The Ugly Truth about Artifical Sweetners

The Sweet Promise That Might Be Too Good to Be True

Let us be honest. Who does not love a sweet treat?

For years, we have been told we can have our cake and eat it too. All we have to do is swap the sugar for a "magic" zero calorie sweetener. It sounds like a dream come true.

Think about it. Diet sodas, sugar free yogurt, and those little colored packets on every coffee shop table. Many of us made the switch, hoping it was a smart shortcut. We wanted to watch our weight or keep our blood sugar in check. It seemed like the perfect, guilt free solution.

But what if that sweet promise was just a little too good to be true?

New science is starting to pull back the curtain. And the truth is, that zero calorie sweet taste might come with a hidden price tag for our health.

It is time to stop believing the hype and start learning the facts. Let us dive into the surprising story of what artificial sweeteners are really doing inside your body.

2. What Are Artificial Sweeteners, Anyway?

Imagine you are a scientist in a lab coat. You are holding a tiny, powerful crystal. This crystal is so strong that a single pinch of it can make your entire drink as sweet as ten spoonfuls of sugar. But here is the wild part: that tiny pinch has almost no calories at all.

That, in a nutshell, is an artificial sweetener.

They Are Not Food, They Are Chemicals

Let us get one thing straight. Artificial sweeteners are not grown in a field like sugar cane or sugar beets. They are not mined from the earth like salt.

They are created by scientists in laboratories. They are man made chemicals that are specially designed to do one job: tickle the "sweet" taste buds on your tongue.

Think of your tongue like a lock, and sweet tastes are the key that fits into it. Sugar is a natural key. An artificial sweetener is like a master key made in a lab. It fits into the sweet lock perfectly, but it is made of something completely different.

Meet the Usual Suspects

You have probably met these sweeteners before. You see them every day, often hiding in "diet" or "sugar free" foods. Let us meet the lineup:

• Aspartame: This is the star of Diet Coke and many other diet sodas. It is also in those blue packets called Equal or NutraSweet.

• Sucralose: This one is famous for being made from sugar... but in a way that your body cannot use for energy. You know it as the yellow packet, Splenda.

• Saccharin: This is the old timer. Your grandparents might have used it. It is the pink packet, Sweet'N Low.

The Big Trick

So how can something be so sweet with no calories? It is all about power and quantity.

Imagine a regular sugar molecule is a single soldier. You need a whole army of these soldiers (a whole spoonful) to sweeten your coffee.

Now, imagine an artificial sweetener molecule is a superhero. One single superhero is as strong as hundreds of sugar soldiers. So, you only need one tiny superhero (a tiny amount of sweetener) to do the same job.

Because you use such a tiny, tiny amount, the calories are practically zero. Your body barely notices it is there... or does it?

That is the real question. While your taste buds are being tricked into thinking they just had a big sugar party, the rest of your body is wondering what just happened. And as we are learning, confusion can cause some unexpected problems.

3. The Problem with "Tricking" Your Brain and Body

Imagine you have a super smart, ancient security system inside you. This system has been running for thousands of years, and it knows one thing for sure: when your tongue tastes "sweet," it means energy is coming. Real, honest-to-goodness calories that your body can use to run, think, and live.

For almost all of human history, this system was perfect. Sweetness was a rare and valuable signal for ripe fruit or maybe some honey. It was a signal that said, "Good news! Fuel is on the way!"

Then, along came artificial sweeteners.

Using an artificial sweetener is like pulling the ultimate prank on this ancient, wise security system. You're setting off the "SWEET!" alarm, but then you send in a ghost truck. There's a lot of noise and excitement, but when your body looks for the delivery of real energy, there's nothing there. The garage is empty.

Let's dive into exactly what happens when this prank plays out, from your brain all the way down to your gut.

Part 1: The Great Brain Heist

The moment that artificial sweetness hits your tongue, a message rockets to your brain: "Sugar incoming! Prepare for energy!" Your brain, being a good manager, gets the whole body ready. It tells your pancreas, "Get ready to release insulin! We've got sugar to process!"

Insulin is like a key that unlocks your cells to let sugar in from your blood. So, your pancreas sends out a wave of insulin. The cells in your muscles and liver get ready to open their doors.

But then... nothing happens. No actual sugar arrives.

This creates two big problems.

