Stevia and sugar subs.

[derinoe]

Hi guys. My question is, has any of you have trouble in bathroom department after having stevia or other sugar substitute? After drinking one glass of died cranberry lemonade I have spend all night and day running to the bathroom. I have noticed that with yoghurt as well. Can that be it, or do I need to look for another culprit? Thank you.

[Mariposa(Heather)]

Earlier on, I was extremely sensitive to artificial sweeteners. Now I do just fine with them in small quantities, like a pack of splenda in my coffee or a carbmaster yogurt.

[jpcello]

If all of a sudden you tried stevia and it caused the bathroom issues, then that would be it. If you've been using it for a while and then all of a sudden you're having a reaction, it could be something else. You're only a few months post-op so remember that everything will continue to change and evolve over time. Keep an eye on what you're eating and how you react. If you think it is the Stevia, stop using it and see if the bathroom issues go away.

I don't use Stevia - I don't like the taste. I use mostly Splenda and don't really have issues (and unfortunately I use alot of it).

[caprice]

Do both of the products you listed contain Stevia as the only sweetening agent? Or is there another kind of sweetener in either of them?

(on a side note -- I do find that it's really easy to get too much stevia in something)

[derinoe]

One had stevia, the other one that give me huge trouble today has sucralose. I have tried carbmaster yogurt and had same result. I don't crave sweet much at all, but once in a wile something besides tea or water really appeal to me . Thank you for your replys I really appreciate it.

[Girlrocker]

Hmmm, you might want to try each separately and see what happens. I mostly use Splenda too, and sometimes Truvia, and don't have any problems. And use it for same, my greek yogurt or cream cheese pancakes/mug muffins. I do ok with sweeteners, have never tried suclarose, now sugar alcohols on the other hand, kill me.

[mistercy]

I have a lot of sensitivity post-DS to artificial sweeteners, such as Splenda, Nutrasweet, etc. I never had problems before the surgery. For Stevia, there are two types - some have malitols, which are artificial, and will bother my digestive system. Truvia is one of those brands. All natural Stevia does not cause me any problems - PureVia is one brand sold at Costco, and SweetLeaf is a brand I have found at health food stores that do not affect me. I have also found flavored drinks like Diet Snapple cause me those bathroom problems, but try a Bai5 - these are made with Erithrytol, which is a naturally occurring sugar alcohol, and seems to do ok for us as DSers. I drink one to two of these daily. I also find for protein shakes, I need to use unflavored egg white protein, and then add flavored SweetDrops, which is a SweetLeaf brand I've found at health food stores and on Amazon. Good luck!

[derinoe]

Thank you all. I will keep trying one thing at a time to find such one is the trouble maker.

[cherylbaker]

I was just comming here to discuss this very subject. I since day 1 have had problems with my protein drinks sending me to the bathroom.. i have tried tonsbif different ones with different sweetner.. the odd thing is the only water i drink is those zero calorie flavored waters which have stevia and the like in them and they give me NO problem.. the sweetner seems like the obvious culprit but since the waters give me no problem.. i dunno what what else it could be.
It seems also that the problem is either better in the evening or isn't a problem at all (although i usually do not drink my shakes much later on the day. .
Anyone have any thoughts?

[rargirl]

I think each person's mileage may vary on sugar and it's multiple substitutes.

I have been pretty much addicted to equal/ aspartame/ nutrasweet aka "the blue stuff" for decades.
I cannot stand the taste of "the pink stuff" aka saccharin or "the yellow stuff" (Spenda).

I just looked Equal up and was surprised to find out it is actually: "a mix of aspartame, dextrose and maltodextrin".

It seems to have no effect on my DS body but who knows?! I have never stopped eating it.
I am pretty sure it pumps quite freely through my veins since I dump at least 5 packets of the substance in each coffee and iced tea I consume.

Dr Oz recently featured an interesting item on his show about gas issues.
He shared that females produce more gas than males since our colons have to curve around all of our internal reproductive organs.
He also noted artificial sweeteners can be a major source of gas.
The "blue stuff" was pointed out right along side the yellow and pink.

This prompted me to try to stop eating the blue stuff to see if it would help me at all.
So far, I have been off of it for a little over a week and it hasn't changed anything that I notice besides increase my consumption of good old sugar.

One poster mentioned protein drinks. All protein drinks made me horribly ill. I spent many painful hours in the bathroom as a post op due to these infernal concoctions. I tried them all (ordered a bunch of samples). Even the "flavorless" (yeah right) Unjury type you stir into soup etc had the same effect. Everything but the albumen "egg protein" enhanced scrambled eggs made me completely miserable and tasted just terrible to me.

It is possible it was the sweeteners since the only one I could tolerate was savory.
It is also possible it was the whey protein. Maybe I am lactose intolerant. I am not so sure about that since I can feast on cheese and dump hefty portions of half and half in my coffee. I decided a few weeks post op that I would never drink another protein shake, or for that matter, eat any other thing I don't like ever again.

With limited tummy real estate, torturing myself with unpleasant tastes seemed like a waste. I found other ways to get in my protein and my DS and blood test results have been a success.

I have a new quandary when it comes to sugar.
Cane sugar and beet sugar are chemically the same, however cane sugar is subject to far less processing.
I wonder if there is any difference in how these two are digested?

I seem to have an overall intolerance to any sort of overly "processed" foods and I tend to tolerate items with less chemical food additives much better.
For example, I don't think I am truly lactose intolerant since I can gleefully enjoy natural ice cream made from sugar, cream and eggs. However the commercial varieties enhanced with such delicacies as guar gum, gum arabica, xanthian gum and Carrageenan bloat my belly like a balloon and make me miserable.
This is what convinced me to try to stop eating the blue stuff.

Does anyone else suffer from food additive/processed food intolerance?
I am starting to think these types of food even taste bad. I am driving my family bonkers because I refuse to buy them Oreos, sloppy joe mix packets and a few other things they think are "delicious".