On a recent episode of Good Morning America, they did a segment on hidden sugars in various foods. One of the foods was the GO LEAN bar by Kashi....sounds healthy enough right? Wrong.
The GO LEAN bar has as much sugar as FIFTEEN Hershey's kisses. Wow! I have to say I think that I'd rather have the kisses! Now, I know I've touched on this topic before but this deserves a quick review.
Five grams of sugar is equal to one teaspoon of sugar...
So, the next time you are eating a breakfast cereal or drinking a juice drink...look at the label! If it says that it has 25 grams of sugar then you are literally ingesting 5 teaspoons of sugar! Not necessarily what you had in mind for a glass of V-8 Fusion or that bowl of Raisin Bran Crunch?!
Not only that...a gram of sugar has four calories ... then 4 X 25=100 calories. Wow...bet you didn't realize that the 160 calorie juice drink is 63% sugar?!
So that's the bad news...the good news is that you can start over today...reading labels and making choices that make sense for your healthy lifestyle. Be especially aware of pseudo-healthy foods marketed towards children...they're usually loaded with sugar. Just remember...just because it sounds healthy doesn't mean it is!
Showing posts with label diet colas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diet colas. Show all posts
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Thursday, May 8, 2008
The Skinny on Artificial Sweetners
I’m a diet coke junky so this fit tip is going to be a real reality check for me. I was raised on Coca-cola...as I got older and more health conscious, I decided to switch to diet coke in order to save on calories...little did I know...that it actually can make me GAIN WEIGHT!!
A recent study on lab rats found that rats fed yogurt containing artificial sweeteners went on to consume more calories, gain more weight, and increase their body fat percentage. The study speculates that this phenomenon occurred because the artificial sweeteners actually made the rats crave MORE sweets and intake MORE calories.
The brain naturally links sweet tastes with the ingestion of high calorie foods...so when we “trick” the brain by ingesting these artificial sweeteners, the brain reacts by actually SLOWING the metabolism!! And this isn’t a one time occurrence either...once the brain becomes conditioned to artificial sweeteners, it starts to respond in the same way every time we eat...with a sluggish metabolism in order to make the “reduced” calories last longer! Obviously...this is not what we’re looking for!
So here it is...a challenge for all you diet coke junkies out there...starting next Monday, let’s take ALL artificial sweeteners out of our diets for seven days and just see how we feel. Yes...this means you will have to read some labels but it will be interesting to see if we can actually tell a difference. Hey! If I can do it...you can! Email me and let me know how it goes! Have a great week!
A recent study on lab rats found that rats fed yogurt containing artificial sweeteners went on to consume more calories, gain more weight, and increase their body fat percentage. The study speculates that this phenomenon occurred because the artificial sweeteners actually made the rats crave MORE sweets and intake MORE calories.
The brain naturally links sweet tastes with the ingestion of high calorie foods...so when we “trick” the brain by ingesting these artificial sweeteners, the brain reacts by actually SLOWING the metabolism!! And this isn’t a one time occurrence either...once the brain becomes conditioned to artificial sweeteners, it starts to respond in the same way every time we eat...with a sluggish metabolism in order to make the “reduced” calories last longer! Obviously...this is not what we’re looking for!
So here it is...a challenge for all you diet coke junkies out there...starting next Monday, let’s take ALL artificial sweeteners out of our diets for seven days and just see how we feel. Yes...this means you will have to read some labels but it will be interesting to see if we can actually tell a difference. Hey! If I can do it...you can! Email me and let me know how it goes! Have a great week!
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