|
 Aspartame Makes You Hungry!
Marion Hauser, M.D.
Do you love
diet
soda or diet iced tea? What
about fat-free, low-carb yogurt or sugar-free gelatin? How about
sugar-free ice cream and cookies? These products might taste good to you
– AND you may feel that you are saving your hips from some unwanted
additional pounds, but studies show that these products are just bad
for you.
While those products might taste good and be
less filling (or was that a beer?), M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
neurologist in the news is warning that some of them may not be good for
you.
This is a very heated topic that the food
industry does not like to discuss. Most likely we will receive emails
from people who do not agree with our opinion when this article runs.
However, we have seen many instances where patients come to us with
horrible medical problems, and come to find out when digging deeper into
their medical and dietary histories, they were consuming large
quantities of these foods that were actually contributing to their
medical problems.
Many of these sugar-free products contain loads
of chemicals. Have you ever looked at the labels? It’s amazing.
Seriously, it’s hard to discern what the food actually is. One of the
times Nicole and I were meeting with our food photographer, Chef Steve,
who was helping us with some of the photos for our book,
The Hauser
Diet: A Fresh Look at Healthy Living, he made the statement that
sugar-free, fat-free foods are mislabeled. They are not really food.
They are chemicals. These things were not meant to be processed by the
body. We went on to discuss how it is better for the body to consume one
scoop of a natural ice cream made from real ingredients, than a whole
carton of fat-free, sugar-free ice cream. Those chemical toxins are far
worse for your body than natural cream!
One of the many ingredients contained in these
types of products is aspartame – “the blue packet of sweetener on your
restaurant table.” Dr. Arthur Forman was quoted by News 2 Houston as
saying, "I think there's enough evidence to suggest this is not a good
thing for folks." That’s putting in mildly! Dr. Forman believes that
aspartame may cause several serious problems, such as headaches to
seizures and irritability to birth defects, according to the article. He
went on to say that some studies, including one by Dr. John Olney from
Washington University, shows that aspartame may be linked to brain
tumors.
If that is not bad enough, one of the least
known side effects, ironic as it is, is that aspartame, which is found
in many diet foods, may actually increase your appetite.
We see many patients at Caring Medical who find that diet soda
stimulates their appetites. In fact, they report that sometimes they try
to just drink diet soda all day when dieting, but that they find
themselves reaching for the potato chips or making a mad dash to the
vending machines when they do this! Aspartame contains an amino acid
called phenylalanine, which causes insulin to be released, triggering
hunger.
Some people are allergic to phenylalanine and can suffer brain damage
and other complications if they take it. Nicole had a patient recently
tell her that she knows all about the dangers of artificial sweeteners.
She found out the hard way – she suffered from a seizure!
Aspartame also contains aspartic acid and methanol, which breaks down to
formaldehyde in the body. There are some serious potential side effects
out there. It’s not worth the risk for anyone! Get ready, we are about
to get on our soap box. Artificial sweeteners are marketed with the
promise of weight control, and the vast majority of people who consume
them do so to either lose or avoid gaining weight. This is NOT the way
to do it. As we stated earlier, our bodies were not meant to process all
of those excess chemicals. Why ingest something that is potentially
harmful!? We are just like you. We like the taste of Diet Coke just as
much as anyone else. Who wants to eat pizza with a glass of water? Well,
chances are, most of you shouldn’t be eating that much pizza anyway!
From 1960 to l976, there was virtually no change in the number of
Americans who were overweight: (about 24% of Americans). However, from
the mid 80’s to present, this number has more than doubled to 54
percent! This coincides with the massive infusion of non-caloric
chemical sweeteners and sugar-free "diet" foods that are eaten by close
to three-quarters of the adult population. We are convinced that
continued acceptance of the most popular of these artificial sweeteners,
aspartame, plays a significant role in our current weight problems. We
have seen that aspartame accomplishes far from helping us lose weight.
We see patients who actually gain weight! Aspartame has been shown to
increase appetite, especially cravings for sweets. Seriously! Think
about that! You are consuming "diet" products that actually help you
gain inches to your hips and waistline! Let alone the fact that
aspartame has serious health risks.
Bottom line: We recommend that you avoid foods containing significant
amounts of chemicals, particularly aspartame. If you want to avoid
aspartame, read your labels. You would be surprised where you will find
it (along with other chemical sweeteners). Many products contain it,
including toothpaste, breath mints, chewing gum, laxatives, children's
vitamins, along with the diet food and beverages.
If you are consuming “diet” products in order to lose weight or maintain
weight, we can help you find a diet and exercise plan that is right for
you. We can give you suggestions for better food choices without having
to consume foods containing artificial sweeteners. You’ll be pleasantly
surprised! Give us a call!
|
Tired
of quick fix diets that don't work? 