You ladies know I don’t like to venture off topic too often, but I felt compelled to write this entry based on my recent experiences with Truvia.
Truvia is marketed as a more natural calorie-free sweetener because it is derived from the stevia plant. After years of using Splenda and other sweeteners in my tea, I decided that switching to something more natural would be better for me and my body.
For the last 2-3 months, I have been using Truvia in my tea exclusively. I drink A LOT of green tea. It’s between 4-6 cups per day. I drink caffeine-free green tea at night, but during the day it’s usually Starbucks Zen Green Tea
(which has a spear-minty flavor to it…refreshing, even when it’s hot!)
(which has a spear-minty flavor to it…refreshing, even when it’s hot!)
For the past few months I have been having extreme stomach issues that were out of the ordinary for me. I was diagnosed with IBS as a teen, but in my 20’s I kind of “grew out of it” and I only get symptoms now if I am majorly stressed. I am not on medication for it as it no longer affects my life on a daily basis like it used to.
However, every day since starting the Truvia (maybe not the first week or so, but after that) I would feel pain, cramping, bloating (and other horrible symptoms I won’t get into to spare you all from having to read it.) I had no idea what was wrong. I hadn’t changed my diet… yet I was always sick to my stomach in various forms of yucky-ness.
It finally got so bad last Friday that I had to leave work to deal with my symptoms. I immediately made a doctor’s appointment for the next morning. My doctor suggested that I might benefit from a gluten-free diet. I’ve never had problems with bread or other foods containing glutens so I thought that was weird. At the time, I hadn’t yet realized that my sweetener was the only thing I had changed in my diet so I didn’t mention it to my physician.
I thought long and hard when I got home. That’s when I had the epiphany. I went to trusty Google, and sure enough, my gut feeling (no pun intended) was right. I came upon a website where a lot of other people were having the exact same symptoms as me after using Truvia.
It was scary enough for me that I’m no longer using ANY sweeteners in my tea. I actually think I would go as far to say that I am (or was) addicted to sweeteners. I don’t even drink as much tea when I’m not using sweeteners. I loved the taste of tea with sweetener in it. I craved it constantly. I even noticed that I was tired all of the time even though I was drinking tea (which can be another side-effect of the Truvia and other sweeteners.)
Now, I’m just working on getting my stomach back to normal. Just to be clear- this is NOT a post bashing Truvia or stevia. It’s not a good product for me. That doesn’t mean someone else would experience the same symptoms. A lot of people get migraines and other issues from Splenda and other sweeteners. It’s just the risk you take when you add chemicals to your drinks. Some people can use them with no issues at all.
I only drink tea and water (occasionally a little bit of milk in my cereal, gatorade G2 if I am low on electrolytes, and, to my DH’s annoyance, a couple of mini-sips from his Coke Zero every once in awhile.) I just don’t see a need to sweeten my tea anymore if the reaction I get is extreme sickness and discomfort.
The point of this post is to make people aware of my personal experience with Truvia. For me, it just devastated my system and I am still recovering from the side-effects trying to get my body functions back to normal. It’s just not worth it for me, no matter how good tea tastes sweetened.
Do YOU use sweeteners in your tea or other drinks? Have you found any alternatives to sweetener that you enjoy? Someone mentioned agave nectar to me as an option, I might try that one day.
Thanks so much for reading and have a great night!
xoxo,
Veronika.
Use honey or natural sugars. They're higher in calories, but so much better for you.
ashley- I might try honey when I do feel the need for a sweet drink 🙂
Wow, that's incredibly scary on many levels. Thanks for sharing your experience! Did you find any info on Stevia? You may remember from my sugar post that doctors recommend Stevia and Agave Nectar as the only 'safe' forms of sweetener, wondering if Stevia may give you better results? I use it in my Green Tea too and always feel incredibly soothed when I drink it.
andi- pure stevia might be OK, but Truvia also has Erythritol, which is a "sugar alcohol" made by fermenting glucose with a yeast. So it's the combo I'm probably sensitive too. Either way, I'm too afraid to try it now.
