Are you drinking diet soda and using artificial sweeteners because you want to lose weight?

How is that working for you? Pretty disappointing I would think.

How can something that is zero calories not be a good thing?

There are lots of reasons and some of them are pretty scary.

PLEASE PUT DOWN YOUR DIET SODA AND ALL THOSE PRETTY COLORED PACKETS AND READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE.

Everyone knows eating sugar causes weight gain, diabetes and other health problems. It’s one of the reasons why people switch from sugar to artificial sweeteners (It’s certainly not the taste- Ugh! You may have gotten use to it, but do you remember the first time you tasted it? Nasty.) You probably forced yourself to like it because you believed those sweeteners were a healthy alternative.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Here are a few reasons why:

Increased Risk of Obesity

Because diet drinks don’t contain sugar they don’t cause the body to secrete the hormone insulin. Insulin lowers blood sugar AND it reduces your appetite. Studies show people who drink diet sodas end up eating more food, consuming more calories and developing obesity.

Have known anyone who switched to artificial sweeteners and lost weight? I didn’t think so. Now you know why.

Increased Risk of Stroke and Alzheimer’s disease

In a new study, published in the highly respected journal JAMA Neurology, researchers tracked food frequency questionnaires from the years 1991 to 2001 to find out how often the participants consumed artificially sweetened beverages.

The report reveals that for those who drank one or more artificially sweetened sodas a day, the risk of stroke was almost tripled, with a similar finding for Alzheimer’s risk.

These are breathtaking findings because clearly, when it comes to stroke as well as Alzheimer’s disease, modern medicine has precious little to offer patients

Increase Risk of Developing Type 2 Diabetes

In a study appearing in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, French researchers evaluated more than 66,000 women over a 14-year period and found not surprisingly that those who drank sugar sweetened drinks had a 34% increase risk of Type II Diabetes. What was really opening? The women who drank artificially sweetened beverages had more than double that risk of developing of diabetes.

Please don’t interrupt this to mean drinking sugar-laden drinks is a healthy alternative. They will both leave you feeling pretty sick.

How do artificial sweeteners cause so much damage?

One reason may have to do with the changes in your gut bacteria (your microbiome) that occur when you are exposed to the chemicals in artificial sweeteners. These changes create an inflammatory response.

While conditions like obesity, type II diabetes, stroke and Alzheimer’s may appear to be very different; they all share a similar mechanism in terms of their cause. They are all primarily inflammatory disorders.

They are also not the only health problems you will have if your microbiome doesn’t have enough good bacteria.

As Dr. David Perlmutter explains, “We now understand that microbiome, the more than 100 trillion organisms that reside in our digestive system, helps regulate all manner of metabolism within the human body. The organisms play a key role in determining how we handle sugar and carbs, how many calories are extracted from our foods, and even whether we feel hungry or satisfied. Your gut bacteria even plays a pivotal role in the regulation of chemicals that affect your mood from one moment to the next- your neurotransmitters.”

Without a healthy microbiome, you are going to be fat, sick, anxious, tired and depressed.

There are different ways to rebuild a healthy microbiome. What you eat plays a pivotal role. Junk “food” feeds the bad bacteria and allows it to proliferate. Fresh, whole foods like fruits and vegetables feed the good bacteria. Fermented foods and a good probiotic are also good building blocks.

Here are some other things I highly recommend:

Purium 10 Day Transformation- Cleansing

Purium 40 Day Ultimate- Parasite cleanse

Purium Gut Health Pack

Go to: www.ishoppurium.com

Use coupon code: backtobasicwellness to get $50.00 off your first order

Not sure what’s best for you? Give me a call 866-222-6490.

Always be kind to your gut microbes. It’s a game changer.