Artificial Sweeteners: How Safe Are They?

Sugar is hidden in MANY foods, even unobvious healthy ones like oatmeal, Greek yogurt, and tomato sauce. Its best to choose a plain variety or make your own.

Sugar is a master of disguise - anything ending with - OSE means its a sugar. Look out for maltose, dextrose, glucose, galactose, and certainly fructose. Phrases like malt, syrup, and evaporated cane juice. Artificial Sweeteners are synthetic, overly processed sugar substitutes created by manipulating different chemicals. Their official names are Aspartame, Ace-K, Saccharin, and Sucralose, but you probably know them by their brand names, Equal, Sweet ‘N Low and Splenda. How did artificial sweeteners make things worse? Since the introduction of these artificial sweeteners, our obesity and diabetes epidemic has worsened significantly! The American Cancer Society and the San Antonio Heart Study both showed significant correlations of consuming artificial sweeteners and gaining weight and being more likely to be obese. Though these artificial sweeteners claim to not have sugar, researchers are finding that they are so sweet that they are almost tricking the brain and body to produce insulin unnecessarily that causes increases to body weight and fat. SUCRALOSE - the most common chemical used in shakes, processed foods, kid snacks is made by taking sugar and adding chlorine to it... like the kind used in a swimming pool. 85% of the chemicals from sucralose get filtered through your gut, disturbing your healthy bacteria and microbiota which contributes to your immunity and overall health. Alternative natural sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, coconut nectar, and agave have some of the same problems as sugar, in that they are all 15 calories or more per teaspoon. The average american consumes 20 teaspoons PER day = 300 calories from sugar daily. Stevia - Has been shown to reduce bacteria that causes Lyme disease and potential benefit as an anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor ability. Doesn't contain calories or increase your blood sugar or insulin levels the way the other sweeteners do and it has the potential of long term health benefits!