2/26/2008
When you’re in a restaurant and you need to choose your sweetener for your tea or coffee, you usually have a choice. There's the yellow bag, the pink bag, the blue bag, or of course the white bag, known as sugar. Everyone I've noticed has a certain color bag they are looking for. The question is, are artificial sweeteners bad for you? The answer is, No. In a diet, artificial sweeteners are considered "free foods." The sugar substitutes don't count as a carbohydrate, a fat, or any other exchange. And they allow some people who have been restricted because of diabetes or weight to enjoy the sweetness of foods without all the extra calories. And they don’t raise blood sugar levels.
Here’s a shocking fact. Half the people who die from heart disease, won’t even know they have it. But you now have a quick and easy way of finding out if you’re at risk. Just take our St. John’s 7 – minute online evaluation. It’s part of our new Heart Aware program. For more info and to take the quiz, just log onto stj.com.
