Tags
artificial sweeteners, aspartame, diet, diet coke, health, memory loss, Splenda, stevia, weight gain
Sugar is everywhere. We know we get too much of it. Can we break the sugar habit?
We as Americans have a sugar tooth. It seems like we can’t enjoy anything unless it is covered in sugar or artificially sweetened. It would probably the best for us if we can completely eliminate the desire for something sweet except from fruit sources. However, all of us enjoy a sweet treat every now and then.
We were told to kick the sugar habit by switching to artificial sugars. No calories = no weight gain…. It seemed like the perfect solution to us getting fatter. We all switched, but we were still gaining weight. What in the world?
Here is a little about artificial sweeteners and how they can be much worse than sugar itself:
Aspartame is very unhealthy for us. It is documented that it can cause memory loss as well as brain damage: here here and here.
When you eat aspartame, it causes a rapid fire of neurons, naming it an excitotoxin. This over time causes brain cells to be damaged and die off.
From Mercola.com
The excess glutamate and aspartame slowly begin to destroy neurons. The large majority (75 percent or more) of neural cells in a particular area of the brain are killed before any clinical symptoms of a chronic illness are noticed. A few of the many chronic illnesses that have been shown to be contributed to by long-term exposure to excitatory amino acid damage include:
Multiple sclerosis (MS), ALS, Memory loss, Hormonal problems, Hearing loss, Epilepsy, Alzheimer’s diseas Parkinson’s disease, Hypoglycemia, AIDS, Dementia, Brain lesions, Neuroendocrine disorders
Also from Mercola.com, Aspartame has been linked to:
Headaches/migraines
Nausea
Abdominal pains
Fatigue (blocks sufficient glucose entry into brain)
Sleep problems
Vision problems
Anxiety attacks
Depression
Asthma/chest tightness.
What about Splenda?
From Mercola.com:
Splenda:
- reduces the amount of good bacteria in your intestines by 50 percent
- increases the pH level in your intestines, and
- affects a glycoprotein in your body that can have crucial health effects, particularly if you’re on certain medications”
More about splenda here and here.
Artificial sweeteners have even been linked to weight gain.
This is from thetruthaboutsplenda.com and Dr.Mercola:
Splenda causes gastro-intestinal problems, migraines, seizures, dizziness, blurred vision, allergic reactions, blood sugar increases, and weight gain.
So, no splenda, no aspartame? What can I eat?
If we are supposed to be eating all natural, what are our best choices for sweetener?
Jordan Rubin, author of the Maker’s diet, recommends unheated raw honey (no more than a tablespoon per day), Stevia, and maple syrup in the last phase (phase 3). Ideally, you could satisfy a sweet craving with some fruit – like a smoothie maybe.
We primarily use Stevia. If I’m baking, I have a few recipes that use honey or maple syrup, but i normally sweeten naturally with fruit sources like applesauce. We find Stevia at our local grocery store. It is much sweeter than sugar in the packet form, so you would only add a little bit for sweetness. Stevia is a naturally sweet plant, but is concentrated in a powdered form. I do have some raw stevia that I bought online, but I don’t use it too often.
What are your tips of weaning yourself off of sugar?