I have a confession to make: I am a SERIOUS Diet Coke addict. It's kind of scary, and it's really sad.
I've tried several times to get off of the stuff, but I always end up drinking it again because I work at a job that requires me to be at work long before my internal clock thinks it's time to wake up.
I have noticed, over the years, that I am starting to suffer from more and more bizarre health problems which doctors can't identify or treat, such as chronic headaches and serious fatigue.
I have a hunch. I think it's the artificial sweetener in Diet Coke, aspartame. I've done a lot of research lately, but what I've noticed is that when I travel internationally, I feel a lot better. It's due, in large part, to the fact that I am totally psyched to be traveling internationally, but I have a theory that it's also partly because most foreign countries do not allow or use aspartame in the quantity that the U.S. does. They use saccharin or sucralose or acesulfamine K as a replacement or supplement to aspartame. That and Coca-Cola Light costs more per ounce than wine in most countries so I usually just drink water when I travel.
The biggest clue came when I developed a mystery allergic reaction in May. I have, for several months, suffered daily from random hives covering all or part of my skin. I will break out in terrible, terrible hives that look like bug bites and which persist anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour. When I went to Italy they went away after the first 2 days. They came back as soon as I returned to the U.S. That got me to thinking, researching, and postulating. I also noticed a major increase in migraines and decrease in energy.
So I'm going to try an experiment. I'm going to try replacing my usual Diet Coke and Coke Zero with Coke with Splenda or generic cola with sucralose for 2 weeks. I wil be interested to see how things come out. I will be keeping a journal to record my health symptoms and daily soft drink intake to see if there's any correlation that I will make available to anyone who is interested in this sort of stuff.
5 comments:
Very interesting! I have found that by body reacts negatively to highly processed foods, I suspect its all the preservatives. So we are trying to devote more of our budget to less preserved and less high fructose corn syrup type items. I hope you are able to find some positive results especially with the school year right around the corner.
Good for you! I can fully support this experiment. Personally, I have never been able to drink anything with aspartame in it. I just really can't stand the after taste, and know by the first sip if my drink is artificially sweetened. But, I have heard of a lot of the potential problems associated with the chemical, as well. I try to drink almost nothing but water, but I figure on those rare occasions when I drink a soda, I might as well just go with the regular sugar. It's bad for me regardless, but tastes a whole lot better. Curious to hear what your results are.
Yeah. Artificial sweeteners definitel taste weird but I got used to them inmy teens when I lost all that weight. I can't drink reg soda b/c the sugar makes me really sick. It'll be interesting to see how this works out.y
I make it a rule to not drink anything that tastes like Lysol...
I get headaches if I eat or drink too much aspartame. Definitely bad stuff!
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