Down-side to Crystal Light?

I recently tried Crystal Light, which is made with Splenda. It only has 5 calories and 10 mg sodium per serving. It makes drinking water much easier for me, and it seems like an easy way to hydrate. Do you guys see a downside to spiking maybe half my water intake with Crystal Light?

There are potential downsides to artificial sweeteners.  Experts are not sure exactly sure why, but AS seem to contribute to weight gain. Yup, that's right.

When artificial sweeteners were fed to rats, after the rats returned to a regular diet, they ate three times as much as rats who were not fed artificial sweeteners.

Dr. Bob Arnot's book says aspertame can block serotonin production... that woud lead to depressed feelings, which make you want to eat more carbs (your brain uses carbs tomake serotonin).

I've also read that you can get an insulin response from artificial sweeteners... because you're anticipating something sweet, the insulin can go up just like if you were anticipating sugar... it's a learned response.

I know there is a lot of scare stuff out there about artificial sweeteners. It is a matter of how much you use. I do less than a packet a day.  The stuff I read resonated with me, because without knowing this information, I just knew that when dieted using "crutch" foods I had more issues of craving, grumpiness and so on.  It felt better and calmer without it.

So you just have to decide what your experience is.

so...is it basically just your ability to control yourself after having artificial sweeteners...cuz if thats it...it doesn't matter how depressed or carb craving i get i won't go off my diet...

i thought that there was some sort of physical chemical reaction that may some how hinder weight loss ...not just make you crave stuff...Hmmmm...i've wondered about AS to....cuz i love me some crystal light...

Just my 2 cents, but i;ve never had a problem with AS, and as much as I use, I would know. =P

Sounds retarded, but I only recently discovered each packet of AS is 4 calories, so that made me TRY and use less. I'm too cheap to buy much CL although delicious. I mix a little lemon juice and a packet of AS to make "lemonade." It;s the only way I can drink our gross tap water. (blush)

Somehow it doesn't appeal to me.  Artificial sweetener, artificial coloring, artificial flavoring - it just doesn't sound good.

I tried using the cystal light for a week in my water and gained 5 pounds.  I was so concerned about it I read up on spenda and hated what I read.  It scared me to death...

I just found out about spenda having 4 calories per packet.  So I want to know if spenda has 4 calories per packet why does a 0 calorie soft drink say 0 calories per serving when it is sweetened with splenda. 

This kind of thing like Splenda is nasty...why? Because you are training yourself that drinking faux-sugar water all day is good. Its not.

Just drink water, with no taste. Just DRINK it.

These products cater to making people even weaker than they are. Just drink water, dogs drink it, so do elephants...its good.

I drink  some calorie-free pop SOMETIMES, instead of beer when watching TV. Not great, but not too bad.

But ALL DAY? Forget it, just drink water, or ice green tea with no sugar. We need to retrain our tastebuds, not give into them.

Or put some real lemon, or an OJ slice in the water. Don't be duped by the mega-corps trying to poison you with their junk for profit.

or drop a few slices of fresh GINGER ROOT into your water bottle, its spicey tasting.

Seriously, these companies don't care about you, they want to exploit you, and take your money. They don't care if you are healthy or not. They want to sell you powder for money.

Crystal Light sounds like Crystal Meth to me, seriously. Think about it.

They want to ADDICT you to the Crystal Powder, that you drink all day. Maybe Splenda is mildly addictive? Who knows.

Drink water water water. or add a splash of real fruit flavor, buy a small lime, or a little fresh Ginger Root, or something nice like that.

ileank--I just had the same rude awakening.  Apparently, FDA requirements only require companies to list calories if it's 5 calories or more.  Anything below that can list 0.  One serving of splenda has 4 calories, hence the 0.  If you buy the granules (rather than the packets), one cup has 96 calories...

I just saw some Crystal Meth Light TV commercials. Total garbage. They have middle aged women being told drinking more water will make them BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL  so they better buy some Crystal Light.

What a joke. These companies just want to addict you to their chemicals and products. Its bad to want to drink sugar-flavored chemical water all day. Its a bad habit. I bet that Splenda stuff is mildly addictive, which is why they are pushing it so hard.

God forbid people just drank normal water, and were happy with that. And drinking water is not going to make 45 year old look like teenagers. Its insane really, how they exploit people's weaknesses for money.

Some places have those coolers of iced water containing slices of lemon, orange, cucumber etc and those taste pretty good. I just chug plain water normally...the AC at work makes me so thirsty that it's not too hard. I think artificial sweeteners to make water more drinkable sounds terrible!

yeah, people could just bring a fruit to work, and put a slice in their water. Some orange, or lime, or a few rasberries, etc.

There is no limit to what crap these companies will try to sell people  for profit. This Crystal Light is a CHEAP powder to make, and has a MASSIVE profit margin. That's what its all about.

I've never had problems from Crystal Light, except that after 3 months of living on it, my teeth started to go bad (but that could have been from malnutrition in general instead of the acid). I limit myself to about once every few days now, and it's fine. Some people have reactions to artificial sweeteners. Some don't. Some have bad reactions to only one or two of them. If it works for you, go ahead and use it. If it causes side effects, then don't. I discovered that carbonated beverages bloat me a little, so I avoid those, but non-carbonated, artificially sweetened ones seem to be harmless to me as long as they're not to excess.