All About Sweeteners with JJ Virgin

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Hey, it's JJ Virgin. And welcome to the JJ Virgin Lifestyle show where I help you cut through the latest of the crazy stuff out there and give you cutting edge intel that you can use to to look, feel and think better. Now, today we're going to be talking all about sweeteners, which are good, which you should choose and which you should be losing and why. And I'm going to be interviewing myself. And this all came up, by the way, because I was when after I wrote the Virgin Diet. The biggest thing that came up after that was about sugar. And here's what happened. People seem to fall into one of two camps and sometimes both. And if you can relate to this, I'm doing this live on Facebook live right now. If you kind of feel the same way too, let me know. Are you confused as to which sugar is good, which sugar is bad, or are you controlled by it? You're just absolutely craving it. You can't give it up. So let me know confused or controlled or both. But that's what I saw with the Virgin Diet is people either seem to be confused that, well, like honey, honey's all natural, or I use Splenda, it doesn't have any calories. They seem to be confused or controlled. And if they were controlled, it was like, I cannot give this up. I can't get rid of my cravings no matter what I do. I've got some ideas for you there as well. So that made me realize I needed to do a deep dive into this. And so the first thing that I did was I went and looked on Amazon. I started reading the books that had been written about sugar. Because what I really thought was we've been looking at this all wrong. And it's not about no sugar. It's about knowing which to choose and which to lose, which is what I'm going to share with you today. And also about understanding how to get rid of your cravings. And I set out to figure out how to help you taper off of sugar, move from Being a sugar burner into a fat burner, which is where you want to be. That means you've got steady, controlled energy. You're not controlled by those cravings. You're easily burning off fat and you'll know what to choose. And I realize there's so much confusion about what's natural. Natural is okay. What about artificial sweeteners? And. And so that is what I'm going to cut through today, all of that confusion. And then also I'm going to give you some ideas on how to taper off of sugar and how to crush those cravings. And for those of you on Facebook, I'm loving all the comments I'm seeing. I'm loving the questions. We're going to get to, all of those questions. So thank you so much. I see people are confused and controlled and a little bit of both. So we will handle all of that and talk about fruit as well. So let's dive into sweeteners. So here's the big thing that we have to look at is we've really been looking at sugar all wrong and realize that all carbohydrates turn into sugar, right? It's just whether, except for fiber. Fiber is undigestible. It feeds the good bacteria in your gut. But all sugar is going to. All carbs are going to turn into sugar. It's whether you eat them as sugar, mainline them, or whether you convert them into sugar. So that's the first thing is that we've got to look at, is you can't just look at, oh, I've cut all the sugar out of my diet. If you're eating a bunch of white flour, guess what, you're still getting sugar. You're eating that corn. Well, guess what? They feed cows and pigs to feed them up. They feed them sugar. So we've got to look past just basic sugar. But then I want to look at, like, what sweeteners can we really use? Because that's the big question I get asked. So Sugar Impact diet really talks about carbon tolerance, really helps you identify the best carbohydrates to lose, eat which ones to lose. But I'm going to talk today specifically about one category in sugar impact, and that is sweeteners. All right, so in sugar Impact, I look at things as high, medium and low sugar impact. High being these things really disrupt your metabolism. They make you store more fat. They make you have unstable blood sugar. Medium being okay there, you may be able to fit some of those into a healthy diet. And low means green. You can choose these things Every day, high, high sugar impact, fructose, agave, fruit juice, fruit juice concentrate, artificial sweeteners and most sugars. And here's why I'm going to take, cut, take through them one at a time. Fructose and agave. Oh my gosh, these are horrific. Here's why. So all sugar, all carbohydrates, when you eat them are going to break down into glucose. So sugar either starts out as different things like lactose, sucrose, but they all either break down, they all break down to glucose. Fructose is very different though. Fructose doesn't go through the normal channels, it goes straight to the liver. That's the only organ that can get metabolized, that can metabolize it. So it doesn't do what typical sugars do, which raise your blood sugar and raise your insulin, which sounds bad, but, but when your body eats a carbohydrate and your blood sugar and insulin raise, it also triggers your satiety responses. Your body knows you ate not. So with fructose, it goes straight to the liver where if it can't be converted into glucose and stored as glycogen and there's not much room in the liver, it gets stored as fat. You've heard of fatty liver. You see people's triglycerides going up, you see high blood pressure. That fructose is one of the key things that does that. Now, does this mean don't eat fruit? No, this means avoid agave, which is one of the biggest sources here of fructose. It's almost 100% fructose. It's like 90, 90 to 95% fructose. Avoid apple juice concentrate. Apples are the highest fruit source of fructose. Doesn't mean don't eat an apple. It means avoid apple juice. Avoid apple juice concentrate, avoid dried apples. I want you to think of dried fruit as candy and fruit juice as soda and especially apple juice. And in those fruit juice concentrates, just think of those as syrup. So this idea that we could have jam, forget it. If you want to have something like that, just take some blueberries and a little bit of almond butter, make a nice little yummy paste and put that on your bread. Or, and again it's, it's, let's not even do bread. All right? But if you are, of course it's gluten free and low sugar impact, like a coconut wrap would be better. But that's the first part is fructose. Now next thing in there, what about things like artificial sweeteners because they seem like they're okay. Right? They have no. They have no calories. But it turns out that, first of all, we just talked about how fructose goes straight to the gut, straight to the liver, and starts making fat. It also is more aging than any other sugar, feeds the bad cancers, and makes your gut more permeable. Artificial sweeteners have their own whole bad stuff going on. Here's a couple things that they do. Number one, what happens? And I want you all on Facebook to tell me what happens when you eat sweet. What do you want? What do you want? Because I know what I want. More. Right. We are hardwired to seek out sugar. And when you eat sweet, you want more sweet. As Robin I'm looking at here on Facebook is saying, sugar is so addictive, so true. When you eat sweet, you want more sweet. So this is something super problematic with these artificial sweeteners. Fructose is the same way, by the way. Yep. Everyone's saying more, more, more. Fructose is super problematic because it's super sweet. It's sweeter than other sugars, which is why we're using it now in processing. But artificial sweeteners are the same. So you're eating something, and when you eat sweet, you want more sweet. We know that. Now here's another thing artificial sweeteners do, because they don't have calories. And by the way, Gloria, thank you so much for sharing this. Because they don't have calories, your body loses the ability to correlate the degree of sweetness with. With calories and hunger. Here's the study that they did on this. So they took a study and they fed. I think it was some kind of a rodent, let's say rat. They fed rats sugar water, and then they let them eat, and they ate just the right amount to maintain their weight. Then they fed rats artificially sweetened water, and the rats again ate just what they needed to maintain their weight. Their weight. And then the problem started. Then they fed the rats sugar water again. And then they overate. They lost that ability to correlate the degree of sweetness with the amount of calories, and it causes calorie dysregulation. Artificial sweeteners do that. I have a sense that the sweeteners I'm going to talk to you about that, I feel are the better alternatives can do some of that, too, which is why we'll be careful