I was reading an article online the other day about weight loss and the reasons the weight isn't coming off as quickly as it should. They mentioned artificial sweetener raising your insulin which makes your body hold onto fat. Anyone know if this is true? Any input?

I haven't been able to find any convincing studies that this is true. Still, I do my best to avoid artificial sweeteners because I don't trust them. I will still enjoy something with an artificial sweetener from time to time, but not on a daily basis. My protein shakes are made with stevia and I'm also trying to retrain my palate to not expect super sweet all the time.

The research is mixed on this. I wrote a white paper on this very issue a few years ago. I was addressing a hospital that banned all sugar sweetened beverages from being sold on its campus. I wanted to see if there was a link in the research between artifically sweetened beverages and obesity. There is emerging evidence on this but the physical link is not very strong. I found several studies on animals and only a few of them seemed to indicate that there was a metabolic effect and it was not replicated by peers, which means it's somewhat questionable. However, the mental link between consuming artifical sweeteners and weight gain in observational studies is more compelling. (essentially meaning, that those who drink diet sodas are more likey to engage in food craving behaviors) If you want to send me a private message with an email address, I would be happy to send it to you. It has a lot of good literature referenced in it that you could look at.

As an aside, I consume splenda. I count my carbs, Protein, fat and calories everyday.