I have a confession. I have been, until recently, an artificial sweetener user. I knew they were not healthy, but was struggling to find a natural one that was tasty. Okay, lets start with the most common offender: Aspartame. There is a lot of information on this product, and not one bit makes me comfortable about consuming it. On the dramatic spectrum there are claims that this toxin causes brain damage and many horrific cancers, and at the same time I had an intelligent chemistry professor that claimed the amount consumed in a soda is no different than consuming orange juice (when it's all broken down to simple compounds). But what else do we hear now about almost everything other than "that causes cancer". We all have cancerous areas right now, scary right? No. All it means is we have cells growing uncontrolled. This occurs naturally and our body normally catches the abnormality and all is well. Back to sweeteners. The bottom line is they are what they claim to be, "artificial". Your body was not made to digest anything artificial, it doesn't know how to process or store it. If you're looking for weight loss and think diet drinks (or foods) will help, you're beyond wrong. I was (wrong), and hope to inform you on how these fake sugars actually keep the extra weight on. Aspartame spikes LEPTIN and INSULIN release. Leptin controls hunger, click here to read more. A more familiar and good analogy would be that Leptin is to weight gain as Insulin is to diabetes. When Leptin release spikes after intake of fake sugar, your body builds a baseline for the hormone. When that baseline is reached hunger follows. When someone who is insulin resistant consumes a certain amount of sugar the baseline is so off that it can't "fight" the intake. Which causes the body to force glucose into the bloodstream. This is why a simple prick of the finger can detect glucose levels in the tiny blood vessels. Now back to Leptin. "The presence of excessive leptin has been linked to obesity" Same thing. If your Leptin levels are spiked due to aspartame, your body will get numb to the hormone. Causing the same baseline hit as insulin. Are there foods to help Leptin levels? Kind of. The above link states " According to Byron Richards, having protein for breakfast is one step you can take to begin to restore leptin sensitivity. Richards also recommends fiber-rich foods and leafy greens. World's Healthiest Foods also recommends fish as a food that helps to regulate leptin levels in the body." Our world is full of "do's and don'ts. This is a don't. Don't make it complicated (although I did a great job above), just eat whole, one word foods. Your body knows how to uptake the wonderful nutrients our earth has delivered to us. Thursday, June 18, 2015
The Truth About Artificial Sweeteners-What You Should Know and Why They Cause Weight Gain
I have a confession. I have been, until recently, an artificial sweetener user. I knew they were not healthy, but was struggling to find a natural one that was tasty. Okay, lets start with the most common offender: Aspartame. There is a lot of information on this product, and not one bit makes me comfortable about consuming it. On the dramatic spectrum there are claims that this toxin causes brain damage and many horrific cancers, and at the same time I had an intelligent chemistry professor that claimed the amount consumed in a soda is no different than consuming orange juice (when it's all broken down to simple compounds). But what else do we hear now about almost everything other than "that causes cancer". We all have cancerous areas right now, scary right? No. All it means is we have cells growing uncontrolled. This occurs naturally and our body normally catches the abnormality and all is well. Back to sweeteners. The bottom line is they are what they claim to be, "artificial". Your body was not made to digest anything artificial, it doesn't know how to process or store it. If you're looking for weight loss and think diet drinks (or foods) will help, you're beyond wrong. I was (wrong), and hope to inform you on how these fake sugars actually keep the extra weight on. Aspartame spikes LEPTIN and INSULIN release. Leptin controls hunger, click here to read more. A more familiar and good analogy would be that Leptin is to weight gain as Insulin is to diabetes. When Leptin release spikes after intake of fake sugar, your body builds a baseline for the hormone. When that baseline is reached hunger follows. When someone who is insulin resistant consumes a certain amount of sugar the baseline is so off that it can't "fight" the intake. Which causes the body to force glucose into the bloodstream. This is why a simple prick of the finger can detect glucose levels in the tiny blood vessels. Now back to Leptin. "The presence of excessive leptin has been linked to obesity" Same thing. If your Leptin levels are spiked due to aspartame, your body will get numb to the hormone. Causing the same baseline hit as insulin. Are there foods to help Leptin levels? Kind of. The above link states " According to Byron Richards, having protein for breakfast is one step you can take to begin to restore leptin sensitivity. Richards also recommends fiber-rich foods and leafy greens. World's Healthiest Foods also recommends fish as a food that helps to regulate leptin levels in the body." Our world is full of "do's and don'ts. This is a don't. Don't make it complicated (although I did a great job above), just eat whole, one word foods. Your body knows how to uptake the wonderful nutrients our earth has delivered to us. 
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