternatives like agave that don't spike his blood sugar like white sugar does. So far, I've been really unsatisfied with the textures of my baking results

Stevia all the way! Plus a touch of raw honey every now and then. sugar is addictive, destroys your immune health, and tastes sickening if you go off of it for any extended period of time.

I agree with kimberlyrose that they all taste like chemicals. (To be fair, I also think store-bought chocolate syrup tastes like chemicals, so I might be especially sensitive.) Like the original poster, I often use sweeteners other than white sugar, but not what this article is calling "alternatives." I'm also a little creeped out by/disbelieving of the zero or low calorie claims. I just don't think it can be that easy.

Majorly for! I like really sweet things but have to stay on a limited calorie intake as to not rapidly gain weight. I probably use a good 20+ packets of Splenda a day and probably save myself from consuming an extra 500+ calories a day that way. I pretty much use it wherever I would have previously used lots of sugar. Coffee, tea, dip my slightly under-ripe strawberries in it, put it in smoothies, I put it in salad dressings and marinades that call for sugar, but when I bake I only replace half of the sugar in the recipe with Splenda because my boyfriend finds that when I replace all the sugar with it, it tastes artificial but he can't tell the difference when I only replace half. Maybe I'm just used to the taste but I don't think Splenda has a weird artificial taste although I can't use other artificial sweeteners for that reason.

I know it's probably not amazing for my health but the sugar wouldn't be either, and I've tried to do all sorts of cleanses and stuff to get rid of my sugar cravings, but it just doesn't work. I like sweet things and I don't like excessive calories. Splenda is great for me. :)

22 spoonfulls a day?? Holy crap, I'd be interested to know their source on that. I do not like sugar substitutes, it's either cane sugar or honey for me. Then again I cook/bake from scratch 90% of the time, and ingest very little sugar on a daily basis other than the 2 teaspoons in my morning coffee.

Does this count include natural sugars? I don't sweeten my coffee, I only drink diet sodas, I bake my own bread, I don't usually eat cereal, and I'm not big on sweets - I prefer salty snacks and don't generally eat dessert. So unless this counts natural sugars in fruits, I don't think I even come close to 22 spoonfuls a day. I try to avoid sugar in packaged foods, but I've never even considered cooking with an alternative - I just don't see the need.

I use Truvia, a product made with the stevia plant, in things I only consume, like my daily grapefruit. Never as a replacement in baking or things that I would share with others.

I don't like the taste of artificial sweeteners AT ALL. They all just taste chemically or fake. I figure that if I need something sweet that badly, I should be able to consume the calories that come with it. I use a lot of maple syrup, agave and honey in place of white sugar when I do need to sweeten something. What I don't understand is how people feel the need to down that much sugar in one day--whether it's artificial or not!

I'm pretty easygoing with them. I avoid the pink stuff though. In coffe and things I only really use Splenda or stevia (but stevia, though not artificial, does have an off taste to many, myself included)

For baking, I'm white refined sugar all the way. Even natural, unprocessed sugars can affect the texture of a baked good somewhat, so I stick to what was intended for recipes with things like that.

And I'm sure I've consumed more than a lifetimes worth of aspartame from diet drinks, but I never ever drink sugar sweetened drinks. Just empty calories.

I'm definitely for. I used to be obese and diabetes runs heavily on both sides of my family, so when I committed to losing weight a few years ago, I hopped on the Splenda bandwagon. Of course, I don't use it multiple times a day, but it comes in handy for things like coffee and Greek yogurt. And if I'm baking, I like having the option of replacing some (or all) of the recommended sugar with granulated Splenda.

Sure, you can tell a difference in taste sometimes, but for me, it's worth it. And until someone's death is caused 100% from artificial sweetener use, I'll probably continue to use it. Some people don't need to worry about weight or blood sugar, but others do and it's nice to have other options.

