stuffed full of artificial sweeteners that are just as bad for you*?
They're not.
No. I assume you're thinking of "sugal alcohols" which are named because of the similar basis of the molecule. They break down into a very small quantity of glucose, unlike sugars. So their effect on the BG is low and late. The laxative effect is much worse, but it affects some people more than others. Depends on your personal tolerance.
Or possibly even more harmful if the tales of derivatives like Aspartame and Sucralose being carcinogens are true.
They're not - unless you eat your own body weight in pure aspartame every day for at least a month. This would be impressive. (note: Only a tiny proportion of sweet & low etc are actually aspartame. The rest is bulking agent). Its easier to kill yourself by overdosing on water.
A lot of nonsense is talked about sweeteners by hysterics who heard a horror story from a man in the pub once, which has no basis in scientific fact.
To get a recommended max daily dose for a sweetener, the process goes something like this...... They find the lowest known dose which starts to cause problems, lower it a bit, divide by 100 or more and that's your max daily dose. Food manufacturers then have to use a much lower level than that to make sure people do not go over that already low level. In about 2002 they reduced the permissible quantity of acefulfame K in fruity bottled water because consumption by kids went up. So the EU got cautious and lowered the limits for food additives.
Conversely, there was a case of an "alternative therapist" (quack) a while ago who advised a woman to do some detox thingy by tripling her water consumption and lowering her salt intake. She was awarded massive compensation for the crippling brain damage caused about a month ago.
Anyway, there's various hysterical sources which claim aspartame in particular causes everything from mild headaches to world war 3. None of it is backed up by evidence other than in reference to massive doses and massive doses of anything will kill you. One of the most common is the Nancy Markle scam which takes the form of a hysterical email containing a lot of exclamation marks, a lot of claims and no facts whatsoever. There's also a doctor called Betty Martini somewhere in the US (who curiously seems to share a lot of similar opinions to Markle) who has been violently opposed to aspartame for years but whose actual scientific evidence against it after all that time amounts to precisely sod all.
Sucralose is one of the most tested substances on the planet and there's no evidence it causes harm at all. Hysterics bang on about it having chlorine in it. Presumably they don't have salt on their chips like the rest of us.
So don't fall into the "natural = good, artificial = bad" trap.
And finally.....
....sugar content can be pretty irrelevant if the rest of the product is fast carbs anyway. I particularly love the "low fat" versions of stuff that hit your BG twice as hard as the full fat versions. You can get a similar effect with low sugar and no added sugar stuff as well.
As always, listen to your meter
😉
