Friends would say that I should worry more about my Marlboro Light consumption, but hey, battling one evil at a time is enough for me to cope with right now.
So far, I have a headache, am in a foul mood (although as Alpha Male says, and what's so unusual about that?) and stomach ache; all or any of which may or may not be related to weaning myself off the fizzy stuff.
The reasons I decided to stop my daily habit of pouring two/three/four or so cans down my throat are as follows:
- Diet Coke acts as a diuretic, which would explain why I often feel dehydrated. Plus dehydration means flaky skin and more wrinkles. Not good.
- Aspartame is getting more and more bad press. While many of the 'Aspartame is the root of all evil in the world' sites have a tendency towards the hysterical, I am also loathe to swallow the arguments of the other side - mainly because the argument that Aspartame is harmless is backed up by studies funded by, hey, you'll never guess who? Yep, that's right, the big players in the Aspartame industry. And they couldn't possibly be biased in any way, right?
- Plus, drinking too much of the stuff makes me bloated. Again, not good.
I have always been instinctively neurotic about the kids ingesting any form of sweetener-spiked food or drink - although Aspartame use is banned in Europe in brands targeting children, other types of sweeteners are not. If I feel sweeteners are dangerous for the kids then maybe a Diet Coke-rich diet isn't so great for my long-term health either?
So yes, I am incredibly vain and I also suffer from a mild form of hypochondria.
Anyway, if you want to make your own mind up about Aspartame, here are some useful links:
The 'Aspartame is good' lobby
http://www.aspartame.info/index.html
http://www.aspartame.org/
http://www.aspartame.net/
http://www.nutrasweet.com/
http://www.equal.com/
http://www.dsm.com/en_US/html/hsc/hsc_home.htm
The 'Aspartame is bad' lobby
http://www.dorway.com/
http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/aspartame.htm
http://www.sweetpoison.com/
http://presidiotex.com/aspartame/
http://www.aspartamesafety.com/
http://aspartame.com/
Aspartame also goes under the following aliases:
AspartameN-L-alpha-Aspartyl-L-phenylalanine 1-methyl ester
3-Amino-N-(alpha-carboxyphenethyl) succinamic acid N-methyl ester
APM
SC-18862
Canderel™
Equal™
NutraSweet™
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