Aspartame - the Chemical in Diet Pepsi, Sugarless Gum Causes 92 Health Problems

[PolluxStar]

I read it was very bad.

So I stopped eating anything with fake sugar in it for just a week and already I feel great. I was always tired before.

now I wonder if I ruined my body because I have been only eating things with fake sugar my whole life.

btw I'm 18

[eve]

Just be glad that you stopped. Aspartame is a ghastly poison. As you had the discipline to stop eating fake sugar, perhaps now you can little by little have other foods less sweetened? Then you can do away with sugar too!

[Roxy]

My boyfriend bought a cup of root beer (sars) tonight and I asked for a sip. Ugh! I was almost sick! After not drinking pop (soft drink) for almost a year I couldn't believe how sickly it tasted to me. I can't ever see myself drinking that lolly water ever again!

[assilembob]

I am addicted to soda.

Can I get a support group?

~Mel

[LyricSarah]

When I first became vegetarian years ago..I swore off as much artificial stuff as I possibly coukd...I did have have a sip of soda...until about a year and a half ago, during my senior year of colege...my bf and I were at te movies and I was sooo thirsty....I had a sip of his diet coke...and i was addicted...it was awful! then I started chewing like tons of sugar free gum and I used tons and tons of splenda....I did this to avoid sugar....WHAT A DUMB THING TO DO...i got headaches....I felt sick and tired and gross....now i stay far far far far away rom that crap...its bad news. I worried as well..Im nervous about any damage I may have done...now I am trying to treat my body as a temple...seriously....its the olnly one i have and I want to nourish it...i dont want to end up getting sick in the future....i really believe you are what you eat.

[PolluxStar]

Just be glad that you stopped. Aspartame is a ghastly poison. As you had the discipline to stop eating fake sugar, perhaps now you can little by little have other foods less sweetened? Then you can do away with sugar too!

I just switched to things that say no sugar added.

But I still don't like eating anything with high amounts of sugar in it : )

Makes my teeth bad.

[cedarblue]

if there is the choice of a product having sugar in or sugar-free i always choose the sugar version, i figure that although its all poison at least sugar is a natural product, unlike sweeteners.

im talking mainly about products my daughter like to eat (veggie not vegan) so things like fruit squash, juice drinks, baked beans.

i have been trying to persuade my mother-in-law for years not to keep putting hermasetas in her tea but she just looks at me as if i am mad for suggesting she should use sugar as the alternative - 'sugar is fattening'!!!!! she says. come on love, you're 74, dont worry about it!!!
kudos to her though that she now takes soy milk in her tea

[eve]

"We are already getting complaints on health problems from sucralose. Also, you have to remember that aspartame being a chemical hypersensitization agent, as well as a neurotoxic drug, not only interacts with other drugs, especially those used to treat the problems it causes, but also with toxins which is all some of these so-called other sweeteners are. Don't forget they outlawed DDT. Aspartame, of course, has been shown to be a deadly neurotoxic drug with 92% of scientific peer reviewed studies showing the problems."

Above is extracted from the Crusador Newsletter at: http://www.healthliesexposed.com/art..._28_1156.shtml

[littleTigercub]

What do you actually think is worse - sugar or artificial sweeteners?

The messages you get are really confusing...

littleTigercub

[eve]

Artificial sweeteners are poison. Sugar is not, though admittedly in large quantities, it can harm your teeth.

But do try to overcome addiction to a sweet taste, as neither product is nutritious. I used to autormatically put a couple of teaspoons of sugar in my tea, but these days, if someone has 'sugared' my tea without asking, and I take a sip, it tastes atrocious to me now.

[littleTigercub]

I love sweet foods, and to be honest, I cannot see myself ever being without either! Where possible, I use artificial sweeteners but do not feel so good about them either as I am aware of the implications. It`s about which one is the bigger evil, is it?

Fruit do not satisfy my sweet tooth either. Any advice?

littleTigercub

[assilembob]

I am in the same position as you littleTigercub! I am a sweet fiend!
I am also pre-diabetic so artificial sweetners are how I do it and don't have a choice.

