by Elizabeth Yarnell
www.GloriousOnePotMeals.com

Whenever I see labels that read “low-fat,” “sugar-free” or “diet,” I steer as far away as possible because I know that not only are these products unhealthy they’re also misleading.

Why?

Think about it: if the goal is to make the diet version of the product sugar-free yet still retain the expected sweet taste, that is achieved by substituting an artificial sweetener in place of the sugar in the original formula.

A recent University of Texas study tracking 9,000 people for more than 8 years found that those who drank diet sodas gained more weight than those who didn’t.

Two theories to explain this emerged: 1) the body reacts to the sweetness and secretes hormones that instruct the digestive system to store the molecules as fat, and 2) believing that they saved calories with the diet soda, dieters allow themselves to eat larger quantities than they would have otherwise.

Either way, you’re not doing yourself any favors when you see “diet” on the label.

Artificial sweeteners are just that: artificial. Synthetic. Man-made. Unnatural. Unhealthy.

Aspartame. Splenda. Saccharin. Sucrolose. High fructose corn syrup. The body doesn’t know how to efficiently digest, absorb, and eliminate these foreign substances from itself. They gum up the system. Then things start to go wrong.

In my early 30s I crossed my body’s “tolerance threshold,” or the amount of allergens, toxins, and irritants my body could handle comfortably. Everyone has a tolerance threshold – it’s the kind of thing you don’t think about until you accidentally cross the line and your body rebels.

For some, it appears as asthma. Others have eczema, still others black out. For me it was hives. Daily, for three years, covering my entire body. It was miserable.

The only thing that finally worked was to remove everything manmade, processed or artificial and clear the way for my body to cleanse itself to the point where my tolerance threshold could rise back up to normal levels.

I am guilty of a voracious sweet tooth, but now I assuage it with raw, unbleached sugar, real maple syrup, locally-collected honey, and of course, chocolate!

Removing artificial sweeteners from your diet will benefit your overall health over the long term. It’s just one small, daily choice you can make in favor of better health.