My doctor has been ragging on me to lose weight for quite awhile. The last visit I was in he also railed against Nutrasweet. He gave me one of those mass mailing testimonies about Nutrasweet which called it "Sweet Poison." He said that besides some potential health issues, that Nutrasweet (and other artificial sweeteners) actually cause food cravings as it confuses the sugar responses in the body, especially for diabetics -- which I am.
I thought his advice on my weight "spot on" (it's rather obvious I need to lose weight!), but I doubted his advice on artificial sweeteners. I've relied on them for over 20 years and I am a serious diet soda addict. How could I get by without them? So, I ignored his advice.
About two weeks ago I came across the anti-Nutrasweet testimony my doctor had given me as I sorted papers and the symptoms the person described sounded just like me. When I allowed my hypochondria to surface, I felt I was getting MS. My muscles and joints felt extremely weak all the time. It was a chore to even stand for a long period of time at work, so I would usually sit whenever I could. To be honest, even walking was a painful activity. I just figured that was part of my getting old...and besides I am fat. I never talked to my doctor about this because I figured he'd just chew me out again about my weight and I didn't want to start a battery of tests to rule out some exotic disease and I'd end up with a huge medical bill.
The next day, however, I decided to try not eating any artificial sweeteners. I happened to be on jury duty that day and I even had a regular soda for the caffeine (it's not good to nod off during jury duty!). I drank unsweetened ice tea and more water than I normally would drink. I was surprised I could make it past a couple of days without Nutrasweet, but I did. By the third day, I noticed my aches and pains were a lot less. By five days, the improvement was dramatic. I've still got some aches and pains, but I'm about 80 per cent improved from what I was just two weeks ago. And, I've also noticed that my thinking is clearer. Perhaps that's a by product of less pain? I don't know.
I've done a lot of searches on the Internet about this over the past few days and I don't know if I can prove scientifically that Nutrasweet is the "sweet poison" some people say it is. There are plenty of anti-Nutrasweet sites and there are also other sites that attempt to debunk its critics. Maybe I have some sort of allergy to Nutrasweet? I don't know.
What I do know is that I feel DRAMATICALLY better since I stopped ingesting food or drinks with Nutrasweet. My muscle aches and weakness are just a fraction of what they were before. I know I can never go back to artificial sweeteners. I'm hoping that in a few days to try to start dieting without the aid of artificial sweeteners.
I was wondering: has anyone else here had a similar experience?