It was fabulous. He had the best time. I just can’t believe we had that many kids running around our back yard with light sabers made out of pool noodles trying to bash each other.

I’m 27 years old and I’ve never had a cavity or anything worse. My parents never used sugar substitutes. We went to the dentist regularly, brushed our teeth every night, and ate sugar in relative moderation. We had cookies and sweet cereal during the week (along with a few other sweets I’m sure), milk or apple juice with dinner and lunch. Soda was only had on the weekends, or special events. Like the previous commenter said, it’s all about moderation. Plus, eating healthy on top of it provides strong bones, etc.

For the record, my parents were/are great at moderation: They had/have ice cream and cookies around, but didn’t/don’t keep soda, sweet cereal, candy, or chips in the house (every so often Dad and I would *walk* to the local deli for an individual baggie of potato chips, and it was a big deal), my brother and I didn’t snack constantly, and a portion is a portion is no more than a portion.

I guess my point is: moderation, and try not to worry. (Ha! If/when I have kids, of course, I’m going to ignore that last instruction.)

Stevia is fantastic stuff. I got into it when I worked at Trader Joe’s and had to ask why a sweetener was kept with the vitamins and supplements instead of with the sugar, and I learned all about government conspiracies. Stevia’s all natural and Asian cultures have used it forever. It’s not derived from sugar, as Splenda is…it comes from a different plant entirely. A tiny bit goes a long way, so it turns out to be pretty cheap. And yet it’s only approved by the FDA as a “dietary supplement” or some such.

We don’t have kids yet, but I can already tell it’ll be a battle — my husband’s sweet tooth outdoes my entire family, and I was raised on M&Ms.; (Really stupid when there’s weak teeth on both sides of the family and my first set came in without enamel…brushing hurt too much for a long time, and then there were braces…) I don’t want to go the honey/carob route, but I don’t want our kids to have the same dental problems I’ve had.

I don’t freak out about it, but I’d rather have the real thing in moderation than some scientific concoction that may or may not cause my tin foil hat to shrink and my brain to rot.

I’ve tried all other types of sweetners and just find them to have a nasty after-taste all the time – especially the stevia. Yuck. No matter how little I use, I can taste it.

I’m tired of all this dieting now and I’m just trying to eat like a regular person now and sugar is by the far the best sweetner to bake and cook with.

I have no cavities and never have had any.

QED.

(Hate to think about the state of my liver, though).