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Sweet Rewards

While on the topic of exercise and gardening, after physical activity lots of people often feel obliged to reward themselves with a sweet treat, but what if you want to loose weight?  Artificial sweeteners such as Aspartame (Equal), Sucralose (Splenda), Maltitol, Saccharin (Sweet ‘N Low) are readily available products.  They sound great on the surface – a sweetener, that, for the most part is even sweeter than sugar itself, and has no net carbs? Is it too good to be true? Short answer: yes.
Even with no calories, most artificial sweeteners and natural sugar substitutes provoke increased insulin release.  You probably know what insulin is, but if you don't here is a quick summary: Insulin is a hormone that causes most of the body's cells to take up glucose from the blood (including liver, muscle, and fat tissue cells), storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle, and stops use of fat as an energy source. When insulin is absent (or low), glucose is not taken up by most body cells and the body begins to use fat as an energy source.
Despite their popularity, artificial sweeteners are all very dangerous products. Aspartame, unlike it’s other zero-calorie counterparts, is a methyl ester of a phenylalanine/aspartic acid dipeptide. In laymen’s terms, it’s chemicals. The same goes for Saccharin. It is 100% artificial, and originated in laboratories. There are over 92 reported health side effects from aspartame, many of which are gastrointestinal. As for Saccharin, which was originally classified as a carcinogen in the 1960s, it is currently considered to be a “relatively safe sugar alternative.” I don’t know, but something about my health shouldn’t be considered only “relatively safe
Splenda and Maltitol are more common now than aspartame and saccharin. The latter is a sugar alcohol, a hydrogenated form of a carbohydrate.  Splenda is the result of selective chlorination of sucrose (common table sugar), which then converts three of the hydroxyl groups to chlorides. Both Splenda and their sugar alcohol bretheren are more suitable for cooking than aspartame and saccharin due to their ability to maintain chemical stability at high temperatures. You’ll find that many sugar free candies now have maltitol syrup, sorbitol, and sucralose in them. You’ll also find a warning that says “excess consumption may cause a laxative effect.” Ouch. Seems they forgot to leave enough room on that candy wrapper for the other side effects: bacterial fermentation, headaches, indigestion, nausea, and vomiting – to name a few.

There are many more side effects for these artificial sweeteners. Just go and search “sucralose” or “maltitol” on Google and you’ll see that the recommended search suggestions include “splenda cancer,” “splenda dangers” etc. So-called “sugar-free” health foods are full of sweeteners such as “concentrated apple and pear juices”, which are two-thirds fructose, and the latest
and greatest saviors are even worse. Raw agave nectar, for example, is as high as 90% fructose and shows no better antioxidant content than refined sugar. Skip the sweeteners whenever possible. If it’s really sweet, it probably spikes insulin.
It was thought for a long time that as long as you burned more calories than what you ingested, you would lose weight. This is true to a point…you should lose weight under a calorie deficit. The problem lies in the fact that if you eat a high G.I. carb, you may shut down the body's ability to burn fat for several hours. Even if you do wind up losing weight, you aren't following the quickest route to your goal.

(Article combined from Tim Ferris Blog, Jesse & Patrick Montalto Blog and The Fitness Black Book.com)

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