Words of Wellness with Shelly
Do you get confused by all of the information that is available regarding ways to improve your health and wellness? Do you often become frustrated or overwhelmed with decisions on how to be your healthiest? We all know and understand how important our health and wellness is to the vitality of our lives, however navigating the wealth of health and wellness information available can often feel overwhelming. Understanding the significance of our well-being in leading fulfilling lives is crucial, yet determining what steps to take that are essential for our health can often be confusing.
Welcome everyone to "Words of Wellness"! In this podcast, hosted by Shelly Jefferis, M.A., a seasoned health and wellness professional with over 35 years in the industry, all of your questions will be answered and clarity will be provided through personal stories, education, tips and inspiration. Throughout her profession, Shelly has always had the heart and desire to help others feel their best and live their best lives through her supportive and compassionate approach. Through engaging solo and guest episodes, several topics will be addressed, questions will be answered and clarity will be provided in an effort to lead you to a healthier, more energetic life. With a master’s degree in kinesiology, extensive experience as an educator, speaker, coach, and entrepreneur, Shelly brings a wealth of knowledge and a genuine passion for empowering others to feel their best. By featuring industry experts and relatable individuals, the podcast promises personal stories, practical advice, and inspiration. She is excited to come to you weekly sharing all she has experienced, learned and discovered through the years. Whether you're seeking to elevate your well-being, gain practical insights for personal health, or simply be inspired to live a high quality vibrant life, this is the podcast is for YOU! Be sure to tune in weekly and join us along our "Words of Wellness" journey and embark on a path toward a healthier and more fulfilling quality of life full of happiness, energy and joy!
Words of Wellness with Shelly
Shelly's Shares: The Hidden Dangers of Sucralose
Could that "healthy" sugar-free product actually be undermining your wellness goals? After discovering artificial sweeteners in a children's shake from a wellness company, Shelly embarked on a mission to uncover the truth about sucralose and other common toxins hiding in our everyday foods.
The facts about sucralose are alarming. This popular artificial sweetener disrupts gut health and the microbiome, potentially triggering digestive issues, immune dysfunction, and systemic inflammation. Paradoxically, while marketed to diabetics and those watching their weight, sucralose may negatively affect blood glucose and insulin levels. When heated, it breaks down into compounds linked to cancer risk. Perhaps most surprising, it can interfere with your brain's natural appetite regulation, potentially leading to increased cravings and overeating – the exact opposite of what most people using "diet" products want.
The environmental impact adds another layer of concern. Sucralose doesn't break down easily in our ecosystem, contaminating water systems and potentially harming aquatic life. While perfect avoidance of all toxins isn't realistic in today's world, I emphasize the importance of being particularly vigilant about artificial sweeteners. Reading ingredient labels carefully isn't just beneficial – it's essential for protecting your health.
Take control of your wellness journey by examining the products in your home today. Focus on making healthy choices about 80% of the time, especially with foods you consume regularly. Your body deserves better than hidden chemicals masquerading as health products. Share this episode with someone who might benefit from this information, and remember to do something positive for your wellness today.
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Thank you for listening to the Words of Wellness podcast with Shelly Jefferis. I am honored and so grateful to have you here and it would mean the world to me if you could take a minute to follow, leave a 5-star review and share the podcast with anyone you love and anyone you feel could benefit from the message.
Thank you and God Bless!
And remember to do something for yourself, for your wellness on this day!
In Health,
Shelly Jefferis
certain products, certain chemicals, certain toxins that I really stress, that I want to encourage you to avoid as much as possible. Because, let's face it, there are products that we consume when we are out and about, when we are on vacation, when we are in a restaurant that we don't always know the ingredients. So it makes it even more important that we do our due diligence with those products that we are consuming, with what we are purchasing at the grocery store, what we are consuming in our own homes. Do you get confused by all of the information that bombards us every day on ways to improve our overall health and our overall wellness? Do you often feel stuck, unmotivated or struggle to reach your wellness goals? Do you have questions as to what exercises you should be doing, what foods you should or should not be eating, how to improve your overall emotional and mental well-being? Hello everyone, I am so excited to welcome you to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelly Jeffries and I will be your host. My goal is to answer these questions and so much more to share tips, education and inspiration around all of the components of wellness through solo and guest episodes. With 35 plus years as a health and wellness professional, a retired college professor, a speaker and a multi-passionate entrepreneur, I certainly have lots to share. However, my biggest goal and inspiration in doing this podcast is to share the wellness stories of others with you, to bring in guests who can share their journeys so that we can all learn together while making an impact on the health, the wellness and lives of all of you, our listeners. The ultimate hope is that you leave today with even just one nugget that can enhance the quality of your life, and that you will. We all will, now and into the future, live our best quality of lives, full of energy, happiness and joy.
