Enhance Your Health

Health Tip of the Week: Artificial Sweetener Epidemic

The business of artificial sweeteners is built on the idea that no- or low-calorie sugar substitutes will help you lose weight. Unfortunately, this simply isn’t true.

Research has repeatedly shown that artificially sweetened “diet” foods and beverages tend to stimulate your appetite, increase cravings for carbs, and stimulate fat storage and weight gain. Part of the problem is that artificial sweeteners trick your body into thinking that it’s going to receive sugar (calories), and when the sugar doesn’t arrive, your body signals that it needs more, which results in carb cravings.

This connection between sweet taste and increased hunger can be found in the medical literature going back at least two decades.

Artificial sweeteners also produce a variety of metabolic dysfunctions that promote weight gain.

A 2010 review in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine is of particular relevance, as it offers a great historical summary of artificial sweeteners and the epidemiological and experimental evidence showing that artificial sweeteners tends to promote weight gain. It also illustrates that as usage of artificial sweeteners has risen, so has obesity rates.

According to the author of the review: “Intuitively, people choose non-caloric artificial sweeteners over sugar to lose or maintain weight... But do artificial sweeteners actually help reduce weight? Surprisingly, epidemiologic data suggest the contrary. Several large scale prospective cohort studies found positive correlation between artificial sweetener use and weight gain.”

Another study, cited in a recent Democrat & Chronicle article, "found that frequent drinkers of diet sodas had waist circumference increases that were 500 percent greater than non-drinkers of diet soda."

How about some good news? Tea time is healthy time.

High-quality tea — green tea in particular — contain polyphenol antioxidants that are recognized for their disease prevention and anti-aging properties. Powerful polyphenols found in green tea has been shown to positively impact a number of illnesses and conditions, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer.

A recent review of 25 studies concluded that long-term tea intake significantly improved blood pressure. A number of studies suggest you need to drink approximately three to four cups of tea per day to reap optimal results.

Matcha tea can contain over 100 times the EGCG (a powerful anit-oxidant) provided by regular brewed green tea, and since you’re consuming the entire ground tea leaf, you’re getting the most benefit from each cup.

An old Chinese proverb tells us that drinking a daily cup of tea will surely starve the apothecary (Pharmacy).

Thought for the Week

Man may be the captain of his fate, but is also the victim of his blood sugar. ~ Wilfrid G. Oakley

Chiropractic Thought for the Week

Pain relief? Yes. More mobility? Yes. Enhanced performance?  Yes. Improved health? Yes. Increased quality of life? Yes.

This is what chiropractic care can do for you. Not sure about the how or the why? Here it is.

Spinal adjustments realign your spinal joints, balancing your neck and back musculature. This increases mobility and relieves aches and discomforts.

Most importantly, spinal adjustments improve nerve flow to all of your body’s internal systems and organs. Doing this improves the function of your body’s insides, thus enhancing health.

The outcome of less pain, more mobility and improved health leads to a greater quality of life for you!

 

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