~Mel

[indianvegan]

You can read here :-

http://www.health-n-energy.com/ARTICLES/9artsweet.htm

Manish

[cedarblue]

What do you actually think is worse - sugar or artificial sweeteners?

The messages you get are really confusing...

littleTigercub

sweeteners, no doubt.

have you tried fructose? its a fruit sugar you can get in supermarkets and health stores, its VERY sweet so you dont need as much as you would normally take of regular sugar.
what about maple syrup for sweetening? agarve syrup?

[soyabean]

It genuinley frightens me to see how nowadays artificial sweeteners are becoming the norm.
In supermarkets, the "no added sugar" (ie. full of artificial sweetener) soft-drinks appear to be the most popular ones now. In ASDA there are whole ranges of their own brand soft-drinks which only come in a "no added sugar" version, there isn't even a full-sugar version to choose if you wanted to.
And worst of all, loads of soft drinks now which appear to be a "full sugar" type, if you read the ingredients, actually have a mixture of sugar and some artificial sweetener too - presumably it's cheaper (or part of some fiendish ploy to get everybody addicted to their chemical conncoctions)
The most depressing sight has got to be spring water with a hint of elderflower (or whatever variety) that looks healthy until you check the ingredients and see the chemical sweetener in it)
There used to be a really nice brand of sparkling spring water in ASDA which actually was just spring water with added lemon or lime - no sugar, no sweetener - but they no longer sell that - only versions with sweetener in now.

The whole planet is going insane. In a world with Shakespeare and Beethoven, people actually watch Big Brother.
Oooh a bunch of personality-free vacuous morons in a house.
And what on earth has happened to MTV?
I used to have satellite TV years ago, and MTV had music on it.
I've just moved into a place with cable and can see MTV again for the 1st time in a couple of years - and all they have on it are appalling reality tv shows.
I thought MTV stood for Music TeleVision - when did that change?
Although I must admit, Viva La Bam is fun. Prolly cos I have such a crush on Bam Margera's mother
(sorry, drifting off-topic now)

[Makoto]

I read somewhere that artificial sweeteners would make people gain weight because they cause sugar cravings... You can google it, it's readily available.

Something with your brain gauging how many calories food has by it's sweeteness and then starting to think sweet stuff is calorie-free (cuz asparthame or sucralose or whatever artificial sweetener do not have calories) and makes u eat more and more of it...

i wonder if it would also hold for stevia... I wasn't a sugar-holic until I got hooked on artificial sweeteners. I'm also quiting them. Even the natural ones.. I have a fear of actual sugar and I want to break it. And I don't want chemicals in my body.

[Makoto]

oh ya,
the less I use artificial sweeteners or even the natural stuff like stevia, the less I crave sugary foods (i've really noticed it).

I thought at first i'd be pouring insane amounts of sugar on everything but i have been really surprised at how much less i feel i need things to be sweet.

I used to use sweeteners a LOT. and I made tea very very very SWEET.in fact quite sweeter than it could ever get with table sugar which is why i've had trouble quiting sweeteners. (i was using 2 Sugar Twins and a dash of Splenda.. it's *intensely* sweet)

[Tammy7]

[QUOTE=eve]Artificial sweeteners are poison. Sugar is not, though admittedly in large quantities, it can harm your teeth.

I’m trying to avoid extra calories in my diet as much as possible but it’s pretty difficult! So, I’ve found that diet drinks help to satisfy my cravings without the added calories. I don’t believe low-calorie sweeteners such as aspartame are harmful b/c there have been so many studies done proving their safety. Check out http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/1999/699_sugar.html, http://www.aspartame.org and http://www.diabetes.org/nutrition-and-recipes/nutrition/sweeteners.jsp

[ConsciousCuisine]

Well Darlin' there have been so many studies to "prove" that many toxic things are "safe". I'm no so trusting of organizations, scientists, doctors and others with thier own agendas...I know what my body, my studies, my clients have shown me; a whole foods, natural, organic/veganic vegan diet is the best.

