Wondering why you aren’t losing the weight even though you cut sugar out of your diet? If you replaced sugar with low calorie/zero calorie artificial sweeteners, a recent study has your answer: Artificial sweeteners actually cause weight gain! The reason: Artificial sweeteners appear to favor the growth of a type of intestinal bacteria in the gut that cause food to be converted into stored fuel, instead of fuel to be burned in the body.
How zero calories sweeteners may cause you to gain weight
Zero calorie sweeteners enhance the wrong microbes in your gut. There are two types of microbes in your gut that enable you to get energy or fat from your food
Microbes that convert food into:
- Energy – Bacteroidetes bacteria
- Fat (For storage in your tissues) – Firmicutes bacteria
Firmicutes bacteria may be sabotaging your diet Stanford University microbiologist David Relman states that firmicutes bacteria also affect hormone levels in the gut, including the hormone leptin, which may cause you to overeat.
Zero calorie sweeteners have been shown to enhance the activity of firmicutes bacteria in your gut that converts food into fat. This means that even though you take in fewer calories, those sweeteners are causing the calories you do take in to be stored as fat, instead of converted to energy.
Jeffrey Gordon, a physician and biologist at Washington University in St. Louis has found a similar pattern in humans. Overweight people who lose weight on a diet show an increase in the ratio of bacteroidetes bacteria over firmicutes bacteria as they lose weight.
Diabetic Warning – Glucose intolerance is another problem that may be made worse by artificial sweeteners. In a study on mice, it was shown that mice fed a daily dose of aspartame, sucralose or saccharin developed glucose intolerance in 11 weeks. Mice given a daily dose of sugar (as a control) were fine. The results of this study need to be confirmed in human trials, but for now, diabetics may wish to avoid artificially sweetened food and beverages.
Bottom line: If you’re trying to lose weight, you should avoid artificial sweeteners, since there is strong evidence that they interfere with your gut bacteria in a way that causes you to gain weight.
Water is the best choice for losing weight
Water is best for weight loss – this is according to the Mayo Clinic, Harvard Health, and several studies. There are several reasons why water beats all other beverages if you’re trying to lose weight:
- Zero calories – Plus it won’t harm beneficial gut bacteria
- Maintains metabolism – Dehydration slows your metabolic processes down
- Helps flush wastes from the body
- You may be mistaking thirst for hunger
Zero calories Just like some artificially-sweetened diet drinks, water contains zero calories. But unlike those diet drinks, water won’t promote the growth of firmicutes bacteria in your gut.
Maintains metabolism With as little as 2% dehydration, your metabolism starts slowing down. Water is used by every biological process in your body. To keep your metabolism running full speed, you need to stay hydrated.
Helps flush wastes from the body Dehydration can cause constipation, which results in the buildup of waste in the body. Any buildup of waste is going to add weight.
You may be mistaking thirst for hunger People middle-aged and older can’t count on their thirst mechanism to tell them when to drink. Research shows that in middle-aged and older people, thirst is often mistaken for hunger. Your body is telling you to eat, when what you really need is a glass of water.
Pro Weight Loss Tip: Anytime you feel hungry, drink a glass of water. Research shows that drinking water reduces your caloric intake during meals because you feel satisfied sooner.
Can alkaline water help you lose weight
There is some evidence that alkaline water may help you lose weight faster, but definitive clinical trials have yet to be conducted. There are a few things about alkaline water that may make it better than plain water for weight loss:
- Hydrates better – Helps maintain your metabolism
- One study showed people lost 12 pounds in two months
- Tastes better than plain water
Hydration Proper hydration helps maintain your metabolism and flush wastes from your body. Studies done at Montana State University show that alkaline water hydrates 17% better than plain water. It will also enable your body to rehydrate faster after working out.
A clinical evaluation of new alkaline water drinkers showed that they lost an average of 12 pounds over two months. The subjects in this study were middle-aged and clinically obese, their Body Mass Index (BMI) was greater than 30. That’s the level where doctors start treating obesity as a disease.
Alkaline water tastes better than plain water, it’s slightly sweeter, and feels a lot more refreshing. Taste may seem like a small thing, but it’s not. Water is competing with other, less healthy beverages when you are deciding what to drink. Improving the taste of your water makes it easier for you to choose water over less healthy drinks.
Find out how alkaline water could help you take back your health. Call us today at 855 419-2840 for a free, no obligation healthy water consultation
References
Abraham, Guy, and Jorge Flebas. “The effect of daily consumption of 2 liters of
electrolyzed water for 2 months on body composition and several physiological parameters in four obese subjects: a preliminary report.” Highbeam Research. Original Internist, 01 Sep 2011. Web. 2 Jul 2013. <http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-269433201.html>.
Koseki, M, Y Tanaka, and et al. “Effect of pH on the Taste of Alkaline Electrolyzed Water.” Wiley Online Library. Journal of Food Science, n.d. Web. 3 Jul 2013. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17995745
Heil, P and Seifert, J. Influence of bottled water on rehydration following a dehydrating bout of cycling exercise. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition Springerlink July 2009. http://www.springerlink.com/content/kn41764j65165u3x/fulltext.pdf
Heil, D. “Acid-base balance and hydration status following consumption of mineral-based alkaline bottled water..” Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 13 Sep 2010. Web. 26 Mar 2014. <http://www.jissn.com/content/7/1/29>.
Harvard School of Public Health, . “Healthy Drinks.”Harvard School of Public Health.
Harvard School of Public Health. Web. 5 Jul 2013. <http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/>.
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