A while back I discovered I had type 2 diabetes, and I immediately eliminated from my diet refined sugar and foods that contain it. Rather than use artificial sweeteners (which do indeed decimate the gut microbiome — see also this brief video), I deliberately developed a taste for savory in preference to sweet. If I do want something sweet, I eat a piece of fruit (not fruit juice: just as bad as refined sugar) or a bowl of berries.

However, if you want to sweeten tea or coffee, you might try using erythritol, which does not harm the microbiome —see all this brief video. Erythritol carries no calories.

Good article, and stick to your guns. It’s certainly obvious that artificial sweeteners are by no means needed in one’s diet, so chucking them overboard will do no harm.

I follow a whole-food plant-based diet, and that automatically rules out product foods manufactured using industrial processes from refined ingredients (generally including refined sugar or artificial sweeteners, excess sodium, and poor-quality (but cheap) oils) and sold packaged under a brand name.