Aspartame!?

[stacy3477]

This is my second time around. It's been several years, two kids, and gall bladder surgery since my last time on Adkins. I'm rereading the book, and I don't remember the "no aspartame" rule from last time. A diet soda or two (...and of course my favorites are the ones are with aspartame) or a bowl of sugar-free jello were staples for me last time on induction and extended induction. Anyone have any experience/advice/suggestions they can pass on?

Thanks!

[Elizellen]

Did you use Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution (DANDR) or the older version Dr Atkins Diet Revolution (DADR) when you followed Atkins previously? I am not sure but maybe the old version did not do as the one we use and say in several places that we should avoid aspartame.

As a practising doctor interested in research as well as results, Dr Atkins altered his advice when he came across new evidence, so this might be one of the things he changed in the 30 years between the books.

In DANDR he suggests we can make our own 'jello' desserts using gelatine and sucralose, so you need not be totally without your bowl now and again!!

[Georgiana]

That's right. In the 1972 ed. ("Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution"), aspartame was allowed and D-Zerta (the granny of Jell-O) was listed as an example for desserts. By 1992, Dr. Atkins noticed that about a quarter of his stalled patients were stalled because of diet drinks sweetened with aspartame (he defines excessive consumption of aspartame as more than 3 packets per day), so he added this in "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution", ed. 1992. The advice stayed the same in the 2002 edition of "Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution" (which btw is the one we go by at ADBB), where he wrote we should avoid aspartame "whenever possible" and limit sweeteners to no more than 3 packets daily.

From DANDR 2002, Chapter 11, page 124:

9. Avoid foods or drinks sweetened with aspartame. Instead, use sucralose or saccharin. Be sure to count each packet of any of these as 1 gram of carbs.

and also from DANDR 2002, Chapter 11, page 128:

You must determine which artificial sweeteners agree with you, but the following are allowed: sucralose (marketed as Splenda), saccharin, cyclamate, acesulfame-K.

[stacy3477]

Thank you! I'm honestly not sure which book I used the first time, but I'm using DANDR now. I'll definitely look up the jello recipe! The diet soda will be tougher, but I'll pick up a Splenda variety and give it a try.

[Georgiana]

Just know that sweeteners are limited to 3 servings/packets daily and each serving of sweetened stuff (8 oz for diet sodas) should be counted as one serving of sweetener. For example, you can have 1 serving of jelly sweetened with 1 packet of sweetener and 16 oz of soda one day, or 2 servings of jelly and 8 oz of soda, and so on... assuming, of course, that diet soda and jelly are your only source of sweetener.

By the way, if you have a sweetener addiction, I would caution against the use of sweeteners at least during the Induction phase, when we are supposed to break our bad dietary habits. You might also be a cephalic responder, which means your body will confuse an artificial sweetener with the real stuff. This is a sticky thread that explains the cephalic phase insulin response in more detail: http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...-response.html (Addicted to Sweets? The Cephalic Phase Insulin Response)

[stacy3477]

I feel like I should share this with everyone...

I remained skeptical that aspartame would affect me, and I didn't give up my diet sodas or jello initially. I've never went over my 3 sweetener/per/day allowance. And I lost 12 pounds on induction, so I didn't think there was a problem at all. But last week, I finally decided the health risks associated with aspartame were enough to give it up. So, as of last Friday, I switched to Hunts Jello and Diet Rite soda. So results after one week without aspartame? I lost 7 pounds!

I'm definitely not suggesting that I'll continue to lose a pound a day, or that anyone else that gives up aspartame would get the same result. I just wanted to share my experience, in case there's someone out there in my same situation.