I haven't tried Truvia, but I did try another Stevia-based product a while back, but didn't like it, because it had a bitter aftertaste for me.
I use Splenda in my tea, and usually bake with Sucanat (totally unrefined natural cane sugar) or honey. I also drink 1 diet coke per day, so I'm ingesting aspartame that way.
That is crazy! I hadn't even heard of Truvia until reading your post. That really is scary to think that something seemingly harmless would screw with our digestive system that badly. I hope you feel better now that you're not using it anymore. I only use Splenda, and that's on the rare occasion that I enjoy a sparkling water. On the subject of artificial sweetners though, I could say I'm probably moderately addicted to the corn syrups that are in candy. I always crave sweets!
I'll second Ashley's suggestion about using natural sweeteners. I don't use them exclusively (as evidenced by the fact that I use splenda and drink diet coke), because as a general rule, I try to avoid drinking calories (prefer to EAT them!).
But when it comes to FOOD, I find that I can taste the artificial sweeteners much more so than I can in beverages, plus, they tend to do wonky things during the cooking process.
I HIGHLY recommend Sucanat – it's delicious, with a sort of raw, mollases-y flavor because it's totally unrefined, AND it actually has vitamins and minerals in it, unlike white sugar.
I also recommend using honey – again because the flavor is great and because it has nutritional value. In fact, ingesting LOCAL home has shown to diminish allergic reactions to common seasonal allergens, because it enables your body to build a natural defense via ultra small doses (which are contained IN the honey).
kinsey- I just had two resses peanut butter cups…I love candy and sugar!
Good to know Veronika. I use raw sugar or honey in my tea. Thanks for the post!
Just saw the bit about the fact that Truvia has sugar alcohol in it. THAT'S the culprit, I bet. Sugar alcohols are known to cause gas/bloating and general intestinal issues. TOTALLY happens to me if I eat those sugar free popsickles.
michele- I am sure that is the culprit! I just can't believe they market it as natural and then there is sugar alcohol in it!
I agree with the other comments. I use raw sugar with my coffee and honey with tea. I gave up artificial sweeteners a little over a year ago and haven't looked back.
Hey. Good post! I use splenda a ton in my coffee–I'll think twice about it now.
Also, I was wondering if you check your gmail acct? I send you an email like 2 weeks ago about an outfit, and I was wondering if you got it : )
Thanks,
R
Rebecca- I did email you back 🙂 I just went and checked my gmail and I see I emailed you back on April 27th. I re-sent it just now 🙂
thanks veronika!
also, i am a barista at a local coffeehouse, and like 99% of the people that get tea put a squirt of honey in it. i do it too.. it's amazing : ) also, i put a squirt of vanilla syrup in mine to sweeten it up sometimes too.
Omg, that is scary…I'm glad you got that all sorted out.
I used to use 'Sugar Twin' everyday, but I noticed it increased my sugar cravings and gave me terrible heart burn. I switched to using honey in my green tea instead–soo much better.
I was tempted by Truvia too but I saw a segment on all of these "alternative sweeteners" on GMA one morning and have steered clear. I second the honey recommendation. I just put a small bit when I'm wanting to sweeten up my tea and it works without the scary-ness 🙂
I drink iced tea plain, put honey in my hot tea and pure cane sugar in my coffee. I recently bought some agave nectar but have only cooked with it – I haven't used it in any drinks.
I am also of the opinion that food substitutes are freaky and unnatural. I'm a lot more comfortable having a little bit of real sugar than a normal serving size of the fake stuff.
I love artificial sweeteners and am cutting them out by going on the "Green Monster Movement". If you google it, you can find it from Oh She Glows blog. It is basically blending spinach, soy milk, a banana, wheat grass, and white together. It looks gross but taste like a banana icey. I really like it and it has cut back on my diet coke drinking (which has aspartame that is terrible). I've also heard suggestions to take spirulina (either capsules or powder) that is a 'whole food' to get more essential nutrients. Supposedly once you get these nutriets, you should crave sweets less. Diet coke addiction is supposedly worse than coffee addiction because it's not only the caffeine you crave but the artificial sweetener.
