Artificial sweeteners suck!!

[paulywogg]

Hey all,I've been doing a lot of research on nutrition cuz it fascinates me(not like I follow any of it haha) anyways,I've been having all kinds of issues:mood swings,hormonal imbalances,insomnia,chronic headaches,etc,I was a HUGE diet coke drinker 3 20 oz bottles a day everyday ,I always knew that aspartame is bad but didn't care too much but then I started thinking that some of my probs were from it maybe so I was thrilled when diet Pepsi stopped using aspartame this past summer and switched to that instead, well I started noticing a mood drop and headache almost immediately after drinking it but of course I kept on,thinking its just early sobriety whatevs, problems continued so I googled Splenda(sucralose) side effects, not good!so 3 weeks ago I stopped soda completely but have allowed 3 on different occasions,symptoms back,a crushing headache that even Advil wouldn't touch after a diet Coke, crushing sadness after a diet Pepsi so anyways I have continued to have symptoms even after quitting these and started to look at my daily routine and realized that the protein shake I drink daily has stevia,well I always thought stevia was harmless cuz its just a plant, Google sides and came up with hormone disruption, suppression of dopamine and serotonin,interference with some medications, etc,I have no way to post links but check it out if you regularly use these sweeteners and feel like crud,I'm stopping ALL artificial sweeteners today and I'll update what goes on

[autumn]

Thank you Pauly for that post, it has made me think. I too am having horrendous mood swings at the moment, and I have been blaming PAWS or my hormones. My teenage stepson is being really testing at the moment and causing me huge stress. As much as I hate myself, I just can’t stop being angry at everything. Even the smallest little thing sets me off. I hate being this angry at everything. So maybe I need to look at my diet.

I have always been aware of the menace that artificial sweeteners can cause but I had never connected it with mood swings etc. I try to eat quite healthily, we mostly cook from scratch, but to be fair when I think about it, we do buy a lot of goodies with sugar in. Cake is my main downfall. And I do get drink a lot of squash! I am trying to cut back on my sugar in-take, but I never stopped to think about artificial sweeteners. I’m going to be looking at labels a lot more carefully in future.

I am intrigued, thank you.

[kuya]

I have also heard that the body sees artificial sweeteners like normal sugar and releases insulin making the body store fat anyway....negating the benefit.

I use it once a day in morning coffee and have wondered if it dropped my mood a bit too.

Don't drink sodas so none there thankfully.

[Sunbeam]

I prefer to use real sugar. We mostly make our food from scratch, have something sweet occasionally, no sugary drinks. I use maple syrup to sweeten my morning yogurt.

[paulywogg]

I think that's the way to go Sunbeam, these lab made sweeteners wreak too much havoc on our bodies,some people can tolerate them and I did for years,or so I thought but there's too many coincidences going on after I have one of these

[paulywogg]

Btw,I read that Splenda destroys 50% of the beneficial bacteria in our gut,for awhile I wondered if I had IBS,we'll see how it goes

[starty]

I have been avoiding artificial sweeteners but I heard that stevia was OK? Maybe not. Any links you could share Pauly?

I have been having it in my porridge and I think I am going to revert to banana to sweeten it!!

Great topic Pauly thanks for starting it

[heidi 2]

I use raw, unpasturised honey and now and then, maple syrup.

[NoraC]

I use raw, unpasturised honey and now and then, maple syrup.

Do you use that in everything our do you mean in coffee or tea?

Really interesting discussion going on here.

[SnoopyC]

I have a friend who was in pain, doctors told her she needed a knee replacement. Her daughter knew she drank Diet Coke all day, gave her research on the artificial sweetener piece of it and asked her to stop. Within a few weeks, all pain was gone. Isn't that crazy? I gave up all artificial sweeteners a while ago and have a diet Coke once in a great while. Pauly, you are on the right path.

[paulywogg]

Starty, I had switched to Stevia thinking its okcuz its a shrub,however my symptoms persist so i had to look at what I was doing daily and realized that they use it in my protein powder,googled side effects and there's the suppression of serotonin and dopamine,hormone effects,fatigue,etc,I don't know how to post links but check it out,of course there's conflicting opinions but I like to read what users say plus go by how I feel,I do miss my smoothie in the morning but I'll just try and find an unsweetened protein powder and add my own fruit,with my oatmeal I just squish a banana in it,seems to be sweet enough

[starty]

I will check it out Pauly. I use All One (have done for years and swear by it) as my protein smoothie and add all sorts of fruit and veg to it. On its own is manky but with added fruit, hemp milk and some spinach and kale is delicious

[paulywogg]

If anyone finds any good links please share

[NoSugar]

This is from what I consider a pretty reliable source, Pauly: The Unbiased Truth About Artificial Sweeteners

[kuya]

This is from what I consider a pretty reliable source, Pauly: The Unbiased Truth About Artificial Sweeteners

So I THINK the article is confirming what I had heard...that ultimately long term use confuses the brain into thinking artificial sweetening is sucrose leading to insulin release???

The last few paragraphs were hard for me to decipher TBH.