Nutrasweet and other artifice

[PrettySquareGal]

I read a couple of references to artificial sweetners, so I thought I'd start a conversation on the topic!

I do not consume any fake sugars. Nutrasweet gives me headaches, and the others, well, I don't like to visit the powder room so often.

What about you? Do you like fake in your food?

 

[Section10]

I never use artificial sweetners. I think we have too many unnecessary additives in our food and in other things that we apply externally as well. If you shop at all or go to restaurants,etc. you're not going to avoid everything, but I believe it is to our advantage to be as discerning as we can about what we use or ingest. Some people are extremely conscientious about what fuels or additives they put in their cars yet will recklessly abuse their own bodies with stuff that can only cause irreparable harm. Seems kind of nutty to me.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I am the same way. I try to avoid artificial food stuffs as much as is possible. Sucrose tastes so much better than the fake cr*p and i exercise so i don't need to worry about how much carbs i ingest . I try to eat all natural. I avoid nothing, but eat nothing to excess. i drink no soft drinks, those foetid pits of additives and flavourings. I drink real ales (made from barley!, not from corn like the terrible budweiser an the likes) or pure spirits (whiskey, rum etc). My food is organic as much as possible in this town. If not organic it's no antibiotics/no additives stuff.

I do run into the problem, however, with some southeast asian cuisines, which are pretty much obsessed with MSG. It goes on anything and everything. And gives me a terrible headache.

Did everyone see that in Britain they're trying to ban Aspartame again? Aparently there was some corruption in the original decision making process. The aspartame industry had direct access to members of the decision committee (pretty much illegal in Britain). Hopefully if aspartame gets banned they'll go ahead with their ban on genetically modified foods. The public doesn't want GM and it should not be forced upon them.

bk

 

[jake_fink]

I avoid artificial sweetners like plague, but processed sugars, glucose and especially white sugar, are no good for the organism either. When I cook I use brown, raw or cane sugar, and I don't touch pop - it's disgusting.

I discovered recently that those very convenient bags of pre-washed salad greens are washed with detergent and "preserved" with some kind of sulfite. Sometimes the phony crap and chemicals are hard to avoid.

 

[Pilgrim]

OK, I'm the dissenter. When I have a soda, I drink only diet sodas - and I use "pink stuff' in my iced tea.

I should note that I am not a heavy consumer of any of these - perhaps one a day.

And one of my life mottos is: "Life is too short for lite beer". I prefer to put my calories where they count!

Cheers!

 

[BellyTank]

Give up Sugar!!!

You're sweet enough already!
Then you don't need to replace it with chemicals which turn yer brain into Swiss Cheese.

B
T

 

[photobyalan]

I use Splenda regularly, it's the only "artificial" sweetener that I can honestly say tastes like sugar. I know that some people are dead set against Splenda, but refined (white) sugar is so bad for you that something like Splenda just couldn't possibly be any worse in similar quantities.

However, when I'm making baked goods like cake and cookies that get some of their texture from sugar, that's all I use. I've tried mixing Splenda and sugar, but it just doesn't give good results.

 

[Bebop]

I can't tell the difference between any sweetners. Maybe it is because I have smoked a pipe for the past 25 or so years and my taste buds have been whacked out of shape. I seldom use sweetners. I enjoy strong tasting coffee and tea without the addition of sweetners. The only time I really use sugar is when cooking up a batch of my marinera sauce to off set the acidity of tomatoes.

 

[jake431]

Can someone honestly tell me the last time they haven't eated a genetically modified food? Cause pretty much everything we eat has been modified by splicing and hybridization already and we're all still here. With artificial sweeteners, there is and then there isn't evidence that it's terrible for you. All I can say is, I stopped drinking regular pop, switched to diet pop, and lost 15 lbs over three months just by doing that alone. I'm not saying it's a panacea or anything, but it's definitely not all bad.

