Maybe table sugar got a raw deal after all.
For a few decades, now, people trying to lose weight or live a healthy lifestyle have been avoiding table sugar at every turn, choosing instead products full of lower-calorie, supposedly-better-for-you artificial sweeteners.
They came with too-good-to-be-true names like “SugarTwin,” Sweet’N Low,” “Sweet One” and “DiabetiSweet.” They were supposed to make the foods you love to eat—but know you probably shouldn’t—healthier. They were supposed to replace high-calorie table sugar and allow you to eat what you want and still lose or maintain your weight.
One problem: They don’t work.
Study after study has clearly demonstrated that people who consume foods loaded with artificial sweeteners are actually doing more harm to their diets than good. In fact, the studies have shown that:
- Artificial sweeteners don’s suppress your appetite, they actually fire it up, causing you to consume even more calories.
- Artificial sweeteners, which are designed to replace carbohydrates, actually increase your cravings for carbs.
- Artificial sweeteners stimulate your body’s need to store fat, which leads to increased weight gain.
That’s right: increased weight gain.
So how can something that has been marketed as being so good for you actually be so bad for you? The answer comes down to chemistry. Your body knows how to handle natural table sugar. It is, after all, natural.
But your body doesn’t really know what to do with the chemicals used to make artificial sweeteners. So instead of just burning it up and getting rid of it, your body does a lot of things it wouldn’t normally do—like release a lot of insulin and leptin, two hormones that play a big role in making you feel full and regulating your body’s ability and need to store fat. Artificial sweeteners also cause your body to release large doses of phenylalanine into your body, which can cause you to feel hungry even if you’re not.
So skip the artificial sweeteners and eat regular table sugar instead. Your body will thank you for it.
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