2009 How Long Can You Go? "No Sweet" CHALLENGE

[Sherri]

Re: 2008 How Long Can You Go? "No Sweet" CHALLENGE

Hey Stephie!
Glad to see you joining us. Make sure you go through all the info here regarding sweetners. So you know what to avoid. Like I mentioned before, read lables carefully, okay? The reason I say that is because I had to give up my horseradish because they tainted it with HFCS. I'm still on the look out for some without sweetners. So if anyone knows of a brand of horseradish without it, let me know. I would grow my own but it's such a pain to process, literally. I've been without it for over four months now
See you at the challenge Stephie.


117 days sweet free

[booklady]

Re: 2008 How Long Can You Go? "No Sweet" CHALLENGE

Hi Sherri , I totally get what you are saying and will be very careful. Right now I am eating very clean. Just meat and eggs and some bacon, and steamed green beans and maybe some salad but i will use mayo on it with some salt and pepper and may make my own mayo if I find stuff I do not like on the label. Have made it before and it is easy and tastes so good !!
I do promise to read everything. I do know about those sneaky ingrediants they put in and will not use anything that is not up to the standards I living up to now. I do not want anything to derail me and will not let anything stand in my way, thanks so much for starting this challenge and informing us all about the dangers of the sweetners. It is very important to good health to eat healthy and avoid that stuff, I wish I had gotten it sooner. Denial, that is what it was. Complete denial.
Stephie

[Georgiana]

Re: 2008 How Long Can You Go? "No Sweet" CHALLENGE

23 days

[booklady]

Re: 2008 How Long Can You Go? "No Sweet" CHALLENGE

I read the entire thread tonight and learned a lot. Wow.
I am official at day one, I made it through with no caffiene, but was falling asleep on the sofa around six so I took a shower and that woke me up a bit. I know I will be in bed early tonight, lol !!! Caffiene withdrawel is not fun !!
I have had over a gallon of water and once in a while the cravings for sip of soda get me, but I am okay with that and will work through it.
So, day one sweet free for me !!
Stephie

[Sherri]

Re: 2008 How Long Can You Go? "No Sweet" CHALLENGE

Great Job Stephie! I new you could do it! Each day that goes by will get easier. That's so cool that you read through the whole thread. I do beleive you are ready. Proud of you!

Fantastic Job Georiana! Whoohoo 23 days! That a girl!

Today is day 118

[Sherri]

Re: 2008 How Long Can You Go? "No Sweet" CHALLENGE

119 sweet free days

[booklady]

Re: 2008 How Long Can You Go? "No Sweet" CHALLENGE

119 days, wow !!! That is very exciting , you must be so proud of yourself !!!
I am at day three cheat free low carb and finishing up day two of no sweetners and no caffiene and I am finally feeling human again. I am drinking an ungodly amount of water which I think has helped me through it faster. I will be well over a gallon again today !!! I still have some withdrawel to go, but the worst is over now and that is great. I am pretty awake tonight, a bit sleepy but a far cry from last night, so that is very exciting, I can only imagine how much better I will feel this time tomorow night !! It is very exciting !!
Stephie

[ValidRouge]

Re: 2008 How Long Can You Go? "No Sweet" CHALLENGE

I'm about 10 days sweet free!

[Sherri]

Re: 2008 How Long Can You Go? "No Sweet" CHALLENGE

It's so wonderful to have you all here. Georgiana and I arn't lonely here anymore.
Great Job Ladies!

[booklady]

Re: 2008 How Long Can You Go? "No Sweet" CHALLENGE

Day four low carb and day three of no sweets or fake sweets, or caffiene, so doing great, still miserable from the withdrawel, but otherwise happy, lol !!
Stephie

[Sherri]

Re: 2008 How Long Can You Go? "No Sweet" CHALLENGE

120 DAYS SWEET FREE (4 MONTHS)

[Sherri]