Typo above- white should be 'ice' in the green monster!
I have IBS too, and artificial sweeteners make my stomach upset. I try to avoid any artificial/chemical sweeteners. I use a Soy creamer in my coffee now, with no chemicals. So much better.
I was reading your post and immediately honey came to my mind as a tea sweetener. Since it was already suggested I totally agree with other ladies about honey. I love green tea and drink it every day. I used to put just a little honey in my tea but now got used to drinking it without any sweeteners. Since I drink so much of it I have tried different flavors of green tea. I'm hooked to raspberry green tea and red currant green tea. I think those flavors make it a lot easier for me to drink green tea without any sweeteners. 🙂
Hope you start feeling better soon!
V- great post!! I had similar issues with these sweetener's a few years ago. Bloating, constant nausea etc. I am also a frequent green tea drinker and sweeten it now with about a teaspoon of all natural Agave nectar. I barely use regular sugar anymore. Agave can be used for baking, along with many other recipes to sweeten up a dish. Try it out, hope your feeling better 🙂
I started eliminating ALL artificial sweeteners when I starting having panic attacks about 9 years ago. I figured out a correlation to drinking/eating things with "fake sugar" in them (as with caffeine, which is more obvious) and a rise in my anxiety. I haven't had any artificial sweetener since and haven't had any panic attacks in 5-6 years.
In college one of my roommates did a paper on artificial sweeteners and said that they actually cause a ton of side effects, but are never reported to the FDA b/c people don't realize it's due to ingesting the fake sugar.
Wow. Great information. I am forwarding this to family members.
Marcie
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I' sorry you went through that, but at least you got it figured out relatively quick before it got worse. I used to use Equal every now and then in my drinks but for the past year now I've been using regular sugar. While it has more calories it's still close to it's natural state and is MUCH better for you than chemically derived sweeteners. I don't use a lot, but just a little bit (I don't care for the taste of honey so that's not an option for me at this point)! Even when I cook and bake….I do everything from scratch as much as possible because it's so much better for you than packaged and processed foods. Because of the switch, I've noticed a big improvement in my weight, how I feel and my energy!
Good luck…I hope you get back on track soon!
Truvia does that to me too! It definitely is the sugar alcohol. I can't even chew sugarless gum because of it. I'd also suggest trying out stevia or agave nectar like the pp mentioned. I use the latter in my coffee and cooking. I love it! (But not in the addicted sense. lol)
I used to be a sugaraholic. I loved candy, chocolate, ANYTHING sweet. I had no willpower. Then I cleaned up my diet.(Check out Tosca Reno's "Eating Clean Recharged" if you're interested.) It's like I did a 180. I can turn down sweets, use much less agave in my coffee, and have almost eliminated it from my oatmeal. I NEVER (lol) thought I'd say this but the sweet taste from fruit is enough for me most days.
I don't use any artificial sweeteners either. I realized that I'd rather have regular old sugar instead of the artificial stuff – I had been having similar issues and it improved so much when I cut out all the fake stuff.
Steph
Hi Veronika! I'm glad that you found out what was causing your issues. How annoying! I use agave nectar in my coffee and tea and love it. I definitely recommend it if you are looking for a sweetener! I put one tablespoon in my to go cup (about 2 cups of coffee) and I'm good to go.
What a great post for you to make. I used Truvia for a while (one box worth) then read some nasty things about it and decided to try something else, which I'm not sure is any better (Sun Crystals). I think I'll be switching back to just plain honey, or sucking it up and taking the calories with real sugar when I absolutely need it.
On a side note (still related), I was at the dentist a couple months ago and he recommended the chewable vitamin C pills for my gum health. I started taking them, they worked, and they're so delicious. I had to stop myself from eating the whole bottle. Well, then I accidentally looked at the ingredients one day (it's a vitamin, why would I look at the ingredients?!?) and… ASPARTAME. Seriously? I am so mad.