First, you now have insulin cruising through your bloodstream with no job to do. Over time, if this happens again and again, your cells can stop listening to insulin. They become "insulin resistant." This is a major stepping stone toward type 2 diabetes. It is like the cells are tired of answering the door when no one is ever there.

Second, this trick messes with your hunger signals. Your brain was expecting a payday that never came. It feels cheated. So, it might send out even stronger hunger signals to try and get the energy it was promised. You can end up feeling hungrier than you were before, and you might start craving real carbs and sugar to make up for the shortfall. That "diet" soda can actually make you reach for a cookie an hour later.

Part 2: The Taste Bud Takedown

Have you ever turned up the volume on your headphones because a song was too quiet? You crank it up, and for a while, it sounds great. But then, a normal volume seems way too quiet afterward. Your ears have adjusted.

The exact same thing happens with your taste buds.

Artificial sweeteners are hundreds of times sweeter than sugar. When you use them regularly, you are basically "cranking up the volume" on sweetness for your taste buds. A strawberry used to taste perfectly sweet. But after you have been flooding your tongue with super sweet chemicals, that natural strawberry might start to taste boring and bland.

Broccoli? Carrots? Forget it. They have their own subtle, wonderful flavors, but they cannot compete with the intense, artificial sweet blast you have gotten used to.

This can change your entire relationship with food. Healthy, whole foods begin to seem unappealing. You start to prefer only the super sweet, super intense tastes of processed foods. This makes eating a healthy diet much, much harder because nothing on the healthy menu seems to taste good anymore.

Part 3: The Gut Garden Surprise

Now, let's take a journey down to one of the most important parts of your body: your gut. Imagine your gut is like a beautiful, thriving garden. This garden is filled with trillions of tiny bacteria. This is your gut microbiome.

Most of these bacteria are your friends. They help you digest food, fight off germs, and even make chemicals that keep your brain happy. A healthy gut garden has a wide variety of different bacteria, all working together.

Scientists are now discovering that artificial sweeteners are like a strange, chemical rain falling on this garden. This rain does not nourish the good, helpful bacteria. In fact, some studies show it might actually feed the less helpful, "bad" bacteria.

When the balance of your gut garden gets messed up, it is called "dysbiosis." This can lead to real problems. You might experience more gas, bloating, and stomach discomfort. But it goes even deeper. An unhappy gut has been linked to a weaker immune system, more inflammation in the body, and even feelings of sadness and anxiety.

So, that zero calorie sweetener might be saving you calories from sugar, but it could be causing a riot in your gut garden, with consequences for your entire body.

Part 4: The Metabolism Mix-Up

Your body is a brilliant, energy managing machine. It is very good at burning calories to keep you warm and give you energy. This process is called your metabolism.

When you eat real food, your metabolism kicks into gear. It starts working to break the food down and burn it for fuel. This is called diet induced thermogenesis. It is like stoking a fire.

But what happens when you consume something your body does not recognize as real food?

Some research suggests that when you trick your body with artificial sweeteners, the metabolic "fire" does not get stoked the same way. Your body might not ramp up its energy burning machinery because it did not get the real fuel signal it was expecting.

Think of it this way: if you tricked your car into thinking it was getting gas by spraying a sweet smell into the tank, the engine would not actually start. Your body's engine is smarter, but the confusion can still cause it to run less efficiently. Over time, a slower metabolism makes it easier to gain weight and harder to lose it.

Putting It All Together: The Domino Effect

So, let's watch the dominoes fall after you drink that diet soda:

1. Domino 1 (Tongue): Your tongue tastes extreme sweetness and tells your brain, "Energy is coming!"

2. Domino 2 (Brain): Your brain tells your pancreas to release insulin to handle the expected sugar.

3. Domino 3 (Bloodstream): Insulin shows up, but there's no sugar to manage. This can lead to insulin resistance over time.

4. Domino 4 (Hunger): Your brain, feeling cheated, makes you feel hungrier and crave real sugar to make up for the missing energy.

5. Domino 5 (Taste Buds): Your taste buds get used to this super sweet taste, making healthy foods like fruit and vegetables seem boring.

6. Domino 6 (Gut): The artificial chemicals travel to your gut and disrupt the delicate balance of your good and bad bacteria.

