Artificial Sweeteners: Carbohydrate cravings and weight gain...

Artificial sweeteners and weight loss

Here's an interesting question: Who drinks diet Coke? Answer: Overweight people.

Of course overweight people drink too much sugary soda, too. You know that. But I'm talking about diet soda now.

What if you were looking down from Mars? And you were investigating Earth with a telescope. And you saw all these overweight people drinking diet Coke. What would you think?

Diet Coke makes you gain weight

You would probably come to the conclusion that diet Coke is the problem. That it makes you fat (sorry to use the "F" word.)

Now, of course you say, "That's ridiculous. Diet Coke doesn't make you fat. Everybody knows that. Idiot."

And I say, yes, of course:

Except for one thing...

A visitor from Mars

If you were looking down from Mars and saw all these overweight people drinking diet Coke...

And you decided diet Coke makes people gain weight...

And then they told you, no, it is just for people to help them lose weight on a diet...

And you said fine...

It helps you lose weight...

Right... OK... I can see that...

But you would still have that one burning question: IF DIET COKE HELPS YOU LOSE WEIGHT, THEN WHY IS EVERYBODY THAT DRINKS IT HAVE A WEIGHT PROBLEM??!!!

And that, my friend, is a question you need to answer for yourself. That is, if you are going to keep drinking it. And if you would like to be lean and healthy and look great.

The truth about artificial sweeteners:

Here are just some of the things that they do:

So really, how do artificial sweeteners make you fat? It works like this: You drink something sweet. Your body senses the sweetness as carbohydrate. It gets ready to process the sugar. But nothing happens.

But your body is now ready for the carbohydrates. It needs it. So it demands more. And still nothing happens. And it demands more. And it doesn't stop until you satisfy the craving somehow.

And how do you satisfy the cravings? Cookies. Ice cream. Chocolate. Chips.

Diet drinks can kill your weight loss.

Artificial sweeteners -- like NutraSweet -- can kill your weight loss results.

It fools the taste buds, primes them for sweet tastes, because it tells your body that a sugar rush is coming. So your body gets ready for the sugar rush. And then it fizzles -- no sugar rush.

But your body is ready. So it sends you signals that it is time to eat. Time to get the sugar. So you feel hungry. You don't need more calories. Not really. But still you feel hungry.

Sugar substitutes and weight gain

The best evidence is probably your own eyes. A generation ago there was no diet soda and people were a lot thinner. Look in some old photos and you will see.

But if you want scientific evidence, you could start with a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Sugar Substitutes Linked to Weight Gain Tracy Hampton, PhD, JAMA. 2008;299(18):2137-2138.)

They found that low-calorie sweeteners "help promote weight gain." They also found that artificial sweeteners "increase appetite for sweet foods" and "promote overeating."

An increased appetite for sweets and more overeating is the last thing you need.

You can't fight the feeling

Well, that's hard to fight, feeling hungry.

But you fight it off. But then your body still wants its sugar rush. So it sends even more signals.

And then you're really hungry. Finally you give in. So you eat -- you've got to eat -- something, anything, everything!

You can eat a whole day's worth of food in one evening snack!

The easy way to gain 10 pounds without even trying

If you do that -- eat a whole day's worth of food in an evening -- even two times each week, you can gain 10 pounds in a couple of months! Holy cow! No wonder you can't lose weight.

See, look around. All the people that you see drinking Diet Coke are overweight. Skinny people don't drink Diet Coke. Skinny people don't need to drink Diet Coke.

Sure, there are exceptions to everything. You might have a skinny friend that drinks diet drinks and artificial sweeteners and all of that.

But usually it's the overweight people that drink all the artificial sweeteners, and it's a trap. Get yourself out of that trap.

Eat real

You don't lose weight and get healthy and fit by putting artificial food in your body.

You do lose weight by eating good, nutritious, healthy food. Real food. Even real sugar when you want something sweet.

Fact is, if you get enough exercise you can eat just about anything you want.

So eat right. Eat real. And lose the weight.

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