We’re often told by nutrition professionals about the importance of eating breakfast every day. Yet, despite this advice, breakfast is still the least commonly eaten meal of the day, which many of us try to justify by saying we either don’t feel hungry first thing in the morning or simply don’t have enough time to eat it. Whatever our excuse, if you desire to be healthy, you can’t ignore this advice any longer. Here is one reason why:

In many ways, modern living goes against our natural biorhythms. Our bodies were designed to wake up at sunrise and to go to bed at sunset. Unfortunately, this is not the lifestyle most of us lead. We tend to burn the midnight oil on a daily basis, necessitating that we set an alarm clock to wake us up, regardless of whether we were able to sleep well or enough the night before. Without sufficient rest, many of us depend on caffeine to jolt us awake.  While this liquid stimulation may provide us with a quick dose of adrenaline, it also uses up our reserves of blood sugar that we need for energy. As a result of this, within an hour, we are craving sugary foods to keep us alert. This vicious cycle may continue for the rest of the day as we crave more stimulants and sugar to keep us going. Eating a healthy, well-balanced breakfast takes us out of this cycle. Your energy will be more stable throughout the day and your cravings will be minimal.

Stay tuned for more breakfast tips including…

- How to feel like eating in the morning
- Tips on eating a good breakfast
- Quick & easy breakfast options

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In roughly a decade of commercial distribution, Splenda® has taken the artificial sweetener industry by storm. Between 2000 and 2006, the percentage of U.S. households using Splenda® products jumped from 3 to 20 percent. It is presently the nation’s number one selling artificial sweetener. With the FDA having approved Splenda and the knowledge that it even starts off as real sugar, you might think there is nothing wrong with this rapid growth, but you’d be wrong. Here are some facts you need to know before you dump another one of those little yellow packets into your coffee.

The FDA only looked at 2 tests before approving Splenda®

As of 2005, only six human trials had been conducted on sucralose (Splenda®).  Of these six trials, only two were completed and published before the FDA approved sucralose for human consumption. To date, no studies have been done on children or pregnant women.

Most of the tests were performed on animals

McNeil Nutritionals stresses that over 100 studies have been conducted on Splenda. However, what the company neglects to mention is that most of the studies were performed on animals.

Sugar doesn’t think it’s just like sugar

The competition among sweeteners is anything but sweet. The sugar industry is currently suing McNeil Nutritionals for implying that Splenda® is a natural form of sugar with no calories.

No long-term testing

There have been no long-term human toxicity studies published until after the FDA approved sucralose for human consumption. The longest trial at the time Splenda® was approved lasted only four days and looked at sucralose in relation to tooth decay.

Sure it starts off as sugar, but…

There is no question that sucralose starts off as a sugar molecule, it is what goes on in the factory after that is concerning. Sucralose is cooked up using a five step patented process that includes adding chlorine (yup, the stuff in your pool). This process alters the sugar  molucule so much that it is turned into a fructo-galactose molecule, a type of molecule that does not occur in nature. As a result, your body doesn’t have the ability to properly digest or metabolize it, which allows McNeil Nutritionals to make the claim that Splenda® has zero calories.

The bottom line is that Splenda® has not been tested sufficiently and is anything but sugar.  In fact, it  bears more chemical similarity to DDT than it does to sugar.  Yes, that DDT. The synthetic pesticide that is suspected to cause cancer. So next time you decide your coffe is a bit too bitter, you might want to think twice before you sweeten it up with Splenda®.

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