Sugar Free, Worry Free?

These days you can find almost anything in a sugar free option - which can be helpful for weight loss and blood sugar balance. But, does sugar free mean worry free? This week we talk about how sugar free may actually be making things harder. 

If you have questions, or topics that you want to hear about, head over to our Instagrams https://www.instagram.com/bayleethedietitian/ or https://www.instagram.com/brianna.dietitian/ and send us a DM! You can also follow the podcast https://www.instagram.com/mocktailminutes/

Featured Mocktails: 

Bloom 

Better Pop

Click play, sip back, and be empowered.

Transcript

Baylee 0:21

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to this week's episode of Mocktail Menace. This is Bailey

Brianna 0:26

And this is Brianna

Baylee 0:28

This week I am drinking, I'm actually drinking a Bloom. I've never had one. I did an event and they sent us a bunch of Bloom drinks. So it's their sparkling energy, the Summer Splash. Oh, the label's really hard to read. No added sugars, though. They sweetened with a stevia? I cannot remember, and this is very hard to read. My God I can't tell you what it's sweetened with I don't know. don't think it had sucralose. Don't quote me on that. But taste is good. We'll go with that. Taste is good, and there's 180 milligrams of caffeine. So far it's not making me jittery

Brianna 1:07

Okay. I like it. I'm doing a Better Pop. Have you had these? They're like a soda replacement. I found them at Sprouts. That's where I find all my stuff. Strawberry lemonade. It's actually really, really good. It has electrolytes, magnesium, prebiotics, L-theanine, vitamin C from real fruit, and a touch of fermented stevia, which is the last ingredient. And then all of their flavors come from plants. So, like, they tell you what they're, like, flavoring as well, which isn't always the case. I actually really like it

Baylee 1:40

I'll have to look for those. I haven't even seen those.

Brianna 1:42

Yeah, I found them

Baylee 1:44

that's cool

Brianna 1:44

at Sprouts right by the little, where they make sandwiches, and I was like, "Oh, Better Pop." It's really good. I like it. I will be getting more. Like, it was like $5, but I will be getting more.

Baylee 1:56

A splurge. It could be worse This week we're talking about how sugar-free is not a free-for-all. I think that... I feel like that's a common thought when something says it's sugar-free. It generally, it means the product has little to no sugar under the labeling definition, but it does not mean that it's calorie-free. does not mean that it's always carbohydrate-free. does not mean it's nutritious or healthy.

Brianna 2:25

हं।

Baylee 2:27

you can just eat and eat without any limits, doesn't mean that it's automatically better than its counterpart. I think this is where a lot of diet foods become a little misleading where we get into the diet food trap, where a lot of products have been designed to give you the experience of eating their original food without the sugar or the calories. And it's got us to be like, "Calories are bad," because,

Brianna 2:53

Угу

Baylee 2:55

the thought of sugar being bad too. Yeah, we don't wanna eat sugar all day. So it's like, okay, if we take the sugar out, better product. Not necessarily the case. Because when we think about diet soda, sugar-free candy, low-calorie ice creams, the keto options, the sugar-free syrups, the fat-free snacks, or even the low-carb cookies or the zero-sugar energy drinks, they can have a place in your diet. The problem is when zero sugar is mentally translated to doesn't count, it's not gonna have any effect on my

Brianna 3:26

Угу

Baylee 3:28

but it's probably gonna affect you in some other way

Brianna 3:30

Mm-hmm. Or like, yeah, it doesn't count. This is the same with people like, like it's homemade, so it doesn't count. Or I got it from Trader Joe's, so it's automatically healthy. Like, I think we just get into that mindset of like, oh, sugar-free, like I can have however much I want. There's a lot of

Baylee 3:49

bread, that's a good example. Zucchini bread is right now. Everyone's getting zucchini.

Brianna 3:53

Ja

Baylee 3:54

Just because there's zucchini in it doesn't mean you can just go crazy.

Brianna 3:59

Mm-hmm.

