Now i have been against artificial sweetners for quite awhile now after doing lot's of reading about it and have made a concious effort to avoid processed, chemically, man made foods...only whole foods for this girl!!! I will admit that i am not perfect but actually since becoming gluten free there are a lot of processed foods i cannot have anymore, a blessing in disguise! I am no longer tempted by the processed crap because i now know what it feels like to be stomach ache, gas and bloat free! Why would i want those symptoms to come back for 5 minutes of bliss and then DAYS or a WEEK worth of pain? Not worth it if you ask me. Now i don't buy all organic foods but i try to buy as much as i can, it just gets expensive so i have to pick and choose what i get. Bananas they have a thick protective outer layer so i don't normally buy organic there but grapes, berries etc dont have a layer you peel off so i buy organic there.
Now on to chemical sweetners! If you want something sweet make it/bake it yourself with a natural sweetner like honey, maple syrup, agave or organic sugar like sucanat that is less processed and bigger pieces of sugar cane and not bleached white! Or even stevia, which is derived from a plant and just as sweet if not sweeter (i am not a fan of the taste though as it kind of tastes like fake sugar) And if really must have a pop go for a regular coke rather than a diet coke...at least it's not a chemical sugar! And a little tiny bit better for you! Also did you know that when comsumming fake no calorie sugar your body keeps waiting for the calories it gets from sugar and when those don't come your body then craves these calories so you end up eating more! So in an effort to save calories you end up eating more. Is that worth it? Not that i am in to calorie counting at all but still a very interesting fact! On to the article my father sent me this morning. It's a long one but worth the read.
Next time you think about having fake sugar think twice and opt for the real kind! Take care of your body don't poison it!
A MUST READ FROM A RETIRED PHYSICIAN!
In October of 2001, she had stomach spasms and she was having a hard
time getting around. Walking was a major chore. It took everything
she had just to get out of bed; she was in so much pain.
By March 2002, she had undergone several tissue and muscle biopsies
and was on 24 various prescription medications.
The doctors could not determine what was wrong with her.
She was in so much pain, and so sick she just knew she was dying.
She put her house, bank accounts, life insurance, etc., in her oldest
daughter's name, and made sure that her younger children were to be
taken care of. She also wanted her last hooray, so she planned a trip
to Florida (basically in a wheelchair) for March 22nd.
On March 19, I called her to ask how her most recent tests went, and
she said they didn't find anything on the test, but they believe she
had MS. I recalled an article a friend of mine e-mailed to me and I
asked my sister if she drank diet soda? She told me that she did. As
a matter of fact, she was getting ready to crack one open that moment.
I told her not to open it, and to stop drinking the diet soda!
I e-mailed her the article my friend, a lawyer, had sent.
My sister called me within 32 hours after our phone conversation and
told me she had stopped drinking the diet soda AND she could walk!
The muscle spasms went away. She said she didn't feel 100% but, she
sure felt a lot better.
She told me she was going to her doctor with this article and would
call me when she got home.. Well, she called me, and said her doctor
was amazed! He is going to call all of his MS patients to find out if
they consumed artificial sweeteners of any kind. In a nutshell, she
was being poisoned by the Aspartame in the diet soda...and literally
dying a slow and miserable death.
When she got to Florida March 22, all she had to take was one pill,
and that was a pill for the Aspartame poisoning! She is well on her
way to a complete recovery. And she is walking! No wheelchair!
This article saved her life. If it says 'SUGAR FREE' on the label;
DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!
I have spent several days lecturing at the WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL
CONFERENCE on 'ASPARTAME,' marketed as 'Nutra Sweet,' 'Equal,' and
Spoonful.'
In the keynote address by the EPA, it was announced that in the
United States in 2001 there is an epidemic of multiple sclerosis and
systemic lupus. It was difficult to determine exactly what toxin was
causing this to be rampant. I stood up and said that I was there to
lecture on exactly that subject.
I will explain why Aspartame is so dangerous:
When the temperature of this sweetener exceeds 86 degrees F, the wood
alcohol in ASPARTAME converts to formaldehyde and then to formic acid,
which in turn causes metabolic acidosis. Formic acid is the poison
found in the sting of fire ants. The methanol toxicity mimics, among
other conditions, multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus.
Many people were being diagnosed in error.
Although multiple sclerosis is not a death sentence, Methanol toxicity is!
Systemic lupus has become almost as rampant as multiple sclerosis,
especially with Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi drinkers.
The victim usually does not know that the Aspartame is the culprit. He
or she continues its use; irritating the lupus to such a degree that
it may become a life-threatening condition.
We have seen patients with systemic lupus become asymptotic, once
taken off diet sodas.
In cases of those diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, most of the
symptoms disappear. We've seen many cases where vision loss returned
and hearing loss improved markedly.
This also applies to cases of tinnitus and fibromyalgia.
