It’s been a l-o-n-g while since I wrote on this blog. That could be a bad or a good thing, depending on your perspective.
I’ve been swamped with my consulting business, working 6-7 days a week. As such, I just haven’t had the time to write.
Over the years, I’ve done a lot of personal experimentation to find out what causes water retention. I’ve come to the conclusion that one of the causes for me is artificial sweeteners, including not not necessarily limited to sucralose (brand name Splenda).
I don’t have any science to back up my conclusion. Still, I encourage you to try the following experiment: If you consume any dietary supplements or food products containing sucralose, stop them “cold turkey” for 14 consecutive days. See what happens to your physical appearance.
I should point out that water retention tends to be more noticeable when you are fairly lean. My body fat is always well under 10%, so if I retain water, it is noticeable (at least in my eyes) like night versus day. If you have a high body fat %, then you may not notice the extra water weight as much. But that’s just an assumption on my part.
Of course, like all things, some people will be more sensitive to the water-retaining effects of artificial sweeteners such as sucralose than others. But I’m not alone. I know people who have had to stop taking protein powders because they “blow up” with several pounds of water weight upon using them. The weight promptly disappears (much to their approval) upon ceasing use of said protein powders.
Remember that sucralose and other artificial sweeteners are all around us. In the dietary supplement world there are pre-training powders, amino acid powders, protein powders and other products bearing sucralose. In the food products world, the list goes on forever.
Give it a shot. Try dropping artificial sweeteners out of your diet for 14 consecutive days. See what happens. If you’re no better off, then hats off to you. I wish I was that lucky!