anart said:
jubazo said:
Great subject.
Could I kindly ask for some assistance regarding diet?
Is it fine to use some other sweetener in Laura's shake in stead of xylitol, like honey for example?
To my understanding, honey is not recommended due to it feeding the candida. Xylitol or stevia is recommended.
In the Ultra Simple Diet book it explicitly mentions Xylitol in a list of sugar alcohol sweeteners and other sweeteners that should be avoided. It didn't single Xylitol out, but it was in the list.
On the page
Artificial Sweeteners Could Be Sabotaging Your Diet Dr. Hyman lays out his argument. Here are some excerpts:
[quote author=Dr. Hyman]
Any sweet taste will signal your body that calories are on the way and trigger a whole set of hormonal and metabolic responses to get ready for those calories.
When you trick your body and feed it non-nutritive or non-caloric sweeteners, like aspartame, acesulfame, saccharin, sucralose, or even natural sweeteners like stevia, it gets confused.
...
My bottom line?
Avoid artificial sweeteners, including aspartame, acesulfame, sucralose, sugar alcohols such as malitol and xylitol (pretty much anything that ends in “ol”), as well as natural artificial sweeteners like stevia.
Stop confusing your body. If you have a desire for something sweet, have a little sugar, but stay away from “fake” foods.
Eating a whole-foods diet that has a low glycemic load and is rich in phytonutrients and indulging in a few real sweet treats once in a while is a better alternative than tricking your body with artificial sweeteners -- which leads to wide scale metabolic rebellion and obesity.
[/quote]
The page is a good read. He mentions research done on rats, but that was with saccharin and yogurt, not stevia or xylitol. It seems to me the reasoning he is focused on for avoiding all artificial sweeteners is this statement:
[quote author=Dr. Hyman]
Any sweet taste will signal your body that calories are on the way and trigger a whole set of hormonal and metabolic responses to get ready for those calories.
[/quote]
The above information was posted April 1st, 2008. There is some good discussion down the page, with several people questioning and/or objecting to the inclusion of stevia and/or xylitol:
Dr. Hyman was not saying that stevia was bad due to being toxic or unhealthy, but due to the PSYCHOLOGICAL affect it has on fooling the body as it EXPECTS a CALORIC sweetener but then receives a NON-caloric sweetener. However, I'm not sure I can agree 100% with it being lumped with artificial sweeteners (including HFCS) that are physically toxic and drastically affect body chemistry. Before stevia is lumped into a conclusion related to artificial sweeteners based soley on a psyhological point, I'd like to see an actual study regarding stevia...one with the whole stevia leaf and one with the extracted rabaudioside (bad spelling?)...
Hi Doc,
A friend forwarded me this post after reading a similar post on my own blog about the same study you cited.
I did, however, at the end of the post, offer xylitol as a possible alternative sweetener, as to my understanding, it does have caloric value, and the body does produce an oxidase, kinase and phosphatase specific for xylitol.
I'm just curious to know more of your thoughts and experience with this particular agent.
Matthew Marturano, ND
And here is his response from
The UltraSimple Diet FAQ: Part 2
[quote author=Dr. Hyman]
==> Q. Are there any problems with using stevia as a natural sweetener?
A. Stevia is plant-based sweetener.
It can be used in moderation; however, I recommend avoiding any type of sweetener (artificial or otherwise) that can stimulate your cravings for sweets.
Give yourself this opportunity for one week and watch your cravings disappear!
[/quote]
I'm just pointing out here some possibly useful options. Based on all the research available here and abroad on stevia and xylitol, I don't think they are bad for you. But there is something to be said for Dr. Hyman's take on sweeteners in general, too methinks. So, in the interest of cutting out as much as possible that could be bad for oneself, it might be useful to leave out the sweeteners and then add them back later as well to determine effects.
My two cents as an Ultra Simple Diet newbie (just started today).