Re: 2008 How Long Can You Go? "No Sweet" CHALLENGE

I want to share a post with all of my challengers here. I brought it here from my journal. She is one incredible woman that has enured so much. I'm hoping that all that read this that they will take heed in her words.
Thank you Liz for sharing.
Sherrie,
Thanks for coming by my journal and encouraging me!!!!
I'm in such a thankful mood these days...
You have such a great journal here and you are looking so good and healthy. You're thoughts are so positive and uplifting! You are doing a great job of helping to educate and teach the things you've learned. I still can't believe I had a brain tumor... and when I think of all the splenda I ate before that... I really think there must've been a relationship. Doctors don't think so, but then, what do they know for sure. It ended up looking like a superball... and not like splenda btw... of course, things get changed chemically... it's definately possible! My migraines got better after giving up the splenda... that's one thing for sure. I'll tell you though, that once the doctor says...'you have a brain tumor' it is impossible to keep eating splenda or any other artificial sweetener. Kind of an extreme way to go... hopefully there are easier ways! ha! ie. you don't want to be like hopejoy and wind up with a brain tumor there do ya? Let me just be the walking talking example of what not to do. Pre brain tumor diagnosis... i was eating 5-6 packets a day... seriously. not everyday... but most days... and when I drank coffee sometimes it would be more. I knew I was flirting with something I shouldn't... going over the limit that Dr. Atkin's set... but then dammit! I HAD to have it, what else could I do? Then there's the hard way... you just look at it, right after the doctor says...'you have a brain tumor' and whalla... cured! Well, honestly can't say that splenda caused the tumor... but it didn't help things any ways! There are alot of other factors and frankly the doctors don't know. I was exposed to radiation as a nurse on multiple occasions. I have friends who have died of cancer now after working as radiation oncology nurses. Radiation is a big big factor in these little buggers. Still, it's worth thinking about. and definatelly not worth the risk!
did any of this make sense? I think it's interesting discussing it. And just want to say that anything you say or anyone else says won't offend me. Let's use this as a learning tool!
love,
liz

And this also-
I also want you to know you can quote me and use me as a reference person who was a total splenda addict before my brain tumor diagnosis... although, being diagnosed with a brain tumor completely cured that addiction let me tell ya! ha! I have no temptation for artificial sweetners now! But at the same time, I know that I have to be careful about sugar and diabetes so am totally trying to limit carbs as well. I'm so happy my wt stablized this year... even though I wanted to lose more, I was at a very healthy point being able to walk everyday before surgery. I was strong going into surgery and that helped a lot. I learned so much from your challenge too. that was terribly eye opening! I still can't believe that sugar is in SALT!!!! and now that my tumor is behind me, I plan to continue to live 'clean'... organic, etc...
my cousin who is a naturalpath doctor is coming tomorrow. yah! I know she's gonna whip my but into shape! love that! Anyways, I don't think I'm saying this very well, but thank you for all your help and support this year and all the information you gave me and for telling me about splenda... etc... you helped me alot!

[booklady]

Re: 2008 How Long Can You Go? "No Sweet" CHALLENGE

Wow, she gives us all somethign to think about,it was so great of her to share her story to help us know how bad those sweetners are, how wonderful she is cured !!
Stephie

[Sherri]

Re: 2008 How Long Can You Go? "No Sweet" CHALLENGE

Hello Challengers,
I've been doing my homework to celebrate my 4 months sweetner free Anniversary. I'm hoping by sharing what I have found that it will help persuade you to stop the artificial sweetners and turn to natural sweetners like Stevia or Xylitol (derivative of Birch hardwood).
I can not stress enough, how dangerous these artificial sweetners are to your health and for the people you love and care for.
I'm wrapping my arms around the world on this one. Trying to save you all.
Love always, MOTHEREARTH AKA SHERRI Also in honor of our friend Hopejoy AKA Liz
www.alkalizeforhealth.net/Lsweetdebate8.htm


aspartame : Welcome to The "Official" Aspartame E-ma

http://www.ecologist.cognita.info/archive_detail.asp?content_id=451

http://www.theecologist.org/current.asp

In this month's issue

September 2005. On sale tomorrow - August 19, 2005

Aspartame - COVER STORY
Once on the list of potential Pentagon bioweapons... associated with cancer
and neurological disorders... banned for years until a firm run by Donald
Rumsfeld lobbied his contacts in Washington to get it legalised... and
probably consumed by you within the last 24 hours.

Life after Aspartame - COVER STORY
Like Aspartame, artificial sweetener Sucralose is apparently 'safe'. So why
is Tate & Lyle so keen to suppress any criticism of it?


Link to: APARTAME---the shockingstory of the world's best seeling sweetner "The Ecologist by Pat Thomas
http://www.wnho.net/the_ecologist_aspartame_report.htm


This is just a partial glimps of what is in that report
Aspartame-- the shocking story of the world's bestselling sweetener
The Ecologist by Pat Thomas

The Ecologist, September 2005
Cover Story, pages 35-46 Date: 2005/08/19 Author: Pat Thomas

ASPARTAME -- The Shocking Story of the World's Bestselling Sweetener

Aspartame is the most controversial food additive in history.
The most recent evidence, linking it to leukaemia and lymphoma,
has added substantial fuel to the ongoing protests of doctors, scientists
and consumer groups who allege that this artificial sweetener should never
have been released onto the market
and that allowing it to remain in the food chain is killing us by degrees.