[Sweets]

ok ok i'm convinced! no more!

[ConsciousCuisine]

I wouldn't feed artificial sweeteners to my worst enemy (if I had an enemy )

[andesuma]

try STEVIA.

google the term, or check out www.practicalhippie.com


It's an all natural sweet leaf, I use stevia powder in some teas and coffee, it has FIBER, and is GOOD FOR YOU, and is natural.
amazing.

It's sold as a dietary supplement in most natural food stores, because Equal/SweetnLow/GMO sugars, don't want competition!
Anyhow, it's perfect for diabetics, and you can cook with it.

check it out!

[Kevster]

Oh and don't forget the animal testing......

'MP calls for ban on 'unsafe' sweetener

Felicity Lawrence, consumer affairs correspondent
Thursday December 15, 2005
The Guardian

A member of the parliamentary select committee on food and the environment yesterday called for emergency action to ban the artificial sweetener aspartame, used in 6,000 food, drink and medicinal products.

The Liberal Democrat MP Roger Williams said in an adjournment debate in the Commons that there was "compelling and reliable evidence for this carcinogenic substance to be banned from the UK food and drinks market altogether".'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story...667734,00.html

[cvC]

There's quite a lot to be found about Aspartame here:

http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-...arch=rense.com

Here's something about High Fructose Corn Syrup that I saw recently:

http://www.rense.com/general69/fruc.htm

I think Stevia might be banned for human consumption in Britain, but I was bemoaning this to the owner of a health food shop and it turned out that they had some available that was labelled "animal consumption only".

[Apple_Blossem]

I've been watching several documentaries about Aspartame (NutraSweet) - the chemical sweetener in Diet Pepsi, Diet Coke, Sugarless gum, Sugar free Yogurt and many other products.

I was really surprised at how it was legalized! During the FDA tests on Aspartame, 5 of the seven animals (monkeys, rats, etc) who were fed it on a daily basis developed brain tumors, multiple-sclerosis (which my cousin just suddenly came down with), diabetes (three of my friends just developed this), leukemia (another friend just developed this), lupus, etc, midway through life. All seven of them came down with diabetes.



They say that these diseases increased by about 50% the year after this chemical was released in sodas. The FDA would refused to legalize it for human consumption on the basis that all three parts of Aspartame are poisonous:

1. Aspartic acid that has the same neurological side effects as MSG (which was yanked from baby food by the FDA)

2. Phenylalanine - which turns into Formaldehyde in your body (which is used by funeral homes to preserve corpses)

3. And Methyl alcohol (wood alcohol) which is the poison in antifreeze. The FDA refused to legalize Aspartame, that is, until Ronald Reagan "froze" the FDA (the day after he became president) so that they could not say "yay" or "nay" to legalizing chemicals for one month - just long enough time to get this money-making chemical legalized.


LEGALIZATION:
Ronald Reagan was friends with the president of the Aspartame company (Searle & Company): Donald Rumsfeld (now the Secretary of Defense).

Aspartame causes 92 different health problems (birth defects, blindness, seizures), and since the year it was legalized, 80% of all health complaints in the US made to the FDA each year are about Aspartame (headaches, migraines, aggression, ADD, seizures, depression, insomnia, heart palpitations and murmurs). These problems just go away when the person stops consuming the chemical.

I think this is interesting because my boyfriend has always had problems with a heart murmur and it was a big deal everytime he visited the dentist and had to get a cavity filled or when he went to the hospital to have checkups. When we quit all aspartame products three years ago, the murmur just "went away." :P It really makes me scratch my head and wonder if this chemical had anything to do with this, lol.

If you would like to see a complete list of the medical problems, google the words, "Aspartame Side Effects"

Maybe this can you on your search for good health .

