What Are The Science, Reality, Healthy Eating Benefits?
We find sugar everywhere in our foods and beverages.
Though added sugar is unhealthy – even causes many health problems – we enjoy it for its sweet taste and the highs refined sugars provide.
In an attempt to overcome added sugar, sugar substitutes came about. Sugar alternatives have become big business. Big business is criticized for using added sugar, and is therefore protecting their investments in sugar substitutes, one such substitute is aspartame.
This article takes a closer look at the Added Sugar, Sugar Substitutes, Aspartame Dangers and Healthy Eating. It is unbiased, comprehensive and engaging to arm you with knowledge and peace of mind to make informed decisions.
Imperative 1:
Added Sugar and Health Problems
Let’s start with a brief and high-level abstract history of sugar and table sugar.
Originally sugar was added as a luxury by posh people. Eventually adding sugar to food and beverages became an everyday occurrence.
And of course became a very, very big business. And lots of money is being made by the sugar industry.
Because added sugar is omnipresent, it causes health problems. Health problems range from being overweight to obesity, to heart problems and diabetes.
Added sugar even adds to low self-esteem.
It is near impossible to find foods and drinks that do not contain added sugar. Added sugar definition is where sugar isn’t in its natural forms and contained within its natural fibres.
When we become aware and on the lookout for added sugars in their own form or on food labels, a new world opens up.
Added sugars are everywhere, even in salad dressing. This means we make a healthy salad, and top it with our favourite salad dressing, off the shelf. Thereby covering it with refined sugar and defeating the purpose of the nutritious and wholesome meal. There is a silver lining though, as we get to know where refined and added sugar is found, it creates interesting opportunities for creating our own salad dressing from natural and wholesome foods.
Alternatives like: high fructose corn syrup and dextrose. What are dextrose and high fructose corn syrup? Are these merely disguises of added sugar – simply because they are processed and do not come in their natural form, and are thus stripped of their natural fibre?
Similarly, dextrose tablets found their way into the mix, similarly with aspartame dangers.
Imperative 2:
Sugar Substitutes And Aspartame Dangers
The next step and another very big industry is the evolution of sugar substitutes. To reduce the added sugar phenomenon, sugar substitute products evolved, so did aspartame dangers.
Sugar substitutes are chemicals and consequently causes health problems. When scientists look at the chemical composition of foods, they inform us that aspartame dangers or side effects don’t exist. In this same way they also declare there is no link between aspartame and health problems.
Where sugar isn’t added to foods and drinks, the chances are that sugar substitutes are present.
Aspartame is many times sweeter than sugar and thereby it is claimed that less is required than sugar for the same sweet effect, hence the aspartame dangers.
Despite their name, sugar alcohols aren’t sugar, and they aren’t alcohol. Sugar alcohols are carbohydrates that occur naturally in certain fruits and are also manufactured. They get their name because they have a chemical structure similar to sugar and to that of alcohol.
Obesity Causes and Consequences
When our eating habits include added sugar in any form, where we consume sugar substitutes, and continuously crave the sweet tastes, and eating because we’re stimulated by taking added sugar and aspartame, we consume foods and drinks, not because we’re actually hungry, instead by emotional reasons and stimulated into craving sweet foods and drinks. And eventually we end up overweight and even obese. These are some causes of weight gain. The aspartame dangers are thus indirect.
My Scary Story about Aspartame Dangers and Poisoning
LisaJ says this about her experience: “This experience opened up my eyes to how toxic aspartame can be to our bodies. It was a very scary experience, and I wanted to share it with others. The story exemplified the aspartame dangers as indirect.
Now I’m not saying I NEVER have it anymore, but I do avoid it as much as possible. The only drinks I consume that still have it are a diet soda here and there. But I learned from this that just because something is 0 calories or sugar-free, doesn’t mean it’s helping in your weight loss attempts.”
Is Aspartame Bad for You?
Today I Found Out says this about Aspartame: “A quick online search of Aspartame provides you with numerous opinions about this artificial sweetener. Some claim it causes things like cancer, seizures, multiple sclerosis, lupus, memory problems, and brain tumors.
Just about every governmental organization in the world, regulating food products, have deemed it safe for human consumption. (But, you know, just about every governing body in the world still gets the “sodium raises blood pressure” myth wrong, despite overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary, so let’s not take their word on the whole Aspartame Dangers thing!)”
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) say aspartame is one of the most exhaustively studied substances in the human food supply. More than 100 studies have been done supporting its safety.
They say aspartame is safe for the general population. Keeping in mind the indirect aspartame dangers.
Imperative 3:
Healthy Sugar Alternatives
To still our sweet tooth for treats, healthy sugar alternatives do exist. Instead of added sugar, we have these healthy sugar substitutes. Thus no need for aspartame dangers.
A top 4 healthy sugar alternatives are; raw honey, dates, coconut sugar and organic maple syrup. These make it possible to still our sweet tooth during cooking and baking – used for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks.
