Are Artificial Sweeteners More Harmful Than Sugar?

In this QUAH Sal, Adam, & Justin answer the question “Are artificial sweeteners as bad for you like sugar, and how do they affect blood sugar, etc.?"
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“Are Artificial Sweeteners More Harmful Than Sugar?"
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[@csutton6398]

I have to disagree...the key to staying lean long term is finding lower calorie options for foods/snacks you enjoy. Sustainable is successful when it comes to eating.

[@mrfrostyog]

Sounds like you've been watching Coach Greg.

[@blayes9924]

​@Rusan Öner I disagree with their opinion on sugars. I eat mostly whole foods, but when I make something sweet I use the 0 calorie sweetener, and I'm not overeating when I do. Love listening to this podcast, and I agree with most things, but not their view on sweeteners. I'm more in line with Layne Norton's view. PS. I understand they target the average person who may not understand calories, or have bad behaviors with food. But, everyone I know who's well educated in these areas has no issues with sweeteners, as we know when/how to use them - maybe that's the real issue here - people need to be educated in the basics of nutrition and calories in/out...

[@blayes9924]

@Rusan Öner True, but I think they should educate people on sugar & nutrition so they can understand the benefits of using them (sweeteners) and that they're not bad once you understand the value of using them. They try to educate the average person on training correctly - so why not nutrition.

[@voltagefrogmatthias2375]

Could not agree more. I've been very lean for over 2 years now continuously working out, too. Artificial sweetener from time to time are a blessing. I definitely manage to eat fewer calories very easily because of artificial sweeteners!

[@robertstein4128]

@@mrfrostyog What the **cookbook** is wrong with that!!!!

[@ellendidia3968]

everyone is disagreeing with what you guys are saying, but I totally AGREE that artificial sweeteners have totally messed with my cravings and hunger signals. When I start my day with coffee + splenda and my oatmeals with 4 packets of splenda, the only thing I want the rest of the day is MORE "sugar". However, the MINUTE i go without the artificial sweeteners, it's night and day and I have almost zero cravings - it's wild. Yeah, they helped me lose some weight but I always regain the weight because all I ever want is sugar. I appreciate this video guys, thank you!

[@chgenerationx]

Omg it’s almost like it depends on the person

[@purplekermit2162]

It’s all about self control, I only use 2 sweeteners with my 2 cups of coffee in the morning after that I don’t crave sugar or sweeteners, I just drink water after that throughout the day

[@rachellelewis9389]

@Kevin Hurtado....Yes me too!

[@houssenfarhat5405]

I have been drinking diet soda for the last month, once every two days, have listo 15lbs, and feel great, why drink your calories?

[@gagereiter8631]

Same, i live off coke zero. Satisfies the sweet tooth while dieting. Obviously it’s processed shit thats not optimal for gut health, but its a super useful diet hack. Pros outweigh the cons in my opinion.

[@chgenerationx]

@sf2explus straight up false. Plenty of pros drink it.

[@chgenerationx]

@sf2explus you can read studies that say the opposite. Seems pretty inconclusive at this point. Do whatever works for you

[@PainzRathOSRS]

@sf2explus everything in moderation, I’m sure you also ready every label of every other food you put in your body? Not easy to keep track 24/7

[@PainzRathOSRS]

@sf2explus if your having a carbonated drink once a day it’s not going to kill you if your eating healthy the rest of the day. Again, it’s all about moderation and your personal self control

[@alchemiaofficial1464]

I understand your point about the behavioral aspect of artificial sweeteners, however that kind of thought process really applies to a certain demographic of people. I myself am not the type of person to end up having tons and tons of sweet things just because they are sweet. I have them sometimes because they taste good, and they are low in calories. And I think that most people would probably fall into this category with me

[@baileyaragon7970]

Great topic! Love the shirt Adam.

[@skykitchen867]

Back in the 70's I started drinking diet Pepsi with lemon in it. Loved the stuff. It had saccharin in it at the time, and very shortly a few weeks later, I broke out with little red rashes all over my body. Thought it was measles, but it turned out I was reacting to saccharin and was told to stop. I did and it went away. Actually went through a minor withdrawal from the stuff with headaches and lack of sleep. Its been almost fifty years that I haven't touched anything that has "diet" or "lite" in it since, health has been fine. Great video have a nice day!

[@amosdeanludwig3135]

I feel like artificials are better if you're reintroducing it after cutting sugar out. I follow a Greg Deucette ish plan where I just eat a lot of low calorie high fiber foods, and over the past year I've been adding artificial sweeteners in without any ill side effects

[@shantephillips3207]

This is good information.

