Is Diet Pepsi Ruining Your Life? The Link Between Aspartame and Anxiety, Depression, and Other Problems
Diet Pepsi Addiction
Aspartame, the sweetener in many diet products, such as diet colas, has been found by many studies to be linked to depression, anxiety, and other issues. Confession: I am completely addicted to Diet Pepsi. I know it’s not good for me. If I drink too much of it, I get a tremor. I am fairly certain it has done irreparable damage to my teeth. I drink an embarrassing six cans per day. In fact, I think I maybe drink more than that, but I stop counting at six cans because it’s too embarrassing to keep counting after that.
As many of you know, I have binge eating disorder and I suffer from depression and anxiety. What I found out a while ago is that aspartame, the artificial sweetener in Diet Pepsi, is known to increase anxiety. I found this out when I was reading an article about aspartame on Medscape.com, and about 20 or 30 physicians left comments about this fact. What surprised me was that my own doctor never mentioned this to me. You would think that in 25 years of battling depression and anxiety, it might have occurred to either my physician or psychiatrist to mention that aspartame can have a negative impact.
Sweet Drink of Death?
I don’t know what is in this stuff because I am taking another sip as I write this. It makes me think I must have gone clean off the deep end. However, that is not surprising. I mean, I have long suspected that I lost my mind, so this is not news to me. What was news to me was that aspartame breaks down into methanol and formaldehyde in the body. I read that on healthline. Well, no wonder I am so messed up! Apparently, the amount of methanol and formaldehyde has been deemed safe. First of all, what amount of methanol and formaldehyde are actually safe for human consumption? Secondly, I don’t think they realize how much Diet Pepsi I consume! According to the healthline site, a 150lb person (which I certainly am not) would have to consume 18 cans per day to exceed the FDA safety guidelines. So, I am technically within their safety parameters. However, how healthy can it be?
Sugar is Bad, but is Aspartame Worse?
Obviously, I started drinking this junk because I wanted to avoid sugar. Is it better than sugar? I mean, is this more beneficial for my body than sugar? I have come to believe that sugar has many toxic effects on the human body, especially in large amounts, but so does aspartame. Moderation is certainly the key, but is there a moderate amount of methanol or formaldehyde that I really feel comfortable consuming?
According to many articles, such as this one at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28198207/, aspartame has been linked to a variety of cognitive and behavioral issues such as learning disorders, headaches, seizures, migraines, irritability, anxiety, depression, and insomnia. So, in other words, while it might not actually be ruining my life, it might well be adding to my self-destruction. It certainly is not helping.
Conclusion: I have Convinced Myself to Stop the Madness (for Now?)
Okay, Harlow, you have convinced yourself. I think I need to start re-establishing my tea drinking habit. I especially like green tea. While tea has caffeine in it, tea, especially green tea, has many positive side effects whereas this Diet Pepsi is expensive and is doing nothing for me. For a while, I was drinking Hibiscus tea, which is a sour tea that is refreshing to drink cold or iced. It has no caffeine (to my knowledge) and it lowers blood pressure (allegedly).
Suddenly, this Diet Pepsi I am drinking seems less appetizing as I consider the methanol and formaldehyde I am adding to my body and the anxiety, depression, and sleep issues I am magnifying by drinking it. The question I have, though, is why isn’t this something people are more aware of? This is not something most doctors even mention if you say you are suffering from depression, anxiety, or insomnia, and aspartame is 100% legal. I guess the cola industry has a lot of power, but I am still surprised, given the number of studies on this, that it is something that people still consume in large quantities. I have read that the studies are not “conclusive.” However, as someone who has read a lot of scientific studies, I have to say that I am not sure what more it would take to make these studies “conclusive.” In fact, science is rarely 100% conclusive. This comes pretty close.
https://twitter.com/HarlowJourney/status/1457128925201457159
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your post is very useful.
Excuse me, I want to ask, I'm a beginner at Ecency, I want to learn how to get more upgrades besides boosting posts, I'm very grateful if you want to answer
Thank you. I am quite new also. You probably know that you can boost or promote your post through ecency. As I understand it, promote shows it to more people while boost gives it an upvote. Other than these, write quality, original content. I think most people prefer if your posts are over 250 words long although there are no rules about it.
I tend to write too much anc have been working on writing shorter posts because I was writing 2000 word posts and some people were reading them, but I think that was a kindness to me!