Speaking of scary artificial sweeteners, when my brother was getting his pilot's license, he was told he's only allowed to consume 2 diet carbonated beverages a year, because aspartame reduces your peripheral vision. The way I see it is that humans have evolved and have always had various amounts of glucose and fructose in their diets, while artificial sweetners have only been introduced into our diets in the last few decades… who knows what the long term implications for our systems will be…
xo
K.
I actually read that people who have sensitivity to artificial sweetners will experience a laxative effect from these "natural" sweetners. glad you are feeling better.
For everyone using/recommending Agave nectar: you should know that it is not a "whole food" and most brands are processed just as much as refined white sugar (and has the same amount of calories). It is almost all fructose, which has to first be processed by the liver before turning to fat in your body, it has a very low glucose content (which means energy spikes and sugar highs), and some are even "cut" with corn syrup to keep costs down. Just because something is popular does not make it good for you.
It's a shame that all of the natural enzymes are removed during the refining process so that it won't turn to tequila in your pantry…
Sorry to hear, hope you are feeling better soon!! That is very scary, I've heard stories of the crazy things in sweeteners…Eek!! I use Agave Nectar in my coffee, it's very sweet but I guess I feel like it's a healthy choice. Hope you find something that works!! 🙂
That sounds awful! Hope you are feeling better!
Dang Tara, I wish it WOULD turn to Tequila in my pantry!
I don't use any artificial sweetners, I have never been able to take the aftertaste. I can't even eat a Dannon Light& Fit without getting that horrible aftertaste. My coworker experienced the same symptons you had but she was using Splenda. Seriously If you start drinking tea without any sweetner you just get used to it. I drink herbal lemon tea everyday or Lipton with lemon slices in it.
Also something great for the summer time is Trader Joe's Kettle Brewed Black Iced Tea, It's phenomenal!! No calories, no sweetners and its really tasty.
Wow! Thanks for posting this, I'm a little weary of all the artificial sweeteners out there because of their side effects. I'm sorry this happened to you and I hope you continue to feel better :0)
I can't use *any* artificial sweeteners, as they give me horrible headaches within hours of consumption. I tried Truvia to no avail. The symptoms you experienced have been very well documented in medical research with regard to Sucrulose and artificial sweeteners. I hate to say it, but as the above posters have said, when you need sweet sometimes sugar is the way to go!
I'm sorry you had to find out this way that you have problems with digesting this type of thing, but at least you know now! Sometimes it takes people decades to figure it out. You may want to monitor your fruit intake as well if you find that gives you trouble as well (Fructose can cause similar symptoms in those who have trouble with Sucrulose) Good luck and happy healing! xo
I agree with all the posts on using honey. It might have more calories, but it is about as natural as you can get, and there are a lot of health benefits to using it.
I don't use sweeteners in my beverages- from coffee to tea, I prefer them in their natural state. To be honest, I feel like Americans and American food culture is too excluding to more subtle flavor profiles, namely bitterness- coffee and tea is an excellent example of this. Most of what people drink with their coffee basically turns it into a glorified milkshake or hot chocolate. Look at how many people can't stand the taste of dark chocolate, too. The thing is that an overall 'bitter' flavor profile is excellent for carrying more subtle flavors. You'll find that once you go long enough without making everything really sweet or really salty that you start tasting other things and actually get to REALLY enjoy the beverage. So much flavor is lost in a good roast of coffee or mix of tea leaves when sweeteners are added (natural or artificial). I'm glad you figured out that the truvia wasn't for you, by the way.. it's always scary to have a health problem like that!
sugar based sweeteners. Yes. Artificial.NO. I stay away from them like the plague as od recently. Including DIET SODAS. Aspertame is the devil. My God mother was recently diagnosed with bladder cancer and after a bunch of research I've found that it has been said to help cause bladder cancer! I am a firm believer considering the fact that I never saw her without a diet coke in hand. I am positve the artificial sweeteners were a contributing factor to her cancer and now try to educate everyone one them.
