The Insidious Evil of Artifical Sweeteners

I am really ticked today. I ordered some protein bars from Melaleuca, a wellness company that is supposed to have healthy products, and guess what is in them? Sucralose. So, no protein bars for me. With aspartame, products usually have the little aspartame logo right on the front. Not so with Sucralose. They are very sneaky with that stuff and they are putting it in so many things these days.

Here's my #1 rule for feeling good: Do not consume any artificial sweeteners.

Long before I read about how artificial sweeteners can exacerbate fibromyalgia, I experienced it. If I ate or drank anything with aspartame, I would get a headache and feel very sick to my stomach. And I would have what I call the "phantom pain", you know that pain from fibro when you know there is nothing wrong with whatever is hurting. I rarely have the phantom pain anymore, unless I accidentally eat something with aspartame. Then I start aching in places that usually never hurt, like my wrists and my fingers.

Sucralose doesn't make me feel as bad as aspartame, but it does affect me. I feel yucky after eating it and I always get a headache. I haven't been able to find as much info on Sucralose but I haven't looked lately either. I figure, no matter what anybody else says, it's best to just avoid it. My naturopath did tell me Sucralose was carcinogenic. That's reason enough to avoid it.

In The Fibromyalgia Solution ,Dr. David Dryland says that aspartame is an excitotoxin, a molecule that can cause neurological damage. He also says that a byproduct of aspartame is formaldehyde, which protects your fat cells from breaking down. So not only is it toxic, its not a good thing if you are trying to lose weight either!

On the flip side, high blood sugar levels can also exacerbate fibromyalgia, so eating packaged foods or drinks with regular sugar isn't good either (although it probably isn't as toxic). The best thing is to avoid sweets and packaged foods altogether, which is a depressing prospect at times. I especially miss flavorful drinks. I would love to have a pop now and then. Or one of those yogurt smoothie drinks. Or those protein bars I just bought. Or......the list of forbidden things gets very long. (sigh)