I know, I know, I know. You NEED something to sweeten up your STUFF. But, let’s take a quick moment to find out what all those artificial sweeteners are really doing to your body, your brain, and your FAT – because some really cool studies are showing some really crappy things.

Here’s the thing: we like sweet because it tickles the reward centre in our brains, right? BUT. That it seems this reward centre also considers the amount of calories that have been ingested too. So that means, for the bells to start clanging and mental confetti to start flying, not only does something have to be sweet, it also has to fulfill a certain amount of calories that the brain thinks it SHOULD.

So.. if you are constantly eating artificial sweeteners, that have no calories but are super sweet, your brain is wondering where the heck all the calories are. Then it starts to think, “Umm.. maybe it’s me?”

And here’s where the really sh!tty part happens. It readjusts how many calories it thinks it needs. So, where say 1800 calories would have made you feel pretty full before all these sweeteners, your brain may start telling you that you need more – because it wants the correlation between the taste and the actual calories IN to match up. It’s almost like you brain ‘feels’ like it’s fasting.

So, you may feel kinda hyper and unable to sleep, because that’s the body’s response to starvation. And? You may start eating way more. Crazy, right?

Does it totally defeat the intended purpose? Yes. And this is without mentioning any of the links to cancer, the heightened risk of diabetes, the havoc it reeks on your insulin sensitivity, or the general awfulness of ASPARTAME.

This brings us however, to the main question – What to do INSTEAD??

Well – give this one a try – when you just neeeeeed sweet? Try sour! Lemons baby! Pickles! That kind of thing often turns off the crazy-sweet demon screaming at you.

Or..

And here’s another reason you’ll LOVE your coffee – grab a cup of black coffee. The ‘happy’ actions that reward you when you eat sweet get fulfilled and preoccupied by the ‘happy’ actions brought on by coffee. Amazing..

But. You could also just really look at this from the emotional perspective.. Wanna try and crack that sugar addiction? See what’s driving it! Because we all know willpower.. well, that’s just not really a thing.

Here’s a nice first step..

“What are you REALLY addicted to?”

What are the feelings that you can’t express, that you cover up with food?

Wishing you the best with this journey..

You GOT this!