[MelodyL]

That's correct, you heard me right. Over two weeks ago, I stopped using Splenda in ANYTHING. I used to put it in my beverages, I baked with it, Oh, by the way, I'm a type 2, and up until two weeks ago, I was on 20 units of Lantus and no other diabetes meds.

Well, you should have seen what happened when I stopped the Splenda and used Stevia. I dropped 40 points in 2 days. One morning my sugar reading was 80. I could NOT believe my eyes.

I now use Stevia for any sweetening purpose, and guess what? I am down to 9 units of Lantus.

I have been type 2 for 22 years . I have a very very good chance of getting off Lantus for good.

I never associated Splenda with keeping my blood glucose levels higher than normal. I figured "I'm diabetic, I can't use sugar, I'll use SPLENDA'.

What a difference.

And you might be wondering what beverages I drink.

I drink ONE thing. I purchase a Rasberry Lemondade sweetened with Stevia from an online website. I am not allowed to post the address of the website because I have not done 5 posts yet and I'm not an active member. But just google truelemon and you'll get the website.

They sell packets of crystalized lemon, lime and orange, and their newer products are lemonades.

Now I was never a fan of any kind of lemonade, but I bought the Rasberry Lemonade and I won't drink anything else.

You mix it with water, and I drink this quite a bit. It's so refreshing, and there is no additives and it's easy to mix. They are soon making a bulk form so you don't have to open up the little packets.

Discovering this website has changed my life.

I grow my own sprouts in my kitchen, I eat broccoli sprouts, mixed with radish, alfalfa and fenugreek sprouts, and of course, for protein I eat fish and chicken. I do not eat meat.

I have lost ALL THE WEIGHT I HAD TO LOSE, and the difference in my glucose level is amazing.

I am very pleased that I discovered that Splenda was not right for me. It might be fine for others, but for me, eliminating it from my body was essential.

Hope this helps someone.

Melody

 

[Shanny]

Good to see you again, Melody! Congratulations on your weight loss and reducing your insulin requirements!

I'm right in there with you on the granulated Splenda (sucralose). It's mixed with maltodextrin & I get a spike every time. For any sweetening needs I have I use granulated erythritol, or liquid saccharine . . . I keep liquid sucralose (EZ-Sweetz drops) too, but it is SO concentrated that I rarely reach for it anymore.

Do come visit us often . . . it's great to hear from you!

 

[MelodyL]

Hi there. I use Liquid Stevia that I got form GNC. Have had NO problem. I would like to be able to use the little Stevia packets. Do they use maltodextrin in those?

Thanks much

Melody

 

[MelodyL]

Am I correct in thinking that it's the maltodextrin in the splenda packets that was the culprit?

How does one know if it's the actual Splenda or the filler they use to mix with the Splenda.?

Thanks much

Melody

 

[Shanny]

When I use liquid sucralose - the EZ-Sweetz drops - I don't get any spike, so I have to conclude that it's the maltodextrin spiking me, and not the sucralose. When I finally checked the bag of Splenda, it lists maltodextrin FIRST, so it's actually the main ingredient in the granulated product. The ingredients list on any of these sweetener products should include anything that's added to it.

The only stevia product I've tried is Truvia, which is rebiana (derived from stevia) and erythritol. I did okay with that, but was unable to find it in bulk around where I live, and got tired of all the little packets if I was trying to bake.

 

[MelodyL]

Ah, so I can buy Truvia and I'll be okay?

Or Purvia???

Thanks much.

melody

 

[Shanny]

If you're okay with erythritol & you're okay with stevia, I guess you'd be okay with Truvia . . . I haven't tried PureVia.

 

[Diabrarian]

In the past few weeks I've also noticed a spike beyond normal with Splenda products. In switching to ice cream, occasional diet juice drinks, and coffee with granulated Splenda, I'm often up to mid-7s with just one serving of whatever, as a treat. Splenda was also touted at my last diabetes class as the safest chemical sweetener for us.

At this point I'm even thinking of just dropping all artificial sweeteners and just using a tiny bit of real added sugar every so often. It means dropping almost all the natural and artificial sweetened products, but frankly I'm prepared to live such since I can almost accurately calculate the effects of natural sugar on my BS after months of trial and error.