Baylee 4:00

Because

Brianna 4:01

there's zucchini

Baylee 4:02

bread before you're putting a significant amount of sugar

Brianna 4:06

Right

Baylee 4:06

you're still just eating carbs

Brianna 4:08

Yeah. Do I think it's a better option than, like, buying zucchini bread from a store? Yeah. But

Baylee 4:13

Or then cake.

Brianna 4:15

Mm-hmm. Yeah, but it's not just

Baylee 4:18

mean you can eat

Brianna 4:19

a freebie. Yes. And I think sometimes, and we'll get into, like, some of the reasons, like, why this is not helpful and could be actually making your weight loss experience or your whatever experience n- not as great as it could be. Yeah, slower, a little bit more miserable. But one thing people need to understand is there is calories and sugar in a lot of these things. There's no calories and sugar if it's within the amount that is on the label. So if you were drinking, like... Yeah, if you were drinking, like, a, I don't know, like, a sugar-free, let's just say, like, Diet Coke. If you were drinking a Diet Coke. If you're drinking one, okay, then it's likely minimal sugar, minimal calories, doesn't count, but if you're drinking four of them, eventually it's something. I don't think people realize that. So

Baylee 5:12

Same thing with like decaf options.

Brianna 5:15

Mm-hmm.

Baylee 5:16

can still have caffeine in it,

Brianna 5:17

Yeah, they just have it under a threshold so that they can label it as zero caffeine. But if you have, like, five zero, you know, no caffeine things, you're probably... Y- you're drinking, yeah. Yeah, you're drinking something that would add up to now being a caffeinated beverage, so

Baylee 5:33

And I would say thinking about diet soda too, so replacing a regular soda with a diet soda will significantly reduce your sugar intake and calorie intake. So for someone who drinks multiple full-sugar sodas every day, switching to some or all of those to diet can be useful.

Brianna 5:51

Mm-hmm.

Baylee 5:52

And if I do have someone coming to me drinking regular sodas, I do work to go to diet soda first.

Brianna 6:00

Ja

Baylee 6:00

it's I would say ideally, yeah, we just cut out the soda, but I know it's a habit and I know it can be a little bit tricky,

Brianna 6:06

Mm-hmm.

Baylee 6:06

so we work towards diet soda maybe. And everyone's like what about the artificial? It's so bad for your gut and your brain." Yeah. So is sugar.

Brianna 6:15

Yeah. Right.

Baylee 6:17

of liquid sugar.

Brianna 6:19

Mm-hmm

Baylee 6:19

So the idea is no matter what soda you do, regular or diet, neither of them are beneficial for you. Neither of them are helping your gut in any way. And instead of sugar that diet soda is going to use aspartame or sucralose or the acesulfame potassium, or maybe stevia, kinda depending on the product. So these provide that sweetness, but they're not gonna have a lot of the energy

Brianna 6:44

Mm-hmm.

Baylee 6:44

Carbs.

Brianna 6:45

Yep

Baylee 6:46

it's like your taste receptors perceive that sweetness, but they're not receiving that same glucose calorie load that you would from sugar, which is not inherently harmful,

Brianna 6:58

Угу

Baylee 7:00

it can keep your, like, taste buds accustomed to more intense sweetness. Because these non-nutritive sweeteners are

Brianna 7:07

Угу

Baylee 7:09

600 times sweeter than regular table sugar. that's where if you've ever had someone make a dessert or something out of Splenda it

Brianna 7:17

It's very sweet.

Baylee 7:18

don't...

Brianna 7:18

Mm-hmm

Baylee 7:19

hurts my belly. It's so sweet. I cannot do that. And I've tried to experiment with allulose or stevia. Honestly, if I'm baking, I'm just doing

Brianna 7:30

sugar. Yeah, same.