[@aanderson1037]

I believe it completely depends on the individual...I drink tea daily (2 to 3 cups) with splenda. I eat a very low carb diet, I eat a lot of fruit and don’t crave sweets treats. Also for me, one of the reasons I don’t eat sweets (cake for example) is because they actually taste “too sweet” to me. It’s totally possible for someone to use sweeteners regularly without it making you overeat or crave sweet treats.

[@mikepaiva6133]

Im the same. Cake is way too sweet!!

[@RewriteTheCode]

I 100% agree. I drink soldiers with sweeteners every day and I have no problem losing weight/keeping it off. There are many foods/snacks out there that have regular sugar that are way too sweet for me. So, it makes it very easy for me to stay away from those food items. I have to disagree with these guys. I mean what type of clients are they dealing with?

[@Dave_Bee]

One think I notice is stevia, monk fruit or Splenda based sweeteners make me hungry after eating them , makes it harder to diet with. For example if I have a shake with sucrolose ( Splenda ) I’m hungry as hell after. If I have a shake that’s unflavored whey . I’m fine after

[@bigben3089]

I feel like this argument is a real reach honestly. If someone lacks the self control to not binge diet sodas they are going to binge plenty of other things as well. I can’t see someone being disciplined enough to count calories and macros, stay in a caloric deficit, yet not have the discipline to not drink 4 coke zeros a day. Im sure very few people think that diet Coke’s are healthy and it’s perfectly fine to have as much as you want of it. If the argument was about the potential health risks of artificial sweetener I might be on board but the behavioral aspect argument is just a real stretch to me.

[@aryansinha1223]

Greg doucette would like to have a word with you lol

[@bigben3089]

@@aryansinha1223 About what? That man is the biggest advocate of artificial sweetener I can think of. He would agree with me all day on this topic.

[@blayes9924]

Agree. And re: health risks, I'm not even sure if there are any - as yet. Do you listen to Layne Norton's videos on sugar? He's a friend of these guys but has a completely opposite view on sugar.

[@rachellelewis9389]

I believe it is one of many tools in your toolbox.

[@coda700]

I was just thinking about this just yesterday that I have put on a little more weight over the last several weeks after I got this Crystal Light knockoff from Walmart that is cherry flavored. It tastes identical to cherry Cool-Aid so I love it. The problem is I did find myself craving more food at night so while I haven’t been eating bad food at night, these are extra calories that I don’t need

[@tabularasa820]

On my recent cut I used sugar free Zevia as well as 5 cal jello with 5 cal reddi whip as a tool for shutting down cravings and hunger signals at times.. It was a good hack for me to trigger brain signals that prevented me from trying to cheat by eating another meal because I was hungry. However, when I’m on a bulk or on maintenance calories I don’t need or use those sugar free tools. I find I can substitute my desire to eat a 500 calorie ribeye with a zero cal zevia.

[@emperordazzlewi1502]

Honestly I drink two 2-liters of diet soda every day and I lost 100 pounds

[@kwalshe15]

If people are drinking their calories, you guys are very correct. I rarely drank my calories, they would be ancillary to a crappy meal and that would help me substitute to an extent. Behaviourally if a person is struggling with bad eating habits, it seems that diet drinks won't work from my experience.

[@aryansinha1223]

Artificial Sweeteners: *Greg Doucette enters the chat*

[@michaelstewart3315]

What studies?

[@jared321]

You beat me to it. Greg was the first person I thought of. Greg is all about them diet sodas

[@shantephillips3207]

I recently started keto in conjunction with intermittent fasting and once I got the carb affect out of the system I continued with Whole Foods, I use Stevia with Monk fruit cutting out sweet tea and drinks, I never liked diet drinks at all I’m just the opposite. I begin to have a distaste for sweet things I don’t use the Stevia with Monk fruit Austin, I love my blackberries, blueberries and strawberries mixed together they taste delicious if it is a good batch sometimes batches are not so sweet and I sprinkle them in advance with Stevia Monk fruit and let them sit. I now place 6 hours in between each meal to give time for food to digest and dump itself into the small intestines for a movement. I average 2 full meals a day and I’m not hungry, this lifestyle has worked for me yet everybody’s body is different and it also can depend on what’s going on in the body when you start a healthy lifestyle to get everything into check if it has not gone too far.

