Sweeteners

[lovmelovmycats.livejournal.com]

My posts will probably concern diet more than exercise, since I'm on weight watchers (again), and don't have a structured exercise plan. But who knows? Maybe that'll change.

Sweeteners!
I'm into 100% juice juices, which are nice, but still rather high in calories. Ryan drinks scary amounts of diet soda. I try to buy him equal amounts of aspartamine-sweetened and sucralose-sweetened ones, on the theory that it's better to mix his poisons to avoid overdose of one. But then, in the end, he's probably getting too much of both.
I drink more diet soda (and diet energy drinks! Gah!) than I ought to, as well.

Also, I like to bake. So far, I've just thrown diet-caution to the wind, and used copious amounts of sugar- on the theory that sweet treats are for sharing, so I won't be taking in that much just on my own. (And my biscotti recpie is easy, rather naturally low-fat, and delicious!)

I had lunch recently with a friend, who described a sugar-free cake she made for friends who had given up refined sugars (basically, the solid sugars: white, brown, maple). She used maple syrup and agave, I think she said. And it turned out awesome. So I was intruigued by that.

I don't like the taste of honey very much. I just sweetened my yogurt with it, and didn't like it until I added blueberries, which covered up the taste. I find unsweetened blueberries to be delightfully sweet and not too sour. I love sour tastes, except for rhubarb, and unsweetened yogurt.

So, fit geek friends: What are your sweetness experiences? Do you have any favorite resources, recipes, websites? Anybody here tried stevia?

Edit: Inspired by this post (and the fact that it's cold and rainy here), I made a batch of biscotti, but tried to make it more healthful, with egg-beaters, a little whole wheat flour, a little oat bran, a little less sugar, and a bit of honey- I left out an egg to account for the viscosity of the honey. It smells good... we shall see. If it's edible, it's going to the Obama campaign office.

Comments

[racerxmachina.livejournal.com]

I'm OK with sucralose, but only when sweetening fruit-based treats. It's awful in coffee, or in chocolate/vanilla flavored sweets. I wish I could bake with splenda, as I do love to bake, but I've tasted it as a baked good from restaurants, and AW HELL NO.

Stevia: you can buy it as a nutritional supplement, not as a sweetener. Go to GNC, or I think Trader Joes has it. No extensive experience with using it saide from in coffee, though I understand it's a common sweetener for candy in Japan, so I'm pretty sure I eat it all the time without knowing it. I've eaten a leaf of stevia before. It's so sweet your eyes will cross!

[grandmoffdavid.livejournal.com]

I seem to recall "splenda for baking" which is half sugar half splenda. I've never used it or tasted it, though.

[lovmelovmycats.livejournal.com]

We have some "natural food" stores around here, but there are NO Trader Joeses in my whole state!