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What happens when your ‘healthy’ Diet Coke turns out to be a gut-wrecking, glucose-spiking, weight-sticking traitor? In this episode, I—your host, a busy dad, husband, military veteran, and orthopaedic surgeon who traded wheezing down the block for Ironman finish lines—dive into the shady world of artificial sweeteners. From aspartame to sucralose, these zero-calorie con artists are messing with your gut microbiome, jacking up your blood sugar, and keeping those love handles glued on. Expect laughs, science-backed rants, and real talk on how to ditch the fake stuff and break your limits—because the toughest step isn’t the last one, it’s the first.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why artificial sweeteners turn your gut into a bacterial war zone.
• How they trick your body into glucose intolerance (spoiler: your pancreas hates them).
• The sneaky reason you’re not losing weight, even with ‘zero calories.’
• My story of kicking the Diet Coke habit and Lo Carb Monsters—and how you can too.

References:

• Suez, J., et al. (2014). "Artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance by altering the gut microbiota." Nature. Link
• Dalenberg, J.R., et al. (2018). "Short-term consumption of sucralose with, but not without, carbohydrate impairs insulin sensitivity." Physiology & Behavior. Link
• Azad, M.B., et al. (2017). "Nonnutritive sweeteners and cardiometabolic health: a systematic review and meta-analysis." PLoS Medicine. Link
• Zmora, N., et al. (2021). "Personalized microbiome-driven effects of non-nutritive sweeteners on human glucose tolerance." Gut Microbes. Link

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