Unhealthy Verses Healthy Sweetener

When I was growing up everyone who was watching their weight used artificial sweeteners. Synthetic Sweeteners were very popular. Back then we did not understand the dangers of using artificial, chemical, synthetic sweeteners. We used lots and lots of them without any thought about the risks involved.

Today the public is well aware of the harmful nature of using these caustic sweeteners. Used very sparingly there may not be any harm but who wants to eat anything sweet sparingly? Not me!

Before we look at the Healthy Sweetener, let's take a look of two very popular brands on the market today.

DISORDERS ASSOCIATED WITH ASPARTAME

• Birth Defects
• Cancer
• Brain Tumors
• Diabetes
• Emotional Disorders
• Epilepsy/Seizures

For a more comprehensive list of Health Risks and Disease Connections to Aspartame click on Dr. Mercola.com website for an article on:ASPARTAME .... What you don't know Can hurt you.

Splenda CAN adversely affect the body in several ways because it IS a chemical substance and not natural sugar

Dr. Janet Starr Hull wrote a Book called, Splenda, Is it Safe or not? New chemical sweeteners (like Splenda) and the sweetener blends (aspartame, sucralose and acesulfame K blended together in one product) may be causing users to show signs of weight gain, disruption of sleep patterns, sexual dysfunction, increases in cancer, MS, Lupus, diabetes, and a list of epidemic degenerative diseases. The corporations continue to stand tough in their denial of any connection to chemical sweetener additives

Chlorine is commonly found in nature, but almost always in combination with other building block elements. Chlorine's structure makes it very reactive and because it is so reactive, it is very useful to chemists, engineers and others involved in making things humans use every day.

A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

I had been eating the Atkin‘s "Advantage" bars for a long time (but only several a week). The label says that they are sweetened with sucralose, which is the other name for Splenda. Last fall when my husband was on a hunting trip (and I wanted a break from cooking) I drank a lot of canned Atkin‘s shakes, and they contain tons of sucralose. At the end of the week, one evening, I had unbelievable wretching/vomiting for five hours straight. I could not even get off of the floor. The next day I went on the Internet and did a search for Splenda and sucralose and found that I was not alone. Go to www.mercola.com and type in "Splenda" or "sucralose" on Dr. Mercola‘s search engine. There are around 30 testimonies about it telling of all the adverse reactions that people are having from using it.

Among the many symptoms were "wretching/vomiting". At that time I totally quit using anything with Splenda or sucralose in it. Note: While you are on Dr. Mercola‘s Web site, type in "Nutrasweet" or "aspartame" (the Diet Coke sweetener) and read about what a poisonous substance THAT is. It has caused blindness and even death.

Three weeks ago (my husband was on a fishing trip this time) I bought some "Lo-carb banana muffins" at the health food store. I didn‘t check the label, but trusted the "health" food store. I ate one muffin that afternoon and one more in the morning. What happened to me was unbelievable. My left hip joint and the surrounding muscles became so extremely sore that I had to walk as if I were crippled. Lying on my left side caused excruciating pain.

At the time I thought that I had developed a combination of osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia (but OVERNIGHT?). I even bought a book called "The Arthritis Cure." I also went on a total cleansing diet, which soon eliminated the symptoms. I prayed for understanding. Finally (after a week) I tracked down what had happened to me. The label on the muffin package said that they contained "sucralose." I printed out and re-read the testimonies on Dr. Mercola‘s site and was amazed to see that others had experienced these same symptoms, plus many others, including depression and panic attacks.

Unfortunately, with the "Low-Carb Craze" Splenda and sucralose are in everything now. I saw regular Pepsi at WalMart yesterday with a sign that said: "1/2 the sugar." I looked at the label and sure enough, it said: "sucralose."

The problem is that people won‘t believe it unless they have experienced it themselves. When I tell people about it, they say that sucralose doesn‘t bother them, that I must have an allergy to it or a sensitive body. Well, believe me, it affects EVERYONE, whether they believe it or not! The whole world is looking for cures for cancer, arthritis, MS, MD, and all those terrible diseases. Do they want to check out the chemical poisons in our food supply? Oh, no! Of course not! Big business is too worried about the almighty dollar!

--originally posted on Barbara Dewey‘s Web site

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ANOTHER PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Dear Dr. Mercola,

I wanted to thank you for posting your article regarding sucralose, and to inform you of my reaction to eating it today.

I bought a low-carb bar called "Ultimate Lo Carb" by Biochem at a local health food store. I have been eating foods low in starchy carbs and thought this might be a good snack bar. Well, almost immediately after eating eat I became nauseous. Then my stomach starting cramping and I began dry heaving.

I wondered what could have caused this and decided to try and read the label. The only ingredient I did not recognize was "sucralose".

So, I jumped on the internet and did a search for it and found your article. In the meantime I was heaving and feeling even worse. Well, I am allergic to chlorine, as well as having a liver that doesn‘t function very well (I take a natural supplement called "Lipogen" for liver support as prescribed by my ND), and when I saw what you had to say about sucralose, I figured that was what was causing it.

I kept feeling worse, and I decided I needed to get it out of my system and took some ipecac (maybe not the best move, but the only thing I could think of). By the time the syrup got into my stomach the heaving was getting worse and intestinal distress was setting in. It was like eating bad seafood. I nearly died of food poisoning by crab legs a number of years back, and this was the closest thing to that feeling.

Finally everything in my system started coming out, and my body didn‘t stop until my entire digestive tract was cleared out. I have never reacted this violently to anything I have eaten except for when I have had food poisoning.

Something needs to be done to get this product off the market.

