Last month, FYI Living posted an article linking diet soda to possible weight gain. In the report, nutritionist Tamara Duker Freuman explains that often our brains associate sweet taste with calorie rich carbohydrates. This sends the message that we are consuming food that will provide energy.
Because your body isn’t actually receiving calories, this may throw off your complex energy system, causing you to consume more calories over time.
Dr. Mercola responded to this article by stating, “In reality, diet foods and drinks ruin your body’s ability to count calories, thus boosting your inclination to overindulge.” He goes on to say that these effects are possibly true for all artificial sweeteners.
Many studies show that consuming artificial sweeteners breaks the connection between sweet tasting foods and high-calorie foods, and you may end up gaining more body fat than if you were to just eat the foods sweetened with real sugar.
Now this isn’t to say you should go out and pound some cake in lieu of your diet drink.
But, you must understand the effects of sweeteners on your body.
Just like sugars, artificial sweeteners wreak havok on your gut flora. A study published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health reported a decrease in healthy bacteria by as much as 50% in male rats fed Splenda over the course of 12 weeks. In addition, intestinal pH increased, and glycoprotein were effected.
(To learn what sugar does to your gut flora, check out Jason Ferruggia’s personal experience and how he changed)
If that’s not enough to stop your diet Coke addiction, then you should know that Splenda has only been tested in 2 human studies, yet was approved by the FDA in 1998. These studies only lasted 4 days, testing the consumption of sucrolose on only 23 subjects in relation to tooth decay.
No test has ever been conducted on how well humans tolerate Splenda.
It’s time to kick your artificial sweetener habit now. And don’t replace it with a sugar addiction.
Splenda causes calorie confusion
If you deny your body wholesome natural energy derived from organic carbohydrate sources like vegetables, fruits, sprouted grains, brown rice, ect. then you will have sugar cravings.
Take a look at your diet and see how many products contain artificial sweeteners and compare that to how many natural nutrient-dense carbohydrates you eat each day. Perhaps this low-carb diet craze is causing us to reach for things that ruin our energy and intestinal balances.
Get real with yourself when it comes to health. You can satisfy sweet cravings with foods grown from the earth.
Love,
Kellie
Discussion: Do you use artificial sweeteners? Have you in the past? If so, how did you kick the habit?
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Thanks for this article. I feel that the “truth” about health and fitness is often held back, and that the FDA approves what will make money, like Splenda, not what’s really good for us, and unfortunately as a society we are too lazy to do our own research.
Yes, Splenda has been a quick fix to dieting issues for quite some time now. I never really thought about the mind connection associating sweet with calories. I wonder the same about stevia as well. I know as of now stevia has associated health benefits, but the extra calorie consumption is an interesting twist.
Ugh, I dreaded reading, but appreciated, this article. I, Alicia, admit to having some food items in my home RIGHT NOW that contain bad sugar. I throw myself at the mercy of the court and beg forgiveness. This is such a pitiful, shameful excuse but I have teenagers and they eat whenever they are awake. I admit to relying on things like boxed cereals and some packaged stuff (crackers and cookies) that act as easy snacks when I am not around. I bet even the packaged wheat bread has a substantial amount of sugar in it and they eat sandwiches by the fistful. The horror!
I also try and provide plenty of easy grabs that are of better quality like cooked chicken breasts and organic turkey burger patties, fruit and veggies, the ever-present cheese stick and dang near any drink that isn’t soda. I also manage to get a healthy breakfast and dinner in them every day. That looks like the bare minimum when I type it out but our lives are so hectic so I pat myself on the back for this one. They are lean, strong, and play multiple sports so I let the less-than-ideal items slide and focus on shaping attitudes about food that will help carry them through adulthood with less problems…uh, and I try to do this without sounding all preachy and whatnot.
