We all love our sweet treats from time to time, so if there's a way of making them less calorific and reducing the guilt factor, we're all ears. So what of artificial sweeteners?  

When the thought of cake just proves too tempting, try using sweeteners to have your cake and eat it, ie without doing quite as much damage to your waistline but without compromising the taste. 

In the age of the often-misleading '0% fat, 0% sugar' label (see 'What's in a lighter label?'), artificial sweeteners are the Ronseal of the slimming world: they taste just like sugar but they're not as calorific. Without being exactly good for you, they can be incorporated into your sweet treats to reduce the guilt factor. Many slimmers use them in their tea and coffee, so why not use them as a replacement for sugar in cooking? 
 
Whether you're looking to lose weight or you just want to watch your sugar intake, learn how to make sweeteners work for you from our dietician, and check out a selection of guilt-free recipes from Canderel and Splenda®.