I hate to break it to you, but artificial sweeteners are evil. I’m talking about the ones you stir into your coffee every morning, the ones you add to your iced tea in the afternoon, the ones that lurk in the soda you’re addicted to, the ones that hide in your flavored yogurt, the ones that sweeten your Halo Top ice cream and the ones in your seemingly “healthy” protein powder. Splenda, Equal, Sweet ‘n Low, Xylitol, Erythritol, Sucralose, etc. It doesn’t matter to me whether you ingest ONE of these or ALL of these in a day. Either way, you need to make a change IMMEDIATELY.
If there is only one thing you do to improve your health, this should be it.
“But what about Truvia and Stevia? They must be better options,” you may ask. Nope.
There is absolutely no room in a truly healthy life for artificial sweeteners. Why? The answer is manyfold:
- Chemicals: Artificial sweeteners are made of harmful chemicals. They are total junk. What you should be doing is feeding your body with clean, whole, real foods—not crappy chemicals.
- Liver: Your liver is responsible for removing toxins from your body. When you put toxins, aka artificial sweeteners, into your body every day, your liver is constantly trying to remove those toxins. It becomes overworked—and then guess what it can’t focus on? Metabolism.
- Tastebuds: Artificial sweeteners, Truvia and Stevia are HUNDREDS of times sweeter than regular sugar, so when you eat them regularly, you ruin your taste for regular sweetness. Fruit doesn’t taste sweet enough, sweets made with regular sugar don’t taste sweet enough, vegetables certainly don’t taste good. Which brings me to reason #4….
- Carb Cravings: When you eat or drink foods that are sweet, you crave more and more of them. Eating sugary foods makes you want to keep eating sweet foods and carboydrates which end up turning into sugar in your body. And by the way, starting your morning with something super sweet, like Equal, Truvia or Stevia in your coffee, sets you up for wanting sweet, carb-y foods all day long. Not a great way to begin the day.
- Gut Health: Putting chemicals, aka artificial sweeteners, into your body daily literally ruins your gut health. The health of your gut determines the health of your entire body and helps you to lose weight. You want to ingest foods that help your gut microbiota flourish, not ones that wreak havoc on your gut and negatively affect it.
- Weight Loss: You’ve been led astray. Artificial sweeteners do not help you lose weight. In fact, they may even cause you to gain weight. One reason being that your body doesn’t know the difference between real sugar and fake sugar. It just knows that when it senses you ingesting something sweet, it secretes insulin. And extra insulin gets stored as fat. Another reason is that artificial sweeteners are detrimental to your gut health, and an unhealthy gut can not lose weight.
At this point, there should be nothing more I need to say to you to make today the last day you ever eat artificial sweeteners. Except “I know this may not be easy”. But it has to be done. And I’m not telling you not to drink coffee or tea (however I AM telling you never to drink soda again), or not to eat yogurt or ice cream. I’m telling you to change how you eat and drink these things. And what goes without saying is how much better you will feel after a few weeks of eliminating artificial sweeteners from your life. You may even see your weight drop.
Here are some tips on how to replace artificial sweeteners in your diet and still enjoy the foods you love:
Coffee: Ask yourself this: Do you drink coffee because you enjoy the rich, delicious taste of coffee? Or do you drink coffee as a vehicle to drink something sweet? Learn to appreciate the true flavor of coffee. To overcome using artificial sweeteners in your coffee…
-Use half & half instead of milk to add richness
-Sweeten it with only 1 teaspoon of sugar (it will taste barely sweet at first because your tastebuds have been ruined by something that is HUNDREDS of times sweeter than sugar!)
-Sweeten it with a flavored creamer, but one with more natural ingredients such as Natural Bliss creamer, Organic Valley flavored cream, Califa Farms Almond Milk or Coconut Milk creamers, or So Delicious dairy-free creamers; they come in flavors like vanilla, hazelnut, etc.
-Try adding powdered cinnamon or cocoa powder to your coffee. This may help you focus on a flavor other than “sweet”.
Tea: Try using a teaspoon of honey in your tea instead of artificial sweeteners. Honey has some wonderful health benefits such as its antiviral properties.
Soda: Experiment with drinking all-natural flavored sparkling water, such as Spin Drift, La Croix or Whole Foods brand of sparkling water. The only ingredients should be sparkling water and natural flavor. You can add a splash of real juice to your glass to add some sweetness.
Yogurt: Choose all-natural ones like Siggi’s or Chobani brands that aren’t loaded with Sucralose or sugar. Look for yogurts that contain no more than 12 grams of sugar. Or use plain yogurt or kefir (it’s very creamy!) and enhance the sweetness by adding fresh or frozen fruit and granola.
Dessert: Enjoy small servings of real ice cream made with cream, milk and sugar instead of an entire carton of junky Halo Top made with Erythritol. I can’t imagine that stuff hasn’t given you awful stomachaches!
Make today the day you release yourself from your artificial sweetener addiction. You will be doing your body and your health a huge favor.