I used to love sweet tea, but after living down south I got so sick of it. Now I grave UNsweetened tea. I know when I was doing a low carb, no sugar diet and trying to eat better,, I used Splenda and that stuff killed my stomach! I also have IBS but have not grown out of it, I wish! But Splenda really messed me up, and my mom. So we threw that crap out!
Hi Veronika,
I recently came across your blog and love it! I actually do not use sweetners in my tea and I think it tastes great! My mom recently switched to agave for her coffee and really likes it. I have tried it a few times and can't really taste the difference. Glad you are on your way to recovery. Take care!
-Ava
I think it is funny you didn't listen to your doctor or mention anything to him about diet change, but instead trusted google for your diagnosis when possibly all you found was website upon website of people whose IBS is triggered by artificial sweeteners. Of course ultra processed sweeteners are not good for you. Just because they say that it comes from Stevia doesn't mean its better for you. I bet you believe those commercials on high fructose corn syrup too. Sorry you had gas all day for being an idiot. You know what's even better than something that comes from stevia? Stevia.
Wow, thanks for your comment anon. It makes you sound really intelligent when you call me an idiot. The reason I challenged what my doctor said is because I DID NOT TELL HIM about my switch to Truvia. I have NEVER in my life had problems with bread and anything with glutens so I knew that was not what I was having the reaction from. The only thing that had changed was the Truvia. It's called logic.
Honestly, I used to use sweetners, but now I just really enjoy the flavor of tea! I don't even drink sweetened iced tea! I'm weird I guess.
It sounds like you were having a reaction to the eythritol in Truvia, which makes sense since i is 99.1% erytritol, a sugar alcohol derived from sugar extracted from corn that is 30% GMOs. Sugar alcohols may cause the sort os side-effcts you mentioned–gastro-intestinal effects.
Personally, use SweetLeaf stevia, which is MUCH purer product as it contains no chemicals and no sugars or sugar alcohols ike so many other stevia brands contain.
Thankyou for these postings. I read every one. I used to have a completely vegetable (mostly raw),fruit,& skinless chicken diet. Soon afterwards,not only did I not crave sugars,but I craved vegetables & chicken more & more;& my appetite increased,while my weight didn't. Thankyou for this posting,as I didn't know that truvia was bad for me. Though I only started truvia recently,I didn't know it had sugar alcohol in it. See, I just spent the last 2+years. fighting for a proper diagnosis,to my abdomen pain & increased internal bleeding. Though I would not have thought Colon Cancer,I have stage 3. It's sad that doctors ignored me,time after time,even when I continued to plead for help. Why you ask? Because they thought I looked pretty,10 years younger than my real age,thin,& healthy. Though I continued to see new doctors to get a proper diagnosis,& my health worsened; no one would listen,not even my primary care office. Finally, 1 day after my last repeated plea for help,I was rushed to the ER near death,for having a blood count of 6.7, half of the normal,needed to survive. Now,I'm in a rush to save my life. It wouldn't be so hard,if I didn't have to explain it to my 3 young children & loving husband; who are behind me all the way. It's breaking my heart,that our society is run by the greed of hidden information in our foods,& the God complex of the medical community. I know my body,I want to be healthy,I just want to be alive! I've had GREAT DOCTORS before,but unfortunately, most believe that a patient can't possibly be as intelligent as they are. Only arrogant people believe that they are better,or know better. I am not too proud,I am not perfect;but I do respect other peoples' safety. The point that I'm trying to make, you always know your body better,& healthy eating without sugar of any kind is better. I hope I find a safer way to eat & fight this cancer. FYI- This cancer does not run in my family, anyone is at risk. Shannon
It is not a natural product as the first ingredient is chemical.
I had some Truvia for the first time today with my tea and wasn’t sure if it was the cause for the pain and bloating. So as I looked into this on the internet I came across your story.
Thank you for sharing I will not be using that again.
I only used one packet someone had in their purse since restaurants took sugars off table due to Corona. I came home sick in my stomach. My legs swelked, too. A reaction to it happened gradual. My lips and hands got numb.
I wondered why I was feeling this way. And the side effects on some , not all, can be what I just said