Veg Menu For The Week: Aspartame Is Poison!

It appears that with each newsletter I set myself on another path to taking better care of myself, moving toward a healthier me and addressing some of my own issues. I am hoping as I continue on this journey of self discovery that I can affect some of you out there to do the same. As a result of last week’s newsletter, I recognized that it was time to address my diet cola addiction based on what I was reading about caffeine. What I did not focus on then is that although caffeine is not something I want to be addicted to, the real issue with this addiction is Aspartame.

What exactly is Aspartame? It is the combination of two amino acids, aspartic acid and glutamic acid. These two acids combined create an artificial sweetener, a chemical compound that is branded under many different banners. It comes in yellow, pink and blue packets. It is stocked in many coffee house, restaurants and cafes. We throw in our hot beverages and we give it to our children without a thought. It is what food and beverage manufacturers use to sweeten products we as consumers want to indulge in rather than put crazy amounts of sugar into our systems. Mmm...Do you think that we if we practiced self control and restraint we might not ever need to consider sweeteners? But no, we want what we want when we want it and we would rather damage our health! Are we foolish, uniformed or just not interested?

On a ‘pro’ aspartame site, http://www.aspartame.net this is how it is described ‘Aspartame is a low-calorie sweetening ingredient that tastes like sugar and is used in many foods we consume every day, including carbonated beverages, dairy products, fruit spreads, chewing gums and candies. It is also widely used as a tabletop sweetener. Because aspartame is up to 200 times sweeter than sugar, it can replace up to 99 percent of the calories in soft drinks. Without this low-calorie sweetener, many of the reduced-calorie and light products that are in such great demand today would not be possible.’

On another site, Dr. Joseph Mercola who has been a Dr. Oz guest, states that ‘Aspartame is, by Far, the Most Dangerous Substance on the Market that is Added To Foods’. Follow this link and read more. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/06/aspartame-most-dangerous-substance-added-to-food.aspx.

How could two opinions be so far to the opposite ends of the scale? One site lists the benefits of using aspartame; others list it as a toxin. These are pretty extreme in comparison with one another! It was during the time when US President, Ronald Reagan held office, the approval for aspartame was passed. Wikipedia states that the head of the Food and Drug Administrator at the time, Jere E. Goyan, was not on board with the approval due to the findings of brain cancer in test rats. Rather than consider that this was not healthy for ‘the people’ and listen to their commissioner at the time, this government asked Jere E. Goyan PhD to resign. He was asked to resign so that Donald Rumsfeld , at the time, CEO of Searle manufacturer of aspartame could get the approval pushed through. This is blatant proof that the governments really do not care how they affect our food chain. Will the interference ever stop?

In my research for this newsletter, I cannot tell you how many websites I found that bestow horrible, negative and frightening information about this toxic substance. I thought it might be an easier read to list some of what I found with links so you can educate yourself regarding something that never should have made it into our diets. Some of what you are about to read is eye opening, I just hope it will affect you the way it has me!

Did you know?

That aspartame is considered a drug, http://www.newswithviews.com/NWVexclusive/exclusive15.htm
That due to the Freedom of Information Act the FDA had to release a report ‘LIST OF 92 SYMPTOMS ON ASPARTAME’ http://www.wnho.net/fda_92_symptoms_on_aspartame.htm
That Dr. Janet Hull, who has great presents on the web almost died from aspartame poisoning and had gone on to write extensively about what she calls ‘sweet poison’ http://www.sweetpoison.com/ and has a book out Splenda®: Is It Safe Or Not? http://www.issplendasafe.com/

I have gotten this far and I am literally sick to my stomach reading; do I really need to list 10 more sites as proof our governments have allowed something that never should have been approved to affect so many of us so gravely? All I can say is there are far more sites expressing the negativity of aspartame toxicity than those that support the use of. What is sad is that we are not hearing this information; we are not listing to these websites. When are we going to wake up and smell the acid?

After last week’s newsletter, I have received a few emails from other diet cola addicts and one brought me to tears reading it:

Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2012 11:43:41

To: Vegetarian Menu For The Week<lyndsay@vegmenufortheweek.com

Subject: Re: The Negative Effects of Caffeine

Hello,

I love caffeine and have cut down to one cup of coffee a day, and figure we all need vices so that is mine! However, I am writing to tell you something that may entice you to cut out diet cola all together. 15 years ago I started losing my eye sight in my right eye, since then I have become blind in that eye due to a tumor which has grown around my optic nerve and crushed it. They have been doing MRIs on me for years to ensure tumor not growing back and crushing other optic nerve. They have found 3 small benign tumours on my brain which are causing no issues, but here it comes..... They tell me it's due to the aspartame in diet coke! I used to drink it daily and now drink soda water so I get my fizzy addiction filled. Apparently aspartame is a big contributor to brain tumors. Best of luck with your addiction and may my story inspire you to refrain and find your caffeine intake elsewhere.

Jennifer

On a personal note, it has been one week since I stopped drinking diet cola. I have been nauseous and headachy with fevers and chills. I have dark circles under my eyes and I have been miserable both at home and at work. These symptoms are from the withdrawal of chemicals from my body which has been operating with since high school when I ate every lunch with a diet cola. I can only pray that I am able to champion this addiction for the sake of my health!

Thanks for reading!

Laurie and Lyndsay

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What’s on the menu this week?