Speaker 1:Now let's dive into our message for today. Hello, my friends, welcome back to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelly and I want to welcome you to the show, if you are new, and I like to jump in here on Mondays and share just a short solo episode on. Sometimes it's a topic, sometimes it's a personal experience, but anything that we share on this podcast, words of Wellness, all of it can be traced back to complete overall wellness. So we share various topics, but they all relate to our overall wellness, and today I'm going to take a little bit of time to talk to everyone about something that's very important to our overall health. I am very passionate about raising awareness around toxins, chemicals, pesticides and if any of you have listened to our Words of Wellness podcast for a while, you probably have heard me talk about that and make reference to that. I also speak on this topic. I have spoken on this topic at our Moms who Flourish wellness events and it's something that I have researched and read about and shared about for quite a long time with clients and students, and today I just want to share a few facts with you.
Speaker 1:When it comes to the artificial sweetener, sucralose and I sometimes see individuals who don't seem very concerned about it, and that's why I want to share with you some of the concerns and some of the dangers Many times, if you see a product that says sugar-free or it's a diet product, many times it will have sucralose and a lot of times it might not even be a sugar-free product. And I will tell you something from my own personal experience. Many, many years ago I was trying some products from a wellness company and I have shared this story before but I purchased they have all kinds of products and I purchased some cleaning products and I purchased some nutrition products and back then I made the assumption that the products were quote unquote clean because it was a wellness company. Once we received the products, we started using them and my son was making one of their shakes it was a kid's shake and one day I came downstairs, looked at the bag that was a chocolate kids shake. Looked at the label, read the ingredients and I couldn't believe when I read that the product contained artificial ingredients and artificial sweetener, and it contains sucralose. I immediately threw the rest of the product in the trash and that started a journey for me of being much more diligent at reading labels. I was doing that before, but it was my fault for making the assumption that this product was clean because it was from a quote wellness in quote company. So you really have to do your due diligence. You really have to still read labels and read ingredient labels and just make sure that what you're consuming doesn't contain any toxins, chemicals, pesticides, no artificial ingredients and especially no artificial sweeteners like sucralose.
Speaker 1:So here are some of the concerns and dangers. Sucralose can negatively impact our gut health, our gut microbiome, and this can lead to digestive issues. It can affect our immune system. It can lead to inflammation in the body. So that is one danger. It can also affect our blood glucose. Now here's the thing what do we do for people who have diabetes? We give them sugar-free products, right? When my dad was in the hospital, he had diabetes. Everything that they were feeding him was sugar-free, which guess what that meant? Everything that he was consuming had chemicals in it. So we have to really really be aware of this. Even though sucralose might not have calories, it still affects blood sugar and insulin levels in a negative way. Really, really important.
Speaker 1:It also has a concern if it's heated. So because sucralose is a chemical and when it's heated, it can break down and produce what's called chloropropanols, which is another group of potentially toxic compounds that are linked to cancer risk. Another concern sucralose can interfere with our DNA and it can affect normal cell, the signaling to our cells, and at this point in time, there's more research needed as far as the impact. But there is concern. Long-term safety is a concern, and I will tell all of you listeners that that's the case with so many of these sweeteners and different things that are being added to our foods and added to everything. As far as chemicals are concerned, much research is still needed and we don't know the long-term effects, and the concern with that is that we might not know till later on, after it's a little bit too late and we've exposed ourselves to these different toxins. So be really, really aware of that.
