Anyone drink a lot of diet soda/aspartame??

I figured I'd update everyone on my aspartame-free diet!

Today is the start of day 4 without any diet soda/aspartame and I can honestly say I already feel a POSITIVE difference!

The first few days were a bit tough. I noticed increased depression, anxiety and moodiness, but today is definitely better. I'm still a bit moody but nowhere like I was yesterday. The depression has definitely lifted quite a bit, and I've even cut my Zoloft dose from 50-25mg in the process.

I have also added 800mg of Magnesium Glycinate yesterday, and I'm bumping it up to 1200mg today and see how that goes.

I'm not ready to take on the world by any means, but I swear I'll never touch fake sugar EVER AGAIN! You owe it to yourself to read all labels and stop ingesting this stuff... And trust me NOBODY consumed more of this than me!

It definitely increases dopamine production and deplets your magnesium which causes depression.

I've even noticed a lot of my phobias are drifting in the background too, my vision in NOTICEABLY better with less blurriness!

I will definitely update in a few more days!

Rob

Led, your vision is better after getting of aspartame? I didn't know it could cause that. I've got slightly blurry vision, which may simply be due to my getting older and my general lifestyle (staring at a computer, reading books, etc.), and I had to get glasses, but I didn't think all the diet soda I drink might be causing it. I'm thinking of trying (again) to get off the stuff. You've all really given me food for thought.

A couple of years ago, radio talk show host Glenn Beck announced he was going blind. Alex Jones and his Infowars staff wrote several articles showing that aspartame is linked to macular dsytropy, and GB drank it all day long. GB and his staff ridiculed AJ and his staff on air, and the whole controversy was picked up by the mainstream media. Here's a link to the Infowars article with links to various supporting documents listing the side-effects of aspartame:

http://www.infowars.com/warning-to-g...ink-diet-coke/

If that wasn't bad enough, a study on humans came out earlier this week linking aspartame to leukemia and lymphoma:

http://www.naturalnews.com/037772_as..._lymphoma.html

I used to drink diet soda all the time, until my last concussion, and I found out that the artificial sweeteners are like a "neurotoxin" or something...I did notice that I felt like CRAP after drinking diet stuff, anything with sucralose (which is a form of splenda, believe it or not), or anything with aspartame.

It is freakin hard to find anything that isn't sweetened with that stuff! I do use stevia in things if I want that sweetened flavor, which is better for you than artificial, but yes, sodas like Sierra Mist are better for you cause they have natural sugar, as Hellion mentioned with the Throwback sodas.

I'm so glad I read this thread. I admit I'm not stopping it right away, but I'm going to set a goal to get off the stuff. Maybe drink those flavored waters (not the ones with aspartame or artificial sweeteners, of course). Or just one regular soda a day (or week) and drink water the rest of the time.

I'm hoping, after I consume the sugary foods I have left (it's not a lot, and I admit it's a cop-out because I should be going cold turkey), I won't get any more. I'm not buying more sugary things except for one thing (another cop-out, I know) that I've found hard-to-find so I want to get it when I see it. (Actually, I can order it online--Godiva Milk Chocolate Strawberry bars--but it's $5 a bar, and at the stores I've seen it, it's around $4.) And I'm going to try to get off the diet soda either at the same time or right when college is over in December. And I know, I know--I'm making excuses. Addiction is a b****.

Good for you!! I hope you can find things to replace the diet soda. One thing I do now and then is make a lemonade with fresh lemon juice, stevia, ice and water. It's very good and since stevia is safe [the alternative health community recommends it], I can drink it without guilt.

I eat chocolate every day, and other than my pants being tighter than I'd like, I don't feel guilty about it.

Thanks, LucyG! I have tried a small taste of Stevia (Truvia brand, but there's also Stevia in the Raw, for anyone reading and interested), and I found it acceptable. It's got a slight taste besides the sweetness, but it's not a bad taste. Thanks for the recommendation for making lemonade. That sounds delicious, and so much healthier than Honey Boo Boo's mom, June's version (she says the secret to good lemonade is to use lots of lemon juice and LOTS of sugar--that's about as basic a lemonade recipe as you can get!).

I've been eating chocolate every day, too, and I think it would be fine if I only ate a couple of pieces each day, but I consume a whole candy bar if I have it, or too much out of a bag. And it's got to be milk or white chocolate. I can tolerate Dove dark chocolate (especially if it's on one of their ice cream bars), but I can barely stand the taste of dark chocolate, even then. Nobody with a lick of sense will try to take my chocolate from me!

Oh yeah, Honey Boo Boo and the lemonade recipe was unreal. I can't imagine using that much sugar in anything that wasn't going to feed hundreds of people! And the 'sketti' dinner with butter and ketchup as the sauce. Course before the show, I bet it was all they could afford.

I do give June lots of credit for being willing stand on a scale in front of all America, and reveal that she weights 309 lbs!! It amazes me how comfortable she is in her own skin, while I'm 15 lbs overweight due to meds, and now menopause and I fuss about it everyday.

Here's a spoof of Alana and June 25 years in the future from when she was on Toddlers and Tieras:

Yeah, the sketti dinner. Don't get me started. It was not all they could afford, though, because June is a coupon queen, and saves a lot of money that way. You might be surprised. On top of that, I don't know where she's gotten so much money before the current show, but somewhere she got the money to buy glitzy dresses and behavior coaches for her daughter. I don't know how much she's spent on those dresses, but some parents pay thousands! Granted, she probably got money while on Toddlers & Tiaras, but I never watched the show, except for once just a few months ago, and I couldn't watch the whole episode. I was bored, and it's just ridiculous.