Good luck


----------------------------------------------------------------
The symptoms of Aspartame:

Eye

blindness in one or both eyes
decreased vision and/or other eye problems such as: blurring, bright flashes, squiggly lines, tunnel vision, decreased night vision
pain in one or both eyes
decreased tears
trouble with contact lenses
bulging eyes

Ear

tinnitus - ringing or buzzing sound
severe intolerance of noise
marked hearing impairment
Neurologic
epileptic seizures
headaches, migraines and some severe
dizziness, unsteadiness, both
confusion, memory loss, both
severe drowsiness and sleepiness
paresthesia or numbness of the limbs
severe slurring of speech
severe hyperactivity and restless legs
atypical facial pain
severe tremors

Psychological/Psychiatric

severe depression
irritability
aggression
anxiety
personality changes
insomnia
phobias

Chest

palpitations, tachycardia
shortness of breath
recent high blood pressure

Gastrointestinal

nausea
diarrhea, sometimes with blood in stools
abdominal pain
pain when swallowing
Skin and Allergies
itching without a rash
lip and mouth reactions
hives
aggravated respiratory allergies such as asthma

Endocrine and Metabolic

loss of control of diabetes
menstrual changes
marked thinning or loss of hair
marked weight loss
gradual weight gain
aggravated low blood sugar (hypoglycemia)
severe PMS

Other

frequency of voiding and burning during urination
excessive thirst, fluid retention, leg swelling, and bloating
increased susceptibility to infection


Additional Symptoms of Aspartame Toxicity include the most critical symptoms of all
death

irreversible brain damage
birth defects, including mental retardation
peptic ulcers
aspartame addiction and increased craving for sweets
hyperactivity in children
severe depression
aggressive behavior
suicidal tendencies


Aspartame may trigger, mimic, or cause the following illnesses:

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Epstein-Barr
Post-Polio Syndrome
Lyme Disease
Grave’s Disease
Meniere’s Disease
Alzheimer’s Disease
ALS
Epilepsy
Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
EMS
Hypothyroidism
Mercury sensitivity from Amalgam fillings
Fibromyalgia
Lupus
non-Hodgkins
Lymphoma
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)

[Haniska]

I thought MTV stood for Music TeleVision - when did that change?
Although I must admit, Viva La Bam is fun. Prolly cos I have such a crush on Bam Margera's mother
(sorry, drifting off-topic now)

My gf and I have a crush on Bam, of course, he is definatly UN date-able.
Back on thread, is aspartame vegan? I like to have a Fresca at my work about every week- 3 months. I haven't since I went vegan(fearing animal testing )but I do miss them.

[sarahblue]

My father and I have both been heavy Diet Coke drinkers for the past 15 years, 4+ a day (him, probably longer). I've noticed that we've both have progressively started to develop problems with memory and focusing. We've been getting more scatterbrained as the years have gone by, and his age might explain his problem, but not mine, I'm only 25! I have a very hard time with school when I'm studying, when I'm reading the textbooks, it takes me 2-3 times as long as it should, because I can't comprehend sentences that I just read. I have to FORCE myself to pay close attention to what I'm reading because if I don't, I won't retain any information. I have horrible short term memory with a lot of things. He's just forgetful and unattentive in general.

My point is, I have absolutely no proof whatsoever that any of this was caused by aspartame, but for some reason, I think it's a big factor, for both me and my father. I do realize that correlation doesn't equal causation, but it's more of a gut instinct (I know, stupid).

This has actually been a huge problem for me. I go through my day in basically a fog, I don't really completely focus on anything. I've had an MRI, an EEG, and a day-long session with a neuropsycologist to determine what exactly my problem is. Everything came out normal.

I've cut my diet soda intake to a couple drinks a week. Honestly, I only get it when I run out of my vitamin water.

[Apple_Blossem]

If I were you, I would switch some lower-callorie drink like gatorade (I know this is a junk-food choice), but if you want something with flavor, perhaps this can help.

You can also buy the powder mix and put it in your water. Food coloring and flavoring is a lot healthier than a low dose poison that is slowly tearing down your system.

[lavender]

Can anyone tell me of products in the Uk that do not contain Aspartame please? Almost every label I check has it in - I just checked what I thought was my healthy water with a hint of fruit and lo and behold its in there!