Speaker 1:Another concern is that it can impact our brain and our behavior. Artificial sweeteners like sucralose can affect appetite regulation, which can then cause us to overeat. It can affect cravings, so it can have completely the negative result that we're wanting. What are most people doing when they're looking for sugar-free foods? They're looking to cut back right, and it can actually have the opposite effect. It can affect our appetite, it can increase cravings, can cause us to overeat and it also can affect the pathways in our brain that tells us that we are full, that tells us that we don't need to eat anymore. So this is a huge concern.
Speaker 1:And then the last one I want to share is that the concern that we have the danger that can potentially be happening to our environment. Sucralose is not easily broken down in the environment and it can contaminate our water systems, so over time, that not only can be dangerous to us as humans, but it can be also dangerous to water and in those beings that are in, like the ocean or lakes, so aquatic life. So I just will always tell my students, my clients and I want to tell all of you to look at food labels. I can't stress this enough and this is going to be a short episode today, but I wanted to just increase the awareness and give you some really hard facts about some of the dangers that are associated with consuming sucralose Now I get it that are associated with consuming sucralose Now I get it. I get that the amount in certain products is very minimal.
Speaker 1:But again, if you're using these products regularly and you're ingesting this on a regular basis, over time it can be very detrimental to your overall health. And again, just a little bit of a recap Gut health. That's a big one. It disrupts our gut health, it disrupts our gut microbiome and that can definitely lead to issues with our digestive system, our immune system, and it can lead to inflammation in the body. The other one glucose insulin response. It can interact with that and when that happens it can really affect how the body processes real sugar and it can increase the risk for metabolic syndrome issues and type 2 diabetes.
Speaker 1:And then there's the risk for the heating of sucralose and when it's heated it can become very, very toxic. It's already toxic by itself, but some of these certain chemicals and these toxins, when they are heated, other chemicals are released and it can cause more of a risk and potential risk for leading to cancer. It can interfere with DNA, it can cause DNA damage and interfere with normal cell signaling. It can have impact on our brain and behavior and, lastly, it can affect the environment. There are environmental concerns and you know that's with all of the toxins right that we're exposed to, on all of them that are out in the environment. But, like this particular topic that I'm sharing with you today regarding sucralose, it is not easily broken down in the environment and therefore it can leach into water, which then can leach into not just what we're consuming as humans, but it leaches out into wildlife, out in the ocean and in lakes and in water.
Speaker 1:So I just wanted to talk about this and highlight some of the dangers that are associated with sucralose, some of the risks, just to again increase awareness. And I will always say it's not about perfection, but there are certain products, certain chemicals, certain toxins that I really stress, that I want to encourage you to avoid as much as possible Because, let's face it, there are products that we consume when we are out and about, when we are on vacation, when we are in a restaurant, that we don't always know the ingredients. So it makes it even more important that we do our due diligence with those products that we are consuming, with what we are purchasing at the grocery store, what we are consuming in our own homes, so that, I say, approximately 80% of the time, if we can be making healthy choices, then we're doing a great job. And, again, it's never perfect. But taking baby steps, making healthy choices, all of it adds up over time and I want to just encourage all of you to do your best, make healthy swaps where possible.
Speaker 1:But the purpose of today's episode is to really just highlight some of the risks and potential dangers that are associated with sucralose, and I want to encourage you all to really, if you're not doing this yet, be looking at labels, reading labels and make sure that sucralose is not in anything that you are consuming. So, with that being said, take some time for your own personal wellness on this day and until next time, everyone, have a blessed day, blessed rest of your week and we will see you next time on Words of Wellness. Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. I hope you gained value and enjoyed our time together as much as I did, and if you know someone who could benefit from today's episode, I would love and appreciate it if you could share with a friend or rate and review words of wellness so that more can hear this message.
Speaker 1:I love and appreciate you all. Thank you for listening and if you have any questions or topics you would like me to share in future episodes, please don't hesitate to reach out to me through my contact information that is shared in the show notes below. Again, thank you for tuning in to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelly Jeffries and I encourage you to do something for you, for your wellness, on this day. Until next time, I hope you all have a healthy, happy and blessed week. Thank you.