Maybe June got money because of her "forklift toe." Insurance might have threw some of that dress money her way. I realize I'm being a hypocrite because I've watched every Honey Boo Boo episode there was, because I want to judge them. I admit it. I think June loves her kids, but she's not watching out for their health. The baby, Kaitlyn (not sure how she spells it) has two thumbs. Wonder what nickname she'll get? And will she be in pageants, too? Sorry, my thoughts are wandering...

OMG, I watched that video! It's hilarious, although I think Honey Boo Boo will be more overweight than the actress portraying her. Gave me a smile, though.

I really, really can't judge! When things have been uberly poor around here (been some lucky years after that now, WHEW), spaghetti dinners were the norm here. At first I used up the tomatoes, olives, salami or whatever I had home. When that ran out, the pasta had to go with some ketchup, dash of margarine and lot of spices. Around here at least, pasta can be so cheap it feels like it's almost given away. Can't say that about many foods.

I started watching HCHBB so my sister and I would have something to discuss. I figured I'd absolutely HATE it, but I found I liked them, especially Pumpkin. I think TLC edits the show to make them look as bad as possible. They would never never show any of the Real Housewives [who I don't watch as they're so snarky!] sneezing, blowing their nose or scratching their butts.

I suspect that the reason for showing the forklift toe is TLC can arrange corrective surgery for June in an upcoming episode. And with little Katlin, I guess they need to wait to see how the thumbs function before removing the second one.

I find couponing to be a contridiction in terms in that so much of what you can get is stuff most of us barely use. How many bottles of body wash can one family use? And the junk food they get would be better left on the shelf. I've thought of couponing, but there aren't coupons for stuff I would buy so what's the point?

I have a bad habit of drinking tons of diet soda, mostly diet coke. When I say tons, I mean 60 ounces+ almost everyday. Honestly, I don't think about the health consequences. After reading this, I want to at least cut back and switch to splenda as my artifical sweetner of choice. I don't know if aspartame has hurt me, but I'd rather greatly reduce the chances of it happening.

I'm not better than Honey Boo Boo and her family, but judging is easy when you see a parent (or parents--Sugar Bear's the dad of Alana, and has taken the responsibility of fatherhood for the other girls, which makes him "a good catch" in my book) who doesn't seem worried about the health of her children.

I've lived on pasta and macaroni and cheese and stuff like that. We eat Dreamfield's pasta now, because my boyfriend has diabetes (and hopefully it will help prevent it in me, but I have a sugary diet and poor habits that will probably cancel out the pasta). BTW, in case anyone wonders, Dreamfield's pasta is really good, can't really tell the difference between that and regular.

LucyG, I like them, too, I have to admit. I'm grossed-out by some things they do, but I'm not gross-free myself. :P On one episode, HBB sneezes at the end of the show and snot comes out both sides of her nose. She immediately covers her face with her hands, and the cameraperson just kept on filming. I'm like, Can anyone get the girl a tissue???

I feel like you about the couponing. I watched Extreme Couponing for about 1 1/2 seasons, but I'm bored with it now. I can't settle for "whatever's cheap" or free; I have certain brands and products I like, and some products are simply crap if you get the cheap stuff. And I sure don't have the space to store all that stuff. It's nice when they get a big haul and donate it, but all the time it takes to gather the coupons, do the shopping, wait in line, get all rung up, loaded into the car and carried into the house (and then, put away), would make me insane! I am thankful I've never gone to a store and run into a super-couponer. They take HOURS sometimes! And the cash register always crashes!

Good luck, onionknight! I like Splenda, too, but they say bad stuff about that, too. FYI, some sugar-free candy is made with Splenda (I think Russell Stover's line of sugar-free chocolates is one brand), and it's really good.

My chances of ever completely eliminating sweet bevages is small. I've switched to the Splenda diet coke and drink powerade zero. Because I'm insulin resistant, I need to drink a lot of liquid to feel good and sugary drinks is a no-go. Splenda is probs better than aspartame...I'm mostly worried about nueral toxins.

This is a very interesting topic. I have never hear this connection, and i drink ALOT of diet soda. My shrink pointed out that I have been "self-medicating" with caffiene, using it as an artificial boost because my own motivation is so low. I try cutting back from time to time, but I am truly caffiene dependant......

So if diet soda is actually triggering these issues, I am making myself worse when trying to make myself better! ARG!

Where I live we have tolerable tap water. I'm actually very spoiled with good water and I can't see how our city won some water contest. Still, it's good enough to drink on a regular basis, so my rule is not to use other drinks just for thirst. Is it the poor quality that keeps most people from the easiest and cheapest choice of drinks?

I was raised to drink lots of soda. Water tastes bland to me, and also weird, especially after a meal. I'm conditioned to want something sweet. I don't drink coffee--for some reason, the caffeine in coffee gives me unpleasant visits to the bathroom, whereas in diet soda, it doesn't. Tea has to have sugar for me. My boyfriend gets "dough" (pronounced DOOG) at the Persian restaurant we frequent, and that's mostly yogurt and salty. I can't understand how it would satisfy one's thirst. I can learn to tolerate water, but I don't know that I can learn to like it.