I'm allergic to aspartame. Whenever I have it, I get intense dizzy spells and headaches. It's getting worse each time. I had a bit of diet mt. dew cause I was so thirsty and that was all there was. Just a sip. Next morning by 9:00, I was in my bed not able to move. It was the worst in years. I used to drink diet all the time. We decided that we'd take out the cokes and see if my headaches improved. They did. We also think it's a genetic sensitivity since some of my family blame my grandmothers brain tumor on her diet coke habit.
Personally, I hate the taste of artificial sweeteners. I've said before about Splenda "Tastes like crap cause it's made from crap."
What I've heard, as someone mentioned, is that when your body craves sweet and gets sweet it expects calories, and when it doesn't it craves more sweet. When my body craves sugar I give it sugar (or not, but I don't give it fake sugar).
What I avoid whenever possible is high fructose corn syrup. If you've ever seen those Juicy Juice commercials, where they very graphically illustrate what exactly HFCS is, syrup that is pure sugar. Now when I drink soda I get a bad aftertaste and I crave water. I believe it's been loosely linked to obesity, but I can't quote anything on that.
Basically, I'd rather consume small amounts of real sugar than any amount of fake sugar or chemically derived processed sugar products ("processed cheese product" anyone?).
You may have heard that aspartame causes cancer in rats, but they give the rats huge quantities of the stuff in relation to their body weight. It would be something like you eating your body weight in aspartame, which you could probably do in your lifetime if you drink nothing but diet drinks.
Also, there's been no long term research on Splenda. I don't care to find out. This isn't about losing weight for me. I stopped consuming HFCS a long time ago, in a simple attempt to just eat healthier, more natural products. I actually lost some weight without even trying when I started that.
I use Splenda for cooking as it keeps its sweetness, but I do not use a lot. It does overpower things. I would rather have something a little bland, or sour than overly sweet. That being said, I love aspertame. I try to only have 4 packs a day, all in my coffees. (2, one in am, one decaf at night and LARGE cups)
I don't like baking with Splenda either. The only thing I really bake anymore are muffins. I either use a small amount of applesauce for sweetner or just leave sugar out all together. It really is a matter of what you get accustomed to.
Personally, I'm allergic to aspartame. Like others mentioned, I get very dizzy and can't think very clearly if I consume too much (I'm usually okay if it's just one yogurt or something), and I even went to the emergency room one time when it happened because I hadn't figured out the cause. I couldn't focus on reading, watching TV, my balance was very off, etc. They couldn't find out what was wrong with me and said it was probably some sort of strange virus, but I later realized it was because that particular week I had started drinking more Crystal Light because I had gotten tired of plain water.
So, on that note, I eat and drink things that contain splenda, and will fudge on aspartame if it's only a little bit (like in a piece of gum), but anymore than that and I am very very wary of it just because of my personal reaction to it.
I have "simple partial seizures" which are simply deja-vu type of experiences 3-4 times a year ... I know it's happening, but no one else can tell. After I got pregant, I started having them once a month. I read something about seizures and aspartame, stopped consuming it, and it's now been over 20 months and I haven't had another one.
Also, aspartame blocks serotonin which is the chemical in your brain that helps to decrease your appetite. Some studies have shown that rats which were fed aspartame (not sure about the concentrations, so this may/may not apply to anyone who uses it in moderation) ate more food and gained more weight.
The Chairman of the Board at Searl (the company that makes aspartame) at the time it was pushed through the FDA was Donald Rumsfeld. http://www.rense.com/general33/legal.htm
Last edited by fireballgirl; 03-29-2009 at 10:29 PM.
It's all poison, Splenda, Sweet n' Low, Nutrisweet and the other one -can't think of the name. The slowly kill brain cells and can actually cause symptoms like Alzeimers. I did an article in college (nursing school) on Cokes left in the desert (heat) during the Gulf War and the results of our military drinking them. There were many documentated brain damaging cases. Jillian Michaels also is a big advocate against sweetners - especially Splenda and said since she no longer consumes it, its like her brain woke up! LOL
We also think it's a genetic sensitivity since some of my family blame my grandmothers brain tumor on her diet coke habit.
