Words of Wellness with Shelly

Hidden Dangers: Why That Sugar-Free Option Might Be Harming You

• Shelly Jefferis • Season 2 • Episode 116

Share episode

Send us a text

Ever glanced at a "sugar-free" label and wondered what's actually in it? In this eye-opening episode, we dive deep into the hidden dangers lurking in those seemingly innocent artificial sweeteners many of us consume daily without a second thought.

I was recently scrolling through social media when I came across a fitness professional casually recommending sugar-free sweeteners in coffee—advice that immediately raised red flags. This prompted me to share critical information about artificial sweeteners like sucralose that most people don't realize carry serious potential health risks. From cancer and gastrointestinal issues to metabolic changes and cardiovascular disease, the research paints a concerning picture that everyone should be aware of.

What's particularly troubling is how these ingredients hide behind vague regulatory terminology like "generally regarded as safe in moderate amounts." But what does "moderate" really mean when we're exposed to countless toxins daily in our water, air, food, and personal care products? While we can't eliminate all environmental toxins, we absolutely can control what we willingly consume. The solution is remarkably simple: read your labels. This small habit—quickly scanning for artificial sweeteners, sucralose, and food dyes—can make a significant difference in your health journey without requiring major lifestyle changes.

Whether you're a wellness enthusiast or just starting your health journey, this episode offers practical, actionable advice you can implement immediately. Take a moment today to check your pantry labels—your future self will thank you. Have questions about toxins or other wellness topics? Reach out through the contact information in the show notes, and consider joining us at our upcoming Moms Who Flourish wellness event in Southern California on October 4th if you're in the area!

CONNECT WITH SHELLY:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wellnesswithshellyj https://www.instagram.com/momswhoflourish
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShellyJefferis

LINK to upcoming MOMS WHO FLOURISH Wellness Event October 4th: https://buy.stripe.com/00weVc40n64nbsNblH0gw0p

A few of Shelly's favorite clean products:

High quality, clean nutrition and beauty products: https://shellyjefferis.isagenix

Clean-crafted wine, free from chemicals & pesticides:
https://scoutandcellar.com/?u=healthyhappyhours

Cayla Gray- Non-toxic cologne & perfume: https://caylagray.com/wellnesswithshellyj (10% discount)

JuJu Non-toxic candles & air fresheners:
https://goodjujucandles.com/?ref=mrtgnygh
Coupon code for 10% off: ShellyJefferis

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

Speaker 1:

Read your food labels, glance at those food labels and just be looking for certain ingredients, and this is one simple one I can say Look for artificial ingredients, look for artificial sweeteners, look for sucralose, look for food dyes. 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. Now let's dive into our message for today.

Speaker 1:

Hey friends, welcome back to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelly and I am your host, and I wanted to hop in here today. This is not my normal episode on a Wednesday. I am just having some tech issues with my platforms and so I was going to bring you a guest interview today, but that will have to happen, hopefully, next week, so this was not planned. I wanted to hop in here and share some things that I shared on my social media yesterday, and it's also in alignment with my Monday Shelly's Shares series that I'm doing about some of the big health issues we are facing as a nation, and the first part of the series was about stress. I shared that a couple weeks ago, and I just wanted to start jumping in here and talking about toxins. I've done this before. It is something that I share often about.

Speaker 1:

I wanted to jump in here because I need to remind everyone to make sure you're getting your information from reputable sources, and I say this because there could be someone on social media that has a million followers and they are sharing information that maybe is not accurate. I yesterday was actually scrolling through a gal who is a fitness trainer and I was actually looking to see what kind of information she's sharing because I thought maybe I would have her share at one of my events and I got to one of her posts about her coffee drink that she was ordering and she was talking about how she doesn't really like anything very sweet but she was telling the viewers if you want to add a little sweetener, just have them add a couple pumps of a sugar-free sweetener. And I went oh boy, that's really not the best advice because most likely the sugar-free sweetener has an artificial sweetener in it, and this is something I've been sharing with students and clients for years to avoid artificial ingredients, to avoid artificial sweeteners like sucralose and aspartame. Now I will continue to share this because there are definitely health risks involved, and what I will share with you when it comes to sucralose and again, I've shared this before but here are the potential health risks?

Speaker 1:

One, cancer. Now, when you hear that it's a potential risk, doesn't mean it's going to cause it. But there's a chance. Why would we even take the chance, is my question. Why Certain types of cancer, such as colon cancer, liver cancer? However, other studies have not found a link. Some have found a link, some haven't. I don't know about all of you, but if there's even a slight chance, why would we take that risk? Why?

Speaker 1:

Another potential health risk gastrointestinal issues. Sucralose may cause gastrointestinal problems, gi problems such as bloating gas and diarrhea, and it's thought that it can affect the gut microbiome. Okay, so we know now that our gut microbiome affects the rest of our body, affects the rest of our health, not just physically, but also our brain health. There's also the potential risk of metabolic changes. Some studies have shown that sucralose may increase insulin levels and blood sugar, which could potentially lead to type 2 diabetes. There is a risk of cardiovascular disease. Some research suggests that sucralose may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease by altering cholesterol levels and blood pressure.