[@dimarazruv7032]

Good topic

[@marzs794]

I mainly use stevia, monk fruit some of the more natural sweeteners and they have worked wonders for me. I drink Coke Zero from time to time and that has helped me stay in check

[@farisjedayeh]

I love your guys’ content, but I 100% disagree. At least for me it helped me lose 30 pounds fat 2 years ago and I never looked back. And I’ve helped friends and family lose weight using artificial sweeteners. I know the studies might show one thing but my personal experience shows the opposite. Anyways, love your show keep up the good work!

[@Bmac2324]

So true!

[@anishpatel344]

Love you guys, but this is all over the place. Lets not forget sugar itself is artificial and processed when it's put into things like cookies ect "Artificial" sweetners aren't even all artificial- something like Stevia for example is completely natural and unprocessed unlike sugar. Also, added sugar will destroy your teeth, stevia will not. I've never once put stevia in my tea and thought "OMG I need something else sweet" It all comes down to what sweetener is being used, but (added) sugar in general is poison to the human body

[@chase4414]

To say Diet Coke is sweeter than regular Coke is Tom foolery

[@bigben3089]

Agreed. I’ve never had that thought once.

[@christinabrooks9312]

It's like breaking the habit of smoking. 2,3 months in that cigarette still smells and tastes good. Reach a year smoke free and you cant stand the smell of smoke near you. It takes time to break habits. I no longer crave doughnuts, candy and such. The few times I've take a bit of my daughter's sweet treats over the past 4 years it is like eating a spoon full of sugar and I spit it out.

[@ingsocsaxon9728]

Interesting, it’s defo a behavioural thing. I drink a lot of diet soda and can stick to a diet pretty easily because I get the sweetness from the diet sodas, I track cals and am barely ever hungry on a cut. For me it works. But totally see why for others it might not be optimal

[@jerequan1282]

At my heaviest I was 210-215. I'm down to 145 by cutting out sugar and minimizing fat and carbs with a little bit of cardio

[@brca89851]

My parents only bought diet soda while I was growing up.I honestly prefer diet soda over regular.

[@H-TownGamer]

i think they mean long term which is true. overtime you will start to crave.

[@takashi-lee3943]

I mostly agree but I would say that if you limit you’re sweetener consumption then you won’t have the problem of real food becoming blander If you have a Coke Zero between a meal 2-3 times a week I don’t think there’s a problem with that Now that being said people like Greg Doucette having 6 diet pops a day and not being able to enjoy the taste of a strawberry is fucking insane and is awful

[@AlexMedina9999]

I’ve been cutting my calories while drinking diet soda and my weight stays stagnant. Waist isn’t going down whatsoever. I think my body isn’t working well with artificial sweeteners. I love soda though. I may try going to full sugar while still staying below my calories and see how I progress.

[@MrMac4real]

Try eating 2,000 calories a day. If your calorie deficit is too low, your body will go into starvation mode, thereby lowering your metabolism...you'll lose weight slower.

[@Mikmak1221]

Tbh I drink diet drinks etc everyday and I still enjoy my fruits and salad way more that the average person lol, I gotta disagree with the point about changing your palet. Atleast based off my experience

[@RobustMustache]

I believe there is also research to show that people who consume artificial sweeteners tend to consume more calories throughout the day.

[@chgenerationx]

They said that

[@juliawilliams1355]

Neither are very harmful in moderation.

[@rolan5948]

And what is moderation? 3 times a week? Twice a week? What is the point were it starts to fuck with your microbiomes

[@juliawilliams1355]

@@rolan5948 I'm doing fine Mr that's just your orthorexia man

[@PainzRathOSRS]

I think you guys are looking at the extreme cases here. Most people can enjoy drinks/foods/etc with artificial sweeteners and not over binge on other foods... and continue to lose weight like myself and im sure tons of others in the comments. I would recommend the switch for people that are already over indulging in sugary drinks/foods to make the switch to save on calories so that they do not need to stop cold turkey

[@voltagefrogmatthias2375]

Agreed. Same here!

[@billybadass7718]

No calories, no problem Went keto and used artificial sweeteners. Lost 122 pounds. Good day sir

[@tvst7856]

Typing this before even listening and all I know is that those artificial sweeteners are disgusting.

