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Artificial vs. Natural Sweeteners
I will be the first one to say I am not a big fan of processed foods, especially foods containing refined, white sugars or oils. Any substitutes for sugar are considered food additives. It’s important to manage what types of ingredients get added to your food. For that reason I do field a lot of questions about artificial sweeteners versus natural sweeteners.
Many utilize sugar substitutes to aid in restricting caloric intake while maintaining a sweet taste in foodstuffs. Diabetics or reactive hypoglycemic individuals are led to believe they can maintain their insulin balance by utilizing sugar additives. (See my article about the “Real Cause of Diabetes” or my video on YouTube “How to Become a Diabetic in 6 hours”). Others obtain optimum dental health by avoidance of sugar or by utilizing a sugar substitutes. Additionally, sugar substitutes are used due to cost reasons. Artificial and natural sweeteners are more cost effective than raw sugar.
Artificial sugars are synthetic substitutes for sugar. Aspartame (Equal & NutraSweet) and Saccharin (Sweet N Low) are all man-made sugar substitutes. They add no nutritional value to your diet. Often this type of sweetener is added to highly processed, unhealthy foods, such as soda, frozen food and candy. A study published last year by researchers at the University of Liverpool showed that the sweetener aspartame could be toxic to brain cells when mixed with a yellow food coloring. Red and yellow food coloring are additives regularly found in many processed snack foods. Although the study doesn’t prove conclusively that artificial sweeteners are harmful to your health, I am steering clear from them until the research proves these synthetic food additives are safe for human consumption.
Most importantly people use artificial sugars because they think they are “zero” in calories. Yet more than one study has shown they are just slower to be absorbed and will contribute to calories and cause weight gain. These artificial substances can over stimulate the appetite, which will thicken your waist and thighs. In the long run eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables is the best way to control your weight and boost your health.
Natural sugar substitutes tend to be found in plants, fruit and herbs, such as Stevia, Luo Han Gou and Agave Nectar. These natural sweeteners are the best choice for a healthier outcome. I use Stevia in ice water or recipes for a natural sugar like effect. Luo Han Gou is 250 times sweeter than sugar, with only 2% of the calories. I use it to sweeten our nutrtional supplement, Protein Plus. Agave I use as syrup on gluten free pancakes for my children. Again, my advice is always to stick with foods and in this case, sugar substitutes, which occur naturally in the environment. Selecting food and ingredients that are chemically treated and processed isn’t the way to maintain a healthy diet.
Watch for my new cookbook release on truly healthy cooking, with many raw recipes.