Speaker 1:

Another potential risk is DNA damage. One study found that sucralose may cause DNA damage which could potentially lead to mutations and cancer. Now some people might argue well, they're making a reference to only one study, and that could be it. We don't know the details with that study, right, right. But this, my friends, is a simple thing to avoid. It really is. When we are exposed to so many different toxins every single day, reading labels, avoiding these artificial sweeteners is one step that we can take. That's a really, really simple step. That's a really really simple step and I really truly feel so strongly about this. Why are we not taking that step? Many of us are and I will continue to share. I will continue to educate in hopes that it helps all of you to make some healthier choices, In hopes that it helps all of you with your overall health and your overall wellness. Another potential concern is having an allergic reaction. Some people have allergic reactions to sucralose.

Speaker 1:

Now I share in a presentation that I have that some agencies like the FDA, they might say that sucralose is safe for consumption in moderate amounts and in some cases they might say generally regarded as safe. You might see that G-R-A-S generally regarded as safe. That concerns me a little bit Because that's very, very vague right. That to me, is a big gray area. It's very vague. So when you have these agencies who might be saying that there is safety with moderate amounts. Well, we don't know really what does that mean? Moderate amounts? So okay, maybe you have it once, once in a blue moon, once in a great while, and let's face it, that's probably okay. But if we can avoid it altogether, that's what I would recommend that you do together. That's what I would recommend that you do. It even says in print in many places there are many researchers and health advocates who are very concerned about the potential long term health risks of sucralose, and I'm one of those concerned health advocates and you know. In conclusion, it might be generally deemed as considered safe, but, again, consumption in moderate amounts. We just don't know what that means. What is a moderate amount? And there are potential health risks with consuming it on a regular basis. So let's just cut it out entirely.

Speaker 1:

I did a post about this yesterday because, again, I was a little alarmed to see a person who regards herself as a health professional, a fitness professional, making the recommendation to add sugar-free sweetener to your coffee. I personally would never recommend that, ever. The majority of any product that we consume, if it says that it's sugar-free, if it says that it's sugar-free, most likely it will contain an artificial sweetener. Now, not all of the products are like that. I will say that there are some sugar-free products that are strictly sugar-free, but I need to just remind all of you to be very cognizant of this and to look at labels. Look at labels, really look at labels. Um and again, I say this because this, as far as I'm concerned, this is one recommendation I will always, always give all of my friends, all of you. I will always always say read labels, just glance. That is something that I learned to do many years ago. I just glance at a label and I look. I look, is there sucralose in it? Boom, if I see it, that goes back on the shelf.

Speaker 1:

And I say this because, again, there are toxins in our water, there are toxins in the air, there are toxins in the food we eat, the drinks we drink, there are toxins in our shampoo, there are toxins in soap, there are toxins in lotions. And, again, I'm not trying to make this sound like a very dismal scenario, I'm just trying to let everyone know it is contributing to many of our illnesses and diseases. And this was actually going to be an episode I was going to be sharing at a future date, but I have shared about this in the past and I will continue to do so, especially for any of my new listeners. I want to share this with you all because it's so important. There's no way we can escape toxins entirely, but there are steps we can do to help ourselves and our families be healthier and live a little bit of a cleaner lifestyle. And I'm not saying we can't enjoy ourselves and have fun, believe me. But there are steps we can take that are a bit simple, steps we can take that will make a difference, and this is one simple one.

Speaker 1:

I will always say read your food labels, glance at those food labels and just be looking for certain ingredients. And this is one simple one. I can say look for artificial ingredients, look for artificial sweeteners, look for sucralose. Look for food dyes sweeteners. Look for sucralose, look for food dyes. Those are the top ones. I have glanced at labels and read labels for years. I'll look at a label and I'll look for those. If I see any mention of them, I don't get that product or I won't consume that product. So I really, truly hope this is helpful for all of you today and again, feel free to reach out with questions. My contact information is in the show notes.

Speaker 1:

I speak about this topic at our upcoming Moms who Flourish wellness event. If you are close to or anywhere local to Southern California, I highly encourage you to join us on Saturday, october 4th. There will be a variety of topics that we share that are related to wellness and our health, and we will also be sharing a lot when it comes to motherhood and the journey of motherhood and the different phases of motherhood. It's just going to be a really beautiful day for all of us moms to connect and share, and I just really invite any of you who are any close proximity to Southern California join us for that day. It's going to be very, very special and, as always, take time for yourself and your own personal wellness on this day. Take time, my friends, to be proactive, be aware of what you're consuming, look at those food labels and make the best choices that you can for yourself and your families. And until next time, have a beautiful, blessed rest of your week and I'll see you next time on Words of Wellness.

Speaker 1:

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. 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 Shelley 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.