Why Artificial Sweeteners Don't Work for Weight Loss

Why are artificial sweeteners bad? I won’t go into a tirade on how they are synthetic, and I won’t cite all the reports on the internet from people who blame any number of their ailments on them. The problem with artificial sweeteners is that they MAKE YOU HUNGRY. Yup, it’s true. And here’s why:

Every time you eat any kind of carbohydrate your blood sugar goes up. This tells your pancreas to make insulin to bring it down. Although artificial sweeteners don’t have any calories, they do trick your pancreas into making insulin, which brings down your blood sugar.

Case in point: It’s 3:00 in the afternoon and you’re starting to drag, and instead of grabbing a Snicker’s bar (or insert your favorite afternoon snack here) you grab a diet pop, or a stick of sugarless gum, or some sugar free Jell-O, thinking this will tide you over until supper. The reason you got the mid-afternoon munchies is likely because you had a high carb lunch, let’s say Sweet and Sour Pork, and your pancreas has been working on that since noon, and has completed it’s job (maybe too well). So right then your blood sugar is a little low and you drink that diet pop. This doesn’t raise your blood sugar one bit, but it does signal the pancreas to get to work, which sends insulin into your blood stream lowering your blood sugar levels even more. Then you wonder why you’re so tired, hungry, and cranky when you get home after work, assuming you didn't break down and have that Snickers bar after all.

FYI: Type I diabetics don’t have to worry about this effect of artificial sweeteners because their pancreas is incapable of making insulin at all.

I’ll write on some snacking alternatives for you-all in a couple of days.