aspartame anyone?

nursetobe-babe · Feb 10, 2003

Originally posted by mattsmom81
Have you considered you may be hypoglycemic...if the headache comes on around 3 every day your blood sugar may be dropping...try a higher protein diet for breakfast and lunch snack and see if it improves. :)

Well I know I have hypotension, but maybe I'm hypoglycemic as well...thanks for the advice!

I would really like to cut aspartame out of my diet completely, but all the other sweeteners I've tried are just gross! They completely change the taste of the coffee, tea, or whatever.

Nurse Izzy · Feb 10, 2003

Originally posted by stevielynn
Just a little fyi . . .. try reading the internet anti-hoax sites . . there is a hoax regarding aspartame that has been going around for years. It blames the sugar substitute for every imaginable disease on earth . . . and isn't true. I always check out medical info (and other stuff frankly) that gets forwarded to me on the hoax sites first. Don't believe everything you read on the net . . .and I think the low blood sugar thing might explain the headaches.

I've seen the hoax listing about this, too, but can't help believe there may be something to the aspartame problems after seeing the report on Fox News. Sure, maybe they found all the quack doctors available to support the view, but I'd like to think the media actually did a halfway decent job of researching for once! :)

RainbowSkye · Feb 10, 2003

Has anyone used the herb stevia for sweetening stuff? It's different from sugar, and better than all the artificial stuff to me.

Here's some info: http://www.stevia.net/

nursetobe-babe · Feb 10, 2003

Originally posted by RainbowSkye
Has anyone used the herb stevia for sweetening stuff? It's different from sugar, and better than all the artificial stuff to me.

Here's some info: http://www.stevia.net/

I've used stevia... It's really gross... has a taste of its own so it changes the taste of whatever you are putting it in ( esp gross in coffee)

renerian, BSN, RN · Feb 10, 2003

We studied it in my BS program and many studies say not to overconsume it others say never and still others say it is safe.

renerian

cactus wren · Feb 14, 2003

Hey Guys....Thanks !!!!!!:balloons: :balloons:

When I first read this thread...I had an AHha !!! moment........

And quit Diet Coke ( have tried Diet RC with Splenda....ok, but not my DC...but I`ll adjust

Anyways, for the first time in 3 years my fingers don`t hurt...have quit the Celebrex that was keeping them working

and other assorted aches ie knees, feet, wrists are also gone.....what a doofus i feel i am...Never,never haerd about this.....

I even have drug out some crocheting that I had given up in because the pain in my hands made it impossoble

Thanks again...You ALL ROCK !!!!!!!!!!!!!

RN2B2005 · Feb 14, 2003

My mother was tentatively diagnosed with an aspartame allergy a few years ago; she drank a Diet Coke and then had a seizure, slamming her minivan into a telephone pole.

I'm a little skeptical, personally; she's had Diet Coke since with no problem, as well as other aspartame-containing desserts (my mother is famous for not understanding that aspartame=Nutrasweet).

However! I don't eat aspartame personally because I hate the aftertaste, and I don't feed it to my son unless there is no other option--for instance, all of the Pedialyte flavours EXCEPT apple and grape have aspartame instead of sugar. I think this obsession with artificial sweeteners is a hallmark of American thinking--we don't want to eat natural, wholesome sugar because. well, it's SUGAR; but we suck down the artificial sweeteners and then attribute all sorts of problems to them. Why does a kid with diarrhea need Nutrasweet?!

When I do choose to use a sugar substitute, or to drink a diet soda, I choose sucralose (Splenda), which is actually a modified sugar molecule. It doesn't have the rampant aftertaste of aspartame or saccharin, and I am just more comfortable with a modified sugar molecule instead of a de novo molecule like aspartame. Diet Rite soda has sucralose, as do a couple of other sodas. It's more expensive than sugar, Nutrasweet, or saccharin, but it's much tastier than the last two.

ayemmeff · Feb 14, 2003

Originally posted by Mel D
Blech. I'll take sugar over fake crap any day.

I'm with you on this one MelD.Sugar or "go-without!" My husband feels the same about margarine/butter substitutes after watching a programme about how they are manufactured.