I just cannot deal with the taste of artificial sweeteners. I'd say Splenda is the "least horrible" of the ones I've had but I still find it pretty disgusting. I can understand that some people really need to cut their sugar intake and find it to be a reasonable tradeoff, but I can't enjoy food with artificial sweetener in it.
I actually don't like Stevia much either; I got a new box of Emergen-C (a powdered vitamin drink thing) last week in a flavor I'd had before and thought as I drank it that the taste was off somehow. A look at the package revealed that they now put Stevia in it. =(

I used to have a much bigger sweet tooth than I do now; I still like sweets but in smaller and less-sweet amounts, so I'm ok with sugar/honey/agave/maple/molasses for my sweetening needs.

@Thatsnotfab: That's a really good point about using these products to live with diabetes. I'm glad they are serving that purpose at least.

I don't like sweet things, in general. I drink my coffee and tes black, can't stand sweetened cereals, prefer cheese for dessert, and even water down my fruit juices with club soda... So aside from a few nostalgic favorites when a strong craving hits (Diet Coke, in particular), I avoid sweet things in general and artificial sweeteners even more. To me, it's a lie that Splenda "tastes like sugar," and I find that most packaged and prepared foods taste like chemicals, some more than others.

I've found that most things (especially beverages) are better unsweetened once you get used to it.... you just have to WANT to get used to it. The exception to this is baked goods and candies. In those cases, i just use real sugar and don't eat so damned much of it.

I, too, fear that research will end up showing that artificial sweeteners do us as much or more harm as regular sugar, which is why I quit Splenda after a brief period of use.

Generally, I feel like if I'm craving sugar (which happens when I'm tired, as the body wants quick energy), I'll have a little bit (or a lot, if I'm really wanting it) to address the craving and be done with it.

I don't eat a lot of sugary things in general - I don't drink soda (regular, "diet", or otherwise) or juice, I don't have dessert on a frequent basis (less than once a week), and I try to avoid snacky or processed foods. I have been lucky in that I am able to change my palate to be amenable to what I believe is healthy for me. For instance, I rarely put sugar in my coffee. I drink my tea unsweetened. I put unsweetened natural applesauce and cinnamon in my oatmeal instead of brown sugar or honey.

There are other things I'm NOT good at, like getting enough exercise or getting enough sleep. Since I'm able to control my food, I work with that strength and try to improve on everything else.

I stick to real sugar: white, turbinado, demerara, brown, granulated, etc. I don't use much sugar in cooking, except when baking. For tea, I use licorice tea in addition to whatever tea I'm brewing for a naturally sweet flavor. Sometimes I'll use honey.

I find the taste of artificial sweeteners repulsive. I can always tell when something's been sweetened with it, so I avoid ALL things with artificial sweeteners. (I haven't chewed gum in years!) Also, there is too much conflicting information out there in regards to the long-term effects of artificial sweeteners on one's body and health. I wouldn't use Truvia because it's made by a Big Food corportation (Cargill). They don't use the whole plant, but extract certain elements from it and mix it with other stuff and that goes against my philosophy. Also, I'm wary about anything that Big Food corporations make and sell with health claims.

22 spoonfuls is not hard to imagine at all, even in the diets of "healthy" eaters who consume fruit juice and a lot of starches like bread. Even milk has a lot of sugar in the form of lactose.

No chemicals for me, ever, nada.
Only use maple syrup in my coffee, 1 tsp.
Occasionally honey.
Agave half and half with sugar for baking.
No sweeteners added to my grapefruit, smoothies, etc.
Never sodas of any kind.
I wouldn't touch that chemical stuff with a ten foot pole.

I avoid sugar as a general rule. Our bodies are simply not built to process purified sugar in any healthy manner. That said, artificial sweeteners are largely untested chemicals, so I avoid them as well.

If I need something sweet, I'll use fruit - probably berries. If I just need carbs (e.g. post workout), I'll go for sweet potatoes, pumpkin, or squash.

I have, however, brewed kefir with blackstrap molasses.

I do hear thatsnotfab's solutions and applaud her for finding what works.
Brava!