Raw honey contains trace amounts of vitamins and minerals. Raw honey also contains an abundance of beneficial antioxidants.
Coconut sugar is low on the glycemic index. The glycemic index is a scale from zero to 100 – that ranks the number of carbohydrates in foods. This indicates how quickly a food causes a person’s blood sugar to rise. Consuming whole foods and drinks and healthy sugar substitutes give sound reasons why we stay away from aspartame dangers.
Imperative 4:
Healthy Eating Of Wholesome Foods and Drinks
A Beginners Guide To Healthy Eating | How To Eat Healthy | 15 Tips
Clean & Delicious says: “Here is a short list of some of the tips that I found the most helpful when transitioning into healthier eating habits. I hope these 15 simple steps help to make healthy eating a bit easier and a lot more enjoyable for you.”
Though this video is lengthy it is packed full of interesting and useful information, and a must watch!
Added Sugar Proliferation
As mentioned, almost all foods and drinks contain added sugar or sugar substitutes. These are not healthy to consume and thus bring with them health problems.
Naturally occurring sugars in their natural form, including their fibre content, when compared, natural sugar vs added sugar is refined, and stripped from their natural form, and without their fibre content.
Importantly, healthy wholesome eating isn’t all or nothing. Explore and transition gradually. Unlocking your health is your unique and fun journey.
For more, see our series on: Healthy Sugar Substitute Aspartame Dangers and Side Effects.
Let’s Go On An Exploration Journey Of How We Ate Centuries Back
Centuries ago, humans ate what was naturally available in our everyday surroundings. We ate from the land and hunted for our food.
Our food existed in their natural state. Thus how they were produced by nature.
Fast Forward To Now
For convenience and due to our hectic pace, our lifestyles developed to where we consume processed foods containing food additives, we purchase takeaway food and we dine out.
The way we obtain food matches our lifestyles.
Keeping in mind that it is very convenient, and making time available for our hectic lifestyles.
Needless to say whoever produces our foods and drinks, make our lives extremely easy and alleviates the time we would spend on preparing food.
Increase the risk to our health! In a sense we have created time, which is a scarcity, by purchasing food instead of making our own food – a convenience we added to our lifestyles.
This is a logical next step – we in fact buy time in this way.
Let’s stop for a moment to explore eating lifestyles.
Though this is great in itself.
Let’s step back to the days, centuries back, when we spent lots of our time gathering and hunting food in its natural composition.
Humankind had three advantages many years ago over our food and drink intake of today.
Or possibly four advantages.
Let’s explore the lives of our ancestors in relation to ours!
First is, they consumed food in its natural form.
Second, they continuously got exercise in how they gathered or hunted for their food.
Thirdly, due to food not being readily available at all times, people back then went without food and drink for extended periods.
Fourthly, their lives were devoid of the stresses and strains we have today.
“Do you see where this is leading?”
The following is a four-pronged approach:
- We need to take care of ourselves differently.
- We need to eat wholesome foods and drinks in their natural forms.
- We need to exercise.
- We need to stay without food for extended periods. For more, see our series on: Intermittent Water Autophagy Fasting Facts Benefits.
The food and drink industry has not seen this huge asset yet, and consequently haven’t unlocked it.
They are focused on making profits and producing food in any way possible and to defend their profits.
And transporting food from all over the world to our tables or mouths, and adding to our environmental woes.
When we step back and make our own foods and drinks based on wholesome healthy eating:
- And exercise and stay without food for extended periods, we start a process of healing ourselves.
- This entails healthy eating, switching to zero added sugar, and cutting out sugar substitutes.
- When eating seasonally and locally-produced foods and drinks, we reduce our impact on the environment.
- Exercising regularly.
- Autophagy is induced when we fast for extended periods. Autophagy is the body’s process of rejuvenating old cells.
- And before we know it, we’ve stopped the cycle of causing our health problems.
- And our healing starts in earnest.
Consequently, there is a good chance that you reduce cholesterol, lose extra weight, reduce your body size.
When Switching to a healthy lifestyle you reduce your stresses and strains.
When standing back and looking at the points I made above and the parallels between centuries ago and now, you notice we’re able to semi recapture the way of life from those days and combine that with a healthy lifestyle today and reap many benefits.
It thus stands to reason when eating healthy, we do not want to include aspartame dangers with wholesome foods and drinks.
Food Industry Prediction
My prediction is that a new food and drinks industry would eventually be born and evolve from the aforementioned.
I notice modest signs of life of a revival in the food industry, though minuscule.
Some stores are conscious of the environment.
They offer the beginnings of healthy foods and drinks – though have not switched to food with zero added sugar.
I also witnessed and ate at a healthy food restaurant a few times many years ago.
Regrettably this restaurant didn’t make it.
Interestingly a new chain of health restaurants is opening. I’m convinced this is happening all over the world, albeit slowly.
