What would cause you to switch from what you currently use to sweeten things (whether it's refined sugar, honey, non-sugar sweetener, etc.)?

I gave up sweeteners altogether. I was pre-diabetic, and it was part of restructuring my diet.

But from a health perspective, much of what i have read says that sugar, refined or not, is easier on your body, because artificial sweeteners cause a pancreatic response without the sugar present to be resolved.

Sugar, honest to god “evaporated cane syrup” works.

It’s worked for centuries.

Saccharine not only causes cancer, but even worse, tastes like shit.

When aspartame was introduced, again, the gumballs I got in the mail as a promotion just didn’t taste like sugar.

I’ve been anti artificial sweetener since long before it was cool.

I never use sweeteners and I never miss them. They spoil the natural taste of food and drinks.

I too gave up all sweeteners. Similar answer to @zenvelo

I use sugar. I don’t like the idea of artificial sweeteners, and Equal actually makes my throat feel weird. I don’t sweeten drinks like tea that often. I drink it unsweetened about 65% of the time, sugar the rest of the time unless it’s not available then it might be honey. I should mention I drink tea maybe 3 times a week and I don’t drink coffee.

I use sugar or maple syrup (the real thing) on French toast. I can’t think when else I use sugar? Baking a cake or cookies is all I can think of.

I don’t like artificial sweeteners, either—I find they taste different, too. I can tell when someone hands me an artificially flavored beverage (or whatever; that was just the most recent—a chocolate milk with artificial sweetener instead of sugar, unknown to me before the sip), and then I have to politely figure out how to stop drinking it… later I will check the ingredients, and sure enough, there it is… Anyway, I’ve heard too many things about the effects of various artificial sweeteners on the body. As a category, they freak me out a bit.

I stopped eating high fructose corn syrup the day I found out it was unhealthy. It wasn’t difficult at all. Mostly it was giving up soda, and I never especially liked soda—just drank it because everyone drank it. Otherwise it was just about reading ingredients labels and choosing different brands. It was the same day I stopped eating hydrogenated fats. Same 8th grade nutrition science lesson. I thought my ability to switch like that meant I really didn’t have that much of an attachment over food… but that’s not so true.

When the popular realization later turned to “well, actually, HFCS has its effects because it’s just sugar—basically all sugars have the same effects,” I already had a habit of consuming too much chocolate… and now I know the food-craving centers of my brain are very much active, and very much prominent! Despite wanting to give it up most days, despite feeling generally better off sugar, despite not even liking the actual “flavor” of sugar, I still consume it daily… I can’t do sweetened yogurt (plain all the way!), or sweetened salads (vinegars!), or non-chocolate candy (what’s they point!)—but I go for chocolate, and for coffee shop baked goods, despite their sugar overload. I guess it’s not the flavor-sensation of sugar as much as it is the experience of eating the things it sweetens—both the ritual itself, and the ‘sugar high’ that follows. ... I’m not entirely sure how to give those two aspects up.

In my day-to-day life, I don’t use sugar or sweeteners. Maybe once a month I’ll make something (a dessert or pancakes or something) using honey, maple syrup or coconut sugar.

I prefer non-processed (or minimally processed), non-bleached products.

Honey, maple syrup and coconut sugar have been used for a long, long time, so I can’t imagine what I could “find out” that would make me switch.