I have a confession. My name is Jocelyn and I was a Diet Coke addict!! It’s real. This has been one of the hardest things for me to give up. I have almost completely stopped grabbing for a Diet Coke but about once every 2-3 months I break down. So why is that so bad? It’s all in the artificial sweetener baby! And that says it all… “artificial” sweetener.
Did you know that sucralose (Splenda) uses chlorine to treat sugar molecules which produces compounds that are foreign to your body? Studies show that it can contribute to fatigue, headaches, tummy issues, just to name a few. Sucralose can be toxic to the liver and gut too.
And it’s not just in diet drinks or diet foods. They put it in baked goods, yogurt, salad dressings, even toothpaste!! Check your supplements too. There may be some hiding in there. I have an antioxidant drink that I take everyday and for a long time it was sweetened with Splenda. Luckily, they have taken that out. Check your labels. Avoid other sweeteners like aspartame, saccharin, and acesulfame K.
So what alternatives are there? Stevia is a natural sweetener which comes from a plant native to Brazil but now grown in Japan and China. It contains little to no calories and is considered a healthy alternative to sugar. Stevia sweeteners are made from the leaves by drying and then water extraction. Stevia is 200 to 300 times sweeter than sugar so a little goes a long way. This has become a really popular alternative to artificial sweeteners so it should be easy to find in a lot of products. Unfortunately, it is not as cheap as sugar, so the food industry is not making the big jump.
I’ve been loving Monk fruit. Monk fruit comes from a small round fruit, native to southern China. The sweeteners from Monk fruit are created by removing the seeds and skin and crushing the fruit and collecting the juice. It contains zero calories! Monk fruit sweeteners are 150-200 times sweeter than sugar. Because they are stable at high temperatures, you can use it for baking too. I buy mine off Amazon. It looks like sugar but the granules are a little finer. And you can get white or brown Monk fruit (just like white or brown sugar). The measurements are about the same as sugar but I go with a little less. I love it and am totally switched over to it. Start looking for it. You are going to see it being used in more and more products eventually. It, of course, is more expensive than sugar so it will take a while to catch on.
Pro Tip: Did you know broccoli, Brussel sprouts and kale, 3 times per week enhances the liver’s detoxifying ability and can help you recover from all the damage caused by sweeteners. Love me some roasted Brussel sprouts with balsamic vinegar.
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