Squash (and other diet drinks) could be wrecking your health

People often drink the same drink(s) all day long, day in day out - they're drinking far more of one thing than they're eating one thing. And, if those drinks contain artificial sweeteners, they are probably wrecking their health and causing their symptoms.

I've been prompted to write this post by two new clients I'm working with at the moment. They are both struggling with their weight, have low energy, low moods, regular pain and a variety of other long-term symptoms. They both drank 'no sugar' squash all day and diet sodas regularly. Artificial sweeteners muscle-tested really badly for both of them. The first client cut out all sources of sweeteners after her first appointment - she immediately noticed more energy, better mood, sleep and reduced pain. We're now working on balancing her gut microbiome (see below) and this will have all kinds of positive effects on her health.

We're all unique in the way we might respond to artificial sweeteners (as with everything else) but here are some of the ways drinking them every day could be wrecking your health:

• Increased hunger - especially cravings for sweet foods. The constant taste of sweetness becomes a habit or a need - and this actually changes your hunger signalling hormones.

• Disrupted insulin production (and therefore glucose metabolism). Insulin is the hormone that metabolises glucose (sugar). When the mouth tastes sweetness, this signals the pancreas to release insulin - but there's no sugar there. At some point, this would lead to insulin resistance - a very serious condition which is linked to obesity, diabetes, dementia, heart disease ...

• Imbalanced gut microbiome (the pounds of little critters in our gut which are essential for our health). Artificial sweeteners kill off beneficial strains of bacteria and feed harmful strains. This imbalance would cause low moods, poor sleep, bloating, constipation/diarrhoea.

• Leaky gut - artificial sweeteners disrupt the gut lining (by reducing short chain fatty acids). This impacts immunity and causes inflammation and bloating.

• Kidney/bladder disease - artificial sweeteners increase urination, leading to dehydration. And they can impact electrolytes (especially Potassium) which would lead to kidney disease long-term - and affect energy levels short-term. In the past, I actually linked squash to a client's gout!

• Cancer-causing? The World Health Organisation categorised Aspartame as "possibly carcinogenic" in 2023. It has certainly been proven to cause inflammation in the brain and nervous system in animal studies.

So, ironically, the very reasons why people believe they should be drinking diet squash (weight, diabetes, hydration, health in general) are actually the exact reasons why they shouldn't.

Reminder: Water is the only liquid your body's cells and organs need - and they need 1.5 to 2 litres per day. Everything else is flavouring (and potentially harmful)!

Book in with me to test your response to what you're drinking every day.