You remember the margarine commercial with the saying “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.” That should be the message for more than just fake butter … it goes for fake sugar, too.
Drinks and food with artificial sweeteners exact unhealthy revenge by your body.
Tests at the University of Michigan show that when you take in artificial sweeteners, your body doesn’t respond by feeling satiated by these non-caloric flavorings. Instead, the fake sweets inspire delayed overeating as you try to satisfy the body’s need for nutrients.
In the research, the scientists showed that when you eat something that’s naturally sugary, it stimulates the action of half a dozen neurons that release a hormone that travels to both the gut and the brain.
This hormone kickstarts digestion.
But artificial sweeteners have no effect on this hormone. Consequently, it has no digestive effect.
That means that the body gets no physiological satisfaction from an artificial sweetener, but still craves some real sugar. The effect is to taunt the body, starve it of nutrition and make it want to seek out a real sweetener that will stimulate this hormone.
Translating these lab results to our brains, the researchers say, means that diet foods leave our bodies frustrated and famished. The rebound effect, when we stuff ourselves to compensate, causes binge eating and weight gain.
The good news is there are a lot of foods that are naturally sweet and will satisfy that craving.
My favorite sweet treat is dark chocolate. You can also sprinkle some cinnamon sugar on popcorn, or even drizzle some honey on a banana. And low-glycemic fruits like watermelon are a great way to eat something that will fill you with nutrients without giving you too much sugar.