Against! Sugar is bad, but artificial sweeteners are worse. We at least have a decent understanding of what sugar does to you. Who knows what is going on with those artificial sweeteners? The only studies I've seen done on them were done people who would have an incentive to show them to be safe OR were inconclusive. Who knows? I don't want to support a sweet habit using artificial sweeteners only to find out 20 years from now that they were damaging my body and we just didn't realize it at the time. Besides, they give me headaches!

I'll take the extra calories and be honest about what I'm doing to myself than lie to myself and say I'm making a "healthy" choice, when really I'm tricking myself into rationalizing continuing an unhealthy habit. Diet soda is a perfect example of this. There are so many reasons to avoid soda besides the calories, but by taking those out of the equation you are able to rationalize a poor choice.

I stick to honey and minimally processed cane sugar, but more than that I try to break my sweettooth! Now that I've started eating paleo 80% of the time, sugary things taste too sweet to me and kinda make me gag.

I try to stay away from white sugar, so I use honey, agave and stevia instead. I do not add artificial sweeteners to anything and avoid Splenda (sucralose) like the plague! I am very, very sensitive to Splenda. If I have just a bit (like 1 stick of gum), I get a headache and slight upset stomach, but if I have too much I get blurred vision, headaches, forgetfulness and joint pain (like eating a snack with Splenda in it several times a day for several days)! I figured that out in college during one of my finals weeks. I had bought mini pretzels and was dipping them in icing (which had Splenda instead of sugar) as a who-cares-because-it's-finals-week snack. I became so ill that I thought something was seriously wrong and my roommate was very concerned (my symptoms for two days: constantly upset stomach, headaches, blurred vision, forgetfulness, joint pain, soreness, etc.). I called my mom to describe what was happening and she told me she'd just read an article about people with Splenda sensitivities and I had mentioned almost all of them! I stopped eating the icing, felt better by that night, and felt completely back to normal by the second day after stopping Splenda. Since then, there have been times at bridal showers, etc. that I'll start feeling my stomach becoming uneasy and realize I'm getting a headache so I'll ask the hostess if anything has Splenda in it. Every time I've suspected it, it's been in something. Now I ask before I eat! :-)

I know a lot of people use Splenda and love it, but I would encourage anyone who suffers from feeling sort of "off" all the time to cut it out for a week or so to see if they feel better.

"According to Gourmet Live, Americans down 22 spoonfuls of sugar a day"

Hey there Megan Gordon, I just read that article at Gourmet. It does not say anything about the average daily consumption of sugar. In the Times article that is linked in the Gourmet article it describes 2 different averages: 40 lbs per year and 75 lbs per year, with the 75 lbs being described as "more accurate." That comes to 3.28oz per day. I have no idea how many "spoonfuls" that is, did you sit down and measure this?

Don't make up sources, this is pretty basic stuff even for a blog.

I suppose if you need to watch your sugar for health reasons, these substitutes could be a good idea but I just think they all taste bad. My sister buys everything with Splenda in it--jam, juice, yogurt, and she puts it in her coffee. I feel like if you're going to consume that much artificial sugar for health reasons like she does, you'd be better off just avoiding sugary things all together. Apart from the sugar I consume in fruit and fruit juices and maybe marmalade, I avoid sugar altogether.

Real stuff only for me, and that includes Stevia (which I grow in my garden), I've cut down on my sugar consumption by training my palate to prefer less sweet foods overall. I genuinely like super tart lemonade, when I want sugar on my cereal I put a pinch of cinnamon instead (my brain's always perceived, since I was child, that if there's cinnamon there must also be sugar present), and by eating more fresh fruit when the sugar monster tries to claim me.