Whereas trying to go through all these substitutions just seems like an endless game of snakes and ladders and with every new chemical discovered or marketed it's another seesaw.

 

[Richard157]

Artificial sweeteners

I started using saccharin tablets in the late 1940's, a few years after my diagnosis. At the present time I use Sweet 'n Low packets from the grocery store. the ingredient in the Sweet 'n Low that gives it the sweet taste is saccharin, so I have used saccharin for a very long time. It never causes me any problems with my BG levels, but I use insulin, so that could be the reason for that.

 

[MelodyL]

In the past few weeks I've also noticed a spike beyond normal with Splenda products. In switching to ice cream, occasional diet juice drinks, and coffee with granulated Splenda, I'm often up to mid-7s with just one serving of whatever, as a treat. Splenda was also touted at my last diabetes class as the safest chemical sweetener for us.

At this point I'm even thinking of just dropping all artificial sweeteners and just using a tiny bit of real added sugar every so often. It means dropping almost all the natural and artificial sweetened products, but frankly I'm prepared to live such since I can almost accurately calculate the effects of natural sugar on my BS after months of trial and error.

Whereas trying to go through all these substitutions just seems like an endless game of snakes and ladders and with every new chemical discovered or marketed it's another seesaw.

Need to clarify something.
You wrote:

BG Daily Flux: 4.5-5.8

I have no idea what that is. I take my readings from a meter and I'm in the United States. Normal is supposed to be 70 to 105.

I'm sure BG means Blood glucose, but what is Daily flux 4.5-5.8.

Thanks much

Melody
P.S. I hope they let me include the link to the beverage I drink.

It's truelemon.com

I buy their Rasberry Lemonade. It's to die for.

 

[Shanny]

Multiplying or dividing by 18 is the trick for converting the differing BG readings. Multiply mmol/l by 18 to get mg/dl, and vice versa.

I see from the website that the raspberry lemonade contains evaporated cane juice, another version of good ol' sucrose.

 

[MelodyL]

Thanks for the explanation. I still have NO idea what you wrote.

lol lol

And I don't care if it has cane juice or whatever it has. It never affected my blood sugar and it's the best thing I ever tasted. I got to drink more water and it was good for my system.

They might say Snapple is the best stuff on earth.

They never tasted Raspberry Lemonade by True Lemon

lol
Melody

 

[breezeonby]

That's correct, you heard me right. Over two weeks ago, I stopped using Splenda in ANYTHING. I used to put it in my beverages, I baked with it, Oh, by the way, I'm a type 2, and up until two weeks ago, I was on 20 units of Lantus and no other diabetes meds.

Well, you should have seen what happened when I stopped the Splenda and used Stevia. I dropped 40 points in 2 days. One morning my sugar reading was 80. I could NOT believe my eyes.

I now use Stevia for any sweetening purpose, and guess what? I am down to 9 units of Lantus.

I have been type 2 for 22 years . I have a very very good chance of getting off Lantus for good.

I never associated Splenda with keeping my blood glucose levels higher than normal. I figured "I'm diabetic, I can't use sugar, I'll use SPLENDA'.

What a difference.

And you might be wondering what beverages I drink.

I drink ONE thing. I purchase a Rasberry Lemondade sweetened with Stevia from an online website. I am not allowed to post the address of the website because I have not done 5 posts yet and I'm not an active member. But just google truelemon and you'll get the website.

They sell packets of crystalized lemon, lime and orange, and their newer products are lemonades.

Now I was never a fan of any kind of lemonade, but I bought the Rasberry Lemonade and I won't drink anything else.

You mix it with water, and I drink this quite a bit. It's so refreshing, and there is no additives and it's easy to mix. They are soon making a bulk form so you don't have to open up the little packets.

Discovering this website has changed my life.

I grow my own sprouts in my kitchen, I eat broccoli sprouts, mixed with radish, alfalfa and fenugreek sprouts, and of course, for protein I eat fish and chicken. I do not eat meat.

I have lost ALL THE WEIGHT I HAD TO LOSE, and the difference in my glucose level is amazing.

I am very pleased that I discovered that Splenda was not right for me. It might be fine for others, but for me, eliminating it from my body was essential.

Hope this helps someone.