Sometimes, certain communities have contests or promotions, and that can be a good opportunity to "meet" people, read their work, and get them to read yours also. For example, ladies of hive has a weekly contest and ecotrain has a question of the week.
It can be very useful to write comments on other people's posts. I notice that you do that, but your comments are sometimes a bit short, maybe because English is not your first language? Even if you write a short comment, though, try to make it something specific that will show that you read the piece, how it affected you, and maybe an idea or follow up question it triggered.
Commenting like this is how you get to know people and then they get interested in you and (hopefully) want to read your work.
I know this response was long, and I hope some of it is helpful. It is not instant. Posting in some communities or about certain subjects might work better for you. For example, some people take stunning photos, do artwork, bake, or cook.
Yes, that's right because English is not my first language but I want to understand and thank you because your long answer is very useful for me.
I will remember the suggestions you talked about. I do look presumptuous because I suddenly asked specifically about ecency and outside the context of your post. but I hope you understand what I mean.
thank you very much, may your kindness be a blessing, oh yes, don't forget to follow me, okay? hehehe
Yeah - you answered the question yourself. It's why they allow many things in our food and don't mention a thing. They focus on you and your choice and how great it is to eat what we like (and of course as things go wrong... here.. take this pill that's $600 a month. and that pill that's $850 a month - oh you have new symptoms from those pills? here... this one is $1500 a month but don't worry. insurance will bring that right down for you.)
That's how it is here anyway.
Pill for the ill mentality with many many doctors.
and they aren't about to tell you the truth, because quite franky the truth affects the whole industry and they are all connected. very very sad.
I thought it was interesting though - that you said in your post "while it might not be ruining my life" ... lol when you just literally described how it most likely was.
I"m glad that you're making the choice to stop drinking it that much - and I can't even imagine the withdrawal you're about to go through. Please take care of yourself during that time. We share a similar connection (I was bulimarexic for years and years) so I know that one thing can lead to another. So please please care for yourself.
hey - out of curiosity... have you ever heard any bad stuff about Swirge?
Also they have this other stuff i used for a bit - now my mind is totally blanking on it - but its this new sugar alternative that is supposedly amazing. (tastes pretty good too!)
also!!!! have you ever heard of sweetie drops? you put drops of this flavored (think its stevia - which i normally don't like but THIS stuff is good) stuff into seltzer water or club soda - and it's like soda. but no sugar - and no bad sugar alternatives. they have all kinds of "soda flavors"
if you're interested in any of the above - let me know and i'll take pics and all that hehehehe
sending you love
@harlowjourney, so many things I want to say.
Your bio is hilarious. I always appreciate people who have a great sense of humour and easily share it.
There are so many people in powerful positions who don't want healthy populations. They want power. If we want to be healthy we need to keep empowering ourselves (as you have been) and take actions to care for our own bodies, despite what governments may or may not be doing. Unfortunately doctors in many countries are trained within medical systems that are slow to move and under very heavy influence of pharmaceutical companies.
I definitely stay the hell away from aspartame. Give me sugar any day. Having said that, I avoid processed sugar generally after picking up a tummy bug a few years ago and I feel worlds better for it. Still, give me a lump of sugar over any artificial sweetener if I actually, genuinely need a sugar hit.
(Caroline, how long are you going to make this comment?!) I appreciate the vulnerability with which you've shared about your challenges with healthy eating and mental health. Since you like researching things, may I point you towards something that I think could be very interesting to you? (Imma gonna assume you said 'yes'. But if you don't want suggestions stop... reading... now :P) There's a technique I use and swear by for improving my mental health and that in turn helps me with my physical health. It's called EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) and is sometimes called "tapping". Have you heard of it? There's oooodles of research you can read about it, but has been used effectively for several decades on everything from eating disorders to anxiety, depression, weight loss and countless other things. Maybe have a Google and see if it's something you want to explore further.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, your experiences and your findings of your own personal investigating :)
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What you need to do is sexual transmutation. #gnosis
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I rarely drink soda these days. It's addictive but easy to limit if I just don't buy it when grocery shopping. I drink some now and then but in limited situations. Like when I go to a movie. But I alway get the real thing, not diet. I could never stand the taste of diet, noatter how much like the real thing it is supposed to taste like.
Artificial sugars are way worse than real sugar. You're better off drinking the real thing... or.. wean yourself off them. I find sugar is addictive and difficult to totally break away from. Even though I don't keep sugary products in the house.. I still get cravings for sweet. That is something dehydrated fruit helps to satisfy as long as the servings are keep small.