[Sproutpout]

[QUOTE=LyricSarah] then I started chewing like tons of sugar free gum and I used tons and tons of splenda....I did this to avoid sugar....QUOTE]

Erm anyone that does tha shouldnt! I hate sugar but i was feeling really lightheaded the other week and my mum lifted a sachet of splenda for my tea. I was lucky enough to see in tiny writing on the back "Contains Lactose"
If im not mistaken thats from milk. Ive been paranoid ever since, I read ingredients in everything now, and i was vegetarian for 4 years and vegan almost a year now.
Vegans rule!

[PainterLady]

Caffeine is a bronchodilator and I probably became a diet coke addict because it helps a bit with some of the effects of passive smoking in the street.

I don't mind if ppl keep their smoke to themselves, the problem is they rarely do!

I'll quit caffeine when no-one smokes in my presence ever, including in the street, is that a fair deal??

OMG! Diet coke is really dangerous. Have you ever read anything about aspartame?
http://www.aspartamekills.com/

[Lilac Hamster]

Yes Painter Lady, I do know it is probably bad for me, and I am not actually recommending it to other ppl. The big difference between me and smokers is I don't force my bad habits onto other people. I don't think anyone gets second hand aspartame or second hand caffeine from me, so I do not harm others.

I find diet coke just happens to work a bit for me and I have tried all sorts of things over the years to relieve the symptoms I get from cig smoke in the street (obviously I don't go any indoor place with smoke). I don't drink 20 bottles a day or anything like that, I would be in the loo all the time, it's more like 2 or 3 half litres usually. I rarely drink coffee. Cola makes me wee a bit more than I would like it to but I know caffeine does that.

I think the sugary variety would be worse for me as I am already a bit overweight and do not want to add to that.

The difference between me and VeganBarbie is she did actually suggest occasional smoking to offset effects of caffeine withdrawal, so I had to take issue with that and point out my experience of severe illness from passive smoking and my own experience of caffeine too.

I've never personally suffered any bad effects from aspartame but totally believe that some ppl do. I've gone through the misery of having most ppl not believing me about how bad smoke affects me, so I would not be unsympathetic to anyone with an adverse effect from aspartame (or anything in their food or drink).

As far as I am concerned even a small amount of tobacco smoke is far more dangerous for me than aspartame or caffeine, and we really should consider individual sensitivities more than we do.

Lesley

[PainterLady]

"I don't think anyone gets second hand aspartame or second hand caffeine from me, so I do not harm others."
this is not true. When you pee, it gets into the water supply. Did you read that site? Just worried about you. It is an addictive , insidious drug that actually has been proven to make you gain weight.

[Lilac Hamster]

How can make you gain weight if it has no calories or hardly any calories? I used to drink tons of it when I did Weight Watchers a few years ago, and was the one in the group who lost a pound or two almost every week. So long as I ate the right amount and exercised self-control I did fine, the weight dropped off, 3 stones in 4 months, because I was doing it right, and still drinking aspartame laden drinks. I am only overweight now quite simply because I eat too much (the same as almost anyone else who is overweight). I keep promising myself I will do something about it and I will when I am ready to. I know I can do it when I put my mind to it, with or without diet drinks. I don't see how I can blame the aspartame for my being a bit greedy! I believe we have to take responsibility for our own bad habits and mine to some extent is that I overeat, no excuses and no blaming anything or anyone else but myself for that.

I admit I had not thought of it going into the water supply, but then I should think it is pretty much negligible compared to the smoke and fumes from cars as well as cigarette smoke in the air we all breathe.

We are all different, some ppl smoke and never get cancer or even emphysema from it, some of us drink aspartame drinks and never get bad effects. People have different areas of sensitivity.

Since human beings can be so different from one another in how they react to chemicals and drugs, it always totally amazes me how anyone can believe that animal experiments can be accurate in predicting how something will affect people.

I looked a bit at that site, it says some ppl with MS might have aspartame toxicity. I will go back and read a bit more.

Lesley

[PainterLady]

Don't kill the messenger...

