Lately, every time I pick up a product, I find myself reading the label. The first question I ask is always, “Is it real?” Is it real or is it artificial? Is it made with aspartame, dextrose, sucralose, or some other chemical? Aspartame has, in the past, given me migraines. I don’t seem to have a reaction to the others, but are they really good for me in the long run?
I’ve gotten in to the habit of eating my sugar free 10 calorie Jell-O dessert every evening. I just discovered it contains Aspartame. Give me a break. Even the 60 calorie Jell-O pudding has Splenda (better, but still not great). How do I clean out my refrigerator and my cupboards…get rid of the unnecessary chemical compounds when I’ve been relying on them for so many years?
You see, artificial sweeteners and I have a history. I can’t remember when I first switched from sugar to artificial sweeteners, but we go back a long time. Hmmm, I wonder if they cause memory loss. No, that was probably the Gulf War Syndrome. I do remember I seem to have developed a relationship with Sweet N Low in the pink packets first. Makes since. Saccharin has, after all, been around forever. Sweet N Low contains nutritive dextrose and soluble saccharin, cream of tartar, and calcium silicate. Yes, I knew, even then, that it was bad for me, but wasn’t sugar worse? I was led to believe these sweeteners were a better, healthier choice. That’s what we call good advertising. And besides, Sugar was the devil.
On occasion, when the Sweet N Low wasn’t available, I had to use Equal in the blue packets. Equal contains dextrose with malt dextrin and aspartame. Again, I don’t use products with aspartame anymore (the migraines). This I found out through trial and error.
After that, I tried Splenda in the yellow packets. Splenda contains dextrose, malt dextrin and sucralose.
So, I was down to deciding between saccharin and sucralose. They both seemed like something our son would create in one of his kitchen science experiments, but again...I was trying to avoid that evil teeth rotting devil...sugar.
They both had a bit of an after taste, but it didn’t really bother me. If I had to choose, I preferred the sucralose over the saccharin. Maybe it was the name, but it just seemed less “chemical”. Good advertising again.
In the grocery store the other day, I noticed a sweetener called Truvia in the green and white box. Truvia claims to be nature’s calorie free sweetener. It contains Erythritol and Rebiana. Okay…I thought, “What the heck is that?” After a bit of research, I discovered Erythritol is a naturally occurring sugar alcohol that has been used for a long time. Rebiana is a new product, based on the stevia extract, which is being developed by the Coca-Cola Company and Cargill. Stevia is a genus of herbs and shrubs native to Central and South America . Stevia is a natural sweetener that has been used in South America for some time.
I tried it in my coffee this morning. It isn’t as sweet as the others, but it is probably better than no sweetener at all. I’m not going to give up my coffee any time soon (though I have switched to decaf). I’ve been drinking coffee since my grandmother first gave it to me in my high chair (with loads of cream and yes, that teeth rotting devil sugar).
I don’t drink soda…diet or otherwise, so I could probably handle a little of the sweet stuff. I doubt I will be weaned completely off artificial sweeteners completely. As it turns out, even my Jillian Michaels whey protein has stevia. Well, at least now I am more aware of what I am putting into my body.
According to my husband and son, I should just eat what I like, because absolutely everything has chemicals in it. It may be difficult, but I like a challenge. Today is a new day. And I am smarter than I was yesterday. I can, through a little effort, at least limit the “artificial” products in my new healthier, more natural lifestyle.
http://www.ehow.com/list_6293046_list-sugar-substitutes.html
http://www.ehow.com/list_6293046_list-sugar-substitutes.html
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