I used to haughtily justify my one diet coke for lunch by saying it was my only vice. Besides being momentarily haughty, I mean. I worked out like a fiend, I ate well but not too much, I didn’t smoke or drink alcohol so why couldn’t I have this one little thing?! Eventually the absurity of that justification caught up with me as I heard it coming out of mouth one day. Is that how I would justify one cigarette a day, or driving without my seatbelt once a day? What in the world was I defending, the right to throw my body into pre-diabetic shock once a day?! Sure, a little dramatic but it makes the point.
Bottom line, I know the stuff is poison and do my best to steer my family clear of it…but in every household a prepackaged cookie must crumble.
Alicia, I do apologize if I’ve painted a picture of hope that I am an American mother who has figured out how to keep my kids fed without a pinch of sugar or packaged foods.
There is always a balance, and as parents we must maintain it in order to protect our kids’ health. I, like you, believe in educating my kids about nutrition rather than policing. Boundaries are so important at any age when raising them. I have quick snacks, but I always try to pressure them… I mean introduce fresh fruits and veggies as a first option rather than a Larabar.
But I know as they get older I cannot keep this up as much. I have already convinced myself that I will have a full salad bar and hot buffet table in the middle of my dining room at all times for my kids once they reach middle school.
That is a great thought about your diet soda. When I first started competing my ‘nutritionist’ (I tread lightly with that one) told me to stave off hunger pangs with Crystal Light. I did so. A lot of it. And I never felt satisfied. I should have staved off hunger pangs with, um, food.
Anyway, it’s all a learning process. Maybe we can assess that sugar calories are better than sugar-free, but who really knows?
It’s all a delicate balancing act and I think you do so very well.
No no, do not apologize. Your article was right on the mark for what it was intended to be – an article about artificial sweeteners. I’m the one who took it to a whole new, frantic level by discussing healthy versus unhealthy foods. Gawd, my 3rd grade teacher was right…I CAN’T stay on topic! Clearly this is something I am feeling guilty about because I spent two paragraphs convincing myself that I’m doing ok. You were nice to pat my hand and help me off the ledge.
When I cook and need sugar I go for brown, honey, and occasionally the real white stuff. I have never used artificial sweeteners. Long before I understood what satiety was my body did and I never did like the fat-free, sugar-free stuff. I guess when I indulge I really want it to count, you know? I do try and think of food as fuel and the indulgance of a baked apple with whipped cream has to be better than 2 boxes of Snackwells. Geez, please let that last sentence be true.
Yours was Crystal Light? Mine was sugar-free gum. It made me feel terrible; bloated and sort of dehydrated. And still hungry. Crystal Light and those calorie-free mixtures are very popular. Is the lure that they must be harmless because they are mixed with water? Those packets should come with a warning label that the FDA has no real idea what artificial sweeteners do to the human body after long-term consumption. Unfortunately our generation and the next will provide an evidentiary account.
Loved the idea of a hot buffet in the living room for the kids. Prepare it and they will come! The challenge begins when, as you attempt to grant them incremental bits of freedom so they do not grow up and become Ted Kaczenski, they start eating away from home. Unless every one of their friends has a mom who is a health nut. I know one mom who makes her own bread and eats organic only and one who does not cook, ever, and they eat out every night of the week at Golden Corral or as I once heard it called the Golden Trough. Now that’s appealing, ay?
You are so witty… I love it! I agree that a sweet treat should be just that. I am never one to skimp on natural butter and sugar when baking sweets. And yes, apples with cream are far healthier than Snackwells. At least they have those funny things called ‘nutrients’ that everyone seems to forget about.
Golden Trough… I ate at the Golden Trough many times when growing up. I avow that my children will never know that experience.
Ted Kaczenski… classic!
Hey Kellie,
Have you heard of the drink Zevia? It’s a soda sweetened with only Stevia and since I gave up my beloved diet coke about 5 months back I will have a Zevia once in a while. I know that it’s better than diet coke, but do you think it has a similar reaction? Or is it okay to drink you think? I still need to do more research on it…
Yes, I buy this for my family, along with Blue Sky- another stevia soda. At least stevia has known nutritional benefits. Unlike Splenda and other sweeteners that do not.