[@chgenerationx]

Not as disgusting as real sugar

[@FatShadow56]

Purely an isolated experience, but Im an amputee, unrelated I also hate sweets, so I almost never eat or drink sugar. The Supermarket stopped getting the unsweetened green tea, which I drank about a gallon a day. For three weeks I drank Diet Green Tea. Started getting a sharp shock/stabbing pain in my leg every 30secs. Took 5 days to see a Neurologist thinking I had a damaged nerve and would need surgery. I slept about 4 hours in those 5 days the pain was awful. Dr. Sees me for 2 mins, asks about Artificial Sweeteners, I said before 3 weeks ago almost none but now a gallon of a day. She says, its the Aspertame, go home a drink as much water as you can. 2 gallons of water that day, slept 10hours woke up with almost no nerve pain. Obviously not a common scenario as an amputee, but I wont drink diet anything anymore. Its unsweetened or water for me. 🤣

[@Willifordwav]

Better not let Greg Doucette see this!

[@fleadoggreen9062]

I drink a lot of diet Coke’s n Diet Pepsi But I used to drink a case of beer a day so I figure nobody’s perfect

[@MadBlazen]

I limit myself to artificial sweeteners so I have been successful drinking them

[@BigManJevnikar]

I can simply have a barrier of one diet drink a day. Not that hard. I’ve used stevia and Splenda for years without “gaining” weight back long term and without any side effects. Ok

[@dannymexia5961]

I have been cutting out sugars from my diet as a new experiment on my body since I can’t lose any more weight at 20 percent body fat. I was eating 50-100g of refined sugar in drinks/sweets even though I was weighing and tracking everything even with exercise and a labouring job doing 25kg bags/boxes on a 1,000kcal deficit I couldn’t lose anymore weight. I gave up on sugars and after a week I already feel more awake almost no brain fog more happy and more energy the weight has started to slowly come off again but like you guys explained in the video I replaced it with diet sodas and now I’m drinking up to 4 x500ml a day… I’m going to experiment further by cutting out diet sodas aswell and drinking only water to see what happens… I lost 15kg in 3 months and I’m stuck at 100-103kg body doesn’t seem to want to get rid of the rest of the fat. I hope this solves things because I have tried almost everything to lose this stubborn body fat. 🤞

[@chatgptrevolution]

Instead of taking for example every dag 2500 cal = 14000 per week, take 1800, 2000, 3200, 1900, 3500, .... so it averages out to 14000 per week as well. This will keep your metabolism high so your body will still burn fat, otherwise your body will adapt (low metabolism) to 2500 and you won't lose weight anymore

[@chatgptrevolution]

Or to make it simple, diet hard one day, and eat as usual the other day. Your average will be low and the metabolism high ✌

[@shady14m]

Full disagree. Replacing works !

[@iph2]

But if you have the will power to say no I had a root beer already , you should have the will power to say no to candy bar and just drink your diet drink

[@ZigZagXL]

Wellicht discipline no problemen bij having 1 coke a day

[@skawan666]

Interesting, that thing with overconsuming diet pop never happens to me. I mean, are you dumb? Do you think it is healthy for your body to slam multiple bottles of diet pop a day? Use your head, treat it as a regular sugary drink. Daily recomended dosages on the labels aren't there just for fun. You can get away with drinking like bottle of diet pop a day, but your fluid consumption should always be primarily from water. Remember the 80/20 rule and change it to your likings but don't overdo it. Also, i would like to say that for me, fruits like bananas and especially apples are extremly sweet to me and I don't like to consume alot of them. Also I prefer sweetener stuff over sugary stuff when it comes to drinks, because they are less sweet for me! I know that sweeteners are more sweet than sugar, but the ammount of sweeteners used in diet drinks are so low, that it doesn't make it more sweet than sugary drinks most of the time. For example, when I compare the sweetness of fruit - Apple (Golden Delicious) and diet pop, the Apple is way more sweet than diet pop! To sum it up, I can easily get tired of consuming sugary stuff, I hate the feeling after eating something with sugar, the tiredness and oversweetened feeling in the mouth, yuck. I get disgusted after drinking one can of pop but compared to diet pop, I don't.

[@manuelesparza9321]

I don't agree with you guys.

[@christiangbowen4738]

These guys just regurgitated every bad thing ever said about artificial sweetners.... are there any unbiased people that actually do research on this topic?

[@jamierodgers3744]

Lmfao do they realize most sugar free soft drinks have super low calories tho..? 😅 Coke Zero literally has zero calories

[@splibb]

ABSOFUCKINGLOOTLY

[@nicholasingratta423]

Very disappointing podcast I do justify zero calorie and no I never get a need sugar rush now that I had Diet Coke total myth