Pat Thomas reports:

Once upon a time, aspartame was listed by the Pentagon as a biochemical
warfare agent.
Today it's an integral part of the modern diet.
Sold commercially under names like NutraSweet and Canderel,
aspartame can be found in more than 5,000 foods,
including fizzy drinks, chewing gum, table-top sweeteners, diet and diabetic
foods, breakfast cereals, jams, sweets, vitamins, prescription and
over-the-counter drugs. This means that there is a good chance that you and
your family are among the two thirds of the adult population and 40 per cent
of children who regularly ingest this artificial sweetener.

Because it contains no calories,
aspartame is considered a boon to health-conscious individuals everywhere;
and most of us, if we think about it at all, think it is safe.

But independent scientists say aspartame can produce a range of disturbing
adverse effects in humans,
including headaches, memory loss, mood swings, seizures, multiple sclerosis
and Parkinson's-like symptoms, tumours and even death.

Concerns over aspartame's toxicity meant that for eight years,
the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) denied it approval,
effectively keeping it off the world market.
This caution was based on compelling evidence,
brought to light by numerous eminent scientists, litigators and consumer
groups, that aspartame contributed to serious central nervous system damage
and had been shown to cause cancer in animals.
Eventually, however, political muscle, won out over scientific rigour, and
aspartame was approved for use in 1981 (see timeline for details).
The FDA's about-turn opened the floodgates for aspartame's swift approval by
more than 70 regulatory authorities around the world.
But, as the remarkable history of the sweetener shows,
the clean bill of health given to it by government regulators --
whose raison d'�tre should be to protect the public from harm --
is simply not worth the paper it is printed on.

DECEMBER 1965

While working on an ulcer drug, a chemist at pharmaceutical manufacturer GD
Searle accidentally discovers aspartame, a substance that is 180 times
sweeter than sugar, yet has no calories.


AUTUMN 1967

GD Searle approaches eminent biochemist Dr Harry Waisman,
director of the University of Wisconsin's Joseph P Kennedy Jr Memorial
Laboratory of Mental Retardation Research and a respected expert in the
toxicity of phenylalanine (which comprises 50 per cent of the aspartame
formula),
to conduct a study of the effects of aspartame on primates.
Of seven monkeys fed aspartame mixed with milk,
one dies and five others have grand mal epileptic seizures.

SPRING 1971

Dr John Olney, professor of neuropathology and psychiatry at Washington
University in St Louis School of Medicine,
whose research into the neurotoxic food additive monosodium glutamate
(MSG, a chemical cousin of aspartame)
was responsible for having it removed from baby foods,
informs Searle that his studies show that aspartic acid,
one of the main constituents of aspartame,
causes holes in the brains of infant mice.
One of Searle's researchers, Ann Reynolds,
confirms Olney's findings in a similar study.

FEBRUARY 1973

Searle applies for FDA approval and submits over 100 studies it claims
support aspartame's safety.
Neither the dead monkeys nor the mice with holes in their brains are
included in the submission.



AUGUST 1974

Before aspartame can reach the marketplace,
Dr John Olney, James Turner
(attorney, consumer advocate and former 'Nader's Raider'
who was instrumental in removing the artificial sweetener cyclamate from the
US market),
and the group Label Inc (Legal Action for Buyers' Education and Labeling)
file a formal objection to aspartame's approval with the FDA,
citing evidence that it could cause brain damage, particularly in children.

JULY 1976

The FDA forms a new task force,
headed by veteran inspector Jerome Bressler,
to further investigate irregularities in Searle's aspartame studies
uncovered by the original task force.
The findings of the new body will eventually be incorporated into a document
known as the Bressler Report.



26 JANUARY 1977

While the grand jury investigation is underway,
Sidley & Austin, the law firm representing Searle,
begins recruitment negotiations with Samuel Skinner,
the US attorney in charge of the investigation.
Skinner removes himself form the investigation
and the case is passed to William Conlon.

8 MARCH 1977

Searle hires prominent Washington insider Donald Rumsfeld as its new CEO
to try to turn the beleaguered company around.
A former member of Congress and defence secretary in the Ford
administration, Rumsfeld brings several of his Washington colleagues in as
top management.

1 JULY 1977

Samuel Skinner leaves the US Attorney's office
and takes a job with Searle's law firm. Conlon takes over Skinner's old job.

1 AUGUST 1977

The Bressler Report is released.
It focuses on three key aspartame studies conducted by Searle.

