There is a swirling debate going on all over the world in regard to aspartame and its use in over 5,000 products available to us today. Of course, you may recognize it as the key sweetener of diet drinks, the form in which it is most often consumed. It is also found in many other products and under a variety of names such as NutraSweet and Equal. It’s not hard to spot aspartame; you just have to read through the ingredients labeled on the package.

About four years ago, I became aware of some of the possible dangers of aspartame and my husband and I eliminated it from our diet. When I say dangers, I am talking about the possibility of headaches, tinnitus, nausea, deafness, joint pain, impotence, coma, diarrhea, infertility, chest pain, dizziness, weight gain, rashes, insomnia, slurred speech, spasms, blindness, and loss of diabetic control.

My husband, who at the time was working a lot of late hours, was a steady user of diet drink products to help him stay awake and aware. However, upon eliminating aspartame from his diet, he actually found he became less lethargic, more energetic, and no longer had any of the symptoms represented in the above list when he once exhibited many of them.

The availability of information on the scarier side of aspartame is just about everywhere you look on the internet. In fact, a simple Google search of the word “aspartame” reveals the wikipedia.org definition as the first result and an aspartame poisoning website as the second (www.dorway.com). The Wikipedia site upholds that the negative commentary on aspartame is unfounded, while the aspartame poisoning site, of course, paints the opposite picture.

These days it’s hard to know exactly what is and is not safe to ingest into our bodies. It seems that many products are pronounced safe one day, poisonous the next, and safe again weeks later. These debates go way beyond aspartame.

However, there is the power of personal experience and individual choices that can make up for a lack of definitive data. About a year ago, my husband and I picked up some groceries from the store which included a couple frozen dinner meals. Upon consuming one of the meals, I felt suddenly ill. My stomach was in turmoil and I was almost immediately in the grasp of terrible headache.

Upon examination of the ingredients in the meal, I found aspartame had slipped past my defenses. I can tell the same story about similar products containing aspartame with the same results over the years since we have eliminated it from our diet, as can my husband.

In my chiropractic office, I warn patients about the use of artificial sweeteners. Sometimes it is to no avail, but the advice comes from personal experience and bearing witness to significant life changes that occur when people stop ingesting things that have the possibility of making them ill. While the medical world is on the fence, I prefer to stand on the side of caution. This stance has provided me with better health and well being, so it is an obvious choice.

There are many things available to us that spark debate over safety and our personal well being. It is important to arm yourself with personal experience and make decisions based on your own results. If you are experiencing a poor quality of health while consuming products such as aspartame, the key is to stop for awhile and see how you feel.

For my husband and me, it made all the difference in the world. Instead of consuming a can of diet soda, consume a glass of water. Try it for a week, a month, or a year and see what happens. It could increase your quality of life and change your position on the fence!

For more information on aspartame or obtaining a better quality of life through natural methods, give us a call at 208-762-1414, visit us on the web at www.CDAHealth.com or www.spoelstrachiro.com, or find us on facebook.com or twitter.com by searching “Spoelstra Family Chiropractic”.