Not so Splendid: Part II

Last week I shared with you my awful experience with Splenda and the effects it has had on me: weight gain due to water retention, and a increased desire for carbohydrates and sweets. This week I look at more anecdotal evidence that SPlenda and artificial sweeteners are associated with fat gain and overfatness.

I was at Giant, my local supermarket, the other day, and as I was leaving, the young bag lady asked me how I liked my SoBe water. Sobe water is flavored with PureVia, which is natural sweetener made from Stevia. I told her I liked it and that I prefered a beverage with no artificial sweeteners. I told her I upset my digestive system (it doesn’t, but it has affected my digestive patterns), and that it didn’t agree me. The lady next to me agreed, and said she couldn’t tolerate much sucralose.

The bag lady said she loved Splenda. She said it allowed her to eat her 100-calorie cheesecakes. I noticed that she was 30-40 pounds overfat. Clearly, adding Splenda to her diet hasn’t helped achieve her ideal weight. This could be for several reasons. She could be overcompensating. She could be eating more cheesecakes because each cheesecake has fewer calories than a typical cheesecake. Thus, she doesn’t feel guilty eating them, since they are calorie. If she ate regular cheesecakes, then she would only eat one, not several. But I have no evidence that she’s eating more of these cheesecakes.

I suspect two other things are happening that explain her overfatness. Using Splenda has increased her cravings for carbs and other foods that have a lot of sugar, or that taste like sugar. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that she eats cheesecakes and liberally uses Splenda.

I also suspect that Splenda is somehow interrupting her hormonal system, and disrupting her natural metabolism. Again, I have no scientific evidence for this, but I have read plenty of stories and have seen preliminary evidence that Splenda can negatively affect our hormonal systems.

Here’s another observations I’ve made. I’ve never seen anyone who uses a lot of Sucralose that is actually in good shape. Think about it. How many people do you know drink a lot of diet soda, use artificial sweeteners, and are good shape? I see a direct correlation between diet soda consumption (and regular soda consumption) and fat. People who drink diet soda are either overweight, or are futilely trying to lose weight. People who are in good shape rarely consume diet soda.

Here’s the bottom line. If you’re trying to lose fat, then quit drinking diet soda. Even if you don’t overcompensate when you drink diet soda, keep in mind that it could be ruining your metabolism and hormonal system. If you want to lose weight, then you need to do what healthy people do, and that’s not drinking diet soda. If you don’t want to be overfat, then don’t do what your overfat counterparts are doing: drinking diet soda!