To Substitute or Not to Substitute?

Many of us have one. You know – that one tooth in the far corner of your mouth that, when it hits, nearly drives you to the ice cream shop.  Ah, yes - your sweet tooth. Our relationship with sugar is like a forbidden romance. We know it’s not good for us - we don’t want to like it, but still we crave it, indulge and love every minute of it.

We know that losing weight requires removing a lot of the sugar from our diets. So, we try to cut down on calories and drink diet sodas and eat foods sweetened with artificial sweeteners. Are we doing ourselves any favors? Reading the fine print on the packets is enough to scare anyone away. Some studies have even shown that sugar substitutes may actually cause us to gain weight. WHAT?! You may ask why, pray tell, are we substituting? What’s the point?

Before you start screaming for your regular Coke back - think about it a bit differently. If you are indeed hooked on artificial sweeteners, think about making a gradual change. Maybe you’ve made the switch from regular to diet. Good for you. Now try replacing one of your diet sodas a day with water. Next week, replace one more. After awhile, you may find your sweet tooth isn’t as influential as it seems.