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Health & Fitness

The Dark Side of Artificial Sweeteners

For years, we’ve been told that too much sugar is bad for us. It causes cavities and weight gain. It lifts you up on a high, giving you a boost of quick energy. Then it wears off and you crash hard, searching for the next fix. So what’s a girl with a sweet tooth to do?

Many turn to artificial sweeteners. I did. Yes, I admit it. There was a time when I didn’t start my day without a Tab. Remember those pink cans? I drank a lot of them. I felt so good, even virtuous, about my sugarless choice. 

Fast forward a few years and guess what we now know? Artificial sweeteners are not a good choice. In fact, they can have catastrophic effects on the body.

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Jon Gabriel, creator of The Gabriel Method, offers the following list of documented side effects from aspartame, a popular artificial sweetener. There are 92 but here are just 12:

  • impaired vision 
  • tinnitus (ringing or buzzing in ears) 
  • noise intolerance 
  • epileptic seizures 
  • migraines 
  • memory loss 
  • fatigue 
  • depression 
  • anxiety 
  • insomnia 
  • phobias 
  • weight gain 

I’m sorry, Jon. Did you say “weight gain” is an effect of aspartame? Ouch.

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But wait – there’s more.

According to James Bowen, MD, "The fact that aspartame fattens people is generally well known.... aspartame also poisons your metabolism so you cannot burn calories." 

Artificial sweeteners can change the way we taste food, causing us to avoid healthy, more nutritious choices. They can increase your risk of developing Type II Diabetes by 67%. Artificial sweeteners can also be addictive. This is starting to sound like a list of side effects on one of those drug commercials on TV.

I’m still not done. I feel like one of those annoying ex-smokers.

Let’s talk cancer. The studies used by the FDA to approve the chemicals as safe to consume have mostly ruled out cancer risk. But wait -- those studies used much less diet soda than the 24 ounces a day that most diet soda drinkers consume. So how safe is it to drink the stuff…really…

I’d like to make a crazy suggestion. Skip the artificial stuff. Eat real food. I don’t mean that you should swap diet soda for regular soda. Soda is not real food. Go with flavored seltzer, put lemon in your water, start a green tea habit.

Because of its addictive nature and the fact that you now crave things that are sweeter and sweeter, it won’t be easy to give up the artificial sweetener habit. But you can do it, and I promise you, you’ll feel so much better for the effort.

Try it – let me know how you make out.

Be well, my friends.

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