With the buzzing off of my beard this morning and the positive energy I’ve got flowing through this body of mine, I decided that I need to stop cheating my way around. My way around food, that is.
For the past couple of years, I’ve drank Diet Pepsi in lieu of regular Pepsi. I’ve mentioned from time to time that I want to give it up as it wreaks havoc with my body and energy levels and such.
While Earl and I were down with his family this past weekend, his Aunt Olive and I got into a discussion about Aspartame and it’s namesakes – “NutraSweet”, “Equal”, “Splenda”, etc. I’ve always known in the back of my head just how bad this stuff is for you, but I did a little research online and just ran across horror story after horror story of what it actually does to your body. Research is showing that Aspartame consumption is bringing on blindness, ringing ears, forgetfulness, seizures, MS and lupus in individuals. It’s also wreaking havoc in kids, bringing on diabetes while kids are still in their single digits!
That doesn’t sound like “Better Living Through Chemistry” to me.
This morning when I awoke and amplified my change in attitude by shaving off my beard, doing a little yoga, etc., I decided that I would go 60 days without using a chemical substitute in my diet. No Splenda. No Aspartame. No diet soda (actually, no soda at all). No Olestra. (Actually, that last one is pretty easy since there’s no ’emergency trees’ in my office cubicle.) If I’m going to ‘splurge’ and have a soda, then it’s going to be the real deal and I’ll just pay the price in calories and at the dentist.
My new slogan is “Sugar Free? Not for me!”, since sugar free usually means “chemical substitute”.
Reading up on the effects of aspartame has led me to some bad things about dairy products. I need to do a little research there again and refresh my memory. But I do wonder how our ancestors stored and consumed the vast amounts of dairy products that we do, considering they had no refrigeration or anything like before the last 120 years or so. It does make one wonder…
I think it’s time to hit the natural foods section at the market again.