with them. And I'll get to that in a moment. Now, another thing that artificial sweeteners can do, and here's what we're starting to see. And here's what the studies were showing. And for a while there, they weren't sure. Why was that people who drank artificial sweetened sodas had a bigger waist circumference than people who didn't. People who drank artificial sweeteners used artificial sweeteners, but are a higher risk for diabetes. In fact, it was like 30% more for one diet soda a day. And again, there was no real clear way reason for that until the latest study. And here's what the latest study showed. They took a group of people who weren't using artificial sweeteners, they had them do artificial sweeteners for a week. And what they found is that in one week, their gut microbiome became less glucose tolerant. They became glucose intolerant. What that means is you're now you're going to be a higher risk for diabetes. You're not going to be able to have handle the carbohydrates from food as well. Your insulin will get higher and guess what happens? Yep. So that explains why we're seeing people gaining weight and becoming diabetic who are using artificial sweeteners, which is crazy because the whole reason we started artificial sweeteners in the first place was to give people with diabetes something they could use. So again, anything with artificial sweeteners absolutely. Out, out, out, out. In fact, I think that's like a science experiment that's gone bad. I would be so bold as to say that you are better off drinking a soda, a regular soda, than a diet soda. And this is not, not me telling you to drink sodas. I'm going to tell you. I just got off the phone with my girlfriend, Kara golden, and I'm going to tell you to drink, hint water. Yay. So, so there you go. Regular fructose is the. Is, is bad. Artificial sweeteners are the worst of all, followed by fructose, and then behind that are regular sugars. Because what happens when you eat sugar and white flour, wheat flour, by the way, same thing and corn is you raise blood sugar. When you raise blood sugar, you raise insulin. Insulin drives blood sugar back down, making you want to eat more sugar, and it creates a whole unstable blood sugar roller coaster. I'm going to talk a little bit about how to get off that in a minute. All right, so what can you use? Since I've just crushed these things, some of the people have been asking here about organic honey, about maple syrup, blackstrap molasses. If you're buying the all natural ones, little Bits of those, remember, they're still sugar, but just little bits of those are, are okay. If you go through the sugar impact diet, I'm going to be giving a couple of those books away. I'm looking for enthusiasm out there. If you're very carbohydrate tolerant, active, then maybe a little bit. But honestly, I wouldn't touch them. I think we're so much better off without touching any of those things. Here's what I have people do if they need to use sweeteners now. And I'm seeing a lot of people saying that sugar alcohols upset their stomach. I find there's sugar alcohols and herbals that you can be, you can use here. One of the things with sugar alcohols, one of the reasons that I like them is that they do have some calories. They're not digested well by the body. And so that's the reason some people can find that they have some issues with them. And you'll have to see how you do. I can't handle xylitol. I can handle erythritol and so you'll have to see. But it's again, these are not like go crazy on this stuff. I actually like the fact that they cause a little bit of stomach issues if you abuse them because you shouldn't be. So that's the first part is sugar alcohols, xylitol and erythritol are on my approved list, but in very small amounts. Remember, we're trying to retrain your taste buds to appreciate the natural sweetness of things like blueberries or an apple or sweet potatoes or pumpkin. All right, now, next, stevia and monk fruit. What I want you to find here, find the organic sources of these. I know that they've got stevia out there that they comply combined with glucose or dextrose. Not horrible, but so much better off just to use straight stevia and organic straight stevia. Yes, you can use sugar alcohols with Sibo or Candida, but I think you're better off not to because your guts already tends to be a little squirrely. So it might give you gas. So I'd rather see you use their. Probably a little bit of stevia or monk fruit. But you see how you feel. You might find that with sugar alcohols they're not going to feed the small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. You might find that you do well with them. They definitely don't feed yeast so you don't have an issue. So you're just going to have to see how you feel with that. Now, the other options are stevia and monk fruit. These are great options, too, and actually they have some health benefits to them. But here's the deal. Monk fruit, which is also known as lohango, has been used in Asian countries for years. But one of the things really to know there is it could still cause calorie dysregulation. So I actually made a product with stevia, erythritol, and glycine, which is this really cool amino acid that helps with blood sugar balance. But I just, I don't want you to go crazy on any of these things because they can cause calorie dysregulation. Yacon syrup is another one that can be used here. That's okay. But remember, raw sugar is sugar. And the minute it hits your mouth, your body goes, oh, sugar. It starts being broken down by your. The amylase enzyme in your mouth. Okay, a little coconut sugar, maple syrup, honey. These are medium sugar impact foods. I so much prefer erythritol, xylitol, stevia, glycine. Monk fruit are way better for you. But all of these things should be used sparingly. Remember, we do not want to light up your taste buds. We don't want your body go, oh, more sweet, more sweet, more sweet. I'm seeing from a lot of people on Facebook, Sorry, my nose is running a little bit here about cinnamon. Cinnamon and vanilla are actually my favorite, favorite options for sweetening. Here's why. Vanilla can help boost serotonin. Cinnamon helps balance blood sugar. So these are awesome alternatives to anything else. Now, here's the deal with sweet tooths. Because the last thing I want to see you do is be controlled by your sweet tooth. And I. You know, it's interesting. I don't genetically have a sweet tooth, but I was raised on pop tarts and Captain Crunch, so I had to get myself off sweet. So I feel the pain. I was not immune to that. I was. I had a trained sweet tooth. You're either born with one and then it can get worse, or you can train it, or stress can help create one. And so I got off of mine. And here's a couple things that can help you. Number one, sour takes your sweet tooth away. So we are going to put up my lemonade recipe and you can get that@jjvirgin.com Lemonade I know, Susan. Captain Crunch. Yep. Anyway, my lemonade recipe is lemon juice, a little bit of my virgin sprinkles. Just the least amount. You need to make it a little sweet glutamine, which Helps take your sweet tooth away and a little bit of fiber. Really good to do before a meal. The sour takes your sweet tooth away and the lemon actually lowers your blood sugar response to the meal. So it's super, super helpful. Next thing is to start focusing on your plate. Both the virgin diet and the sugar impact diet. I talk about the plate and the plat has healthy fats like avocado or nuts and seeds or olive oil or wild fish. You know, all the good healthy fats. It's got clean lean protein again, grass fed beef, lamb, wild fish, chicken, and then loads of non starchy vegetables and a little bit of slow, low impact carbs like wild rice. What that does is give you fat, fiber and protein that gives you great blood sugar balance. I find a lot of people are craving carbs and sugar because they didn't eat a great hormonally balanced plate that kept them satiated. And so then they're reaching for, they're reaching for the carbs. Remember, all carbs turn sugar. So don't go thinking just because you reached for that fat free biscotti, you were okay, that was a disaster. All right, next is if you've got a sweet tooth, do not just say, all right, I'm done. All right, don't do that. That is a setup for disaster. What I want you to do is work on tapering in the sugary impact diet. I identify it where all the sugars are sneaking into your diet and then taper them down and then, and you taper them down over a week and then you get fructose out altogether for a couple weeks to retrain your taste bud to appreciate the natural sweetness and foods as well as savory and spicy and salt. All right now after the break, I'm going to be answering listeners questions. So stay with me.