7. Domino 7 (Metabolism): Your body's calorie burning engine gets confused and may not rev up as it should.

What started as a simple trick on the tongue sets off a chain reaction that involves your hormones, your brain, your gut, and your metabolism. It is a brilliant example of how everything in your body is connected. And it shows that "zero calories" does not mean "zero effect." The effect is just a lot more complicated, and a lot more surprising, than we ever imagined.

4. The Big Health Concerns We Can't Ignore

So, we have seen how artificial sweeteners play a tricky game with your body's wiring. But you might be thinking, "A little confusion can't be that bad, right? I'm still saving calories!"

This is where we have to look at the bigger picture. Imagine you buy a car that has a strange quirk: every time you press the gas pedal, it sometimes accelerates and sometimes just revs the engine without moving. At first, it might not seem like a big deal. But over thousands of miles, that quirk is going to cause serious wear and tear on the engine, the transmission, and your patience.

Using artificial sweeteners is like that. The "prank" on your body is not just a one time joke. When you drink diet soda every day or add those sweetener packets to your coffee for years, that little trick adds up to some very real, and very serious, health concerns. Let's pop the hood and look at the potential damage.

Concern #1: The Weight Gain Wonder

This is the biggest surprise for most people. We use artificial sweeteners to lose weight, so how on earth could they possibly make us gain weight?

It seems to defy logic, but the science is pointing in a clear direction. Long term studies that follow people for years have found a puzzling link: people who regularly consume diet sodas and artificial sweeteners often have higher body weight, a larger waist size, and a greater risk of becoming obese than those who do not.

"But wait," you say. "How can something with no calories cause weight gain?"

It goes back to the trick we talked about. Here is how the zero calorie illusion can backfire:

1. The Hunger Trigger: Remember, your brain was promised energy that never arrived. So, it fights back by making you feel hungrier than you normally would. This can lead you to eat more during your next meal. You might not even realize you are eating an extra handful of chips or a bigger dessert because your brain is trying to make up for those missing calories it was promised.

2. The Craving Machine: Artificial sweeteners keep your taste buds craving super sweet things. This makes you more likely to choose other sweet, and often unhealthy, snacks throughout the day. That sugar free yogurt might not have calories, but it might set you up for a craving for a sweet muffin later.

3. The Calorie Confusion: Some scientists think that when your body gets fooled by "sweet without calories" too often, it loses its natural ability to regulate how many calories it needs. Its internal calorie counter gets broken. This can make it harder for you to feel full and satisfied from normal, healthy food, so you end up eating more overall.

Think of it like a budget. If you keep getting fake messages that money is coming into your bank account, you might start spending more freely, not realizing your actual balance is getting low. Your body's "calorie budget" can get just as confused.

Concern #2: The Blood Sugar Roller Coaster

This is a major concern, especially for the millions of Americans who are pre diabetic or managing type 2 diabetes. People often switch to artificial sweeteners to keep their blood sugar stable. It seems like the perfect solution.

But the story is more complicated. Remember the insulin problem? When your tongue tastes sweet, it can cause your body to release insulin, the hormone that tells your cells to absorb sugar from your blood.

So, you drink a diet soda. Your insulin levels go up. But since no real sugar arrives, that insulin is just floating around with nothing to do. High levels of insulin in your blood when there is no sugar to manage is a problem. It can make your cells "numb" to insulin over time. This is called insulin resistance.

When your cells are insulin resistant, they stop listening to the hormone's instructions. So, later, when you eat a piece of bread or a real piece of fruit, your body has to pump out even more insulin to get your cells to absorb the sugar. This creates a dangerous cycle of higher and higher insulin levels, which is a direct path to developing type 2 diabetes.

You were trying to avoid a blood sugar spike, but you might have instead made your body worse at handling sugar altogether.

Concern #3: The Heart of the Matter

Your heart is the hardest working muscle in your body, and it deserves the best fuel we can give it. Unfortunately, large studies that track people's health over many years have started to notice a worrying trend.

People who drink a lot of diet soda every day seem to have a higher risk of having a heart attack or a stroke. This is true even when scientists account for other factors like weight, smoking, and diet.

Why would a zero calorie drink affect the heart?

Researchers are still figuring it out, but there are a few strong theories:

• The Blood Pressure Link: The constant insulin spikes we talked about can damage your blood vessels over time, making them stiffer and less flexible. This can lead to higher blood pressure, which is a major strain on the heart.

