Joy dot: happy robins enjoying our lawn sprinklers

Sandra, I think the most likely culprit is actually the xylitol. I never have any problems with beets. Does the salad dressing taste sweet? I really like the Paul Newman olive oil and vinegar dressing and it has no sugar. Some of the other Paul Newman dressings work for me as well. As long as it doesn't taste sweet, it generally doesn't bother me if there's a little sugar in it.

How sweet are you making your coffee? Even if a sugar substitute doesn't affect blood sugar the way sugar does, the taste of sweet evokes beta endorphin, which can cause cravings. I found that by not using sugar substitutes, I changed my taste buds so they didn't want sweet anymore. Everything else tasted better, and now sweet stuff doesn't taste good to me anymore.

You could gradually reduce the xylitol until you are used to coffee without sweetener. I actually started drinking coffee with just milk in it before I even found the program - I can't even remember why, but once I got used to it that way, it tasted disgusting with sugar. (But I never liked black coffee - it tastes really sour.)
Allison

: Thanks Kathleen for offering your
: help, I do appreciate it! In
: reviewing my food journal I did
: see a few items that may be the
: culprit and I wanted to run them
: by you to get your thoughts &
: see if I was right in my thinking.

: Rather than listing all my meals, I
: did find the following that may be
: red flags:

: 1. Salad dressing: has 6 grams of
: sugar per serving (I eat a salad
: every day for lunch)
: 2. Beets: 4 grams of sugar per
: serving (I add beets to my salad
: each day- 1 serving)
: 3. Xylitol: I do use this in lieu of
: sugar in my coffee (about 2x's a
: day, 1 tsp. each)

: With that said, it looks as though
: I'm actually consuming about 10
: grams of sugar (dressing and
: beets) at lunchtime. Could this
: small amount actually be throwing
: me off?

: As for Xylitol, what are your
: thoughts on using this substitute?
: I believe it does not affect the
: body in the same way as consuming
: sugar does (no affect on insulin),
: however am I tricking my brain
: into craving something sweet once
: again?

: Thank you for your help!
: Lisa