I was a bit of a root beer addict though and Dr. Oz's root beer substitute got me off commercial sugary sweet root beer (I modify his recipe slightly since I'm not big on agave). This link also speaks to how to kick an addiction to sugar substitutes:

http://www.drozfans.com/dr-ozs-advice/dr-oz-artificial-sweetener-addiction-root-beer-orange-soda-recipes/

I'm a diabetic who eats low carb so I do use sugar substitutes. While I like Splenda and have never noticed any funny taste, it isn't carb and calorie free when used in the quantities necessary for baking. I usually use a combination of erythritol, Truvia and liquid Splenda (which doesn't have the fillers and carbs of the granular Splenda) in my baking.

I am very, very careful about my sugar intake. I used to be fat. I'm still overweight but I'm slowly taking it off. I avoid HFCS and all sweeteners other than cane sugar (in signifcant moderation), molasses, maple syrup & honey. I LOVE maple syrup. I think I could drink a gallon of grade B straight up. (I won't!)

I hate the taste of the artificial stuff, and I don't think I use that much sugar (aside from during the holiday baking season!) because I tend to do the majority of my cooking from scratch. When my use of convenience items goes up, so does my sugar intake, so I try to keep it pretty low. If I want to sweeten my food I tend to use maple syrup, honey, or agave. I do this when I eat yogurt (I buy plain yogurt and flavor it with fruit and a little honey or syrup) and there's nothing I love more than honey drizzled over fresh bread. I used to eat an absolute ton of sweets and I had to conciously change the way I eat. After a few weeks in which I felt pretty deprived, I began to appreciate the natural sweetness in foods like fruit and roasted veggies, and now things that are sweetened with sugar tend to taste too sweet to me.

I avoid artificial sweeteners like the plague. I'm very afraid of these man-made unnatural chemicals and what they do to our bodies. My grandmother has/had a brain tumor that we think we caused by her long term use of aspartame. Of course she doesn't think so (how's that for conspiracy? We're not weird I promise, just skeptical.) You won't find me with sugar free-anything gum, liquids, cookies. I prefer my sweets in a more natural, healthy, and safe manner.

I too would like to know a bit more about how the numbers for average sugar consumption break down. I don't drink soda at all, and juice very rarely; I don't sweeten my coffee or tea; I bake my own bread (without added sugar) and avoid processed foods as a rule. But I'm quite happy to eat sweet potatoes and rice and oatmeal; do these sugars count, or are we just talking about added sugar?

I've greatly disliked the taste of every sugar substitute I've ever tried (I'm not counting things like maple syrup or honey, which I don't think of as 'substitutes' for refined white sugar; they're their own thing). I prefer to use white sugar or brown sugar if called for when I'm baking, and if I'm cooking for people who really want or need to restrict those ingredients, I try to make things that don't need them, or need them in very small quantities.

Why people think it's ok to put synthetic overly-processed foods into their bodies without negative consequences over time is amazing to me. Cut out the sugars by simply eating less sugar. It's packed into processed foods. Even bottles of pasta sauce have sugar as one of the primary ingredients. Think about it, when you break it down, our bodies are literally made out of what we eat. So either way, lots of sugar, or lots of processed chemicals, you're not going to be healthy.

I really don't use any sort of sweetener, real or artificial. I drink my coffee black, and my tea unsweetened' in rare cases I may add a dash of honey. I don't drink sodas, real or diet. I generally go for salty snacks over sweet ones, so it's not a huge deal for me. I don't bake a whole lot, but I use white sugar for the few times that I do. I really love tart/sour flavors, so I never add sugar to things like grapefruits when I have them.

That said, if I did need to use a sweetener for something I would never use anything artificial. I just don't trust the chemical stuff. I'd rather know exactly what I'm eating than use artificial substitutes that we might discover is harmful years later, just to save a few calories.

@Jess13 - the article, page 2, top of the article does say 22 spoonfuls. I'd give some benefit of the doubt before chastising the author like that.

