Sugar Or Sugar Substitute, That Is The Question

Sweet Iced Tea

I was born and raised in the south, Georgia to be exact, and I cannot remember a time until now while on my journey to a new me that I did not enjoy a nice cold glass of sweet iced tea. No matter what the occasion or which meal that I was eating, I would have the same beverage, sweet ice tea. The perfect combination ratio for me was one cup of sugar to one gallon of ice tea. This means if you drink your tea from a large 32 ounce glass you are getting about 1/4 cup of sugar per every serving! A quick google search gave me some information that sweet tea drinkers everywhere will not want to hear. Did you know that 1 tablespoon of sugar has 45 calories? So to figure out how many calories are in that 32 ounce serving of sweet tea that has 1/4 cup of sugar you would need to know how many tablespoons are in a cup. Again I used http://www.answers.com/ and found that there are 16 tablespoons per one cup. So this brings us to 4 tablespoons per 1/4 cup of sugar.

 

Magnification of grains of sucrose, the most common sugar.



Wow! I bet you did not know that you were going to get a math lesson today while reading my blog post!  Who said that word problems are just painful mathematical equations that your teachers put you through in school?


Now back to the math, I mean matter at hand. With 4 tablespoons of sugar per 1/4 cup and we know a tablespoon has 45 calories, the 32 ounce glass of sweet tea would have 180 calories !!!   You have got to be kidding me! I could throw back 3 or 4 large glasses like this per day. Now I can see more clearly why I reached my all time high in weight. Without even considering my daily food I take, I was getting close to 1,000 calories per day in sweet tea!


When I started my journey to a new me if you would have asked me what would be my biggest "thing" to give up. I would have definitely said Sweet Tea! But I can honestly say that I  have not had even one glass, big or small, not even a"sip" since beginning on this journey.


There are so many sugar substitutes available on the market now, that you are certain to find one that works for you.  Way back in the 1960's the little pink packet known as Sweet 'N Low was introduced.   

Sweet 'N Low came on the scene, and with it came an option other than sugar to add sweetness to food and drinks without the added calories.

What is saccharin?

Saccharin is the sweetener in Sweet'N Low. It was discovered in late 1800 and has been used safely by people ever since. It is between 300 and 500 times sweeter than sugar. Please visit www.saccharin.org for more information.

What is dextrose and why is it added to Sweet'N Low?

Dextrose is a natural carbohydrate derived from corn. All sugar substitutes in powder form contain dextrose. Dextrose is used to dilute the very potent sweetener to make it measurable for consumers.

The next big thing in artificial sweeteners came in the form of a little blue packet called Equal.  Equal was discovered in 1965 by Dr. James Schlatter - a scientist at G.D. Searle and Company who was doing research on amino acids. When he licked his finger to pick up a piece of paper he tasted a sweet attractive flavor   Inadvertently, he had discovered aspartame, an ingredient that would revolutionize the category of “sweetener” and would be the main sweetening ingredient in Merisant´s leading tabletop brands.

In 1979, after years of testing before it was approved for consumer use, a product marketed as “Canderel®” was launched in France. Canderel® combines the words “candy” and “airelle,” the French word for wild cherry.    The product soon gained recognition through the support of pharmacists and doctors who lauded the health benefits of the low-calorie sweetener. By the early 1980s, Canderel® was being marketed in much of Europe.  In 1981, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the tabletop use of aspartame, and the next year, Equal® launched in the United States. Equal® quickly became accepted in the U.S. market as a way to enjoy sweetened beverages without the calories of sugar.  Aspartame is the number one choice by beverage manufacturers to sweeten low calorie and no calorie versions of some of our favorite beverages.  In recent years Equal brand has introduced a sucralose and a saccharin version shown in the pink and yellow boxes above.
Another sugar substitute is Splenda     The little yellow packets hit the scene several years ago and is gaining momentum in availability and popularity.  This product is similar to Sweet 'N Low in that it sweetens without adding calories, but this is where the similarity ends.


SPLENDA^® Brand Sweetener, also known as sucralose, is a no-calorie sweetener that can be used as part of a healthy diet to reduce the calories and carbohydrate from sugar that you consume.    It is made through a patented process that starts with sugar and converts it to a no-calorie, non-carbohydrate sweetener. The result is a very stable sweetener that tastes like sugar, but without its calories. After you eat SPLENDA^® Brand Sweetener, it passes through the body without being broken down for energy, so the body does not recognize it as a carbohydrate.

The latest sugar substitute to hit the market is a natural herb from South America called Stevia.

Stevia - The Zero Calorie All Natural Sweetner

 

Stevia  has many excellent properties. The body does not metabolize the sweet glyc  osides from the stevia leaf or any of its processed forms - so there is no caloric intake. Stevia doesn't adversely affect blood glucose levels and may be used freely by diabetics

Used worldwide as an no-calorie herbal sweetener, Stevia is a South American herb that is 30 times sweeter than sugar. With hundreds of studies showing Stevia is a safe alternative, it’s the next big thing.   No wonder. It's all-natural, contains zero calories, and has a zero glycemic index. Finally, you can supplement your food and drinks without the chemicals of artificial sweeteners and calories of sugar! And it is safe for diabetics and hypoglycemics.
Sweetleaf Sweetener^TM has zero calories, carbs, zero glycemic index, zero chemicals. Available in convenient packets or powder form.
SteviaClear^TM liquid is great for beverages & cooking.
Liquid Stevia Flavors - 12 great natural flavors to dress up your coffee, tea, yogurt, smoothies - even make your own soft drinks!

I use Sweet 'N Low and Splenda when dining out because of habit more than anything.  Equal has always given me severe heads so I have always steered away from this product.  I recently tried Stevia and I think I like the sweet taste that it gives my iced tea without the after taste you get with some of the other choices.  I do not know about you but all this talk about sweeteners and sweet iced tea is making me thirsty.  I think it is time for me to stop writing this blog post and go an enjoy myself a nice tall glass of  ice cole iced tea with a little bit of artificial sweetener!