sugar v. artificial sweeteners

[Insomniac]

Hi all. Don't know if anyone could help with this...

I was having sweeteners in tea & coffee until I heard that the artificial ingredients can make you more prone to panic. I now have one sugar in coffee etc instead.

Apart from that I'm trying to cut sugar out of my diet, which includes cutting down on chocolate. I'm not cutting it out completely (which would be stressful itself!), but I have one or two squares now and again of really dark chocolate instead.

But I do drink quite a lot of squash. I choose no added sugar varieties, but of course these have artificial sweeteners in them. I do drink it weak, so I suppose I'm not getting that much.

Does anyone know anything about this.

Lisa.

[Wannabeloved85]

Hi lisa,

I too have sugar in my tea, but not my coffee {which is strange cos coffee is so much stronger} i got onto sugar when i accidently drank my sister cup of tea, and couldnt go back to my own.
I cant stand sweetners, they just dont taste the same. The only way i could cut down on sweet drinks is to drink water through the day and just have teas at night etc {apparently a swet milky drink to go to bed on can be very relaxing and help you sleep} But water through the day makes you feel so much better aswell.

Sorry dont know about the squash!

becci x

[Insomniac]

Ok, thanks for your reply becci.

I do drink either water or herb tea at work, its just when I'm at home really. My daughter loves drinking water too, so we're both quite good at that. But the water at work tastes foul so I take my own.

Lisa.

[Southern_Belle]

Hi Lisa,

I didn't know that artificial sweetners could make you prone to panic although I don't use them. I too only use sugar to sweeten my 1 weak cup of coffee in the morning. Other than that I only drink water throughout the day and have maybe a glass of milk for some dairy. Thanks for the information though. Sorry I don't know what squash is.

Bel

"Our thoughts are our reality"

[polly daydream]

Hi Lisa, since suffering anxiety I now use fruit sugar made solely from fruits, I find it much better than ordinary sugar and sweetners, you can get it from all good supermarkets.

Take care,

Polly

[Piglet]

I avoid artificial sweetners too and have for years. I go for high juice cordial but again I make it very very weak or just drink water with a splash of lemon in it.

I'm the same with margarine too, although we do use a little I prefer to use a very small quantity of butter, as its 'real'. I think our bodies prefer to deal with food products that are more natural because they can process them, otherwise they don't know how to break them down.

........ and don't even get me started on caffeine!!!! :D

Love Piglet xx

"Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?" said Piglet.
"Supposing it didn't," said Pooh after careful thought.

[Insomniac]

Thanks for all your replies. Bel - squash is fruit cordial that you dilute with water.

I'll try the fruit sugar idea. I have felt better since eating better. I now have decaffinated coffee or none and only 1 cup of tea a day. Apart from that its mostly water or herbal tea.

Piglet, I usually drink fruit & barley drinks. And I also have butter if anything because we do try to avoid artificial additives in our diet. I really think it helps us all. Though chocolate is hard to be without. So I let myself have some dark chocolate now and again. The richness means I only need a little. mmmmm

Though I must confess I'm a little anxious right now because I worst at "that time of the month", and its just started. So I'm trying to take my own advice of distraction and breathing exercises. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Lisa.

[alicia123]

Hi Lisa,

The fruit sugar idea is a good one, I use it myself and it tastes ok.

As for sweeteners, aspartame has been linked to brain tumours in rats so I would keep away from it if I were you. Don't think there is any link between panic and sweeteners, but if it can(possibly)give you brain tumours then who knows.

alicia

This helped me (so I don't go on about it!):
www.alphadynamics.com

[Insomniac]

Thanks Alicia. If me & family improve our diet at least something good is coming from this! We do try to avoid artificial anything...:D

Lisa.