Melody

Splenda used to spike my blood sugar, but my body got used to it. I have done tests to see what kind of spike if any that I might be having. I started with a fasting of 85 and drank a couple of glasses of kool-aid made with Splenda and 1/4 cup Steviva (erythritol & Steviva) and my blood sugar stayed at exactly 85. I have tried every sweetener that is made or grown and I have yet to find anything that tastes like sugar except Sweetzfree. The only problem is the price for this pure liquid sucralose. The last time I bought 4 ounces, I paid $64. I just had a hard time trying to fit the price of Sweetzfree into my monthly budget.

 

[ThoseBackPages]

I never cared for splenda

 

[MelodyL]

I found another great tip to lower BG levels

Hi All!!

And this is for the guys and gals who seriously want to lower their BG levels, not for people who still eat the crap and say "oh, I'll just take more in my injection so I can eat 3 pieces of cake". The guy down the block from me takes 4 injections a day, he's type one, skinny as a beanpole, has had 3 eye operations, NEVER tests his blood glucose levels and the one time I said "how come you never test?" he said'I know my body, I know how to do this, I know how to eat and adjust my insulin so I can eat whatever I want".

Why on earth would I even have a discussion about diabetes with a person who never checks their levels, so we talk about other things.

So here's what I discovered. I sprout. I've been doing this for over 2 years. Lost tons of weight, I love the taste in my salads. I know it's not for everybody but for me it works. I started sprouting Organic Fenugreek seeds when I started sprouting, simply because I googled the benefits of fenugreek and it seems that people in Europe use this instead of taking meds. So I sprouted my seeds, and ate the in a salad and forgot about it.

Yesterday I brought some home made vegetarian stuffed cabbage rolls to my beautician who is also diabetic. We've been helping each other and we give each other tips.

Well, she goes running to me when I came in the door and she's all excited and she goes "melody, I am so excited, my sugar was 102 this morning". I said 'wow, that's wonderful (she's on Lantus, Januvia, glipizide, glyburide, ALL SORTS OF STUFF.

And she's THIN, and she's type 2 (her doctor says so, but who knows?)

She then tells me 'I made fenugreek tea" I said "how did you do that"? She bought some seeds (exactly the same seeds I use for sprouting). She just took half a teaspoon in a cup, added boiling water, let it steep and she drank it. She's been doing this for 3 days now. ALL GOOD RESULTS. Much better than without the tea. She drinks a cup during the day, and a few sips in the evening when she takes her pills.

A lightbulb went off in my head and I said to myself "God, I am SO stupid". I've been sprouting these seeds for 2 years, but I never knew I could drink the water that I soaked the seeds in.

When you sprout, you have to soak the seeds overnight to germinate them. Then you begin the sprouting process.

I've been throwing out the Fenugreek water after soaking. THAT could have been my tea for the day. I could have added stevia and that would be that.

You better believe that the next time I begin a new batch of fenugreek sprouts, I won't throw out the water.

But last night I steeped some seeds in a cup of hot water.

This morning my fasting BG was 122.

And I am now on 8 units of Lantus. AND THAT'S IT. I've only used Lantus for the past 5 years. I started (when I was in the Cornell Medical Center ACCORD protocol), they started me with 10 units of Lantus and 2000 of Metformin. I was VERY overweight at the time.

Didn't get any lightbulb moments way back then. My brain didn't change.

Eventually I went up to 46 of the Lantus and no Metformin. I then went to a nutritionist, learned how to eat, learned what FOOD does to a body, and then I started sprouting. Little by little my lantus use went DOWN.

For about a year I was using 20 units once a day. As soon as I got off Splenda, in one week I was down to 10. This says SOMETHING!!!!

Today was 8.

I shall drink once or twice a day. It doesn't take bad. I just add 4 drops of Liquid Stevia and I'm good to go. I'm drinking it now as I type this.

I realize that not everyone can eat the way I do, but I feel that if I put good stuff in my body, my pancreas can do it's thing.

So far, IT'S DOING IT'S THING!!!

I can only hope it continues.

Long gone are the days when I would sit in front of my tv and down twinkies, yodells, chips and dips. I ate like that to feed my soul, not my body. It numbed me. I almost destroyed my body eating like this.

I have no idea if this will do anything for the Type One's but hey, what's the worst that could happen? You might need less meds.

Nothing is written in stone. We have to try whatever we need to try.


Take care

Melody