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Welcome back. This is the time where I answer a listener's question and today's question, as always, fits perfectly with this topic. It comes from Carrie in Chicago, and she writes, jj, I've been following the Sugar Impact diet. I went through the whole program, and I have gotten rid of my sweet tooth. Yay for me. And now I want to start using the Cheat Days and Cheat Meals plan that I've seen in some of these popular diets out there. What do you think about that idea? Well, I actually have a lot to say about that idea. You know, now that we've gotten your sweet tooth under control, the last thing we want to do is turn the volume back up again. And the challenge I see with Cheat Meals and Cheat Days is that you're not going to cheat on wild salmon and broccoli. Nope. You're going to go right back to those foods that got you in trouble in the first place. And it gets you in trouble for a couple different reasons. It's not just that they are flipping back on your taste buds to go, ooh, wee, I want sweet. Because we know what happens when you eat sweet. Right? Right. He'll want more sweet. But the other challenge is this is not about calories in, calories out. This is about food is information triggering powerful hormonal responses in your body and inflammation. So you go and eat that cheesecake, that pizza, those chips, that ice cream sundae again, because I know, I know it's not broccoli or a salad. And all of a sudden, you've triggered a bunch of inflammation, you've triggered a. An immune response. If you've got food intolerance to any of these foods, which you most likely do, your gut gets more permeable if you sneak some gluten in there, because gluten increases gut permeability. And you start a whole trigger of an inflammatory cascade and hormones telling your body to store fat, not burn it. And stress responses that, frankly, are the whole reason we've done this. So the goal really with all this stuff is to become your personal health detective, to go through this journey, figure out which foods work for you and which foods don't. That's the virgin diet, of course. And then to discover how many carbohydrates and which type should you really have in your diet. And that is the Sugar Impact Diet. And once you've done that, the whole point is to set you free so that you don't want a cheat Day. Now, one of the things I have you do in the Sugar Impact diet is I have you go through and re challenge back and see how you feel. And so if you go and do a cheat meal. I want you to be really clear when you write down what you eat and track back those symptoms. Use the symptoms tracker that I have in the Sugar Impact diet. And let's be honest about how you really feel there, because it's going to zap your energy, it's going to spike up your cravings, turn on your sweet tooth, make you feel bloated. And honestly, is it really worth it for a little. A little bit of that something something. What I say is start to think of a cheat day or cheat meal as like a great hot bath, fun time with friends, trash novel, you know, whatever it is, that's really kind of a rewarding split splurge. Let's shift that over to there.

