Sugar or Artificial Sweeteners in Your Desserts and Drinks?

Saving calories on desserts isn't as easy as replacing that rich dessert you love with a sugar-free alternative. Many times the amount of calories you save isn't worth all the trouble found in sugar-free desserts. Here's the lowdown on why sugar-free desserts may do more harm than good.

Increasing Food Cravings

While many sweet desserts are blamed for causing food coma after a meal, going sugar-free doesn't solve this problem, nor does it leave you as satisfied. Sugar cravings are satisfied by sugar, sugar substitutes may leave you wanting. Despite giving in to a nutrient-poor sugar-free dessert, your craving for sugar will probably not be satisfied which could cause even more cravings. A just-released review by Purdue researcher Susan Swithers notes that artificial sweeteners do not trigger the reward center of the brain like sugar does. In addition, artificial sweeteners don’t trigger insulin response, which according to the author, “could impair energy and body weight regulation.” The results suggest this may cause more cravings and promote excess calorie intake to help “satisfy” the body’s need for energy from food.

Impacting Taste 

Sugar substitutes alter the taste of desserts made with real sugar, but even if you get past the difference in taste of artificial sweeteners, your body does not. In fact, the regular consumption of artificial sweeteners may alter the body’s ability to “recognize” sweet tastes from a metabolic standpoint. That means your “taste” for sweet things may not work as well after continued consumption of zero-calorie sweeteners. This could support excess caloric intake, which, if left unchecked, could contribute to weight gain. So, while artificial sweeteners have been proven to lower caloric intake initially, over time, they may have an adverse affect.

Saving Calories?
If you think that going sugar-free will save you a significant amount of calories, you may be wrong. Portion size is king but when you compare sugar-free versions of familiar desserts, you may find that the calories saved are not worth it. For example, the calorie difference between regular and sugar-free Oreos is 7 calories per serving. Hershey’s Special Dark Sugar-Free version saves about 40 calories from the regular version, but note it’s a slightly smaller serving. From brownies to flavored oatmeal, the same is true, sugar-free options may save some calories, but there’s no real drastic calorie save overall.

Reducing Artificial Sweeteners in Your Diet

Lowering the amount of artificial sweeteners takes the same strategies as lowering your sugar intake. Here are three tips to help you cutback on artificial sweeteners:

Add Fiber: Instead of trying to find comparable sugar-free replacements for decadent desserts, add fresh fruit to add sweetness. 

Switch to Whole Grains: Many desserts are made with refined grains, but adding whole grains to items like cookies or pancakes satisfies your hunger better, and gives you more vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids than refined grains.

Add Healthy Fats: Many products with artificial sweeteners have added fat to maintain taste. Instead of the butter, cream, and margarine used for desserts, add healthy fats such as avocado, nut butter, or olive oil where appropriate.

Your thoughts…

Do you use artificial sweeteners in your diet? Why or why not?

By +Carolyn Richardson on Jul 16, 2013 10:00 AM in Healthy Eating

Read more: Is Sugar-Free Dessert Better for You? http://caloriecount.about.com/sugar-free-dessert-better-you-b610356#ixzz2ZDyiblHe
Read more: Is Sugar-Free Dessert Better for You? http://caloriecount.about.com/sugar-free-dessert-better-you-b610356#ixzz2ZDy5rXFK

Aspartame Dangers

Before you reach for another sugar free "diet" drink, read this:

Aspartame is considered the most dangerous food additive on the market today. Aspartame's main compounds are Aspartic Acid, Phenylalanine, and Methanol. These combine to kill neurons in the brain, poison the body and are linked to an enormous amounts of health effects. In any other scenario this substance would be considered poison and recommendation for non ingestion would be made on the bottle. But because this poisonous substance has been approved by food and drug associations, its legal. And we all know why ;)

Some comments I found:

The worst is "sugar free". Diabetics and and parents with children always fall victim to it. Diabetics for obvious reasons, and young children because their parents think they are cutting back on sweet things. You could blind fold me, and I would be able to tell you right away what the product has, or hasn't been sweetened with. There are many alternatives to sweetening foods you cook and serve yourself. Like honey, or natural sugars. 

My aunt had a nervous breakdown due to drinking lots of diet soda with aspartame, and the doctor's first question was not are you feeling depressed, but do you drink lots of diet soda?

Aspartame gives me enormous migraines. I hate when you go to get a sugar drink at a drive through and they give you diet instead of regular. It puts me out for 2 days!

It is well established since 1985 that it is linked to obesity; it soaks up added water in the fat cellls, MIGRAINES, sleep disturbances, unspecified allergic dermamtitis, unspecified weight gain, etc...

In 1987 I was suffering so badly from Migraine headaches that my family doctor didn't know what to do...he sent me to The Cleveland Clinic Foundation (Cleveland, Ohio) for diagnosis and treatment. The FIRST thing they told me to do was STOP USING ASPARTAME!! Then trademarked primarily as Nutrasweet. I have been aspartame-free for 24 years and feel much better than when I used it daily. ALSO...I would much RATHER use good old natural sugar---granulated or sugar in the raw than any artificial sweetener BECAUSE the USDA allows a POISON like Aspartame! **A friend of my mother-in-law told me that aspartame has also been linked to LEARNING DISABILITIES! I doubted it, until my oldest son was diagnosed with them...

While sugar--or too much of anything is not good for us, we must learn some MODERATION! I use very little sugar. My coffee creamer has enough in it, therefore I do not add more to my coffee. I regulate the in-take of sugar consumption, fruit is still sugar---sugar by any other name is still sugar---fructose, lactose etc yep---still sugar! I'll take that over something manufactured in some plant somewhere that is poison to us.

Source: Truth Network