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| Summer time storms (photo credit to Scott Albright) |
Hi Everyone! I took a little break from writing over the past week. I had an extended July 4th Holiday from my full time job, so I decided to take a little breather. :) Isn't that an amazing picture above? With humidity, comes late day/evening thunderstorms. My husband is a really good photographer and captured some great photos of a storm that rolled through here last week.
Plus there is another reason. LOL I am just about one week in to not drinking Diet Pepsi or (local iced tea brand) Turkey Hill Diet Green Tea. So I think I needed to just veg for awhile. It wasn't easy and I'm sure I'm not out of the woods yet, but I'm feeling OK about it.
At first I think I was trying to get away from the caffeine, but the more I researched on the wonderful WWW I think I'm really trying to escape the addiction to aspartame. This stuff is EVERYWHERE!
While I admit I am a Diet Pepsi addict, I really only had about 1-2 cans a day. Weekends were probably more just because I was not on my usual schedule. I think I just wanted to kick the soda habit all together. I tend to search subjects on the Internet that fascinate me and as usual, that was a mistake. People were listing their with drawl symptoms and it scared the livin' daylights out of me. HA! I stopped looking at it and tried to be thankful that my symptoms were no where near what those people were describing. I can only imagine it is because I didn't drink a 12 pack a day. :)
Are you a soda drinker? Have you recently kicked the habit? Tell me about it in the comments! How do you feel about aspartame and other artificial sweeteners that are all around us these days?
I have to have my Dr Pepper every day or I am not a happy person lol
ReplyDeletetotally get that!!
DeleteMy husband is a BIG TIME pop addict. He goes through phases of cutting it out, but always falls off the wagon. Right now he is not drinking pop. The first few days he is usually irritable and gets headaches. It is crazy what an effect it can have on your body!
ReplyDeleteahh it's like poison!! I hope I can stay ON the wagon!! So far so good, tomorrow is one week.
DeleteWe don't buy soda at our house...but, my parents do -so every once in a while like my root beer. :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Amber,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Kate and I am a part of the Sweetener Council, a division of the Canadian Beverage Association. I am working to help people just like yourself figure out what is the right information about beverage sweeteners.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation on the Internet, especially when it comes to facts on health. Much of this information is misleading and quite often completely untrue.
Aspartame, the sweetener used in most diet beverages, is completely safe. It has been approved for use in the US and Canada since 1981. It is made of three simple building blocks which are present in everyday foods. As a result, it is highly unlikely that it could cause health effects that the internet reports.
Before any food additive can be approved for use in products, they must all undergo rigorous testing to prove their safety. Hundreds of studies over the past 30 years have shown aspartame to be safe at levels far higher than the level you consume everyday.
All major regulatory agencies agree that there is no link between aspartame and any health condition, contrary to what many people report on the internet to be “aspartame withdrawal” or “aspartame poisoning”. These symptoms reported are likely a result of other factors because there is no way that aspartame could cause that sort of an effect!
If you would like more information about aspartame, check out these helpful links….
The Food and Drug Administration: http://www.fda.gov/food/ingredientspackaginglabeling/foodadditivesingredients/ucm208580.htm
Health Canada:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/securit/addit/sweeten-edulcor/aspartame-eng.php
The Calorie Control Council:
http://www.caloriecontrol.org/sweeteners-and-lite/sugar-substitutes/aspartame