The report finds that in one study 98 of the 196 animals died but weren't
autopsied until later dates, making it impossible to ascertain the actual
cause of death.

Tumours were removed from live animals and the animals placed back in the
study.

Many other errors and inconsistencies are noted.
For example, a rat was reported alive, then dead, then alive, then dead
again.

Bressler comments:
'The question you have got to ask yourself is:
why wasn't greater care taken?
Why didn't Searle, with their scientists, closely evaluate this,
knowing full well that the whole society, from the youngest to the elderly,
from the sick to the unsick, will have access to this product.'

The FDA creates yet another task force to review the Bressler Report.
The review is carried out by a team at the FDA's Center for Food Safety and
Applied Nutrition and headed by senior scientist Jacqueline Verrett.

1978
The journal Medical World News reports that the methanol content of
aspartame is 1,000 times greater than most foods under FDA control.
In high concentrations methanol, or wood alcohol, is a lethal poison.

30 SEPTEMBER 1980
The FDA's PBOI votes unanimously against aspartame's approval, pending
further investigations of brain tumours in animals.
The board says it 'has not been presented with proof of reasonable certainty
that aspartame is safe for use as a food additive'.

JANUARY 1981
Rumsfeld states in a Searle sales meeting that he is going to make a big
push to get aspartame approved within the year.
Rumsfeld vows to 'call in his markers' and use political rather than
scientific means to get the FDA on side.

20 JANUARY 1981
Ronald Reagan is sworn in as president of the US.
Reagan's transition team, which includes Rumsfeld,
nominates Dr Arthur Hull Hayes Jr to be the new FDA commissioner.

22 OCTOBER 1981
The FDA approves aspartame as a tabletop sweetener and for use in tablets,
breakfast cereals, chewing gum, dry bases for beverages, instant coffee and
tea, gelatines, puddings, fillings, dairy-product toppings and as a flavour
enhancer for chewing gum.

1982
The aspartame-based sweetener Equal, manufactured by Merisant, is launched
in the US.

15 OCTOBER 1982
The FDA announces that Searle has filed a petition for aspartame to be
approved as a sweetener in carbonated beverages, children's vitamins and
other liquids.

8 JULY 1983
Aspartame is approved for use in carbonated beverages and syrup bases in the
US and, three months later, Britain.
Before the end of the year Canderel tablets are launched in the UK.
Granular Canderel follows in 1985.

2 NOVEMBER 1984
The CDC review of public complaints relating to aspartame culminates in a
report, Evaluation of Consumer Complaints Related to Aspartame Use,
which reviews 213 of 592 cases and notes that re-challenge tests show that
sensitive individuals consistently produce the same adverse symptoms each
time they ingested aspartame.
The reported symptoms include:
aggressive behaviour, disorientation, hyperactivity, extreme numbness,
excitability, memory loss, loss of depth perception, liver impairment,
cardiac arrest, seizures, suicidal tendencies and severe mood swings.

1 OCTOBER 1985
Monsanto, the producer of recombinant bovine growth hormone,
genetically engineered soya beans, the pesticide Roundup and many other
industrial and agricultural chemicals, purchases Searle for $2.7 billion.

21 APRIL 1986
The US Supreme Court,
headed by Justice Clarence Thomas,
a former Monsanto attorney,
refuses to consider arguments
from the Community Nutrition Institute and other consumer groups that the
FDA has not followed proper procedures in approving aspartame, and that the
liquid form of the artificial sweetener may cause brain damage in heavy
users of low-calorie soft drinks.

16 OCTOBER 1986
Turner files another citizen's petition,
this time concerning the risk of seizures and eye damage from aspartame.
The petition argues that medical records of 140 aspartame users show them to
have suffered from epileptic seizures and eye damage after consuming
products containing the sweetener and that the FDA should ban aspartame as
an 'imminent hazard to the public health'.

28 NOVEMBER 1986
The FDA approves aspartame for non-carbonated frozen or refrigerated
concentrates and single-strength fruit juice, fruit drinks, fruit-flavoured
drinks, imitation fruit-flavoured drinks, frozen stock-type confections and
novelties, breath mints and tea beverages.

3 NOVEMBER 1987
A US Senate hearing is held to address the issue of aspartame safety and
labelling. The hearing reviews the faulty testing procedures and the
'psychological strategy' used by Searle to help ensure aspartame's approval.
Other information that comes to light includes the fact that aspartame was
once on a Pentagon list of prospective biochemical-warfare weapons.

