Ummmm, we all love sweets!  It’s in our nature, as cavemen sweet flavors meant calories, and calories meant staying alive.  Unfortunately that natural response has remained with us, despite the abundance of food now available to us.  Without discipline we go on binges and eat many empty calories (sugars without supporting vitamins and minerals) like white bread, candy bars, soft drinks, pasta, donuts, chips and cookies.

To balance this over consumption of calories many people turn to artificial sweeteners.  Just take a look at the supermarket shelves to see the abundance of artificial sweeteners designed to fool us into thinking we are making healthier choices.  But this choice can lead to a deadly and dangerous new addiction.

The most dangerous of all sweeteners is aspartame.  Aspartame is found in diet drinks, low calorie, sugar-free foods and many low fat foods.  What makes aspartame so dangerous is that it is made of 10% methanol (wood alcohol).  Methanol is a very toxic substance to the body.  The minimum adult lethal dose (even lower for children) is 2 teaspoons.  Methanol is a substance that can be found naturally in fruits and vegetables like tomatoes, however these foods also contain an antidote, ethanol and pectin.  Aspartame does not contain either ethanol or pectin.  When you consume methanol without the ethanol and pectin it is converted into formaldehyde (embalming fluid) and formic acid (fire ant venom). The other two components of aspartame are phenylalanine and aspartic acid.  Both of which are natural occurring amino acids used as building blocks to make proteins.  When they are broken down and enter the blood stream individually they act as excitatory neurotransmitters, over-stimulating nerve and brain cells, causing cell death.

The other detriment to artificial sweeteners is they cause the appetite to increase.  So even though you are trying to eat fewer calories many people still turn to carbohydrates to satisfy their hunger and sugar cravings.  This leads to a vicious cycle of increased calorie consumption, blood sugar imbalances and weight gain.

There are no healthy “sugar free” or “diet foods” on the market today.

Here is a list of symptoms associated with aspartame consumption.  Headaches, loss of balance and dizziness, change in mood, nausea and vomiting, changes in vision, seizures and convulsions, memory loss, fatigue and weakness, sleep problems, changes in heart rate, increased blood pressure, menstrual problems, localized pain and tenderness, just to name a few.

To add some sweetness to your foods there are better healthier choices that you can make. Use natural sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, raw sugar, and the herb stevia are your best choices.  These foods are balanced with the vitamins and minerals that allow for proper metabolism, blood sugar balance and support the body.  Sweets are a treat and we all enjoy eating them but make safe healthy choices and keep you and your family away from the poison disguised as a sweetener.