• The Inflammation Connection: Remember the unhappy gut garden? An imbalanced gut can lead to more inflammation throughout your entire body. Think of inflammation as tiny, slow burning fires inside your blood vessels. This chronic inflammation is a known culprit in heart disease.

• A Marker for an Unhealthy Lifestyle: It is also possible that people who drink a lot of diet soda might have other habits that are not heart healthy. But the studies are strong enough that many doctors now see high diet soda consumption as a red flag for heart health.

Concern #4: The Unhappy Brain

Your gut and your brain are in constant conversation through a special nerve called the vagus nerve. It is a superhighway of information. When your gut bacteria are upset because of artificial sweeteners, they can send worrying messages up to your brain.

This "gut brain axis" is a new and exciting area of science. Early research suggests that the disruption artificial sweeteners cause in your gut could be linked to changes in your brain. Some animal studies have shown that sweeteners can affect memory and learning and may even increase anxiety like behaviors.

While we need more research in humans, it makes sense. If you are constantly confusing one part of your body's complex system, it is going to have ripple effects everywhere, including your mood and your brain health.

5. So, What Should You Do? Practical Steps for a Sweeter, Healthier Life

Okay, so we have talked about the problems. It is easy to feel a little overwhelmed or even frustrated. You might be thinking, "First, they told me sugar was bad. So I switched to the fake stuff. Now you are telling me the fake stuff is bad too? What is left, just plain water forever?"

Do not worry. This is not about giving up everything you love. It is not about living a life of flavorless boredom. In fact, it is the exact opposite.

This is about taking back control. It is about moving away from tricky chemicals and rediscovering the honest, delicious sweetness that real food has to offer. It is about breaking up with that super sweet, artificial relationship and forming a new, healthy friendship with sweetness.

Think of it as a fun adventure, not a punishment. Let us map out your journey.

Step 1: Become a Detective, Not a Judge

The first step is not to throw everything out of your fridge. The first step is simply to notice.

For one week, your mission is to become a food detective. Look at the ingredients list on everything you eat and drink. You are not there to judge yourself or feel guilty. You are just gathering clues.

Get curious! Look for the secret agents we talked about: aspartame, sucralose, saccharin. You will be shocked where they hide.

Check your "light" yogurt. Check your "sugar free" candy. Check your "diet" iced tea. Check the protein bars you eat after the gym. Check the "low calorie" syrup on your pancakes. Check the "healthy" granola cereal.

You do not have to change anything yet. Just read the labels and see the story they tell. Knowledge is power, and right now, you are charging up your power cells.

Step 2: The Gentle Break Up

Now that you know where the artificial sweeteners are, it is time to start saying goodbye. But we are going to do this kindly and slowly. If you try to quit all at once, your taste buds will rebel.

Your taste buds have been at a super sweet rock concert for years. We need to gently lead them to a calming jazz club instead. If we yank them out too fast, they will just crave the loud music again.

Here is your game plan:

• The One at a Time Rule: Pick one thing to change first. Maybe it is your morning coffee. Instead of two packets of that pink or blue stuff, try one and a half for a week. Then try just one. Then, see if you can try just half a packet mixed with a tiny sprinkle of real sugar or a dash of cinnamon. Go slow.

• The Dilution Solution: If you drink diet soda, you do not have to go cold turkey. Try this: pour a glass of half diet soda and half sparkling water. You will still get the fizz and some flavor, but you are cutting the artificial sweetener dose in half. Next week, try one quarter diet soda and three quarters sparkling water.

• Find a Fun Replacement: This is the fun part. You are not just taking something away; you are trading up!

• Instead of diet soda: Try sparkling water like LaCroix or Bubly. If it tastes too plain at first, squeeze in a big wedge of fresh lemon, lime, or orange. The natural oils in the peel add amazing flavor. You can even mash a few raspberries or a slice of pineapple in the bottom of your glass.

• Instead of sugar free syrup: Try warming up some real maple syrup or honey and mixing it with a little melted butter to pour over your pancakes. Because it has real, rich flavor, you will find you need much less to feel satisfied.

• Instead of "light" yogurt: Buy plain, whole milk yogurt and add your own sweetness. Stir in a spoonful of real jam, a handful of fresh berries, or a drizzle of honey. You control the sugar, and you get the bonus of real fruit.

