It's Time to Think for Ourselves About Artificial Sweeteners

I'm at the stage in my book where I talk about sugar and all its derivatives. I just have to put a bit about artificial sweeteners in my blog right now because it's so insidious and we are so misled. I don't think there is another section of my book where I get so riled up!

I continue to hear that the latest newfangled artificial sweetener in yellow packets is safe even though this is nonsense. “I talked with my pharmacist about it and he said it's fine,” one person said. Now Hear This… artificial sweeteners in any form, no matter how they are advertised to us, are not healthy alternatives. You can’t afford to be ignorant about what you put into your body, and your pharmacist is a legal drug dealer. Pharmacists, bless them, distribute synthetic drugs to a nation that is becoming sicker by the minute. They are not knowledgeable about holistic healing. Although I must say, European pharmacists, bless them too, have much awareness about herbs and natural remedies.

The truth about artificial sweeteners has been difficult to come by. We are told to stay away from sugar to avoid obesity and lose weight. But the nation turned to chemical substitutes and became fatter than ever. It’s not sugar that made Americans obese. We’ve had that all along. What we didn’t always have was processed foods, many of which contain artificial sweeteners that are suspected of causing cancer.

I offer you an overview in my book (I'm on the final edits!) of some of the most popular sweeteners because I believe it’s time we step into our own power, take our brains back from the all-pervasive advertisement culture we live in, and know what we are putting into our own bodies.

Here is some background on just one of the insidious little things: Aspartame.

Manufactured by Monsanto Chemical Corporation, the same company responsible for pesticides that kill not only pests in your yard, but the earth itself, you’ll recognize aspartame as "Nutrasweet" and "Equal."

Despite this common knowledge, I still find these poisons on restaurant tables everywhere.

Aspartame is a neurotoxin and excitotoxin sometimes seen on labels listed as “Phenylketonurics: Contains Phenylalanine.” It can be found in over-the-counter and prescription drugs often listed under “inactive ingredients.” It is also responsible for the majority of adverse reactions, such as headaches and allergies, reported to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

A common additive in processed food, aspartame breaks down into methanol that converts to formaldehyde. Formaldehyde has been shown to denature and mutate DNA. Classified as a human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, formaldehyde is deemed a probable cause of cancer by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. This information was put out by the National Cancer Institute on their formaldehyde fact sheet.

This is but one more reason to convert your diet to whole foods that are found in nature, and to eliminate processed, packaged products.