The less sweets you eat - and this includes artificial sweeteners - the more your cravings will diminish. Every time you eat something sweet, you stand a chance of physically re-addicting yourself to sweets. It is also very easy to become dependent on artificial sweeteners. If you have no problems with using artificial sweeteners - craving them, thinking about them - then you are probably safe.

I don't know about the sweetener you are talking about. Canada and the US have different ones and although the names may be different, they can be made out of the same things. Check the article on Sweeteners in Low Carb Tips at the top of the page. You can heat Splenda and it's supposed to be "safer" than other sweeteners, but I suppose that's relative to what you think dangerous is.

Karen