Baylee 7:32

Ja

Brianna 7:33

a little bit less than like it calls for, but I'm using sugar because it is really, really sweet, and that makes you kinda want sweet things later. And this is, I would say this is, like, highly individualized, like the reinforcement of sweet. Some people don't really notice it, but I have people kinda trial it out, and I go, "Hey, okay, you're starting your day off with what you think is a better option coffee creamer. How are you feeling by, like, you know, a couple hours later? Are you kinda wanting something, like, sweet even though we know your nutrition's on point? If so, you could be, like, stimulating that reinforcement of, like, I want something sweet, so I'm gonna grab something sweet." And it's usually gonna be something higher in sugar because you're used to that really intense sugar taste. This is where the whole, like, sugar is addicting comes from.

Baylee 8:20

Yeah

Brianna 8:21

The reality is, like, no, it's not like you're gonna take a hit of sugar and then you're gonna, like, die if you don't have another hit in a couple hours. Okay? It's not cocaine. But it can make you want something sweeter, and if you're trying to lose weight, that can make it harder. You're in the office, and now you're snacky

Baylee 8:35

And it makes the veggies and the non-sweet things even less appealing.

Brianna 8:40

Угу

Baylee 8:41

don't want those, and you feel like you're constantly fighting yourself for it.

Brianna 8:45

Yeah

Baylee 8:45

The same way the more you, the more things you have sweeter, the more you're gonna want sweet. The less you sweeten things, or the less sweet things you have, the less you're gonna want it. So it's even,

Brianna 8:56

Yeah

Baylee 8:56

stevia I would say is a better option sweetener, but that doesn't mean it's that free-for-all. Exactly what we're talking about today.

Brianna 9:03

Угу

Baylee 9:04

to everything because it's still enticing those sweet cravings.

Brianna 9:08

Ja

Baylee 9:09

Coffee's another good example where I used to be, it's like coffee and lots of creamer type of thing, which is It was very delicious. Now I can't do it 'cause it's way too sweet. But I kinda trained my taste buds where I can drink coffee with almond milk and cinnamon now,

Brianna 9:27

Угу

Baylee 9:28

And at first, it's like, ugh, maybe it's a little bitter. But your taste buds adjust within two to three weeks.

Brianna 9:34

Ja

Baylee 9:35

actually pretty quickly. You just have to adjust them to not expect as much sweetness. Think about the holidays. When you're having more desserts, you're like, "I can't get off the dessert train. I just keep thinking about apple pie,"

Brianna 9:48

Угу

Baylee 9:48

because you're enticing those sweet cravings more. And it's a lotta times I know for us, holidays, it's not just like you're going to one event and you're done. It's

Brianna 9:55

う ん、 う ん。 じ ゃ あ

Baylee 9:58

carbohydrates and more desserts, different things like that.

Brianna 10:02

Угу

Baylee 10:04

What taste buds are you enticing? But also, like, when you're doing these diet options, they're usually not providing much nutritional

Brianna 10:14

No

Baylee 10:15

you're not getting a diet Apple. The diet products

Brianna 10:18

Yes

Baylee 10:20

prepackaged foods that have been altered, so it's like, "Oh, you can enjoy the Oreo and not feel guilty." You can just enjoy the normal Oreo. You're probably gonna enjoy it a lot more and eat less, and then just move on. But either way, neither of them are providing nutritional fiber. You're

Brianna 10:37

No

Baylee 10:37

fiber, vitamins and minerals. Even the protein Pop-Tarts or whatever they are, like, just eat some chicken sausage instead

Brianna 10:46

absorbing it like you would actual whole food protein. And that's what I try to tell people, like, they're hungry and they're tired, and like, well, you're eating things that are low calor- almost no calorie. They don't have any... They're not making you feel satiated, and they're giving you a false sense of energy, like the

Baylee 11:05

Yeah

Brianna 11:06

drinks or a, you know, coffee, stuff like that. If you look at them, it's like a zero calorie, 10 calorie. I'm like, "Calories are literally your energy." Y- you're just tricking your brain into being like, "Yeah, I'm more awake," but your body is like, "No, absolutely not." And I think that will, like, what keeps a lot of people stuck is 'cause they're doing all these things that are making them want more sweets. They're not actually filling them up. They're super like, "Okay, I can have as many of these as I want," and then they're upset when they feel hungry, and they feel bad for feeling hungry. It's like if you were just to eat something with, like, sugar or even, like, real, like, fruit. Like, people are so afraid of fruit, but they'll drink, like, a whole thing of sugar-free sweetener in, like, two days. Like, just you'd feel better with the fruit

