The Skinny on Artificial Sweeteners

The average American eats 24 pounds of artificial sweeteners per year. We put them in our coffee, we drink them in our diet sodas and we use them to watch our sugars and to cut our calories.

Saccharin was America’s first artificial sweetener, revolutionizing the American diet in the 1950’s. It went from a godsend for dieters to a sugar substitute for diabetics. At the height of its popularity in 1977 researchers suspected saccharin might cause cancer. But lack of evidence and soaring customer demand kept it from being banned.

Soon other artificial sweeteners began popping up. Three groups of artificial sweeteners are currently on the market. They are Aspartame (Equal), Sucralose (Splenda) and Saccharin (Sweet and Low). The most common place we consume sugar substitutes is soda, but they can also be found in 6,000 other products sold in the US including; baby food, snack foods, frozen dinners, breads and yogurts.

But are artificial sweeteners really keeping the pounds off and what effect do they really have on our bodies?

A lot of us choose artificial sweeteners to save some calories but the latest research is showing the very opposite effect may occur. On seeing, smelling, or tasting the food or drink sweetened with a sugar substitute, our bodies perceive it as real sugar. In order to transport the anticipated sugar to muscle and organ cells to be used as fuel, insulin surges into your bloodstream.

Once there, the insulin finds that no sugar has been metabolized from the sugar-free food we have just eaten. Needing to “couple” with sugar, it may pull whatever blood sugar there is out of your bloodstream, signaling your liver to store it away as fat.

When we eat or drink only sugarless foods, we are left with high insulin levels and blood sugar swings that are quite likely to set off intense cravings for carbohydrates and start your body into a fat-making/storing cycle.

Dieters can find themselves in an endless cycle of suffering cravings, weakness and irritability and although they may fight off the urge to cheat, they still see little real progress in their weight loss never knowing that the real culprit was right in front of them in that innocent sugar substitute they had always assumed was their friend.

When our bodies evolved a few million years ago, sugar substitutes did not exist. Our bodies were made to handle “real sugar” and to this day treat anything that tastes sweet as if it contains real sugar. There is no way around it; if something tastes sweet, your body assumes it contains sugar and releases insulin, the hunger hormone, the fat making hormone.

Diabetes is a huge problem and there are 2 ways artificial sweeteners might be linked to it. One of them is weight gain. In type 2 diabetes, what you have is insulin resistance which means our bodies have quit paying attention to those repeated signals for lots of insulin. Artificial sweeteners could be the ultimate “crying wolf” to our bodies, by signaling an insulin spike again and again. This has not been proven in people yet but we do know that people who use a lot of artificial sweeteners are about twice as likely to get diabetes as others.

Must Eat Breakfast

1/3 of adults in the US don’t eat breakfast. These people are 4 ½ times more likely to become obese.

Skipping breakfast slows your metabolism. When you eat less, your body, which is smart, recognizes that you are not eating normally so it cuts your metabolism (the rate that your body burns calories). The reality is that you can’t trick your body when it comes to eating. When you skip breakfast, your body knows almost immediately and responds by slowing your metabolism to make the energy last longer, as if in case of famine. You may think that by starving yourself, you would lose weight, but the opposite is true. Your goal should be to maintain your daily intake of foods to 5 – 6 small meals consisting of a complex carbohydrate and lean protein. A small amount of healthy fat should also be included.

The prefrontal cortex comprises 30% of the human brain and acts as the supervisor of the brain. When it is weak, damaged or undernourished, it is like the supervisor in your head is taking a break. Skipping breakfast impairs cognitive function and makes it difficult to concentrate during the day. So, when your inner child is having a tantrum, wanting that 2nd piece of cheesecake, there is less control over the situation. If your prefrontal cortex is not working right, nothing in your life is going to be right. Low blood sugar can affect overeating. If you don’t eat breakfast and provide your brain with the proper nutrients it requires to operate well, you are going to make bad decisions about food the rest of the day. This is one of the most important reasons to eat breakfast.

Brain functions consume 20% of all the energy that the body supplies. So when you are really thinking hard and you get a headache, it’s because you are actually draining the energy there. That’s why we make things automated in our lives. Your brain is craving for energy and wants all the energy it can get. There is a huge difference in how well you will be able to deal with the day to day events depending on if you have eaten or not.

Numerous studies have shown that skipping breakfast doesn’t just affect your ability to deal with problems; it also affects the memory of kids. It can affect their test scores, their ability to read and truly understand what they are learning. This is the reason our public schools provide an opportunity for breakfast for our children. Although, I was not impressed with the “processed bar” I saw provided for my Grandson’s class. I wish we would return to unprocessed foods for our children’s school lunches. I am a supporter of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution.

What is the perfect breakfast? High fiber cereals, oatmeal, 2% milk, eggs and fruits are all perfect. These foods provide complex carbohydrates, fiber, protein, a small amount of fat and all the things that you need to effortlessly reduce your weight gain as it keeps you energized and healthy.