The Surprising Side Effects of Artificial Sweeteners

Many of us like our tea or coffee sweet…but not with sugar. The usual substitute of choice has been Sweet-n-low, Splenda, or some other aspartame based sweetener. This is great for avoiding calories or the side effects of sugar. But this is not so great in other ways.

We’ve all heard that Sweet-n-Low and other sweeteners might cause cancer but are there other side effects?  Are you having unexplained muscle pain or cramps?

After 20 years of continual artificial sweetener usage, I’ve discovered that there are side effects to using this stuff that you don’t hear about in the news-- like chronic muscle pain and cramps.  When I switched to a natural sweetener like Stevia, the pain disappeared.

I should know—I’ve drunk a LOT of Sweet-n-Low in the last 20 years!  I’m not a lab rat, but I’d consider myself a better ‘guinea pig’ for this experiment than a rat.  In college I was diagnosed with borderline low blood sugar. The doctors said to cut out sugar and use Sweet-n-Low instead.

 

Move forward 20 years… I begin to have severe cramps and muscle pain in my right leg. It built up gradually over a year's time. One day I had uncontrollable charley horses in my right foot. That was it—I called my  nutritionist friend, Debra Raybern.

 

In our meeting, she said, “Oh—That’s easy!” Stop drinking sweet-n-low. ( Noooo! Don’t say that!--I LOVED my sweetener and had never been willing to consider quitting in spite of concerned friends.)

She said that Sweet-n-Low and other artificial sweeteners are neurotoxins. The pain I was feeling came from nerve damage. The body doesn’t digest it—it just builds up in the joints and nerves. Hence the ‘shooting pains’. 

               

I’d always refused to consider my little pink packages a problem, but now I knew I had to at least try to switch. She suggested a natural no calorie sweetener—Stevia. Stevia comes in powdered or liquid form and is extracted from the stevia plant. You can buy it like ‘tea leaves’ too and just add it to your tea ball.

 

Switching worked like a charm! The pains were gone in a week.  

Skeptical?  A year later,  I started having problems again, while traveling for three weeks. This time it was terribly sharp pains in my ankle. I wondered what the problem was, then realized I had been drinking a lot of diet coke and restaurant tea using whatever was available to sweeten it with. 

I stopped at a store and stocked up on Stevia—and cut out the diet soda. The pain went away immediately.

It seems that no amount of sweetener will not cause a reoccurrence of the problem. After that, I knew it was going to have to be a lifetime decision. No more artificial sweeteners in my tea… EVER! 

Note: You WILL get used to the new ‘taste’ in about two weeks. At first Stevia did not taste sweet at all, but after two weeks, the Sweet-n-low tasted bland and the Stevia tasted great. Give your taste buds a chance to adjust. :o)

Soup Mixes in a Jar

Hi Friends!  I thought you would enjoy seeing photos of a great and inexpensive gift idea for Christmas over the weekend. My very crafty daughter-in-law, Elisabeth,  got the idea to make these soup mixes in a jar from a book she picked up at a garage sale.  She wanted to make something for our upcoming Christmas Craft sale at Grace Community Church to earn some extra spending money for Christmas.

I, on the other hand, was musing on what sort of gift I could make to give to friends and I’ve also been wanting to make some soups ‘ahead of time’ that I could just throw in the pot to simmer. I really have been wanting to improve my soup ‘repertoire’ and it always amazes me how things turn up just when I need them. This book, Gifts from a Jar, has the best recipes I’ve ever tried. It’s worth every penny!

 

You can imagine my excitement when Ebeth mentioned her idea. This is definitely a project for TWO people (plus I really enjoyed spending the day with her and the grandkids--Yippee!)  For one thing, you can go in together to buy the most critical ingredient for this project, dried vegetable flakes.  Ebeth found a good source online, and we split the cost. We ended up with quite a bit of extra, but this is a great additive to any soup you make, so I wasn’t complaining.

We spent a Saturday morning shopping with the kiddos. (Great excuse to hang out with the grandbabies—Yea!)  Ebeth had ordered the online ingredients the week before which was critical. Just coming up with a shopping list for the 5 recipes we chose was quite an accomplishment all by itself.  Even with pooling the spices and extra beans, rice, barley etc. that we both had on hand, we still had to buy some extra supplies and ingredients. We bought a few things at Sam’s like bulk dehydrated onions, chicken bullion cubes and cumin.  Diced and dehydrated garlic and the vegetable flakes both had to be purchased online.  We both had jars on hand that we had to wash and dry, but we also bought extras.

