Hi Emma,
Sounds like you're dealing with people who just don't really want to hear anything that might make them need to change their bad habits. When I have friends like this, I just leave them alone. But when it's clients, or when I'm giving talks, I figure I need to make a big impression in a short amount of time, so I hit 'em where it hurts--the weight issue.
What follows is a newspaper article I wrote awhile ago. But there's something that's not in there that I'm just now pondering and haven't researched. Sucralose is a sugar molecule that's been altered by the addition of 3 atoms of chlorine. Chlorine is in the
halogen family, along with flouride, bromine (in some fungicides/pesticides) and iodine. Iodine is necessary for good thyroid function, and all halogens compete for the same receptors. Load the body up with the other ones and you're possibly looking at lowered thyroid function due to inadequate iodine levels. Just a thought---a scary one.
Here's the article:
Diabetes and Sugar Substitutes: Is There a Connection?Recent research studies, and much clinical and anecdotal evidence, suggest sugar substitutes—including aspartame and Splenda™—are contributing to weight gain and diabetes. This is in addition to the many other side effects connected with them.
The most widely used sweetener in diet sodas, aspartame also has approximately 92 side effects attributed to it, some of which closely resemble the symptoms of insulin reactions. Internist and endocrinologist, H. J. Roberts, M.D., has spent many years documenting his diabetic and hypoglycemic patients’ reactions to aspartame and has written two books containing their stories. His findings include:
“the loss of diabetic control, the intensification of hypoglycemia…that proved to be aspartame reactions, and the precipitation, aggravation or simulation of diabetic complications…while using these products”…and “[d]ramatic improvement of such features after avoiding aspartame, AND the prompt predictable recurrence of these problems when the patient resumed aspartame products…”.
An article in Technology Review suggested that aspartame may stimulate appetite and carbohydrate cravings. This may be due to the fact that it causes the brain to cease its production of serotonin, the neurotransmitter that rises in response to significant carbohydrate ingestion, creating post-meal relaxation. Without this serotonin reaction it is possible that the feeling of satiation will never occur, making overeating much more likely. Interestingly, it is pretty well known that aspartame promotes weight gain, a fact that is even acknowledged by the American Cancer Society.
Sucralose, as the advertising says, is made from sugar, but it is actually an artificial sweetener, molecularly more similar to a pesticide than to something you’d want to eat. Splenda™, though, is not sucralose, which is 320-1000 times sweeter than sugar. This concentration of sweetness means that measuring out a portion becomes difficult due to its nearly microscopic size. So a product was created that includes filler material to increase the volume of a serving size to proportions similar to those of table sugar. Splenda Granular™ and Splenda Packets™ both contain fillers: maltodextrin and dextrose. These are both sugars and make up 99% of these products. In an interesting legal loophole, if a product contains less than a one gram amount per serving, the manufacturer is allowed to claim zero calories. A serving of one of these sucralose products actually contains four calories per serving, but consumers are duped into believing they are calorie-, and therefore carbohydrate-free. This could have serious implications for diabetics who depend on these “free” foods as sweet additions to their diets. The concern with Splenda™ is not the use of an individual serving but its continued use over time because it truly is a sugar-containing additive. Its long term health effects are also completely unknown.
“Sugar free” foods are often no lower in calories and overall carbohydrate load than their sugary counterparts (just check the labels). What’s often overlooked is that many of them, especially baked goods, contain large amounts of refined flour, which contributes far more carbohydrate than do these sugar substitutes. Many also contain maltodextrin (a sugar) and various forms of starch--food starch, corn starch, modified corn starch--all refined carbohydrates capable of raising blood sugar. And as if this isn’t enough, approximately 70% of all the vegetable oils used in processed baked and fried foods are partially hydrogenated, which research has shown to raise blood glucose levels and cause weight gain.
But this may not even be the greatest concern. Recent research suggests, in what is known as a cephalic response, that the mere taste of sweetness—be it from real sugars or sugar substitutes—may be enough to elicit a rise in blood glucose and a corresponding rise in insulin. So it may not simply be a matter of removing the sugar.
Small amounts of sugar—unrefined sugar, molasses, honey—as part of a nutrient-rich diet that provides the elements for good health can be far more healthful than eating these highly refined low-carb products, which almost always contain a plethora of overly processed, non-nutritive foods, as well as chemical coloring and flavoring agents. Most egregious of all, too many of them contain ingredients that have been advertised as being “free foods”--ones that do not produce insulin reactions and that are, even, healthful. Nothing, unfortunately, could be further from the truth.
Referenceshttp://www.mercola.com/article/aspartame/weight_gain_myth.htmhttp://aspartametruth.com/diabetes.html http://www.mercola.com/sweet-deception-aspartamehttp://www.diabetes.org/live/transcript.jsp?chatid=25http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/%7Elrd/fr980403.html