Step 3: Retrain Your Taste Buds

This is the most powerful step of all. You are going to teach your mouth to appreciate subtle sweetness again. This does not happen overnight, but it does happen faster than you think.

• The Fruit Challenge: Every day, eat one piece of whole fruit when you feel a sweet craving. But here is the key: eat it slowly. Pay attention. Do not just swallow it.

• Eat a blueberry. Let it sit on your tongue. Notice its gentle sweetness and its slight tartness.

• Eat a strawberry. Smell it first. Feel its juicy texture.

• Eat a piece of sweet, crunchy apple.

• Eat a slice of mango and notice how it tastes like sunshine.

Your brain will start to remember, "Oh, THIS is what real sweetness tastes like!" It is complex and interesting, not just a one note, chemical blast. After a few weeks of this, if you take a sip of a diet soda, it will likely taste sickly sweet and weirdly chemical. That is a sign you are winning!

• Spice is Nice: Use spices to create the illusion of sweetness without any sugar at all. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla are your new best friends.

• Add cinnamon to your coffee grounds before you brew it.

• Stir a drop of pure vanilla extract into your oatmeal or yogurt.

• Sprinkle nutmeg on sliced apples.

These warm, sweet tasting spices trick your brain into feeling like you have had a treat, and they are full of antioxidants too.

Step 4: Rethink Your Drinks

Liquid calories and liquid chemicals are a huge part of this problem. Focus here for a big win.

• The Herbal Tea Treasure Chest: There is a whole world of herbal teas that are naturally sweet and delicious without any added anything.

• Rooibos Tea: This South African tea is naturally sweet, nutty, and caffeine free.

• Chamomile Tea: It is naturally slightly sweet and is famous for helping you relax.

• Peppermint Tea: It has a sweet, refreshing finish that can satisfy a dessert craving after a meal.

Explore the tea aisle at your grocery store. Find a few that sound good to you. Making a cup of tea is a calming ritual that also helps you hydrate healthily.

Step 5: Be a Smart Shopper

When you are buying packaged foods, be savvy.

• Look at the "Added Sugars" Line: On the nutrition facts label, there is a line for "Added Sugars." This is different from the natural sugars found in milk and fruit. Try to choose foods where this number is low.

• Read the Ingredient List: If sugar (or one of its many nicknames like corn syrup, fructose, etc.) is one of the first three ingredients, that food is mostly sugar. Put it back and look for a better option.

• Embrace a Little Bit of the Real Thing: It is better to have a small amount of real, organic cane sugar or pure honey than a large amount of a chemical sweetener. Your body knows what to do with real sugar in small amounts. It has no idea what to do with sucralose.

Your Sweeter, Healthier Life is Waiting

We have been on quite a journey together. We started with a simple question: are artificial sweeteners the perfect solution they seem to be? We looked under the hood and discovered that these zero calorie chemicals are not just innocent bystanders. They are active players that can confuse our brains, mess with our hunger signals, upset our gut garden, and may even affect our long term health.

It is a lot to take in. But here is the most important thing to remember: you are now in the driver's seat.

You are no longer in the dark. You know that the promise of "having your cake and eating it too" might have been a little too good to be true. You understand that "zero calories" does not mean "zero consequences" for your body's complex systems.

This is not about living a life of restriction or saying a permanent goodbye to sweet flavors. It is about saying "hello" to something so much better.

It is about the deep, rich satisfaction of a handful of sweet blueberries. It is about the comforting warmth of a cinnamon sprinkled apple. It is about the simple joy of a cold glass of sparkling water with a squeeze of fresh lime.

You are on a path to retraining your taste buds to appreciate the true, wonderful sweetness that real food has to offer. It is a quieter, more complex, and far more rewarding kind of sweetness.

This change does not have to happen all at once. Start small. Be a detective in your own kitchen. Try swapping one diet soda for a fun, fruity sparkling water. Add a new herbal tea to your shopping cart.

Every small choice you make is a step toward a healthier, happier you. A you that is in control, informed, and empowered to make the best choices for your body.

You have the power to break up with the fake stuff and fall in love with real food again.

Your sweeter, healthier life is waiting. And it tastes amazing.

You’ve Got This. And when it’s hard? Come back to this guide and take a deep breath.

I hope and pray you all got something from this info

Please join us on Instagram or Facebook.

We would love to hear from you 

Thank you for your time 

I wish you all another day, Clean and Sober 

Boris Schaak