I've been doing some reading on aspartame, since I've admitted on this blog in the past that I'm a Diet Coke addict. (Here in the South, we call everything Coke. As in: What kind of Coke would you like? Diet Pepsi or Mountain Dew?) I'm don't actually care what kind it is. I'm just as happy with a Diet Pepsi, a Diet Rite, Diet Coke, Caffeine Free Diet Whatever...So I've often thought I must not be addicted to them, since not having the caffeine doesn't diminish my craving for them. Wrong.
I figure I drink about ten Diet drinks a day. On the days we don't have any in the house, I make a drink Crystal Light by the gallons (more aspartame). Well someone asked me if I had ever gone to the www.aspartamekills.com website. Uh..no....but when I was asked, I figured it's some nut case who just wants to create some sort of hype about artificial sweetners being bad for you. But I agreed to look. Turns out it's actually a lot of news videos, investigative reports from various news programs, plus interviews with the original FDA- appointed research team whose opinions to NOT approve it were dismissed by the FDA.
But what interested me the most were the list of symptoms aspartame can cause, including vision problems, hearing loss, depression, fatigue, weight gain, etc. etc.
I had been diagnosed with about seventy-five percent of the symptoms in the last ten years. Freaky.
I've made resolutions to stop drinking them many times in the past. I honestly think it would be easier for a junkie to stop using heroin. At least they have inpatient detox programs for that. They don't have a place to lock up people who would scream out the windows for a Diet soda. So, if Diet drinks are really bad for you, if they really cause all these problems, including weight gain, then why is there such a big hype to sell so many? Hmmm...MONEY!
I'm just one person, but I figure I drink about fifteen dollars of Diet Coke a week. Over the last ten years, that means I've spent almost $8,000 on Diet drinks.
Needless to say, the more Diet Coke I drink, the less water I drink. My veins run Diet Coke.
I'm going to have to give these things up. I found a challenge online: Give up aspartame for sixty days. If you don't feel dramatically better, then go back to drinking them. Sounds like a good challenge to me.
P.S. My son-in-law said he lost weight by giving up Diet Drinks. He may be on to something there.
3 comments:
You don't have to give them up completely -- just cut back to 1 or 2 per day.
Yeah, just cut back. I'm rather impressed, though, that you drink that much of anything during the day. I drink a lot at work, but once I get home. . .nothing. Needless to say, I have lots of headaches over the weekend.
I drink Pepsi, regular Pepsi. About a month ago I decided to start drinking diet Pepsi. I wanted my Pepsi without all the calories.
It took 5 days for the aspartame to get to me. I was irritable, had terrible headaches and felt kinda blah all the time. I went back to my regular Pepsi.
Looks like if I'm going to drop some pounds I'm going to have to work them off darn it.
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