All right.

Thank you for that, Carrie. By the way. We pick up questions off my Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest accounts. I jump on Facebook Live every week. I have a show there. Love hanging out with you there. And all these things are JJ Virgin or JJ Virgin Official. Look for the little blue check. Make sure it's moi. And I love picking up your questions, especially grabbing the ones relevant to a podcast and answering them here. Now it's time for gratitude. This is my favorite time of the show. It's actually my whole team's favorite time of the show because this is when we read just a fabulous testimonial or endorsement from one of our listeners. And I super duper appreciate this. So I'm going to read this from Nanny JNB and it says 5 stars. One of my favorites. I told my sister Amy about this great podcast. I love that. Now she tells me about and recommends great episodes episode she has listened to. Little does she know, I rarely miss one. I like that you're recently mixing in a few more where JJ is the guest. All right. I didn't even know I was reading that nanny JMB when I did. So yes, today I'm the guest. And thank you so much for passing the word along. I so appreciate everyone sharing this and getting this out there. You know, my real goal with all of this is to get as much information out into the world because I know that we want to be healthier and it's much simpler than we think. And, you know, I feel like we've got a lot of confusion out there. My goal is to cut through the confusion and give you simple, actionable steps that you can take that will make a major difference. So today I gave you a lot of information, but I also gave you some simple, actionable steps. So the biggest ask I have for you now, besides leaving a review and sharing it with your friends, is to take action on what you heard. Take action. You know, put your health as the most important thing and be a role model for everybody else out there. Alrighty. Go out there, make it a great week.

I'll see you next time.

Bye.

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