Baylee 11:50

We were actually talking for an hour before we started recording today, and we were kinda talking about how it's like we we are fearing the banana. And it's like we'll tell someone to eat a banana, and they're like I thought banana has sugar in it. We shouldn't eat them." You know what? Yeah, a banana does have sugar. It does break down into glucose. Oh my gosh, I read I was in a Facebook group. I joined some weight loss ones just to kinda see what people are talking about, and someone asked "Is rice okay to eat?" And I was like, "Let's see these comments."

Brianna 12:22

Yeah

Baylee 12:23

Someone said, "Rice is a starch, so it's bad sugar. Eat brown rice instead."

Brianna 12:30

Still the same.

Baylee 12:31

I was like, brown rice is still a starch.

Brianna 12:35

a starch.

Baylee 12:36

gonna break down

Brianna 12:37

Yeah

Baylee 12:38

into glucose. And it's like we're fearing the wrong things. And a

Brianna 12:42

Угу

Baylee 12:43

when we're telling you to eat rice or quinoa or bananas or a strawberry or carrots, like, all these things that people are told not to eat, quote-unquote, "not to eat" for some reason,

Brianna 12:53

Mm-hmm.

Baylee 12:55

you're pr- y- they're typically not even eating them right now. So it's like that's not the problem

Brianna 13:00

That's not making you be overweight. It's not. No.

Baylee 13:04

It really is. But it

Brianna 13:06

I

Baylee 13:06

the overly packaged foods, the emphasis on, like, all the diet products, or the lack of movement, or the lack of understanding what your body needs. There's so many different factors. And I would say the big thing to take away from this episode not just think sugar equals this doesn't count.

Brianna 13:28

Mm-hmm. Or like zero calories doesn't mean

Baylee 13:31

yes.

Brianna 13:31

impact. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Nope

Baylee 13:34

yourself, like, is actually in the food? Look at protein, fiber, total carbs, the fat, the ingredients. Like, how much you're actually going to eat, how filling it is, how much do you actually enjoy it?

Brianna 13:46

Yep

Baylee 13:47

at those things rather than just being like, "Sugar-free, all right, good to go."

Brianna 13:51

Mm-hmm. Also, because this has been coming up a lot, two things, 'cause I work with a lot of people that have, like, diabetes or, or sugar issues. Zero sugar doesn't mean zero carbs. So I just need you to, if it says zero sugar or whatever on the front, I need you to turn it around. It's likely not zero carbs. Cake mixes are a great example. They're still, like, a bajillion carbs, okay, 'cause there's flour, just so we know, okay?

Baylee 14:14

the

Brianna 14:14

Ignore the front. Yeah, that's what's meant... It's, like, the neon sign that's meant to get you. Turn it around because that's really where it's at. The other thing is gut issues. If you're having a lot of gut issues, look at your packages. If you're eating things with a ton of, like, Splenda or sugar alcohols or a lot of the fillers and stuff that a lot of these sugar-free products have, that's probably contributing. And I know people are like, "Yeah, but sugar is bad." I'm like, "Mm, you can ha- you can still have a little bit of sugar."

Baylee 14:42

Even if you're a diabetic,

Brianna 14:44

Yes

Baylee 14:46

I would say you don't need to do all these diet foods

Brianna 14:48

No. And usually what it comes down to, and this, we could probably do a whole episode on this, but I think what it comes down to is people just truly don't know how to eat or how to, like what makes up a component of a meal or what is good. So they try to take all the things they're doing now, and they just go, "Okay, instead of like this pudding or this frosting or this snack, I'll just do like the sugar-free or calorie-free options of all those, and like that's all I need to do." And then they are m- worse off than they were before

Baylee 15:16

Yeah. And I would say in some situations, like sure, pick

Brianna 15:19

Mm-hmm.

