oh here's another article and why I am against them.

http://www.medicinenet.com/artificial_sweeteners/page11.htm

the two chlorine molecules stuck to a sugar molecule really grabs my attention. That doesn't sound very appetizing. no wonder it makes me sick.

oh what kills me though is that it doesn't have to be labeled low calorie it can be in normal every day foods that look innocent until you check the food label.

i strongly agree.

unfortunately, they must have a very powerful lobby group.

Hi Doorknob~~

I don't consider that processed stuff to be food at all. It's so not good for us.

I often heard that eating fresh foods is too expensive. When produce is "in season" it's usually pretty reasonable or am I missing something. I stick to U.S. grown too. The price of imports can be crazy.

Of course, it works the other way. A friend of ours raises Fuju apples. He applies a tattoo sticker to each that is the Japanese symbol for Happy New Year. They retail for over $10 EACH in Japan.

I just shop the perimeter of the market and leave the Cheetos and other crap alone ..... for the most part.

Thanks for info & reminder.I'm going to try sucralose in my bakeing.
oh even barb -que sauses have artf. sweenter in them.

I don't eat a lot of junk food at home.

I"m talking about boxed foods, frozen or canned are cheaper than fresh.

Eggs
bread
butter
milk
cereal
oatmeal
bananas
creamer
coffee
tea

that's about what I eat the most of time.
I don't have energy to cook more elaborate meals than that. and I rarely snack. tonight was a fluke with me wanting ice cream other wise I don't buy snacks.

I think Stevia is supposed to be reasonably good for you, and lower calorie. But personally, I believe the answer is just to eat natural foods, and stay away totally from processed foods.

yeah I'm leery about artificial sweetener too :( Apparently some artificial sweeteners give cancer to rats in medical trials (poor rats) but it's supposed that won't be replicated in humans...though in a few decades who knows what'll come out?

Mind you- sugar, though natural hastens many a premature death also x

think obesity is more related to corn fructose in food & ginarmous portion sizes ..apparently fast food portions were a third the size in 1950's, for instance

Tab ..... hahaha! Hadn't thought of that in years. My mom was addicted to it. We kids were forbidden. I can still picture her parked on the loveseat watching Jack Lalane swigging Tab and washing down a dozen chocolate chip cookies. She's always struggled with her weight.

I have plates with a lilly pad design to help with portion sizes. The big lilly pad is for the fruits and veggies, the medium is for protein and the smallest is for carbs. Mr. Baby hates those plates. He uses the big lilly pad for his potatoes and pan gravy and then fills up the fruit, veggie and protein lilly pads with his meat. What a barbarian!!

I use all the artificial sweeteners!!! Or have. Mostly, I've stopped eating things that require their use.

Sure, avoid 'em at all costs, if you want to!!!

I don't know as they're any worse than sugar, though.

Saccharin's my least favorite. I don't mind Aspartame.
Sucralose doesn't taste exactly like the real thing, like it claims, but it's pretty good.
I'm not crazy about Stevia.
And I sometimes use sugar alcohols, but it's been so long that I don't remember which ones I liked best.

Why do some people think that Saccharin tastes fine, yet others abhor it?
Because some people have more bitter receptors on their tongues than other people do!!!
Usually, the same people who complain about the taste of Saccharin also dislike cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts.

The way to make artificial sweeteners taste best is to mix a few different kinds together.

Tab!!! LOLOL!!!!!
And don't forget Fresca!!!! That showed up a year or so later!!!!

I WILL let anyone who lives a perfectly healthy lifestyle to tell me about the horrors of artificial sweeteners and even agree with them.

But I don't care what drinkers, smokers, junk food eaters, sugarholics, etc., have to say on the subject.

You choose your poison, I'll choose mine!!!!

Bottom line, it's best to avoid artificial anythings, and also avoid sugars and simple starches and the 'wrong' kind of fats!!!

Portion size!!! Hahahahahaha!!!!!
We're all saying 'Supersize me!' and we don't even know it!!!!

A portion of meat (Murder! Murder!!!!) should be the same size as a deck of cards.

If and when you eat ice cream -- another 'food' that should be avoided -- do you actually only eat 1/2 cup?

And while we're at it, knock it off with the salt, too!!!

You give a kid something like Hawaiian Punch, do you mean to tell me that you cant' tell by LOOKING at it that it's NOT something healthy for a kid, or for anyone else, for that matter!!!!!??

If NOTHING else, it's obvious that it contains food coloring!! ANOTHER poison!!! Especially the Red and the Yellow.

I'm a label reader and I don't remember seeing one item containing an artificial sweetener that I didn't already know would be listed, by what it says on the front side of the box.

And don't forget to make sure there's not MSG in anything your buy. It goes by other names, as well. Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein, for one.

And make sure your lettuce and greens aren't treated with sulfites.
Or your apples and pears waxed.

And if you're eating fruit from South America, remember the 'circle of poison'!!!!
The pesticides that we quit using here, because we deemed them to0 poisonous to be used on our produce, we now sell to South America, where there are no laws against using it on produce. Which they do.
And then they sell it back to us!!!!

Calcium is wonderful!!! Good for the bones!!!!
So they've enriched everything they can with Calcium!!!!

Well, that was yesterday, and yesterday's gone.

No, now it's bad for your heart. Too much Calcium can give you a heart attack.
I wonder when they're going to start yoinking it out of everything they're adding it too, now!!!!

Coffee's my favorite!!!! One day it's killing me and then the next, it's adding years to my life!!!!!

You can't win for losing!!!
Or should that be gaining!!!?

Nutrasweet or Aspartame is a chemical that crosses the blood brain barrier. There are more than a few man made chemicals that do this--many are directly linked to taste and flavor. They are also known as "excito-toxins".

Nutrasweet is in almost every type of chewing gum, in Diet Coke and other sugar free soft drinks. I used to be a diet Coke addict about 15 years ago. I got very, very ill while consuming about 2 liters a day. I was my own lab rat. No one should drink that much!

It also made me very, very sick---with fevers, fatigue, pain and ultimately I developed lupus. If I accidentally consume some, I will get joint pain and feel horrible.

Splenda is sugar that has been chemically altered through a very complex and secret process. It is essentially a mirror image of the sugar molecule. It allegedly passes right through the body without being digested.

Even Stevia which is plant based---if in powdered form has been chemically altered by hydrogenation. Not good. I know an incredibly smart pharmacist who will not touch any artificial sweetener for this reason.

Here is another website- http://discovermagazine.com/2005/aug/chemistry-of-artificial-sweeteners

And a book that really changed how I look at what I ingest-

http://www.amazon.com/Excitotoxins-The-Taste-That-Kills/dp/0929173252

I love my artificial sweeteners in my Diet Soda! Can't live without it. Drink several a day. I use Splenda in my tea and coffee. I can't afford to drink real sugar. MMMMMM...

I was at my Home Depot picking up herbs for my garden and they had Stevia plants...... so I bought one. Dried a couple of the leaves and now I sprinkle it on grapefruit. It really is sweet! I'm going to experiment with cooking with it when the plant gets bigger. Not as pretty as sugar but we trade a lot of nutrition to have pretty food.