Between the two of us, we made 71 jars of soup mix!  We figured up our costs and on average we spent about $1.50 to $2.00 per soup mix (including the price of the jar). I think Ebeth could sell her jars for at least $5-6.00 a piece.  For my part, I’m just happy to have a well stocked pantry and now I also have a nice, inexpensive gift to give to friends at church and neighbors too. Plus I’ll tuck a few into the Christmas boxes I ship. What a great gift to have on hand for that surprise person that you left off of your list too! 

I packed a bag with the Chicken and Rice soup mix plus a can of chicken breast chunks, and tomato sauce for my secret sister as a ‘thank you’ for all the gifts she gave me. Plus I sent a Chili Mac & Beans casserole jar plus a can of tomatoes with green peppers to my own secret sister in a quilted tote bag for her Christmas gift. It’s so nice to have a little something on hand for gift giving during this busy season, don’t you think?  

We made the beef, lentil, and barley soup the other day and it was just heavenly! I loved the recipes so much, that I ordered the Gifts in a Jar~ Cookie Mixes too from Amazon. Of course, I bought it used. Why not? It looked brand new and even had fabric circles and raffia twine still in a bag inside the front cover. But Wal-mart also sells pre-cut circle scraps. They are in the canning section.  I gathered a bunch of scraps in colors that I thought Ebeth would like and loaned her my pinking shears so she can make fabric circles for her jars. 

Really, this is pretty easy, but if you are planning to do a bunch of jars or recipes, like we did, then we suggest that you shop on one day and do the work on the next day. It’s a BIG job! We ordered pizza for dinner. We sure didn’t feel like cooking! Ha!

There are so many resources on the internet for crockpot meals in a jar, soups, cookies, muffins, etc. Just do a quick search for “Gifts in a Jar” and you will find some great ideas for cooking ahead for your family as well as an inexpensive Christmas gift idea that’s a lot of fun to do and special to share as well.

What about you? What is your favorite gift to give for friends and neighbors?

Happy Homemaking!

 

Healthy Party Foods!

Are you worried that holiday treats and temptations are going to wreak havoc with your diet? Me too!  With the holidays coming upon us, I know I've been more tempted than usual. I don't want to eat junk so how great it would be to bring something with me that I know I can eat!  We don't want to eat this stuff every day, but for those times when we might be tempted..it's great to have a way to plan ahead.

My friend, Countrymama, of Life and Love in the Country, challenged us to post healthy recipes to help us stay on track this December on our weight loss blog, Gettin’ Thin Together. I was so impressed! What a super idea!  She posted a recipe for Lunchbox Oatmeal Cookies and Spinach pesto, sausage  and pasta dinner. Click here for the recipes.

I've been winging it for quite some time, but was recently encouraged to try South Beach's cookbook as they have put together some great recipes that are 'OK' for me to eat; low carb and low fat--perfect!
I went through the cookbook and these are some  recipes I plan to try this week.

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Strawberries (or berries) with Vanilla Yogurt Parfait

4 ounces non-fat, sugar -free vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup chopped strawberries.
South beach suggests 'Uncle Sam's Cereal' as a layer too. It's just a high fiber cereal, so probably any high fiber cereal would be good. or even toasted oats. Yummy!

Spoon the yogurt into a parfait glass then add the strawberries. Serve immediately.



An easy and healthy snack that can easily be taken to parties, is ...

Chocolate dipped strawberries 

South Beach recommends this dessert (four strawberries only--just a little chocolate).  It's a painless splurge that can get you past the unhealthy snacks. Delicious! You can see how to make these here.

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Spinach-Stuffed Mushrooms

 (South Beach Recipe)

1 package 10 oz. frozen chopped spinach
1/8 t. salt
8 large mushrooms
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
In a saucepan, bring 1/2 c. water to a boil. Add spinach and salt. Cover and cook according to package directions. Wash the mushrooms. Remove the stems, trim off the ends, then chop the stems.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and saute for 4-5 minutes. Remove the caps to a heatproof serving platter.
Drain the spinach. Stir in the sauteed chopped mushrooms.

Spoon the spinach mixture into the caps and serve immediately or place in the oven on low heat to keep warm.

Grandma's Pineapple Cucumber Lime Jello Salad Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 6oz package of Jell-O Lime gelatin (sugar-free!)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups hot water
• 2 cups cold water
• 1 1/2 cups peeled, diced cucumbers
• 3 Tbsp horseradish  (I'm leaving this part out. :o)
• 1/2 teaspoon grated onion
• 2 Tbsp vinegar
• 1 1/2 cup of diced or crushed drained canned pineapple (you cannot use fresh pineapple with gelatins. The bromelaine enzyme in fresh pineapple will keep the gelatin from bonding.)

