# How do I get around sugar/sugar substitutes?



## Nyn (Sep 13, 2007)

I'm new to the IBS diagnosis, and to this forum. I've read the 'IBS the First Year', and skimmed through the IBS for Dummies book. My doctor gave me an Rx for Levsin and Levbin to take, and told me to eliminate all dairy products. She didn't give me any other nutritional advice or guidelines.As difficult as it is to eliminate milk, what I've read tells me to remove sugar or fake sugars from my diet, and I'm at a loss as to how to do this. Sugar is in almost everything, yet I'm reading here and on other forums how people don't eat sugar anymore. Even people without IBS who claim to eat healthier are removing sugar from their diet left and right - HOW?I feel like a major component is missing because unless I eat meat that I've killed and cooked myself, or rice and wheat that I've harvested with my own two hands, it's going to have sugar of some type in it. I exaggerate, but only to show how sugar is in what seems like everything but a handful of very bland (and very inconvenient or expensive) foods.I've been choking down peppermint and fennel tea for a couple of days without any sweetener, trying to tell myself mentally that it doesn't take like dishwater. But alas, it tastes like minty dishwater. And then there are the contrary bits of info. In that IBS for the first year, Heather suggests using Altoids (with peppermint oil) for stomach settling, but 3 Altoids have 2g of SUGAR. ???? How do I avoid all sugar substitutes? High frutose corn syrup....splenda, etc.?


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

You are right that sugar is in almost all processed foods.Most people don't count the natural sugars in whole unprocessed foods when they say sugar free diet (although some fruits do have sugar alcohols that bother some people so you may need to watch which ones).If you try to ban every single thing every person says to take out of the diet for IBS there is nothing left, so like most things moderation and logic may need to be applied.For the most part small amounts of sucrose are well digested and absorbed, so I wouldn't be too rigid about not one gram of sugar may ever pass my lips ever again, but that is me. Sometimes you have to be willing to take the good with the bad, and if you do not want Altoids there are pure peppermint capsules out there, just more expensive and not as readily available. After all one of the reasons humans (and most animals) like sweets is that it is quick energy and we are I think designed to get some sucrose some of the time, just not large amounts in every meal all the time.AND (this is a big and) diet is not the only thing that effects IBS. Everyone is different and so you need to find what works for you.Limiting sucrose (table sugar) in the diet is probably a healthy thing to do overall because it does effec the body in ways that are not all that good for a lot of us. However it isn't the end all and be all of health and lots of people live long healthy lives eating moderate amounts of it.Limiting High Fructose Corn Syrup is probably more important than limiting sucrose for IBS and health, IMO, and it is usually what you find in most cheap processed food. It is cheaper than sugar so it is in a lot of processed foods. Some people do not absorbe fructose well and the excess can end up in the colon and cause problems, especially with large amounts.That is the other thing to look at (while I am on my soapbox) is that it is the abnormal amount of things that is probably the problem more than the usual amounts in real food. Often it is when we load the system with more than it can handle because that amount is never found in nature where we start getting into trouble.Of the sugar substitutes the ones to most carefully avoid if you tend to diarrhea are the sugar alcohols. No human digests them so they all get to the colon. Now if you have constipation you can use this to your advantage. It is why prunes/prune juice work to keep people regular. Those old wives were right.







Sugar alcohols are found in fruits (cooking destroys it, so you might do better with applesauce than apples) mostly apples, pears, cherries, peaches and plums. Some foods that use "no added sugar" may use apple or pear juice as a sweetener/liquid ingredient and can be a problem because of natural levels of sugar alcohols. Now a lot of "low carb" foods really load up on the sugar alcohols because they don't count as carbs in most of those diets so you can get a lot of these in a small amount of food from them and from sugarless candies and gums.The health effects of most of the synthetic sugar substitutes is debatable, and IMO small amounts one in awhile probably isn't going to be harmful. Unfortunately when people drink a case of diet soda a day and have it in a large number of foods it is like anything else where you could overload the amount you can handle. Some people do see to be sensitive to some of these, but others seem to be just fine.K.


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