Part of my attitude, I suppose, comes from my Uncle, who was a food chemist, and he used to tell me all the time, how while some of the pesticides and man-made stuff used to grow plants was harmful to humans if consumed, the stuff organic farms used to obtain similar results was often just as bad for people, natural or not. This is why he counsuled me, if I had room, and a good environment, to ALWAY grow some of your own vegetables. Now it just so happens that my current Apartment has garden plots and my current (LOL) girlfriend has a green thumb - so all summer it's garden grown cucumbers, tomatos, next year I am planting some sweet and hot peppers, as well as growing some green beans. Oh yeah, there are also some rasberry bushes running wild on the abandoned plots. So, I have it pretty good. I guess my point is, a lot of us (me included) have been swayed by the whole "natural-good" vs "manmade-bad" argument, but people who actually know things about chemicals (my uncle, doctors) know it's not so simple as that. The problem comes in (as I see it) when people who don't have your health first and foremost in mind (some farmers, business, the gov't, doctors who work for the gov't or the businesses) interject their take on this - because very often, if profit can be gained by saying something is so, it usually is said.

In any event, I don't think it's as simple as natural/manmade, good/evil.

Bebop, to kill the acidity I use a little red wine; works great.

-Jake

 

[Twitch]

I only use the sweetner in the pink package in iced tea due to the fact that it disolves fully where sugar granules do not. I hate diet soda.

But everyone should remember that those that are in the upper limits of blood sugar boundries who desire sweet foods have little recourse.....:beer:

 

[Section10]

I still grow my own vegetables and when I lived on my farm I had an enormous garden with a big Troy-Bilt tiller and enough garden tools to fill the back of a pickup. And I used them all. I've never used pesticides--NEVER!
and my garden has always done well without them. There's been times when if you wanted to see a weed in my garden you had to look pretty close. Of course this took some dedication and effort, but almost nothing pays dividends like conscientious gardening.
As far as food additives go, I don't see them as being made with my best interest at heart. I have a certain reluctance to put my trust in either doctors or chemists. I see myself as the one who is primarily responsible for my health and I base my decisions on that premise.

 

[Bebop]

I still grow my own vegetables and when I lived on my farm I had an enormous garden with a big Troy-Bilt tiller and enough garden tools to fill the back of a pickup. And I used them all. I've never used pesticides--NEVER!
and my garden has always done well without them. There's been times when if you wanted to see a weed in my garden you had to look pretty close. Of course this took some dedication and effort, but almost nothing pays dividends like conscientious gardening.
As far as food additives go, I don't see them as being made with my best interest at heart. I have a certain reluctance to put my trust in either doctors or chemists. I see myself as the one who is primarily responsible for my health and I base my decisions on that premise.

If you don't trust doctors, good luck the next time you need to preform one of those back yard medical diagnosis on yourself. If pesticides keep my store bought vegetables in good shape, I say yum. I take pride in my gardens also but I certainly can't expect every commercial farmer to put in such dedication and time. If you look at the organic section of your supermarket, you will see that those vegetables go unpurchased because of the price and the fact that they do not look as good.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

If you don't trust doctors, good luck the next time you need to preform one of those back yard medical diagnosis on yourself. If pesticides keep my store bought vegetables in good shape, I say yum. I take pride in my gardens also but I certainly can't expect every commercial farmer to put in such dedication and time. If you look at the organic section of your supermarket, you will see that those vegetables go unpurchased because of the price and the fact that they do not look as good.

Actually, organic foods are a fast growing industry.

"This year, retail sales of organic foods are expected to exceed $15 billion ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù with more than $32 billion projected by 2009. While the conventional food industry still dwarfs the organic sector with $550 billion in yearly sales, it is producing an unappetizing 2 to 3 percent annual growth rate, while the organic industry has savored several years of 17 to 20 percent growth."

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6638417/

Also, I'd rather eat an imperfect looking apple than the wax laden ones at the store. It's hard to tell how fresh produce really is if it has been irradiated or treated with coats of preservatives.

I don't eat all organic but I do eat what's local and fresh when I can.

 

[jake431]

Of course!

My point is only that the label "organic" can be and is sometimes applied to items that are no better, and sometimes worse for you, than a similar product with a man made chemical applied to it. Not all non-organic foodstuffs are evil. However, it is difficult to sort this out for yourself, when those who would sell organic product hold them up as a miracle. Of course, it would be hard to sell organic produce for more than non-organically raised produce if it wasn't marketed as substantially better for you than regular old produce.