[PainterLady]

http://www.rense.com/general68/maess.htm
The mass poisoning of humanity: an exploration of human stupidity As human beings, we're the only species stupid enough to actually poison ourselves. As part of modern living, we create a wide variety of chemical toxins that go into the ecosystem through rivers and streams, the air, the soil and so on. Not only that, we actually synthesize toxic chemicals and then inject them directly into the food supply -- knowing full well that they are poisonous and are major contributors to the epidemic rates of chronic disease we are experiencing today. Aspartame is an excitotoxin, that is, a neurotoxic chemical, and it breaks down in your body into both formic acid and formaldehyde. Now, would you like to go out and drink some formaldehyde? Well, you might do that if you were a biological specimen that needed to be preserved for dissection, but if you're a normal, healthy, sane human being, you'd never drink formaldehyde. Unless, of course, they put it in an artificial sweetener compound and added it to cans of your favorite carbonated soft drink, in which case Americans will gladly drink formaldehyde in can after can, poisoning their nervous systems, going half blind, experiencing epilepsy and increasing the onset of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. Again, we're the only species stupid enough to actually poison ourselves with these chemicals. And yet we have entire groups, food lobbies and public apologizers who run around saying that these ingredients are perfectly good for you. There's nothing wrong with drinking formaldehyde and formic acid. You'll be fine! Drink more! Here, in fact here's a 50 percent more coupon, so you can buy even more!

[Seaside]

smoking, drinking coffee, and/or drinking alcohol are less risky than most otc/script meds...

I think people are reading too much into this comparison. If a person drinks a gallon of water all in one go they will die. No one dies from smoking one cigarette. Its a matter of degree.

A severe caffeine dependency is health threatening, especially if the caffeine is coming from coffee rather than another source, and smoking a few cigarettes to deal with the headache caused by caffeine withdrawal will not cause the immediate gastric bleeding that taking an aspirin or Advil will. And though smoking cigarettes is habit forming, people can also develop dependencies on NSAIDs, and people who do die from the complications of taking these OTC drugs die a lot more quickly than those who eventually develop cancer from smoking cigarettes.

As a population, humans have thrived for thousands of years without the benefit of the modern "miracles" of things like aspirin, flu vaccines, etc. They have, however, been drinking alcohol and smoking all kinds of things, without the explosion of degenerative diseases we see today. I'm not advocating the smoking of tobacco or the drinking of alcohol, but there is, for example, quite a tradition in Native American culture of the medicinal and ritual use of tobacco smoke. And that is unadulterated tobacco, not the chemical-laden stuff being sold today.

Since humans in general have done quite well for themselves in the past five million years of evolution without modern drugs, I think the burden of proof should be on the pharmaceutical companies who make huge profits off them to show they are not harmful, and that the people who take them regularly are actually healthier than those who do not.

[Seaside]

How can make you gain weight if it has no calories or hardly any calories?


Lesley

The sweetness can trigger insulin release, in spite of the fact that there is no sugar in aspartame. When there is too much insulin in the bloodstream, the calories you do eat are stored as fat rather than burned, so that's how artificial sweeteners can lead to weight gain in some people.

[Seaside]

Aspartame is an excitotoxin, that is, a neurotoxic chemical, and it breaks down in your body into both formic acid and formaldehyde.

I've read that morticians claim that they do not have to use anywhere near as much embalming fluid as they used to, because people are already halfway embalmed by the crap they spend a lifetime eating.

[VeganBarbie]

I would just like to share a quote with everyone from my favorite Vegan Book, "Skinny Bitch":

"Diet sodas contain formaldehyde, and if you are not familiar with that let me explain. It is a chemical used to preserve things in scientific experiments, maybe it is preserving the fat on your ass"

Smoke 4 packs a day
Eat meat every other day
Drink 3 glasses of milk a day
Eat 4000 calories a day
Drink 2 glasses vodka each night
Pop a handful of script pain meds every other night

If you are drinking DIET anything, I dont care if it is made with splenda, equal, sweet'n low, or aspartame you should also just pick two things from the above list and do them as well. Because it wouldn't be doing you any more damage as long as you drink DIET drinks/eat DIET snacks. I even learned in NURSING SCHOOL that just because they say they dont have calories doesn't mean you dont have to burn it off. Calorie free just means your body doesn't recognize what they are, and can go ahead and store them on your body anyway with no way to "use them".. that means "diet" drinks will stick to your thighs...forever with no way to use then as real energy!! (That is scary) Be careful.