During a lecture, I said, 'If you are using ASPARTAME (Nutra Sweet,
Equal, Spoonful, etc) and you suffer from fibromyalgia symptoms,
spasms, shooting, pains, numbness in your legs, Cramps, Vertigo,
Dizziness, Headaches, Tinnitus, Joint pain, Unexplainable depression,
anxiety attacks, slurred speech, blurred vision, or memory loss you
probably have ASPARTAME poisoning!'
People were jumping up during the lecture saying,
'I have some of these symptoms.. Is it reversible?' Yes! Yes! Yes!
STOP drinking diet sodas and be alert for Aspartame on food labels!
Many products are fortified with it! This is a serious problem.
Dr. Espart (one of my speakers) remarked that so many people seem to
be symptomatic for MS and during his recent visit to a hospice; a
nurse stated that six of her friends, who were heavy Diet Coke
addicts, had all been diagnosed with MS. This is beyond coincidence!
Diet soda is NOT a diet product! It is a chemically altered, multiple
SODIUM (salt) and ASPARTAME containing product that actually makes you
crave carbohydrates.. It is far more likely to make you GAIN weight!
These products also contain formaldehyde, which stores in the fat
cells, particularly in the hips and thighs..
Formaldehyde is an absolute toxin and is used primarily to preserve
'tissue specimens.'
Many products we use every day contain this chemical but we SHOULD NOT
store it IN our body!
Dr. H. J. Roberts stated in his lectures that once free of the 'diet
products' and with no significant increase in exercise; his patients
lost an average of 19 pounds over a trial period.
Aspartame is especially dangerous for diabetics.
We found that some physicians, who believed that they had a patient
with retinopathy, in fact, had symptoms caused by Aspartame.
The Aspartame drives the blood sugar out of control.
Thus diabetics may suffer acute memory loss due to the fact that
aspartic acid and phenylalanine are NEUROTOXIC when taken without the
other amino acids necessary for a good balance.
Treating diabetes is all about BALANCE.
Especially with diabetics, the Aspartame passes the blood/brain
barrier and it then deteriorates the neurons of the brain; causing
various levels of brain damage, Seizures, Depression, Manic
depression, Panic attacks,
Uncontrollable anger and rage.
Consumption of Aspartame causes these same symptoms in non-diabetics
as well. Documentation and observation also reveal that thousands of
children diagnosed with ADD and ADHD have had complete turnarounds in
their behaviour when these chemicals have been removed from their
diet.
So called 'behaviour modification prescription drugs' (Ritalin and
others) are no longer needed. Truth be told, they were never NEEDED in
the first place!
Most of these children were being 'poisoned' on a daily basis with the
very foods that were 'better for them than sugar.'
It is also suspected that the Aspartame in thousands of pallets of
diet Coke and diet Pepsi consumed by men and women fighting in the
Gulf War, may be partially to blame for the well-known Gulf War
Syndrome.
Dr. Roberts warns that it can cause birth defects, i.e. mental
retardation, if taken at the time of conception and during early
pregnancy. Children are especially at risk for neurological disorders
and should NEVER be given artificial sweeteners.
There are many different case histories to relate of children
suffering grand mal seizures and other neurological disturbances
talking about a plague of neurological diseases directly caused by the
use of this deadly poison.'
Herein lies the problem:
There were Congressional Hearings when Aspartame was included in 100
different products and strong objection was made concerning its use.
Since this initial hearing, there have been two subsequent hearings,
and still nothing has been done. The drug and chemical lobbies have
very deep pockets.
Sadly, MONSANTO'S patent on Aspartame has EXPIRED!
There are now over 5,000 products on the market that contain this
deadly chemical and there will be thousands more introduced.
Everybody wants a 'piece of the Aspartame pie.'
I assure you that MONSANTO, the creator of Aspartame, knows how deadly it is.
And isn't it ironic that MONSANTO funds, among others, the American
Diabetes Association, the American Dietetic Association and the
Conference of the American College of Physicians?
This has been recently exposed in the New York Times.
These [organizations] cannot criticize any additives or convey their
link to MONSANTO because they take money from the food industry and
are required to endorse their products.
Senator Howard Metzenbaum wrote and presented a bill that would
require label warnings on products containing Aspartame, especially
regarding pregnant women, children and infants.
The bill would also institute independent studies on the known dangers
and the problems existing in the general population regarding
seizures, changes in brain chemistry, neurological changes and
behavioural symptoms.
The bill was killed.
It is known that the powerful drug and chemical lobbies are
responsible for this, letting loose the hounds of disease and death on
an unsuspecting and uninformed public. Well, you're informed now!
YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW!
Whenever i get impatient i start to take some very deep breaths and imagine myself pushing the impatient thoughts from my head. There is no room in there for that crap! Get it out. And i keep telling myself that i am choosing not to let another person's behaviour get to me. 