Anyway... yes, locally is always betterm if possible.

-Jake

 

[Section10]

If you don't trust doctors, good luck the next time you need to preform one of those back yard medical diagnosis on yourself.

Please don't misunderstand. I make use of doctors if I think I need to. I had major surgery a little over a year ago and minor surgery a few months ago. And if I'm ever in a serious accident, please take me to the hospital. It's more about taking responsibility for yourself. Doctors can give me useful input about things, but I am the one who makes the decisions. They are my consultants. I live a clean life today, because I believe it benefits me -- in many ways. If a doctor is in charge of my health then I should be able to hold him responsible if something serious goes wrong. I haven't found any who will agree to that, yet.

 

[LaMedicine]

Please don't misunderstand. I make use of doctors if I think I need to. I had major surgery a little over a year ago and minor surgery a few months ago. And if I'm ever in a serious accident, please take me to the hospital. It's more about taking responsibility for yourself. Doctors can give me useful input about things, but I am the one who makes the decisions. They are my consultants. I live a clean life today, because I believe it benefits me -- in many ways. If a doctor is in charge of my health then I should be able to hold him responsible if something serious goes wrong. I haven't found any who will agree to that, yet.

I would love to have someone who thinks like you for my patient. We doctors can't stick like glue to our patients and oversee everything they do, from what they eat to when they take their medicine, etc. Unless of course, you're in the hospital. The best we can do is give some sound advice on how to care for yourselves, and prescribe medication to help the process. We can never control your life, nor can we control the process and route of whatever any illness takes. Quite honestly, we are actually powerless over that. What we are, is that we have better knowledge than most, have been trained judiciously in that area, so we can judge and give advice (including medication), do our best in whatever procedure we have to perfome on our patients, but even with the best, there are occasions when things spin out of control, or end in way that we can only call a miracle. It is the patient him/herself who has the right to decide for himself, and all we can do is give information and advice in hopes that this person makes the decision wisely, then help him/her carry out that decision. We are the coaches, you are the athletes.

I also vote for the imperfect looking apple that's tastey and not wax laden, if things have been so artificially "tampered" with (as much seems to be these days), I would pay more for something that I can trust (in terms of taste, nutrients, safety) and eat sparsely, than buy things I can't trust even if they are cheaper and can get loads of. I would rather eat something a farmer took dilligent and conscientious care of, even if it's expensive, than something that is made as in an industry adnn is "faceless". If their shape isn't perfect, so be it, it isn't going to make much difference anyway, since most of them are going to be cut up to be cooked and eaten.

 

[varga49]

I also vote for the imperfect looking apple that's tastey and not wax laden, if things have been so artificially "tampered" with (as much seems to be these days), I would pay more for something that I can trust (in terms of taste, nutrients, safety) and eat sparsely, than buy things I can't trust even if they are cheaper and can get loads of. I would rather eat something a farmer took dilligent and conscientious care of, even if it's expensive, than something that is made as in an industry adnn is "faceless". If their shape isn't perfect, so be it, it isn't going to make much difference anyway, since most of them are going to be cut up to be cooked and eaten.

I spent the last 30 minutes writing and re-writing what you've written. So I say Ditto! and will add that those of you who prefer to consume artificial sweetners might ask your selves or perhaps even research how and why the pharmacological industry,got it's foot in the door in the first place. Is the moderate use if refined sugar such a bad thing? Why does the pharmacological industry care so much about my health to give me a so-called better alternative to sugar? Are there any food and drug industries out there today that place our, the consumers, best interests over their ability to make a profit. What IS Aspartame anyway, and how is it better than sugar? How come for 16 years the FDA refused to approve it? OK so I'm off on another tangent again. I have to stop here, I'm cooking a turkey...yes it was locally farm raised and free ranged.

 

[varga49]

I only use the sweetner in the pink package in iced tea due to the fact that it disolves fully where sugar granules do not. I hate diet soda.

But everyone should remember that those that are in the upper limits of blood sugar boundries who desire sweet foods have little recourse.....:beer:

you might try researching Stevia. Of course like anything else food and drug industry related you'll get pro's and con's. good day!