From the article:
"The bottom line: If you’re looking to take a break from sugar (and given that the average American downs 22 spoonfuls a day of the stuff, maybe that’s not such a bad idea), your options have never been better. "

Article, page 2: http://www.gourmet.com/food/gourmetlive/2012/011112/the-truth-about-sugar-artificial-sweeteners?currentPage=2

I love sweets, and I indulge in a bite of something sweet whenever I feel like it... but only a bite. And I try to make sure it's made with sugar/agave/maple syrup/honey, etc., not "synthetic" sweeteners. But every now and then the urge for a Diet Coke hits, and nothing can replace that! So I indulge, probably 2-3 cans of Diet Coke per month. And I don't worry about it.

ugh. processed sweetener makes me gag.

and to boot, it is basically rat poison. Read THE HUNDRED YEAR LIE... it will change your thinking.

sure, excessive sugar is bad for you, but if you prepare your own food, skipping the processed ingredients, it is really simple to keep intake to a third of that without thinking about it at all.... real sugar (or honey, raw sugar, stevia, agave nectar) for me.

@Dan-B: The link for a page 2 is not showing up on my browser, I didn't even know there was one. For the record I read both articles in what I thought was their entirety twice before I posted that.

22 packets of sugar is 238 calories (from CalorieKing.) I'd rather deal with the calories than 22 packets of chemicals every day. (Use half a package instead of the whole thing, and it's 119 calories: for many people that's sweet enough.) Recent studies on artificial sweeteners suggest that they cause weight gain by telling the body it is getting calories from sweets - but there are no calories for the insulin rush to deal with. Ttherefore hunger grows and the dieter eats something else.

Brown RJ, de Banate MA, Rother KI. Artificial sweeteners: a systematic review
of metabolic effects in youth. Int J Pediatr Obes. 2010 Aug;5(4):305-12. PMC2951976.

I'm with veslabeachbirl - I just don't use artificial sweeteners.

Once I discovered that I was allergic to artificial sweeteners (cause me a great deal of joint pain and headaches), I cut them all out, cold-turkey. Now, I only use raw sugar in my coffee (when I'm out and about, the stuff I brew myself I drink black) and I don't buy anything with an artificial sweeteners in it.

I think that the Western palette needs to reset; once you cut back on sugar, things seem way too sweet overall.

I've been using stevia since the mid-90s and love it. Unlike with chemical sweeteners, there are no side-effects, cravings, or weird tastes. Although, I do think powdered stevia has a bit of an aftertaste, so I stick with Sweet Leaf's clear liquid stevia which has none. And a $10 bottle lasts a long time. I mostly use it in coffee and tea and plain yogurt and recipes requiring sugar but not the bulk, like coleslaw dressing. Since I don't bake very often, I prefer to use sugar when I do.

My 75-year-old diabetic father has recently started using stevia as part of the changes he's been making to his diet and this makes me very, very happy.

i think people should try avoiding sweets in general... i'm doing the Whole Living 28-day challenge, and my sugar cravings have decreased DRAMATICALLY. my sweet tooth was almost unmanagable before the challenge, but now that i've cut out coffee (and the oodles of sugar i put in that everyday) any form of added sugar (only eat fruit), i don't crave sugar, i sleep better because i'm not getting the highs and lows of sugar and caffeine, and therefore i'm getting through my day without either because i'm better rested. i say STAY AWAY FROM IT ALL!!!

For those using artificial sweeteners to treat diabetes, I would be careful. Research has shown that the artificial sweeteners can still trigger an insulin spike even if they don't directly affect blood sugar levels.

I'm another vote for using them. I personally prefer Splenda though, to be fair, I haven't really given Stevia a fair shot. I like that I can bake with it too and not worry. I don't really bake all that much, but when I do, I try to replace half the sugar with splenda.

I also use it in my coffee. But then again, I also use Coffeemate so I am already putting a lot of chemicals in it.

I will give Stevia a shot sometime, but I am not really in any hurry.

