It's another Q&A edition of Optimal Health Daily, episode 2628, and I'm Dr. Neal, your host of the show.

Welcome back to another Friday show where I answer your questions. On all the other days,

I read health and fitness blogs to you, like an audiobook, with permission from the authors, of course.

Now, I'll let you know how you can send in your own question at the end of the

show and get a copy of our workbook for free, but for now, let's hear today's question and start

optimizing your life. Hi, Dr. Neu. I absolutely love your show. It's super motivating and very informative. I always

listen to all my little work. And so daily, like, motivation to stay healthy on track,

especially with working out and eating healthy. I love all information again. Okay. so now to my question. I am just curious if there

are any side effects to using monk fruit sweetener and stevia sweeteners because I drink protein

shakes. I use protein powder daily and they both have mong fruit sweetener and stevia sweeteners. I use protein powder daily, and they both have malks fruit sweetener and

skeezer sweeteners. I'm assuming they're the safest form of artificial sweetener. I'm just not sure

if that they make you crave more things that are sweeter, because I have noticed I've been craving

sweeter things, as well as if it affects your microbiome, or if it

affects your gut health in any negative way.

Hi, caller, thank you so much for your kind words and for being a regular listener.

It makes me so happy to know that you find the show so helpful.

Now, I've shared this story before,

but I'm going to share it again because it's so perfect for this question. Years ago, when I served

as a health educator for a weight loss program, I would always tell my patients that if they wanted

to satisfy their sweet craving, diet soda and other foods with these alternative sweeteners were a good option.

This was especially true for those with diabetes. Now, why would I recommend the consumption

of artificial sweeteners? Well, it was because these foods typically had no or very few calories

...