I had to go off Splenda to see if it is causing some digestive side effects.
Imagine my surprise when I added 2 teaspoons of sugar to my glass of tea--same size--and it was as if no sweetener had been added.
Thinking perhaps it had not fully dissolved, I whipped up a simple sugar syrup.
Same deal. I kept adding and adding. I was over a tablespoon of sugar syrup when it began to taste sweet, but not as sweet as a single packet of Splenda.
I did not realize how I was sabotaging myself using an artificial sweetener by setting myself up to need a lot of sugar to satisfy my sweet tooth.
I've been weaning myself back to a normal level of sweetness so I can once again be truly satisfied with a small amount of sugar.
In doing so I am finding my sugar cravings to be lessening and hopefully in time a small amount of sugar will be sweet enough.
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Wondering: Maybe sugar today is not as sweet as it used to be? Or maybe it's just that sugar is added to everything these days. It's in places I'd never expect it to be. Like canned kidney beans. In the form of high fructose corn syrup.
Maybe we are eating more sugar for two reasons these days: one, by default, in that it is added, i.e. we are not adding it ourselves and two, because it is in non-sweet things so when we eat things that are supposed to be sweet it takes a lot more sugar than it did years ago.
At any rate, I'm checking labels and trying to avoid products without added sugar or using low sugar products.