I am very active and healthy, but after I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes I was forced to learn quickly just how much sugar (natural or otherwise) is in the foods I eat. Now I am eating completely differently (First because I want to be super careful since I am now at a greater risk for developing type two diabetes, and Second- I learned to appreciate the natural sweetness in foods). I now do not take sugar in my coffee and only a bit of half and half. I've learned to taste the sweetness that is already in the milk (yes, lactose is a form of sugar too!). I have always hated diet drinks and I too believe we are going to find all sorts of links to cancer or something with the artificial sweeteners.
Therefore, I do my best to lower my sugar intake...now almost always use less than called for in desserts, and my taste buds have really changed! I truly think the more sugar we eat, the more we crave it.

While I have been using stevia in dried herb form since I was a kid, I tend to steer the other way myself. we use almost only white or turbinado sugar. We do use honey as well, but not often.

We avoid sucralose (splenda) but that is hard to do as even non-diet/0cal items have sucralose in them on top of white sugar or HFCS.

22spoons of sugar isn't hard to imagine, they add sugar to everything we eat. Salad dressing? Seriously? We find by trying to make more of our own condiments and cooking from scratch we can still save how much sugar we eat.

I have yet to taste an artificial sweetener that didn't taste artificial. However, I haven't tried Truvia yet and I've heard good reports. The fact that it comes from a natural source makes me feel a little better about it, but we'll see. We need to reduce our sugar at my house, so I'm hoping it works out well - more research needed currently.

Agave Nectar is not natural - it's highly processed, just like high fructose corn syrup.

I think most artificial sweeteners will be found to be villains in the future, just like most other highly processed, chemical food replacements.

I don't do any artificial sweeteners. I don't like the idea of fake sugar-y chemicals 'tricking' your taste buds. I drink black coffee, no pop, and use real sugar when baking.

Yikes Jess13, take it down a notch.

I have always used them, just something that I am used to because that's what my parents always used in their coffee. So, I've never noticed an off-taste when it comes to coffee or other drinks. Plus, I know that I am saving on calories - I only need 2 teaspoons of sugar substitute versus maybe a couple tablespoons of real sugar. But when baking, I always use real sugar.

My husband calls them Death Dust!!

Splenda is a migraine trigger for me, so I avoid it. A little nit of Spelnda and a half an hour and I will be in a great deal of pain. I am constantly checking package labels because its sneaking into more and more food.

I adore Splenda in my coffee, since I like my coffee light and sweet, but find that sugar just makes me feel meh. I do not drink coffee to feel me.

Other than that, I use sugar, agave, or maple syrup. I tried to replace sugar with Splenda, but found that I could taste the difference.

I'm pretty sure 22 spoonfuls of sugar is accurate given the amount of hidden sugar in processed food (sausages, cornflakes, bread, pickles...to name but a few all contain sugar, sometimes in big quantities), and of course soft drinks have a lot of sugar. The thing with artificial sweeteners is that they taste bitter to some people and not to others,it depends on the receptors you've got on your tongue. I find them bitter.

Against! Unless you have sever health concerns (diabetes, etc) save your calories somewhere else! Not only do most sugar substitutes taste too saccharin, they can also be dangerous (aspartame, etc).

I work at a leading coffee chain TM and see the amount of crap people put in their coffee and it's a bit disgusting. The ones that *add* Splenda to their mochas and vanilla lattes just make me cringe a bit. That's sweetener that is supposedly sweeter than sugar being added to no less than 3 spoonfuls of sugar (for a 12oz. drink). On that note, I agree with many of the "tastes like chemicals" commenters...even Stevia products taste wrong to me. I prefer agave and honey if available. And I avoid white sugar because I bake for vegan folks and the white sugar is processed with animal products. So natural sweeteners all the way!

@Jess13 - That particular statistic is on the second page of the article, Jess.

Thank you all for your insightful comments....food for thought.

Against. Most substitutes taste awful and are awful for you. But I was thinking, and I don't actually have that much sugar anyway - I don't drink tea or coffee (I usually drink water, and may have juice - unsweetened, usually, but it does have natural sugars - once or twice a week), I don't eat sugary cereals (homemade muesli, here), the yogurt I usually eat has a small amount (13.6g of sugar in every 100g of yogurt)... lactose intolerent, so I'm not even getting lactose... really, the only sugars I have are in that yogurt and in fresh fruit and stuff, and if not, the amount is usually pretty negligable. I might have jam on a sandwich... once a week, or something.