Method

1 In a bowl, dissolve lime jello and salt in 2 cups of hot water (don't use boiling water, just regular hot water). Add 2 cups cold water. Chill until slightly thickened - the consistency of egg whites, about 30 minutes.
2 In a separate bowl mix cucumber, horseradish, grated onion, and vinegar. Fold pineapple and cucumber mixture into jello. Pour into a jello mold and chill for several hours (about 6) until gelatin sets.
3 To remove jello from its mold, fill up a basin half-way with hot water. Lower the jello mold into the hot water, metal side down, until the water comes up almost to the edge of the mold. Keep it there 5 seconds and remove. Place a plate on top of the jello mold and turn upside down. The jello salad should just slide out.
Serves 6-8.
 

Mocha Ricotta Creme

1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1/2 t. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 t. vanilla extract
1 package sugar substitute
Dash espresso powder
5 mini chocolate chips 
Mix together the ricotta, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, and sugar substitute in a dessert bowl. Serve chilled with a dusting of espresso powder and sprinkled with the mini chocolate chips.

261 calories, 15 g. protein, 17 g. carbs, 14 g. fat, 9 g. saturated fats

If you are going to indulge, and just can't help it, then this is much better than most desserts: low carbish, low fat-ish, and enough protein to keep your blood sugar level stable.  This would be great to make on the night the rest of the family is having pie or icecream or to take to a party (x 4 or 5) 
 

Surprise South Beach Mashed "Potatoes"  

 photo from Tracey's Culinary Adventures..worth a visit!

This is one recipe that my friend, Shona, uses and I have wanted to try. I really need this one in my repertoire
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4 cups cauliflower florets
1 ounce I can't Believe it's not butter! spray
1 ounce Land O Lakes Gourmet Fat-free half & half
pinch salt
pinch freshly ground pepper
Steam or microwave the cauliflower until soft. Puree in a food processor, adding the butter spray and half-and half to taste. Season with salt and pepper.

This is the recipe that  I’m most determined to make this week! I’ve heard so much about how good it is.  I don’t know if you all are trying to stay on a diet this Christmas, but I sure am! My weight was slowly creeping back up from my loss in the summer—three months on the road sure didn’t help much—and now I’m trying to get back in the swing of things. I don’t want anything to derail my efforts, including Christmas!

How about you? Are you planning ahead to avoid dietary pitfalls? Got any recipes you would recommend?

Happy Homemaking!

Six Easy Ways to Make Your Family' s Favorite Meals Healthier

 

For the most part, we are creatures of habit and most of our kids don’t want to try ‘new’ things… So in trying to educate our children and train their taste buds towards foods that will keep them healthy, it’s best if we sort of ‘fool’ them into eating healthier by simply improving the health  quality of the family favorites that they are already accustomed to.  Why take the trouble? Do you know how many of our children are now starting out life overweight? Do you know why? Believe me…it’s time to break with our culture…and do things different. Just cause everyone else is jumping off a cliff, children in tow, doesn’t mean we have to!  Here’s what Carol Simontacci, author of ‘Your Fat is Not Your Fault’ says about what she calls “The Fattening of America”….

“If your overweight, chances are you’re not a glutton, but you probably do eat too many nonfoods. Some nutritionists call these foods ‘food artifacts,” or products made by human workmanship. These are substances that are not naturally present in the world and were not part of our ancestor’s diets.

If you look at supermarket stats, you’ll see what Americans are buying—and it isn’t food!  We’re eating more pseudofood now than ever in the the history of the world! And don’t think your body doesn’t know the difference. That entree may taste and smell like real food, but your body knows otherwise, and it knows where to store every toxic molecule.  All the low-fat this and low-fat that, the sugar substitute here and the fat substitute there will not solve your fat problem.

   Over 75 percent of the food products sold in our supermarkets are either nutritionally dead or nutritionally toxic. We don’t bury that dead food; we store it on our hips, waists, and chests, pound after pound after pound. Why build more toxic waste dumps in this country when we can use our bodies instead?”

What happens when we eat this stuff?  Carol says, “When we eat foods our bodies can’t use, or foods that contain artificial ingredients; when our digestive systems do not sufficiently break down the foods into usable parts, the liver is required to handle an excessive amount of toxic waste for which it is not prepared. And most of us don’t drink enough water or eat enough fiber for the colon and kidneys to perform their vital functions, and waste materials build up in the colon to be reabsorbed into the body.   Fat performs an important function in the body by storing all this excess toxic waste.

Logic tells us that if we clean up our diets and eat pure foods, including 30 to 40 grams of fiber a day, drink eight to ten glasses of water, and avoid synthetic chemicals as much as possible, our bodies will not have to build storage depots on our hips and bellies to handle an unnecessary load of toxic waste.”  In other words, friends, Fat has to encase these toxins to keep them out of our systems! No toxins…less fat in all the wrong places!

