“Artificial Sweetener Disease”–a new phrase, but a new issue?

I’ve never been a big soda drinker. Aside from when I was a teenager and waitressing at a Mexican restaurant where I was allowed as much free soda as I wanted. Teenager + unlimited supply of soda = Diet Pepsi addiction!

Once I stopped working there, I quit drinking soda. I have never really liked to drink my calories. Give me some real dessert to eat!

I was, however, a gum addict up until about 6 months ago. And most gum, as you probably know, has artificial sweeteners.

People all over are experiencing migraines, muscle pain, Fibromyalgia, anxiety, and a host of other symptoms, and could potentially rid themselves of many of their ailments simply by removing artificial sweeteners from their diets. It may seem like too simple an answer. Western medicine doesn’t even acknowledge that artificial sweeteners could be causing such symptoms (also known as Artificial Sweetener Disease, ASD). And of course products that contain artificial sweeteners often contain a host of other “problem” ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup, sugar, and soy. So removing artificial sweeteners could, in fact, remove a number of these other ingredients from your diet, therefore alleviating symptoms you may have carried around for years.

One of the most surprising pieces of information I read in THIS article was the potential connection between Gulf War Syndrome and artificial sweeteners: “…a wave of fibromyalgia cases hit the American troops during the Gulf War. Studies revealed that drinking diet sodas in the 120 degree heat lead to serious health repercussions. It was cleverly chalked up under the umbrella term “Gulf War Syndrome,” but the same problems are occurring for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan now. (http://www.militaryspot.com/resources/gulf_war_syndrome/)” Again, this may not be purely from artificial sweeteners, but I would imagine is one piece of an elaborate puzzle of health problems.

The good thing, the promising thing, as the above article stated, was that, “the cure for Artificial Sweetener Disease is absolutely free and involves no doctor, no health insurance co-pays, and has zero side effects. Here is the secret cure for ASD: throw away your sugar free gum and candy, and then trash all foods and drinks you have that are labeled “light” and “zero.” Read the labels on everything, so you can filter out all artificial sweeteners from your products, including aspartame, sucralose, sorbitol, acesulfame-k, aspartic acid, and saccharine. 

That’s it! Fill your tummy with whole foods, stay awake from the fake stuff, and your body will thank you!