"If it says sugar free, fat free, low cal, low carb, or cal free, read those words as CHEMICAL SH*T STORM and run as far as you can!!!"

~Skinny Bitch (Oh I just love that book)

[VeganBarbie]

Thank God you stopped! Good for you!!

[Kirska]

You might try some stevia/stevia crystals, evaporated cane juice, or other natural sweeteners.
Stevia, for one, isn't bad at all for your teeth. Bacteria doesn't really obsess over the stuff, ya know. It's free of calories, and yet wholely natural. I've never heard of anyone having health problems related to stevia, though the FDA will have tried to convince you otherwise.

Good thing that you stopped, though. Aspartame, for one, is literally a poison. It was even used as rat poison for years. Nutrasweet and other types of artificial sweeteners will gladly boast about how their product is "derived from natural sugar". What they won't tell you is that it has been synthetically extracted and alone does your body harm. Something people don't realize, sometimes, is that no matter how "safe" it's said to be, it still causes an unbelievable amount of after-digestion acid. In truth, most artificial sweeteners have an ash pH similar to that of battery acid in your car battery. The same goes for pure and white sugar, red meats, fish, medical drugs, and a multitude of other things. Now, how do you think your body's going to handle all of this acid? Try to get rid of it, right? Free radicals left and right in the waste-filtering organs, and a ton of damage later the free radicals have been stabalized by antioxidants. Some of that acid is also neutralized before hand when your body uses its emergency supply of alkalitic substances (like calcium from your bones) to deal with them. In fact, one of the major causes of problems like acne is SUGAR, artificial sweeteners, meats, dairy, cooked foods, and non-organic, chemically altered, and/or heat treated fruits and vegetables. Eventually your body has an overload problem and has no other option than to kick acidic waste out, bit by bit, through your pores. Good luck to you, because this acidic playground provides the perfect pH for a bacterial populace! This can cause all sorts of problems, including acne, dry skin, skalp issues, slowed healing,... the list goes on and on.

*cough* So yeah, I just like to hear myself type, I guess.
Point: Vegans who use (when able) organic products, real, live, and raw foods, and get plenty of water are far better off in the case of blemishes and internallity than typical meat eaters and those who 'just don't believe in that weird stuff'.

[Tikkin]

Oh no, I've been taking sweetner in my tea and coffee for ages now. Always thought it was better than sugar. Looks like I should try cut it out I suppose, does anyone know if Stevia is available in the UK, in places like Holland and Barrett?

[Tigerlily]

I've decided to quit my Diet Pepsi addiction (a secret I never mentioned too munch here, I even omit on the "what did you eat today" thread). It's been 5 days so far. I was already down to only a few small bottles a month. Today I had my first real craving but I had some tea and it sort of went away.

[Tikkin]

This morning I had some sugar in my tea instead of sweetner. It's a start

[cvC]

does anyone know if Stevia is available in the UK, in places like Holland and Barrett?

No, it's not, and I think it might even be illegal to sell it for human consumption in these shores, but I raised the subject in an independent health store some time back and they had some which they'd labelled for animal consumption - I can't say I really liked the taste though. A naturally occurring sweetener I've seen for sale and haven't tried is Xylitol and below is the Wikipedia page for it, but, as someone who doesn't believe in the consumption of alcoholic beverages, I'm a bit perplexed by the the description of it as a sugar alcohol - what does that mean?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylitol

[SpaceMonkey]

Wow. I knew it was unhealthy, but I didn't realize it was this bad. I've been using splenda and aspartame every day for the past year or so. I hope there's some way to undo the damage.