Health Warning: Truvia & Other Artificial Sweeteners

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!)

 

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.