The Skinny on Artificial Sweeteners

You have been trying to lose weight and your physician mentions the unmentionable... "I think you should switch to diet soda".  Although there is a pre-concieved notion that drinking diet soda is a healthy choice, many experts disagree.  Yes, the calories you save alone in the soda are huge, but when you look at the direct health affects, artificial sweeteners have been linked to many health problems, such as an increased risk for diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

Even though the FDA has rated the sugar substitutes as GRAS (generally regarded as safe), these are still unnatural chemicals that we are putting into our bodies and will therefore elicit an unnatural response from our bodies.  Many of the artificial sweeteners have actually been linked to cancerous tumors in rats in initial studies.  Although subsequent studies that have studied the link between cancer and sweeteners have not shown a clear connection, it is clear that it can damage your efforts to count calories and lose weight.

In more recent studies regarding artificial sweeteners, researchers say that they may actually interfere with the body's natural ability to count calories based on a food's sweetness and make people prone to overindulging in other sweet foods and beverages.  Back in the day, the brain used to relate calories to sweetness of a food in order to find foods that would provide more energy.  Now, the brain has been tricked into thinking that the experience of drinking artificially sweetened, low calorie liquids will provide them with more energy when in fact it has ruined the brain's natural ability to compensate for the calories in the snack.

In regards to other snacks that use artificial sweeteners to reduce the amount of sugar, manufacturers will typically increase the fat or salt content to compensate for any change in how it tastes or feels in the mouth.  For example, sugar-free ice creams can be made higher in fat content which will continue to make them high in calorie count.

Alternatives?  If you definitely like that fizz in your drink or sweetness in your desserts, try making your own healthy version of your temptation.  Try seltzer water and add about 1-2 ounces of 100 percent juice or eat nonfat, sugar-free frozen yogurt and add real fruit to top it off.  This way you can still get the fizz and sweetness without any artificial flavors or any added calories.  The good news, you can actually change your preference.  The less you consume a certain product, the less you will actually crave it.  Remember change is good, and this one will definitely be worth it in the end!

Good Luck,
Em