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Six weeks ago, I decided to take Carol seriously and say No to junk food, sugar, fast food, bread and other man-made non-foods (except homemade whole grain wheat bread).  Guess where I lost the first ten pounds?  My hips, stomach, and other lumpy bumpy places.  Not only that, but my energy level skyrocketed! My hubby, who is very thin, was feeling so sluggish that he decided to quit eating the junk too. He said he feels better than he has in years and he looks less drained and dehydrated. So obviously the junk food affects us all whether we have fast metabolisms or slow.

Even if our kids aren’t overweight now, if they keep eating junk…they will be later down the road, or like my dear hubby, they’ll just be exhausted and worn down by the time they hit middle age. We feel like we’ve gotten a new lease on life! But convincing our kids to change is another issue all together!  Hence the reason for today’s article…We need to make gradual changes and wean our kids off this stuff.

The biggest thing you can do to improve your meal’s health factor is to cook from scratch. The fact is that if it’s in a box or a bag or has instructions..as Carol Simontacci (nutritionist) says, “Don’t eat it!” It’s probably not good for you!  I know..it's time consuming..but our country is in a crisis...and we need to spend more time on this issue! Our children's future health and quality of life are depending on our willingness to make this a priority. 

Second, replace the BAD fats with GOOD fats Don’t buy fatty meats…but instead choose lean meats. Instead get your fat from good sources like real butter, olive oil, canola oil, and lots of nuts for snacks, even avocado slices to get the good fat that actually lowers cholesterol and gives you the energy you need.  This will cut out the hunger factor and avoid so much need to snack. Even your skin will be softer!  Don’t eat or use saturated fats if you can at all avoid them…and of course, fried foods are pretty much a disaster… so avoid them as much as possible.

Third, have a good source of protein at every meal! This will keep you from having a carb heavy diet that causes insulin rush and food cravings..leading to excess snacking of the junk food.  Spend less on junk and more on lean meats, low fat cheeses (the only thing worth buying low-fat), eggs, turkey bacon or protein drinks (look for ones without the excess chemicals), tuna, fish, poultry etc.  Sandwiches are more bread than anything else and without protein will lead to excess hunger and cravings.  Make chunky soups with lots of meat and veges, that can sit in the fridge and be eaten easily and packed for on the go if needed.  I keep at least one cold roasted chicken in the fridge just for snacking purposes.

Fourth, add lightly cooked vegetables to every meal and keep raw veges  ready to eat for snacks in between meals.  Plan to have two thirds of the meal be veges to one third meat.  Be creative! There’s all kinds of ways to add veges to a dish…get the kids used to chunkier sauces, add veges to casseroles, etc.

Fifth, cut out the sugar!! Provide lots of fruit, ready to eat, for dessert instead of nutritionally worthless pastries, chips and snacks.  If you can’t leave the sugar out of your main dishes altogether, at least use a natural substitute like Truvia or Stevia.  But skip the baked products as much as possible.  I buy one back of chips for the week and one bottle of soda—we’re still in the weaning stage. When those are gone…they’re gone! Then I keep lots of fruit on hand.  We thought it was going to cost a lot, but surprise! When the fruit was there and the bread, cookies, chips, and soda were gone…they ate it…and forgot to complain!

Last, substitute GOOD CARBS for BAD CARBS in your main dishes and side dishes.  Oatmeal and Oat flower, Brown rice, Pearled barley, sweet potatoes and protein fortified pasta will not spike blood sugar levels nearly as much and won’t cause the cravings that normal pasta, white flour, rice, and white potatoes do.  Be aware..Gluten Free Pasta is HIGH on the glycemic index!

These are habits that we need to instill in our lives and the lives of our children. Yes it’s easier to just eat readily available quick cook precooked food…but the price we pay in terms of health and fitness for the rest of our lives is simply not worth the convenience and time saving. Make some time for you and your children’s health…it’s an investment that will pay off for life!

I’ll post Carol’s recipes this evening, but here’s my menu plan for this week….

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Comin’ Homes  Menu Plan for May 25-31

• Roasted turkey breast, roasted asparagus, Baked Sweet Potato
• Chicken and Brown Rice Casserole, Sauteed Broccoli
• Healthy Salisbury Steak, Baked Potato without fat, Basic Salad
• Roasted Chicken with Mushroom Gravy, Roasted Veges
• Lemon Pepper Halibut, Steamed Rice, Roasted Asparagus,
  Pumpkin Pie (1 small piece per person)

Sunday Dinners:
Roast Beef w/Roasted rosemary tossed whole greenbeans, new potatoes, and carrots
Skirt-Steak Fajitas with Sautéed Peppers and Onions  (go easy on the canola oil!)
(use corn tortillas instead of flour if allergic to wheat)

Photo Credits for most pictures: Photo Dictionary.com

Happy Homemaking!

Donna