"Sugar Alcohols Ruined My Health: Learn from My Mistakes" [video]
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Collectively these chemicals (the ones that cause digestive issues like the author's) are known as FODMAPs, and cause issues for a lot of people. Monash University is the authority here, having identified them in the first place and produced a ton of dietary information about them: https://www.monashfodmap.com/about-fodmap-and-ibs/
The author says she doesn't have any trouble with lactose, fructose, and gluten, but cutting out sugar alcohols (polyols, the "P" in FODMAP) helped a ton. This is pretty common; people with FODMAP intolerance can typically digest some but not all of them.
The process is basically (1) go on a very restrictive elimination diet that cuts out all FODMAPs, then (2) gradually test each one at different quantities to find out if you can handle it and at what quantity.
I eventually transitioned to a similar protocol called the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, which has some amount of controversy around it (and the closely-related GAPS diet), but ultimately was the right thing for me at that time.
If you have GI issues and see a gastroenterologist, you might have access to a nutritionist who is affiliated with their practice. If you have that option, take it. I never would have come across any of this on my own, and the gastroenterologist himself was not well-versed in the details of elimination diets, food sensitivities, or anything else "sub-clinical" along those lines.
*EDIT: For those asking I use Now Foods Stevia Extract. It comes in liquid form in a bottle. A dab will do you - add a few drops to whatever you're sweetening and see how you like it. It goes from imperceptible to moderately sweet to bitter tasting _very_ quickly. You'll need to develop a feel for using it.
I'm not being paid by Big Stevia - I just find its negative reputation unfortunate and undeserved.
Most sugar substitutes are so many times sweeter than table sugar that they're pretty much always distributed to consumers in a form consisting mostly of bulking agent so that you don't need an analytical balance. Nobody has 1/100 tsp measures.
Not sure how valid the article is, but I'll take it as something I just don't need in my diet...
> grocery store "stevia" that actually consists largely of garbage bulking agents and sugar alcohols
Don't let trash like PureVia and Truvia stop you from using it.
That said, I come from a family where sugar is deemed public enemy number one. We used to heavily rely on artificial sweeteners, which I believe led to my low tolerance after 20 years
> That said, I come from a family where sugar is deemed public enemy number one. We used to heavily rely on artificial sweeteners, which I believe led to my low tolerance after 20 years
I don't react well to artificial sweeteners either. Stevia, thankfully, is a natural product (depending upon how you qualify the alcohol-based extraction process). My buddy's wife actually grew some, dehydrated it, and gave it to me in powdered form. I wouldn't recommend using it in this fashion as it was particularly herbal-tasting and studies have primarily been conducted on purified, extracted forms but it was reassuring to learn firsthand that the product I'd been using for years was only one step away from a plant that I could grow in my own backyard.
If you had a bad experience I would check to see whether what you used was real stevia extract or mass-market adulterated "stevia".
Healthline [0] includes this piece right in the headline though, so I appreciate the transparency:
> It may have health benefits but could cause digestive issues and other side effects.
Fortunately I don't experience any adverse symptoms and have consumed it for years, but I may be a bit more mindful now.
>but some people experience digestive side effects when they consume too much.
The too much is the important bit. Take too much xylitol (you'd have to intentionally eat a lot of it at once) and it tends to all come out of you in a hurry.