The Hidden Dangers of Artificial Sweeteners
Artificial sweeteners and fillers.
Yikes. Just writing that makes my stomach turn.
Artificial sweeteners and fillers are created in food laboratories by massive companies that you have heard of. There are actual degrees you can get at universities that teach you, as a chemist, to create fake food. Their main goal is to make “food" cheaper for them, but more palatable for you, using as little real FOOD as possible (because FOOD is too expensive…).
Here’s a list of the worst fake sugars:
Sucralose (Splenda)
Aspartame (Equal, NutriSweet, Sugar Twin)
Saccharin (Sweet N Low)
Don’t ever consume these and certainly never feed them to your children. Each has a long history of health harms, but here is just a short list about Sucralose (sold under the brand names Splenda, Splenda Zero, Zero-Cal, Sukrana, Apriva, SucraPlus, Candys, Cukren and Nevella):
It is not an inert compound as claimed, but can alter glucose, insulin, and glucagon-like peptide 1 levels, making you more at risk for Type II Diabetes.
It is very much metabolized, the opposite of what is claimed, and can accumulate in fat cells.
It can show up in breast milk.
It can also trigger migraines.
Does that sound like something you want in your body?
Yes, artificial sweeteners can actually contribute to insulin problems. Diet sodas and sugar-free desserts have always been promoted to diabetics, even at our hospitals and nursing homes. But researchers have found that artificial sweeteners actually trick your pancreas into releasing a bunch of insulin anyway, contributing to blood sugar problems. Yet doctor conglomerates and health boards across the nation continue to feed and encourage their patients to eat something that is harming them, just because “conventional medicine.” You can see how that’s working out here. Eye roll.
Next, they destroy your gut bacteria. They interfere with their jobs, creating a toxic and stressful environment that most beneficial bacteria cannot function well in. The side effects that you may experience as a result of an impaired gut microbiome are vast and will get their own post, but for now you should know that your gut biome helps your body regulate the use of sugar and other fuels, so you kinda don’t want to mess that up.
Finally, artificial sweeteners can cause all kinds of nagging symptoms that you may not necessarily think are coming from your daily consumption of them. This happens because your body recognizes it as NOT FOOD and even though it tries its best to deal with it, too much can overwhelm the system and cause an inflammatory, almost-allergenic response. Symptoms like: Itchy skin, swelling, headaches, wheezing, stuffy nose, runny or itchy eyes, bloating, heart palpitations, joint pains, dizziness or anxiety. The list goes on and on.
Now, what are “fillers”? Fillers bulk up a product, increasing its weight while bringing the price down. Companies use them so they can charge you more for LESS actual “food.” They are used in all kinds of products and are listed under all kinds of names.
Here are a few:
Cellulose (made from wood pulp and corn and used to increase bulk, but you can’t digest it)
Soy (added to increase the bulk of meat, disrupts hormones)
Olestra (a synthesized fat that causes gut problems)
Carrageenan (Injected into chicken and meat to make it retain water and look bigger)
Potassium bromate (makes fake bread look better but it’s also cancerous)
Keep in mind, these are ALL approved by YOUR GOVERNMENT. I hope you are learning not to trust the government to have your best interests at heart. Big “Food” has been much more successful getting them to do what is best for their bottom line, while most Americans just assume that what is sold as “Food” is actually FOOD when it is NOT. Don’t be that person. Question everything.
In summary, you need to avoid these additives. When you see them, be disgusted by them. They are adding nasty bulk to what you are about to use good money to pay for, and they qualify as NOT FOOD, so they don’t deserve to be put in your body.
As I have mentioned before, I know that you will occasionally want to have something sweet. And if you need to have a zero sugar approach, there are some good options out there. Stevia is one, it is made from an herb (you can even grow your own) and it is so sweet that you don’t need much so there are really no calories added when you use it, and virtually no glycemic load. You can find a good one here.
Another option that I’ve already mentioned as my personal favorite, is made from the Lo Han fruit (monk fruit). I use the Lakanto brand (get it here). I never use a 1:1 conversion like they suggest in my recipes because too much will cause a bitter taste from the fruit to come out, instead of the pure sweet taste that you are used to with natural sugar. So I back it off at least by half, sometimes more, and let the butter or the flavor of the other ingredients shine through the recipe. Trust me, once you get used to very little sugar in your diet, it will not take much to satisfy the occasional sweet tooth.
If you want even more options and more info, check out this Bulletproof article here, where they rank every possible sugar into helpful categories.
Next week, the last of our Top 5 NOT FOOD list…. “dead white liquid.” Eww.