How I gave up sugar and dangerous sweeteners for good

Over the past decade, as our awareness of the dangers of high-sugar diets (high blood pressure, inflammation, weight gain, diabetes, and fatty liver disease, to begin with) has grown, more and more people have been looking for alternatives to satisfy sugar cravings. without us Lengthen the waist by centimeters.

But the answer lies not in replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners.

A study published in the journal Nature Medicine in late February reports an association between the low-calorie sugar substitute erythritol and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and strokes. Commonly added to many low-calorie or low-calorie drinks and foods, erythritol is just one of many “sugar substitutes” whose safety has been questioned.

The study looked at blood levels of erythritol in about 4,000 people and found that those with the highest concentrations of the sweetener were more likely to have a stroke or heart attack. Studies in mice exposed to erythritol also revealed an increased risk of blood clots, a problem that also appears to have been replicated in human blood and plasma.

In September 2022, another nine-year study of 100,000 people in France (mean age: 42) published in the British Medical Journal found similar problems and linked regular consumption of sweeteners to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

The researchers found that aspartame was more strongly associated with an increased risk of stroke, while sucralose and acesulfame potassium were more strongly associated with coronary heart disease. The researchers said that artificial sweeteners “should not be seen as a healthy and safe alternative to sugar.”

This sentiment is shared by the team behind this latest erythritol study. “People try to do something useful for themselves, but they can accidentally harm it,” says the doctor. Stanley Hazen, Cleveland Clinic cardiologist and study author The newspaper “New York Times.

This is a topic that I delved into more than a decade ago when I embarked on a personal journey to stop consuming so much sugar — and by extension, sweet-tasting foods and drinks. I wanted to lose weight, reduce sugar cravings, improve sleep and energy, and feel healthier overall.

My personal experimentation became a lifestyle and then a vocation with the publication of my book in 2014. sweet Nothing – a reminder of my experiments. During my research, I spoke to several experts, and they all stated that simply replacing natural sugar with an artificial chemical alternative is not without its problems.

In addition to potentially serious health effects (sweeteners have been linked to cancer and metabolic disorders), artificial sweeteners (some of which are up to 13,000 times sweeter than sugar) are known to distort the body’s perception of sweetness, eventually leading to this. leads to excessive consumption of sugary foods. This explains why long-term studies have shown that consuming low-calorie sweeteners instead of sugar does not necessarily help you lose weight, and studies have shown that drinking just one artificially sweetened drink a day can increase your risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

The Harvard School of Public Health reported on an eight-year study of 3,682 people that examined the long-term relationship between consumption of artificially sweetened beverages and weight, and found that those who drank artificially sweetened beverages increased BMI by 47% more than those who did not. who used artificial sweeteners. drinks than those who drink. Who doesn’t.

“One of the problems with artificial sweeteners is that they interfere with the body’s ability to measure calories burned,” the Harvard School said. “The human brain responds to sweets with signals to eat more. By imparting a sweet taste without the calories, artificial sweeteners increase the appetite for sugary foods and drinks, which can lead to a calorie surplus.”

Harvard also points to a UC San Diego study that used MRI scans of volunteers who drank water sweetened with sugar or sucralose. Sugar-activated areas of the brain have been found to be involved in food reward, while sucralose is not. These results led the authors to suggest that sucralose “may not fully satisfy cravings for natural consumption of high-calorie sweets.” So while sugar signals a positive sense of reward, artificial sweeteners may not be an effective way to control sugar cravings.

In other words, if the body wants sugar, it will not be satisfied if we settle for an artificially sweetened product. It still needs “real” sugar, and if we don’t have an iron will, we’ll probably eventually give in and get some of it.

So how do you break out of this circle?

One possibility is simply not to go without sweetened foods—whether artificially sweetened (diet drinks, bars, chewing gum, sugar-free hard candy) or natural sugar or its alternative (stevia, maple syrup). , favorite, etc.).

Of course, it’s not easy.

Go cold turkey

Because sugar and artificial sweeteners are addictive, not consuming or even cutting down on consumption for a few days can cause withdrawal symptoms similar to those you feel when you stop caffeine – mild irritability, headaches, and sugar cravings that persist for several days. days. two weeks. But the good news is that our taste buds are rapidly changing their perception of what is “sweet” and what is not.

After about six weeks, things you may not have considered “sweet” before: carrots or cow’s milk, for example, suddenly become sweeter, and then, with the off-flavour, it’s much easier to stick to unsweetened puffs.

Diet hacks to reduce sugar cravings

There are also diet life hacks; Adding cinnamon to plain yogurt, oatmeal, or muesli is known to reduce sugar cravings and regulate blood sugar levels by naturally lowering insulin levels in the body.

Drink plenty of water (about 1.5 liters a day) as dehydration can lead to sugar and salt cravings. Increasing your intake of healthy fats — full-fat yogurt with toasted almonds or avocado — is also known to keep your body full longer.

It’s also important to start your day off well, especially if you have sweet cravings in the afternoon. Eating an overly sweet breakfast can cause your blood sugar levels to spike and then plummet, leading to sugar cravings. Balance healthy fats, proteins, and fiber, such as oatmeal or oatmeal, avocado on whole wheat toast, eggs, natural Greek yogurt, or chia pudding.

Swap white rice for brown rice, white noodles for brown rice. These alternatives have a lower glycemic index (a scale that measures how quickly sugar from food enters the bloodstream, causing blood sugar spikes that can eventually lead to sugar cravings).

And sleep is also crucial. Poor sleep leads to increased levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin and decreased levels of leptin (the hormone that makes us feel full), meaning we are more likely to feel hungry and snack or crave high-density foods – usually foods. which are rich in carbohydrates. Fats and sugars that can be quickly and easily converted into energy. In short, junk food.

But perhaps the most powerful piece of advice I learned to take my mind off a diet high in sugary foods was to relearn my associations with food and stop equating what I consume with emotions: food or drink should not be . “. ”, “naughty” or “guilt”, but it’s normal when desires are both psychological and physiological, says psychotherapist Audrey Stephenson.

“We live in a society where mostly sugary foods are given as a reward or to make us feel better,” Stevenson says. “Sugar releases dopamine, so even if we’re not physiologically addicted to sugar, we can certainly be psychologically addicted to how we perceive it to make us ‘feel’ the happiness it evokes.”

But in the end, many desires often come down to one thing, Stephenson says, namely comfort. “At the end of the day, it’s not about the food, it’s about the feelings.”