We’ve heard it time and time again – sugar is bad for us.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a very intelligent client ask me WHY sugar is bad… I mean, after all, it DOES come from a plant.

The two big problems with sugar are, we eat way too much of it, and it’s refined down so much, there are no nutrients left in it. We end up pushing a ton of sucrose through our body, that technically, our body can’t handle. The excess gets stored as fat. If we put too much sugar in our systems continuously, we end up fatiguing our pancreas because it has to make too much insulin, and our insulin response goes haywire and we end up with diabetes.

It stands to reason that a good alternative would be artificial sweeteners. No calories, and it’s not sugar… so why not use them?

There is a TON of information on this topic. And rather than get into all of it, I’m just going to share my opinion. This is based on what I’ve read, and experienced over the years. Take it for what it’s worth – feel free to ask questions in the comments…

Artificial sweeteners aren’t good for you – not even the ones that claim to be made from sugar or stevia.

They aren’t good for you for a multitude of reasons – the main one being, they’re pure chemicals. They are made up of all kinds of stuff your body does not recognize – even the ones that claim to be made from natural things.

Among other things, artificial sweeteners have been proven to slow down your metabolism, they are stored as fat in your system – just like when you eat too much sugar. And, they are suspected to be addicting, and to cause migraines.

My advice – stay away from them.

Whenever possible, use natural sweeteners. Things like Stevia, honey, agave, natural maple syrup (not Mrs. Butterworths… I’m talkin the good stuff…), etc.

You may need to experiment a bit to find what works for you. And a lot of times, you’ll need different sweeteners for different purposes. For example, maple syrup is great for things like pancakes and oatmeal, but not so great in coffee. And, agave is wonderful for cooking and baking – but it’s not calorie free so use it moderately.

Remember, read labels and eat as close to whole and unprocessed as you can.