For you pop drinkers.....fructose info...

[Kathe]

Tonya, depriving yourself of something is not what this is about. Let's say I give you a bowl of yummy ice cream but I put a drop of poison in it. It really doesn't do anything to you that you can actually see or feel so the next day I give you another and then another. It begins to add up and one day you die. Poison, which is what artificial sweeteners truly are, are not good in any amount. It is not about moderation. Moderation is good when talking about sunlight, the amount of food you eat, etc. Not when talking about how much poison to ingest. Just how much is ok?

[Christine]

Originally Posted by Kathe

Tonya, depriving yourself of something is not what this is about. Let's say I give you a bowl of yummy ice cream but I put a drop of poison in it. It really doesn't do anything to you that you can actually see or feel so the next day I give you another and then another. It begins to add up and one day you die. Poison, which is what artificial sweeteners truly are, are not good in any amount. It is not about moderation. Moderation is good when talking about sunlight, the amount of food you eat, etc. Not when talking about how much poison to ingest. Just how much is ok?

This is exactly how I feel about it. I don't feel good about drinking soda at all - even in moderation. Ice cream in moderation I feel very good about

My husband thinks I am getting whacky with all the crap I am trying to cut out of our diets - but he doesn't do the research I do on the subject so it's hard to convince him at the grocery to buy this and not this without showing him all my research. Sometimes I just give in.

I check the labels on everything now. I thought I was doing myself a favor by eating salads with fat free dressing...not so!! My fat free dressing's VERY FIRST ingrediant was High Fructose Corn Syrup!!

[Christine]

Originally Posted by Kay

Aside from Splenda, the most popular artificial sweeteners are aspartame (and its cousin, neotame) Recent studies in Europe show that aspartame use can result in an accumulation of formaldehyde in the brain, which can damage your central nervous system and immune system and cause genetic trauma. The FDA admits this is true, but claims the amount is low enough in most that it shouldn’t raise concern. So don’t worry the FDA said Formaldehyde in your brain is ok.

This is the best. What is scary is how many people don't realize any of this stuff! They just think the FDA and other government agencies are looking out for us...um they really aren't. We need to figure this stuff out for ourselves!

[Kay]

I am also a label reader, not the front label but the back… The front label can say “sugar free” and the back will say “high Fructose Corn Syrup,or some other sweetener. And they legally can do that because it is not sugar.

[Christine]

Exactly...just like "low fat" or "fat free" almost never equals healthy!!

[Kathe]

Just like the front label can say ZERO trans fat and then on the back say partially hydrogenated soybean oil. UGH! Do not read the front of packages, only the labels.

Try to eat food as close to natural as possible. I love showing people a box of mac n cheese. The ingredient list is huge. Come on, I make mac n cheese and it has macaroni, cheese, milk, salt, pepper and maybe a little flour.

One thing we've been watching lately in our label reading are colors and preservatives. I have a friend who's son is autistic and she took all colors and preservatives out of his diet. They were able to transition him into mainstream school and he just graduated with honors and got a scholorship to Univ of Michigan. When I first met him I didn't even know he was autistic until she told me. It's amazing what that junk does to us. BTW if you want to check out more about this it's called the Feingold diet. Just google it and it will come up. We've adopted quite a few of those recommendations.

[Kathe]

Oh and my 9 year old gets migraines if he eats junk. One thing we've found that triggers them are nitrates. So now we are looking for that on the label.

[nicole4tanning]

Seems like we can't eat anything anymore.

[Christine]

It only seems that way because our generation is used to processed foods and fast food and right now foods.

[nicole4tanning]

true. I don't even know how to cook.