Artificial sweeteners are not a healthy substitute for sugar and they often cause people to eat more food and gain weight. When the body detects a sweet taste, it expects calories or food that contains nutrition for energy. When the gut finds no nutrition, the message is sent to the brain to eat more in order to get the nutrition needed.
The FDA has had more complaints about Aspartame (NutraSweet and Equal for example) than any other food additive, and yet it is still on the GRAS list (Generally Regarded as Safe). This is despite aspartame’s strong association with brain tumors and seizures. It is a synthetic compound made up of Phenylalanine and Aspartic Acid held in a chemical bond by Methanol, which breaks down into Formic Acid, Formaldehyde and Diketopiperazine (DKP). It is the DKP that causes brain tumors. Aspartame breaks down more quickly with heat, and is worse in hot drinks, or in soda pop that may have been in the sun at some point in its journey to our fridges. If you have ever tasted a diet drink that didn’t taste sweet, you know the Aspartame in it broke down into the above mentioned neurotoxins (nerve poisons). Some symptoms of Aspartame toxicity include migraines, depression, seizures, attention deficit disorder, angry rages, joint pain, muscle spasm, and it can mimic diseases like MS, chronic fatigue syndrome, and fibromyalagia. Symptoms like migraines may appear quickly in some people, while in others there may be no symptoms for some time. Once again, read labels, because Aspartame is everywhere, including children’s vitamins, cool aid type fruit drinks, diet soda pop, sugar free chewing gum, gelatin desserts, frozen desserts, fillings and toppings for baked goods, hot chocolate mixes, breath mints, yogurt, wine coolers, tea beverages, some flavored bottled waters, some fiber cereals, cold remedies and other medications. Mary Nash Stoddard compiled the research on Aspartame into a report that she titled Deadly Deception: Story of Aspartame: Shocking Expose of the World’s Most Controversial Sweetener. This DVD is available at: www.mercola.com
Sucralose, under the brand name of Splenda, is gaining popularity as a substitute for sugar. Splenda is a newer product and therefore there is less research available. What research is there should give pause for thought. It is advertised as being made from sugar, but that does not mean it is anything like sugar, just as water in no way resembles the oxygen and hydrogen from which it is made. To make sucralose, three chlorine atoms are substituted for three oxygen-hydrogen groups on the sugar molecule turning it into a chlorocarbon. Chlorocarbons have been known to cause genetic, organ, immune and reproductive damage for some time. Chlorocarbons also cause swelling of the liver as well as swelling and calcification of the kidneys. If you get any mid-back pain in the kidney area or bladder irritation after consuming Splenda, take it out of your diet immediately.
Choose healthy sweeteners like raw (unpasteurized) honey (be careful about using honey with small children), organic maple syrup, Rapadura or Stevia to sweeten your food if necessary.
When making food choices remember these 3 important points:
- If you cannot pronounce any of the ingredients listed on the package – Don’t Eat It!
- If it did not exist 10,000 years ago – Don’t Eat It!
- If man made it – Don’t Eat It!
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About Linda DeFever