So there I was, having a breakfast at Friendly Toast in Portsmouth, NH and of course I couldn’t help but observe all the unhealthy food choices everyone had made when they ordered their breakfast (okay maybe ‘observe’ isn’t the right word; I admit I was inwardly passing unnecessary and unhelpful judgment on the poor, uninformed folks). (Speaking of which, have you noticed how hard it is to be out in public these day and find healthy looking people – you know, people who (1) are not overweight; (2) have glowing complexion, or at least clear skin; (3) move with any type of crisp, coordinated energy? Just recently, I went to the New England Aquarium, and while standing in line, I mentally tried to scan the very large crowd to find healthy people – I could only find one family … from India.) Sorry, I digress …
Anyway, there I was in the House of Inflammation, I mean Friendly Toast, where everyone, and I mean everyone, was eating some wheat product or bread in the form of pancakes, toast, waffles, or French toast, and of course most of it slathered with some shit sugar sauce. Sorry, again I digress …
But what caught my eye (in addition to the raging and overt march to diabetes, obesity, heart disease and cancer), was the table across from me. In addition to gorging on insulin-spiking, pro-inflammatory grains, the four adults (who were actually 7.5 adults in their total weight), were dumping Splenda into their coffee like it was fairy dust.
I wanted to walk over, drop to my knees and beg them to … ‘PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE STOP EATING THESE TERRIBLE CHEMICALS – THEY’RE SLOWLY POISONING AND KILLING YOU’.
By the way, in case you were wondering what I ordered off the insulin land mine field they call a menu, I had Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict, 86 the bread, and a side order of sauteed spinach. It was super yummy, and because it had plants, fats, and protein, the meal was very nutritious, satisfying, and healthy (no sugar, no processed vegetable oils, no grains -> fit for human consumption).
Okay, back to the incredibly toxic nature of artificial sweeteners:
A potent neurotoxin
Don’t have time to read this? Want the bottom line, the take away?
- Aspartame and sucralose are the ultimate slow poison, toxic, disease-food. (Aspartame = Nutrasweet and Equal; Sucralose = Splenda)
- Artificial sweeteners are extremely toxic and should be one of the foods you never, ever eat. Stay away from artificial sweeteners like you would a drunk driver waving a gun out the window. Yes, they’re that bad for you.
The scientific journals are filled with reports of the following neurophysiologic effects following digestion and metabolism of aspartame into the bloodstream:1
- Neurological and behavioral disturbances
- Headaches, insomnia, and seizures
- Compromised learning and emotional functioning
- Neurodegeneration leading to senile dementia (i.e. Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease)
- Inhibition of normal brain chemistry function
- Depression
‘… participants had more irritable mood, exhibited more depression, and performed worse on spatial orientation tests.’ [article link]
Our world is filled with deception, to be sure. From our presidents’ lying to us, to sophisticated advertising about food (such as ‘Milk does a body good’ – the best advertising campaign AND best food scam in the past 50 years), it’s become difficult at any given moment to sort out the truth. When it comes to filtering out accurate information regarding health, the waters become even murkier.
In the world of sweeteners, the misinformation is not only standard operating procedure within the food manufacturing industry, it is further obscured by the power of lobbying and advertising that is harnessed by the food and chemical industries. For example, I’m sure you’ve seen the commercials today touting how high fructose corn syrup is safe and natural ‘if eaten in moderation;’ this is patently false – high fructose corn syrup should be called ‘a pipeline to diabetes.’
Another major area of food/health deception is the perceived harmlessness of artificial sweeteners. To the vast majority of people, a Diet Coke® is a relatively “healthy” beverage choice, they think, because it has no sugar or calories. Nothing could be further from the truth.
For more in depth information on these terrible food additives, read Your Worst Enemy – Artificial Sweeteners.
REFERENCE:
1Humphries P, et al. Direct and indirect cellular effects of aspartame on the brain. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2008; 62:451–462 [view abstract] [view full article PDF]
