Artificial Sweeteners come with many names and origins.
Confused? It’s no wonder many folks aren’t sure what to use in their food, or what to choose for low cal sweets. Of course, the best choice are our fruits and veggies for snacks and treats. But… in our society we are conditioned to desire and crave junk food.
For those who study history you’ll find that our ancestors did consume many foods loaded with sugar. In fact, it was only served on special occasions, in smaller portions than we typically devour in today’s world. Life was very different, requiring folks to use a lot more energy to complete routine chores as manual labor was required for most tasks. Even with all the local stores offering a nice selection of candy bars, soda, cakes and the such we didn’t consume the quantity of calories from sugar laden foods on a daily basis. Most often the meals provided for at home contained fruits, veggies, meat and fish that were what we today may call organic. The only artificial sweetener that was common was saccharin and it left such a terrible after taste that we preferred to just cut back on regular sugar!
Artificial sweeteners can be beneficial for some folks with certain health issues, but can also cause great distress for others. If you’d like something sweet choose a nice piece of fruit or try a glass of water and perhaps you’ll find satisfaction with just that.
One of the best lists of artificial sweeteners I’ve seen is on a site named, Heather’s Tummy Care, http://www.helpforibs.com/news/newsletter/IBSQuickie/artificial_sweetener_ibs.html
Although this site is focused on IBS this article is one we would all be wise to read. It provides a list of artificial sweeteners for us to choose from, and to perhaps do further research on for our own confirmation of the information provided.
The foods we choose to enjoy can have many affects on the quality of our life. Americans have been programed go to comfort foods in times of upsets. We celebrate many occasions with tables of sweets, snacks and fatty meats. Choosing theses foods in a moderate way will be fine for most of us. Awareness of the real quality of our choices and how our body reacts to what we consume will help us make good choices and have a happier life.