But then, food in Australia is GENERALLY less sugary than food in the States. (I can't eat American bread. How can you eat bread that's that sweet?! It's bread!) So that may come into it as well.

If I'm baking, though, and the recipe calls for white sugar? Damn straight am I going to use that white sugar! It's in the recipe for a reason - I'd like to see people try to make meringue with Splenda!

I hate both the taste of artificial sweeteners and the idea of ingesting them. In my opinion the issue isn't so much about sugar rather than how much sugar we eat. Just like eating salty food, it's a question of habit (in my opinion) - I prefer to re-learn to appreciate the taste of normally-sweetened meals than replace the sugar with fake sugar.

As for the 22 spoonfuls of sugar a day, that sounds scary but it must add up quickly if you take into account the sugar that's hidden in most store-bought items. Cereal, candy bars, tomato sauce, etc. But yes, scary!

SSDF23: White sugar processed with animal products?! EEK I didn't know that, gross!

I avoid sugar as much as possible, which makes me feel better if I eat something with sugar occasionally. For a substitute I will sometimes use honey, or even better I will eat fruit.

Do people really not know how bad artificial sweeteners are for you?? You are much better off eating regular sugar in moderation. Do you really want to put these man made chemical concoctions in your body that have proven to be cancerous and toxic in many tests and your body can't even absorb them because they are not natural in any way. Look up any artificial sweetener and you'll find all this information. They actually make you gain weight as well because your body can't even metabolize them and doesn't know what they are, it's disgusting they are even sold to the public. People shouldn't be so concerned about calories but about eating natural, not processed foods for their health and not a number on the scale.

aspartame and sucralose are the antichrist. detoxed from all artificial sweeteners when i started eating healthy all natural foods. now a single piece of sugar free gum triggers a massive headache or anything sweetened with sugar sub, obviously not good for you.

Our whole body is made up of chemicals. Real sugar is made up of chemicals. I use one tablet of equal in my tea and coffee, and i bake cakes, slices and cookies every week using real sugar. I also walk at least 40 min each day, and only eat meat twice a week. I'm fit, happy and healthy and I believe in everything in moderation!

I have diabetes, so I absolutely can't eat any sugar. In desserts (cookies, muffins) I prefer Xylitol. It is tooth friendly. In the beginning it has lower laxation threshold than other sugar-alcohols but you should keep in mind, that it can cause laxity.

Into coffee, tea and other stuff I do not put anything. Everything tastes better this way. If not, it will be after two maybe three times. :)

@INTI yes it is true that our body and everything we consume is made up of chemicals, but there is a difference between the chemical structure of things occurring naturally how they are supposed to be and things that have been tampered with and created by scientists in a lab, which is the case for artificial sweeteners, hence their name artificial because they are not real! This is exactly the problem I have with genetically modified foods and it is the same problem we are discussing here, our bodies are made up of what we eat. Do you want your body made up of toxins or natural things it is supposed to be made of?

Before using substitutes, you should research how they are made and with what, and what they can do to our bodies. I use stevia because it has been in use in many countries for a few thousand years with no side effects, and it is a plant. I have one in fact. Much better than a substitute.

I only use Stevia in the Raw. Otherwise, I use natural sweeteners like real maple syrup or raw honey. Never white sugar or other substitutes. I'm hoping Stevia in the Raw is OK. I haven't researched it in depth yet. Do you guys have any info on it?

You know what really scares me? If 22 spoonfuls is the average, and there are a bunch of us out there not eating many processed foods and going many days in a row without any added sugar at all, how much are the people who do consume it REALLY eating? More than 22!

Probably a lot of it in soda!

Xagave agave nectar, It is made from white and blue agave, is healthy, organic, low fructose, kosher and considered raw.I don't think any other substitute is better.