Baylee 15:20

option.

Brianna 15:20

Stair step it

Baylee 15:22

yeah, if I go and tr- and I'm like I'm gonna try a fancy drink at Starbucks," this happens, like maybe once every six months. I'm not like a coffee drive-through person. I just think they're overpriced and a waste of money.

Brianna 15:36

They are. I am, and I know it's a waste of money. I know that

Baylee 15:40

Yeah. Those types of things, like I do a sugar-free because I don't want 30 grams of sugar

Brianna 15:45

Mm-hmm

Baylee 15:45

me in the face. But on a daily basis, I... it's the whole food focus. I don't do a lot of beverages. Like I really just do water and electrolytes. The more you can just keep it simple, the easier it's going to be, and then you don't have to look for all these substitutes or look through ingredients and wonder "What's just the best?" If you can just stick to the basics, you're gonna be so much more better off and not feel so overwhelmed either. But yeah, I think there's certain situations, like I have found a pudding that is sweetened with stevia, and so I

Brianna 16:16

Угу

Baylee 16:19

$3 instead of 50 cents.

Brianna 16:22

Right. And you're also probably eating other things. Like, you're actually eating filling n- you know, nutritious things.

Baylee 16:30

the fun things. I always think

Brianna 16:32

Yeah

Baylee 16:32

t- the trend right now that's every day, once a week, once a month.

Brianna 16:38

Угу

Baylee 16:38

one that popped up with drinks, and it was like, water every day, once a week Diet Coke, once a month regular Coke or whatever.

Brianna 16:46

Угу

Baylee 16:47

but yeah, you're thinking about the whole picture and just keep it very simple. Think about those whole foods. Add in convenience foods as needed. Diet food products or sugar-free fit in as needed, as you

Brianna 17:04

Yeah.

Baylee 17:04

you want to.

Brianna 17:06

It's super individualized, I feel like. It's super individualized, but don't be doing your grocery shopping this week and be looking for all the lower calorie or, like, zero sugar things and being like, "Okay, this is..." It's not always the best option. So I think we've gone into default K- if it's something you use every... I don't know. I'm not even gonna say that. I was gonna say if it's something you use every day, that's not true, but like ketchup, we probably could, okay, cool, lower sugar ketchup. That's probably appropriate

Baylee 17:38

Yeah. Or just use a less amount.

Brianna 17:40

Yeah

Baylee 17:41

Decide do you actually like ketchup? That was

Brianna 17:43

Mm-hmm. Me

Baylee 17:43

"I don't even like ketchup. Why

Brianna 17:45

neither.

Baylee 17:45

it?"

Brianna 17:46

I like it very rarely. Yeah, I don't really like ketchup that much, but-

Baylee 17:50

now it's like the smell of it, it's repulsive.

Brianna 17:53

Yeah. I think we just got so used to, like, sugar truly is in everything, and it's like now we need to be mindful of, like, okay, I should have less than a certain amount of added sugar a day, so then I'll just swap all this for this no sugar. I don't think that that's the best option. Yeah, that's not quite the idea, for sure. But it's... But marketing will get you, so yeah. We should do a whole... I, I don't know if we've done an episode on that in a while, like food labels or stuff like that. I feel like we have one, like, in the archives that... I mean, yeah, 'cause I get marketed too. I'm like, "Oh my God." Like I said, Sprouts and Trader Joe's and, like, everything is healthy. It's not.

Baylee 18:34

Yeah. They sell soda at Fresh Thyme,

Brianna 18:37

Exactly.

Baylee 18:39

not Poppi. They sell Poppi too, but y- there's a whole aisle of soda

Brianna 18:43

Yeah, just 'cause it's like a healthier place. It doesn't, it's not automatic. Okay? Gotcha.

Baylee 18:49

All right, everyone. We hope this episode was helpful as always, and we will be back next week with a brand new topic. So we will chat with you then.

Brianna 19:00

All right, bye