Artificial Sweetener Can Mess Up Your Brain? – Master Your Metabolism #5
I know that, in our society, we equate “diet” with our weight. This book even includes the promise of a “hot and healthy body” on the front cover. While reading Chapter 5, though, it was very hard to think about something so frivolous as “hotness.” No one wants to get cancer or Alzheimer’s – compared with these challenges, who really cares about being fat, or chunky, or whatever the case may be? I don’t want to poison myself, and I certainly do not want to poison my daughter. Yet is seems as though that is what we are doing when we feed her most processed foods. Now, I should point out that she usually eats better than we do – her snacks are usually organic, as was her baby food when she was an infant, because we made most of it ourselves. This is starting to be less true now as she gets older though – she is not yet two, yet knows what chips are, and at our Superbowl party she took her first taste of soda (she sampled from someone’s glass when they were not looking, and then announced, “I like it!” when she was discovered).
When I was a little kid, I remember being really scared after watching The Incredible Shrinking Woman (on DVD of course, as I am only 20 – 
). It’s about a woman who starts to shrink after she ingests a very specific, yet not-yet-discovered, mix of chemicals. I remember that one of them was hairspray, and, if I’m not mistaken, the final ingredient was a free sample of cheese spread in the grocery store. (How fitting that the last straw would be processed food.) I remember being terrified for weeks afterward that I would somehow, inadvertently, consume the wrong mix of ingredients and that something bad would happen to me as a result, even though I knew the story was fiction, and that it was supposed to be a comedy at that. Oh, the nightmares. Thanks, Lily Tomlin!
So, it turns out that my nightmares were not the stuff of fantasy after all. According to Jillian (again, I have not fact checked), even when a food says it lacks a particular toxin (such as transfats), it is actually allowed to have trace amounts of that substance “per serving.” So, if you eat an entire bag of chips, for example, you may be consuming measurable amounts of a particular substance (such as MSG) that has been shown to be hazardous to your health. And if you eat or drink many different foods containing these trace ingredients (or especially if you eat the ones that actually list the substance in their ingredient lists), they all add up, you could be doing “permanent” damage to yourself. You may not start shrinking, but your brain chemistry can be effected, leading to a host of chronic diseases! That’s way more scary than falling down the bathtub drain (yeah, I was a very imaginative child).
Another scary thing that I have been thinking about since I finished reading this chapter is that it’s hard to know what is really true unless you spend the bulk of your reading time keeping up with medical and academic journal articles which, for many people, are – let’s face it – a bit dense. A Google search might lead you to information written by the PR firms of various food manufacturers – can we really expect them to tell us the truth if they have successfully lobbied to keep some ingredients off of their packaging? Some friends who know I am reading this book (including one who is in the medical field) have pointed me in the direction of a few books that help separate facts from fiction. When I read these books, I will compare what they say with this book, and share the information here.
Among the many chemicals described in this chapter, one of them stood out for me – sucralose (Splenda). Doctors have recommended this sugar substitute to people I know who are insulin resistant as a better alternative than other similar products – we expect our doctors to know what is safe for us to consume, so this is a prime example of not knowing who to believe. As for aspartame (NutraSweet), Jillian says it may cause “permanent damage to our brain’s appetite center.” The explanation goes something like this: our brains naturally perceive sweet tasting things as having a higher caloric value than some other things we eat, and helps us to both consume less and metabolize more calories immediately afterward to make up for the sweet treat. When we consume sugar substitutes, our brain gets confused, because our bodies to not receive the accompanying influx of calories along with the sweet taste. This may cause the body to crave extra calories. Also, over time, our brain stops expecting extra calories when it experiences a sweet taste, so when we consume actual sugar, our body ignores the extra calories instead of attempting to metabolize them quickly. My husband has been a strong opponent of sugar substitutes for as long as I have known him – again, I haven’t fact checked this yet, but it looks like you may be right, honey!
Scroll down for other posts about Master Your Metabolism:
Other posts about Master Your Metabolism:
Review
Part 1: So Long, Chocolate, Old Friend
Part 2: I KNEW It – My Hormones are Out of Whack!
Part 3: Nothing Funny About Chapter 3
Part 4: “There’s No Food in Your Food”
Part 5: Artificial Sweetener Can Mess Up Your Brain?
Part 6: “Okay, I’ll Admit it. Organics Can Be Pricey.”
Part 7: Ice Cream and Chocolate are Allowed!!!
Part 8: Really, Jillian, I Just Wanted a Cute Butt
Part 9: Protein! I Need You Protein
Part 10: Now, Off to the Market
[...] Out of Whack! Part 3: Nothing Funny About Chapter 3 Part 4: “There’s No Food in Your Food” Part 5: Artificial Sweetener Can Mess Up Your Brain? Part 6: “Okay, I’ll Admit it. Organics Can Be Pricey.” Part 7: Ice Cream and Chocolate are [...]