I can‘t help but be convinced that the FDA takes payoffs. No ethical person could approve the use of things like MSG (another thing I cannot tolerate eating), which is classified by the FDA as an excitotoxin and is known to be harmful to the central nervous system. I will do everything to get people to read your article and get the word out on the FDA‘s latest blunder.

Best,
Julie Philips

Fructose Turns into Fat Far Faster than Other Sugars and Fats

The media has recently covered and reported the science of fructose.

Fructose is Far worse than ANY other sugars. Fructose is processed in your live and most of it gets turned into fat storage. This is why fructose is a primary culprit behind obesity—far more so than any other sugars. If you drink two bottles of soda a day which contains fructose ... count on gaining a pound of fat per week!

There are other health risks besides obesity that comes with the consumption of Fructose. The Cleveland Clinic states: Consuming foods high in simple sugars significantly contributes to high triglycerides.You will also find a list of other contributors to high triglycerides on website.

Intense research over the past 40 years has confirmed that elevated blood levels of triglycerides, known as hypertriglyceridemia, puts you at an increased risk of heart disease.

Meanwhile, one of the most thorough scientific analyses published to date on this topic found that fructose consumption not only leads to insulin resistance but also decreases leptin signaling to your central nervous system. Leptin is responsible for controlling your appetite and fat storage, as well as telling your liver what to do with its stored glucose.

When your body can no longer "hear' leptin's singnals, weight gain, diabetes and a host of related conditions may occur. So, as you can see, fructose contributes to poor health through a number of mechanisms...

High fructose corn syrup: When you eat 120 calories of glucose, less than one calorie is stored as fat. 120 calories of fructose, on the other hand, results in 40 calories being stored as fat. Consuming fructose is essentially consuming fat!

The metabolism of fructose by your liver creates a long list of waste products and toxins, including a large amount of uric acid, which drives up blood pressure and causes gout.

Fructose also interferes with your brains communication with leptin, resulting in overeating.

Okay, this is where I think I may loose some of you. I can hear you right through the computer .. you are screaming ... Come ON! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? Some of you are going to look at this and say WHAT! What the world ... Everybody eats sugar it's like The American Apple PIE right? WRONG! I have a daughter who is terribly allergic to sugar .. after consuming sugar she almost passes out. She has aches and pains in the middle of the night ... many and various symptoms that are directly related to SUGAR. Most of us know people who have hypoglycemia and diabetes right? If some people react to sugar consumption by developing blood sugar issues, doesn't it make sense that other's would develop other types of side affects to sugar?

On a website by Garden of Life, a quote from the book, How to Stay Young and Healthy in a Toxic World, Ann Louise Gittleman writes: “Despite what mainstream media would like us to believe, sugar is not an innocent substance that gives us pleasure and causes no harm. Quite the contrary; there is perhaps nothing else in the diet that promotes disease and aging more over the long term than excess sugar.” Read more on one of my favorite resources: Garden of Life

In Reference to sugar, Dr. Mercola states, "This Addictive Commonly Used Food Feeds Cancer Cells, Triggers Weight Gain, and Promotes Premature Aging." He has two video's about the Dangers of Sugar on his website.

Here are a few more maladies that are attributable to sugar:

1. Sugar can suppress your immune system and impair your defenses against infectious disease.
2. Sugar can cause can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline, hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children.
3. Sugar feeds cancer cells and has been connected with the development of cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate, rectum, pancreas, biliary tract, lung, gallbladder and stomach

If you want more information about the detrimental affects of sugar to our bodies, just google "Dangers of Sugar." You will be amazed at what comes up. I think it's one of the Best kept Secrets today.

So hopefully you have learned the DANGERS of using these artificial, chemical sweeteners. What now? Enter Stevia... Ta Da!! Finally there is a sweetener that is 100% natural and Safe. As an added bonus is good for you too. Stevia contains antioxidants and fiber and more. Do a search online to discover more health benefits. Stevia is much sweeter than white sugar so you only need a tiny bit. Stevia is approved as a Dietary Supplement in the USA. Did you know that Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola have been involved in some extensive research and have made recommendations to the FDA? They expect Stevia to be approved and labeled as a sweetener very soon.

You can already find Stevia in Health Food Stores and it is now being marketed in many of your local grocery stores as Truvia. When the FDA gives their final approval we will find stevia being used in all of our favorite products ... I can hardly wait!

New Naturals BRAND - NuStevia

I use stevia in place of sugar. As already stated stevia is acually healthy for you. However, in my book, not all stevia's are created equal. It took me quite awhile to find a stevia product that I liked. I did find one. I found it in a Health Food Store. The BRAND NAME I found is produced by New Naturals and called NuStevia. You can also find NuNaturals online @ www.nutaturals.com. It honestly tastes just like sugar!

For those of us who need to watch our weight and even for those who don't the ability to have sweets that are healthy yet contain no calories is VERY GOOD NEWS!

HONEY ..... not just any honey bought on the grocer's shelf. These forms may contain chemicals, pesticides, and artificial ingredients. The Best HONEY is raw unprocessed honey, humankind's oldest sweetener.

RAW HONEY IS BENEFICIAL:

• Unfiltered and uncooked to give you a rich, fulfilling taste with all the nutritious benefits
• Promotes the growth of "good" bacteria in your intestinal tract
• Great way to soothe your skin, utilizing natural antioxidants to help assist in blocking free radicals
• Helps with occasional sleeplessness
• Honey promotes a healthy heart by reducing homo-cysteine levels
• No refrigeration needed -- for your convenience anywhere, anytime

The best place to find raw honey is at your local Health Food Store. Locally Grown Honey is known to help build up allergy resistance to outdoor pollens and allergens.

Although honey has benefits it is important understand that HONEY will raise your blood sugar just as quickly as sugar does. The key is moderation ... use a little in your tea or on your cereal.