Quality Counts (Part 2)

Getting the trans fats out of your diet is important as we discussed last month.  This month we will discuss artificial sweetners.  There are potential health risks from ingesting many of the artificial sweetners.

The main one that I hope you will eliminate from your diet is aspartame (also call Equal).  Yes, it is the sweetner used in Diet Coke.  Ouch!  Avoid this dangerous neurotoxin, which is banned in Europe.  For more information about the dangers of aspartame, I recommend that you start your research at http://www.mercola.com/article/aspartame/index.htm. 

Another main ingredient in Diet Coke is phosphoric acid.  This acid is strong enought to clean car batteries.  Don't believe it?  How about cleaning the tarnish off of pennies?  Try it.  Soak a piece of tough meat in diet or regular Coke overnight.  You won't see much left in the morning.

When you drink acidic liquids like that, your body must alkalize it in order to maintain a healthy ph balance.  The way it does it is to use the minerals you have in reserve for that purpose.  Guess where those are?  In your bones and teeth.

I believe that this is a huge cause of osteoporosis in this country.  Our children are growing up drinking these popular drinks.  What will their bones be like as adults?

If you are looking for a healthy way to sweeten your beverages and other foods, I recommend Stevia.  Stevia is an herb from South America that has been used for hundreds of years to sweeten food without having negative health side effects.  You can buy it in packets in the grocery store under the brand name of Sweet Leaf usually found in the health food section.  It sometimes takes a few days to get used to this new taste, but I hope you will give it a try.  Your health will benefit!