I won't use any of them. If sugar isn't around, I'll either make a trip to the store (if I need it while at home) or I'll go without (at a restaurant).

God help me if I ever become diabetic.

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I prefer sugar but Iwill use splenda or honey. Sweet N' Low is just bad. All you will taste is if you put in coffee or herbal tea

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If table sugar isn't available then I will substitute for other natural sugars, honey, maple syrup, corn syrup, but keep all the artificials away. I'll take calories any day over chemicals.

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It's a toss up between Splenda and Equal for me. I used to be really fond of Splenda until I realized that Equal tasted better in hot drinks like coffee. By comparison Splenda in coffee tasted very artificial with a bad aftertaste.

Sugar is okay, I guess. If I can avoid the calories that's what I'd rather do. Not to offend but I do not understand the animosity against chemicals, WE are made of chemicals. Sugar is a chemical. It has side effects like any other chemical. For me avoiding sugar outweighs the side effects of artificial sweetners.

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I often substitute stevia as a sweetener in coffee and tea but if sugar isn't available it's unlikely that they would have stevia.

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Splenda, Splenda, Splenda! The best thing since bottle beer. I know it's bad to consume chemicals such as this, but there are a ton of other things that will kill me before Splenda gets a chance.

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It depends. Here in the South, there are some restaurants which serve *gasp* unsweet tea. For those cases, I use Equal or Splenda. If it's coffee, then I'm only using Equal.

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I use stevia exclusively. If only an artificial sweetener is available, I'll skip sweetening at all. I must use artificial sweeteners, because, God save me, I *am* a diabetic!

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Sugar or nothing.

If I'm hard up for gum or a mint, I'll eat something with xylitol in it but never any of the artificial sweeteners like splenda or equal.

The good thing is that I don't use sweeteners ... I drink my coffee with milk and my tea plain and for cold drinks it's always water, so it's not a quandry I've ever found myself in.

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Splenda or Sweet and Low. I use slenda for almost everything except.... iced tea, then it has to be sweet and low with lemon. I like to use the Splenda for baking in my tea (half sugar, half splenda) just a little goes a lot farther than either sugar or splenda alone.

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Sugar and nothing but. I don't eat poison.

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Stevia is a tropical plant that grows in California as an annual; its leaf is 7 times sweeter than sugar and has no calories. It is marketed in powder form by Wisdom Natural Brands as SweetLeaf (website: www.sweetleaf.com). It's available at my local Safeway. It tastes just like sugar. To good to be true? Try it.

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i wish i could eat stevia, but it just tastes so awful. i go for the blue packet. the only downside is that it loses its sweetness after 15 min., and I usually nurse my cup of coffee for longer than that. Splenda doesn't taste as good to me. I'm an equal girl.

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Xylitol for the win! Not only does it help to prevent dental caries, but used over a four week period, it actually changes the bacteria in your mouth, so that the plaque produced even after you have stopped using the xylitol is less damaging to both the teeth and gums.

I wouldn't use it to bake with, but if you are just looking for something sweet to have in your mouth to kill that sugar craving find some Carefree Koolers or Trident with xylitol.

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Xylitol for the win! Not only does it help to prevent dental caries, but used over a four week period, it actually changes the bacteria in your mouth, so that the plaque produced even after you have stopped using the xylitol is less damaging to both the teeth and gums.

I wouldn't use it to bake with, but if you are just looking for something sweet to have in your mouth to kill that sugar craving find some Carefree Koolerz or Trident with xylitol.

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If the stevia tasted awful, it was probably whole leaf and not the refined. The refined is just sweet. And it won't kill you. And it's calorie free!! What the heck more could you want? Demand stevia in your local eateries.

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I bought Sweetleaf brand Stevia Plus ("Don't Sweeten Your Coffee, Supplement It!") It's definitely not whole leaf, it's a white powder.
Is that supposed to taste just sweet? Because it tastes awful to me. I want to like it, I really do. Am I using too much, or should I only use it in cold drinks? It says a quarter teaspoon equals 1 teaspoon of sugar, and I use about that.

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Me again, here's a fascinating tale of deceit and deception re: the Sweet N Low family fortune.

It turns out that the iconic condiment, with its pink packet and 50-year-old musical logo, has a sordid back-story, filled with intrigue, deception and old-fashioned family dysfunction.

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me i think anything that doesnt have splenda. no one in my house can have splenda because it causes major throat problems. exspecially if you have to much.

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I personally continue to drink Diet Caffeine-Free Diet Coke because 1) I like the taste better than regular - hard to switch back once you made the switch. 2) I need to avoid any extra calories I can, being about 6'1" and 270#. 3) Caffeine is a natural diuretic so DCCC is closer to water for hydration, but water is always better.

I wanted to mention the migraine comment - I assume most people with migraines know this but just in case: There are different triggers for migraines for different people. Some items are worse than others: high-stress incidents, MSG, smells like perfumes, and aspartame. Anyone with frequent unexplained migraines should be altering their diets and habits to try to find a source - most doctors will advise this. But it has nothing to do with the previous cancer scare. And yes, most things in excess can cause health problems including cancer.

If you drink a case of Diet Coke, regular Coke, beer, or lemonade for that matter, it's going to catch up with you. Even too much water will cause problems.

If you like your diet drink, enjoy! If you prefer and can have sugar, enjoy! Just don't go overboard. And try other things - I like sugar cereal, aspartame in my Coke, saccharine in my coffee, and I'm going to try this stevia and Splenda.

Oh, and for anyone that needs to switch to diet cola but dislikes it, do what my buddy said - drink it every meal for one week. At the end of the week, you suddenly realize it isn't bad. About another week, it is good. Then try drinking regular and you won't like it. At least that's what happened for me and some of my family and friends.

Take care - stay sweet!

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