Numerous medical and scientific experts testify as to the toxicity of
aspartame.
Among them is Dr Verrett, who reveals that, while compiling its 1977 report,
her team was instructed not to comment on or be concerned with the overall
validity of the studies.
She states that questions about birth defects have not been answered.
She also states that increasing the temperature of the product leads to an
increase in production of DKP,
a substance shown to increase uterine polyps and change blood cholesterol
levels.
14 OCTOBER 1989
Dr HJ Roberts, director of the Palm Beach Institute for Medical Research,
claims that several recent aircraft accidents involving confusion and aberrant
pilot behaviour were caused by ingestion of products containing aspartame.
NutraSweet signs agreements with Coca-Cola and Pepsi stipulating that it is
their preferred supplier of aspartame.
30 JANUARY 1992
The FDA approves aspartame for use in malt beverages, breakfast cereals, and
refrigerated puddings and fillings and in bulk form (in large packages like
sugar) for tabletop use. NutraSweet markets these bulk products under the
name 'NutraSweet Spoonful'.

APRIL 1995
Consumer activist, and founder of anti-aspartame group Mission Possible,
Betty Martini uses the US's Freedom of Information Act to force the FDA to
release an official list of adverse effects associated with aspartame ingestion.
Culled from 10,000 consumer complaints, the list includes four
deaths and more than 90 unique symptoms, a majority of which are connected
to impaired neurological function.
They include: headache; dizziness or problems with balance;
mood change; vomiting and nausea; seizures and convulsions;
memory loss; tremors; muscle weakness; abdominal pains and
cramps; change in vision; diarrhoea; fatigue and weakness; skin rashes;
deteriorating vision; joint and musculoskeletal pain.
NOVEMBER 1996
Drawing on data compiled by the US National Cancer Institute's Surveillance,
Epidemiology and End Results programme, which collects and distributes data
on all types of cancer, Olney publishes peer-reviewed research in the
Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology.

It shows that brain-tumour rates have risen in line with aspartame consumption
and that there has been a significant increase in the conversion of less deadly
tumours into much more deadly ones.

ASPARTAME REACTIONS: A HIDDEN EPIDEMIC
Aspartame has been linked to a host of devastating central nervous system
disorders

When aspartame was approved for use, Dr HJ Roberts, director of the Palm
Beach Institute for Medical Research, had no reason to doubt the FDA's
decision. 'But my attitude changed,' he says, 'after repeatedly
encountering serious reactions in my patients that seemed justifiably linked to
aspartame.' Twenty years on, Roberts has coined the phrase 'aspartame
disease' to describe the wide range of adverse effects he has seen among
aspartame-guzzling patients.

He estimates: 'Hundreds of thousands of consumers, more likely millions,
currently suffer major reactions to products containing aspartame.
Today, every physician probably encounters aspartame disease
in everyday practice, especially among patients with illnesses
that are undiagnosed or difficult to treat.'

As a guide for other doctors, Roberts, a recognised expert in difficult
diagnoses, has published a lengthy series of case studies, Aspartame
Disease: an ignored epidemic (Sunshine Sentinel Press), in which he
meticulously details his treatment of 1,200 aspartame-sensitive individuals,
or 'reactors', encountered in his own practice. Following accepted medical
procedure for detecting sensitivities to foods, Roberts had his patients
remove aspartame from their diets. With nearly two thirds of reactors,
symptoms began to improve within days of removing aspartame, and
improvements were maintained as long as aspartame was kept out of their
diet.

Roberts' case studies parallel much of what was revealed in the FDA's report
on adverse reactions to aspartame -- that toxicity often reveals itself
through central nervous system disorders and compromised immunity.
His casework shows that aspartame toxicity can mimic the symptoms of and/or
worsen several diseases that fall into these broad categories (see the box
above).
[ sidebar ] CONDITIONS MIMICKED BY ASPARTAME TOXICITY
 multiple sclerosis
 Parkinson's disease
 Alzheimer's disease
 fibromyalgia
 arthritis
 multiple chemical sensitivity
 chronic fatigue syndrome
 attention deficit disorder
 panic disorder
 depression and other psychological disorders
 lupus
 diabetes and diabetic complications
 birth defects
 lymphomhypothyroidisma
 Lyme disease
 hypothyroidism

[booklady]

Re: 2008 How Long Can You Go? "No Sweet" CHALLENGE

Day four sweet free, day five low carb and in a lot of pain, but it will pass. I am having a brutal withdrawel from aspartame but one day at a time I will get through it. I am more determined than ever to get this darn monkey off my back once and for all !!
Thanks again Sherri so sharing such great information with all of us !!
Stephie