by Sina Smith
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by Sina Smith
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Neotame was approved by the FDA in 2002, but data has just emerged that demonstrates it:
- Damages the cells that line the gut tube
- Disrupts the microbiome
When the cells of the gut tube are disrupted, it means that you can’t absorb nutrients from your food. It also means that the barrier of those cells is not acting like a barrier. It’s open, just like a big cut on your skin…except that the “cut” is being bathed in liquid made up of non-microbiome bacteria, ground up food stuffs, and digestive enzymes. Gross!
We need a healthy microbiome. In your colon, the microbiome bacteria provide food to the colon’s cells in the form of short chain fatty acids. There is emerging research that shows artificial sweeteners also disrupt regulation of cholesterol (bad for you) and fatty acids (bad for your colon cells). No bueno!
Artificial sweeteners make “helpful” microbiome bacteria behave strangely, including causing colon cell death. When colon cells die, they have to be replaced with new cells. Rapid cell replacement (“turnover”) is a known risk of colon cancer. Bad!
What is not in this article–but is known about artificial sweeteners–is that they disrupt the receptors in your gut that make you feel full: your satiety receptors. They trick your body into ignoring that you have eaten enough food and you stay hungry for a longer time. In other words, you tend to eat MORE calories when you are eating or drinking artificial sweeteners. Convenient if you are trying to sell more diet soda, but not great if you are drinking it–especially if you are trying to lose weight. Oh man!
Need another reason? The stress that artificial sweeteners put on the gut bacteria makes them share genes with each other that are resistant to antibiotics. It is breeding antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria. Boo!
You’re an adult and can make your own decisions, but do you reeeeeeally wanna be putting those chemicals in your body?
Last week my cousin introduced me to the word “limerence,” and it’s been rumbling around in my brain ever since. It refers to infatuation or juvenile obsession.
Many of you have likely read about or watched documentaries on the "Blue Zones:" places on earth where people regularly live to be 100 years old without chronic diseases and tend to die peacefully in their sleep.
In a study that involved almost 100,000 people, eating animal protein--especially red meat--was associated with poorer sleep quality. Eating plant-based proteins was associated with better sleep or had no association.
I thought it might be helpful to share with you some of the things that I’ve been doing ahead of surgery to prepare myself to heal optimally in case you are ever in a similar situation.