Artificial sweeteners - your thoughts?

[gkoinski]

I cringe and stay away from artificial sweeteners. That's my personal choice. Being a breast cancer patient, I am very careful about what I am putting in my body and on my skin.

[DeeAmber]

Can you point me to a link with Shaklee ingredients? I want to know what's in the shakes.

[happymommy]

I'm just a member and don't work the biz. Here's a link to the co site. You can click on the "labels" tab to pull up the ingredients. I think this is to the chocolate one:

Weight Management, Cinch? Chocolate Shake Mix, Canister

Take care!

[LorettaA]

I stay clear of artificial sweeteners mostly because I can feel a difference in my body when I change how I eat/drink, including eliminating artificial sweeteners.

So whether it's good, bad or undetermined I prefer to feel good.

[LillianRose]

Ingredients in meal replacement shakes seem to be a hot topic.

I think maybe the labels are not totally accurate. What is "artificial" and what is a "sugar substitute"

I guess when reduced to its simplest terms, if it is not actually pure cane sugar, it is a "sugar substitute."

So if you find packaging with anything but "sugar" it is using a "substitute." theoretically that includes hone, agave, fructose, corn syrup, molasses, or any sugar made from beets, corn etc. I don't think that is necessarily bad because some of these substitutes are better at keeping blood sugar level. Diabetics rely on these substitutes.

The question them becomes, is that substitute natural or artificial.

I think everyone on these forums agrees that artificial is bad...so what is natural?

My research into this took me to the various diabetes association websites. from that info, I learned that stevia is a great all natural substitute, along with agave, Xylitol, grain syrups, and Organic Zero.

I realize that it is more expensive to use these natural additives than the artificial ones but I think we are all worth it!