Consuming any kind of sugar substitute can still leave a person with the sugar or sweet craving. Another approach would be to simply reduce  but not completely eliminate your sugar/ starch intake and you will notice changes right away. If you have a strong will and determination, go cold turkey and eliminate all those sweets.

Better yet, in addition to reducing or eliminating sweets, look into adding bitter greens or their extracts to your diet. They may even cure what ails you.  

Just a note about xylitol - it can have gastrointestinal side effects and if you have a dog it must not consume any of it because it is poisonous to the animal.

I eat a low carbohydrate diet. I especially avoid grains and sugar.  I don't often use a substitute sweetener.  The main thing I use, if I do, is stevia.  When I can't brush my teeth after meals, I chew gum that is sweetened with xylitol.

Call me bitter, naive, old-fashioned, whatever, but I've come to the conclusion that these fad diets are sold to the public for the sole purpose of making money.  Their health benefits are usually slim to none (despite your friend of a friend "swearing by it"), and they are usually backed up by junk science.

Unless you have a health conditions that necessitates completely cutting out a particular item (allergy, celiac disease, lactose intolerance, etc.), I'm convinced that the best way to stay healthy is to eat and exercise in moderation, and to make sure your diet is well-rounded in that includes a wide variety of food.

Crazy idea, I know.

Doing something because it is a fad is not a good reason.  We should not do a thing simply because other people are doing it.  However, it is no better to assume that we should not do a thing because others are doing it.  

I did a fair bit of reading on low sugar and low carb diets before deciding to try it. The science seemed sound to me. And I feel much better when I eat this way. I am not going to reject it just because it is being labeled as a fad.

I take antacids a lot and I'd like to have to take fewer.

I think the sugar in my diet may be feeding the microorganisms that produce it a bit too abundantly.

I drink a good deal of milk, and tea with sugar. And then there's the fruit juice.

Fasted the other day and saw some small improvement, so I'm going to try to keep up some stricter and longer fasts and see if it follows long term.

Been having a lot of yoghurt lately trying to fix the above too.

Try a chinese herbalist.  I used to have MAJOR sugar cravings and within a week of drinking, on a daily basis, the decoction he formulated for me the cravings evaporated.  I'm on week two and hope to transition off the decoction onto a tincture soon.

I also make green smoothies just using my regular old blender and have found they are helping too.  When I am well nourished I don't have cravings, even bread, which was another big thing for me.  Rather than taking things out of my diet I just started adding the green smoothie a day and I am feeling much better.  I do still eat some sweets and bread, just not the amount I used to and I don't feel deprived at all.  It was a gentle, natural transition that sort of happened on its own once I started the smoothies.  I did however fall of the wagon during the annual October Candy Holiday :)  But I'm back on now!

You might want to read up on the GAPS diet, maybe they have the book at your library.  Also, mercola dot com has a lot of info on gut issues.  If you have ever had antibiotics you have an unbalanced gut and need to get it back into shape.

It can take months to get the gut back into shape but is well worth it.

Marsha

Try eating fermented foods like saurkraut or pickles, but do make sure they are fermented , not the vinegar pickled stuff. I find them at Fresh Market. Water kefir is great,too.