Sugar vs Artificial Sweeteners - which is healthier?

I take sugar in my drink and now wonder whether it is better to use natural sugar or artificial sweetener (Cyclamat + Saccharin)? Obviously cutting it out completely would probably be the best.

Honey and Maple Syrup are my poisons of choice

In 1899, a Swiss scientist “discovered” stevia, which was used by Paraguay natives. If you are not a “taster” (for whom stevia has a bitter aftertaste), it’s the best-tasting sweetener I’ve ever used.

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Why would you have, and perhaps pay for, a drink that you have to add sweeteners to? Sugar makes a mediocre coffee neutral while making an excellent coffee the same.

Where would you get an excellent coffee, to me all coffee tastes the same, a burnt and bitter sludge that needs to be dropped past the tasebuds as quickly as possible. Now tea, and I mean “Tea” tea, non of that flower drinking or infusions, or exotic Chai, Rooibos, mate, or anything that looks green, need a drip of milk and a sprinkle of sugar.
Thing is in real tea you dont need a lot, of sweet just enough not to matter in the grand scheme of things.
But real use real sugar, I prefere brown sugar and non of those little tablets that makes tea taste like a lab experiment gone wrong.

When I don’t use brown sugar which I produce myself from cane sugar and Appleford’s molasses (forgive the advertizing) I use birch sugar from Finnland. Also called xylit but careful not all xylit is birch sugar (products that do not originate from Finland, it is also possible that the xylitol is not obtained from birch but from maize and may therefore be genetically modified).
It has absolutely no taste of it’s own (stevia does, I tried it and highly dislike it), it has absolutely no negative effect on your teeth (one of my main reasons, it fights caries bacteria and thus supports oral hygiene), 40% less calories than standard sugar, it is also suitable for diabetics, as it is broken down independently of insulin.

When you first use it and too much too quickly, it can make your tummy rumble and/or cause diarrhoea. The body does get used to it though:
“As our intestines can only absorb very small amounts of xylitol, birch sugar has a laxative effect. Scientists recommend consuming no more than 0.5 grams per kilogram of body weight per day, otherwise there is a risk of flatulence and diarrhea. However, the body can get used to birch sugar: If you want to replace sugar entirely with xylitol, you should increase the dose of xylitol slowly to avoid side effects.”

For cooking and baking you can use it 1:1 like sugar. It is expensive though, give it a try. Once you want to buy it by the kilo, ask me for sources.

The perfect solution is having a partner who sneakingly gets you off the sugar. I used to have two spoons of sugar in my tea (and coffee) until one day when I was asked how I want my tea and I told them so, my boyfriend said “no you don’t”. He had reduced the sugar in my tea over several weeks without me noticing it and up until today - decades later - I still drink my tea and coffee without sugar. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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I eliminated sugar from my tea, but haven’t yet managed the same for coffee.

Maybe I should switch to tea, but I need the caffeine hit at work and pressing the button on the automatic machine is much easier than brewing a cup of tea!

I drink my coffee and black tea only with cream. That is sweet enough. Adding sugar only makes it yucky

I was in the same position but just started to eliminate it over time. Ended up with a quarter teaspoon then it wasn’t such a leap to go sugar free.

I haven’t put sugar in my tea for years. That came about because people would use the same scummy spoon to dip in the coffee granules as the sugar and if you put sugar in your tea you ended up with some bonus coffee in there, too. :nauseated_face:

That sounds yukky to me. I can’t imagine tea with cream.

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I remember that’s what they gave you in Swiss restaurants. Black tea with “kaffeerahm”. To be honest, as the tea itself is already crap it doesn’t matter anymore=don’t order tea with milk in the German part of Switzerland. :grinning_face:

I don’t order tea anywhere in any part of Switzerland as it’s always dreadful.
In fact most of Europe serves up horrible tea, they’re more keen on the infusions where the water temperature is less critical than in a decent cup of black tea.

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Try it! You’ll like it.

I’m pretty sure I won’t.

Never know till you try it.

@Phil_MCR :smiley: I know you opened this for me :white_heart:
but i was working… :smiley:
HOOOOONNNNNEEEEEYYYYYYY!!! from my lovely bees!
It is natural
It is tasteful
Enriches the taste of coffee
Contains oligo-elements that are super-healthy
(you can read everything on my blog :wink:
It is made by little God’s creatures that I slave-drive with a lot of love
And you can use it for other purposes:
you got a burn (from cooking, or from the sun?) - put honey on it (clinical trials dixit).
you got a tasteless roast? - put honey on it
you want to marinate something prior to BBQ? - put honey on it
you want to re-runt the ‘9 1/2 weeks sketch’ (for all of us 50+ :wink: - put honey on it.
you want to make your local beekeeper (i.e me) happy? - put honey on it!


A happy beekeeper with a bad hair-day :wink:
sooo many reasons, so little time!

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I have only vague memories of that film being discussed in hushed tones at school, but have never seen it.

I saw this tidbit about it:

Kim Basinger owns 14 hours of deleted scenes that MGM thought were very psychologically damaging to people. The footage has never been made available for public viewing, even in the Director’s Cut DVD edition.

I was too tired to grill yesterday. Ended up cooking some pork ribs in a cast iron pan. Cooking was far from perfect, but I added a bit of honey on top at the end :drooling_face:

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I’ve been given tea with coffee creamer enough times in various places which don’t have fresh milk to know that it’s disgusting.

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Besides one ‘express’ in the morning (black no sugar) I’m a beer drinker. Thank goodness we don’t have these discussions.