If you could bite down on a crispy, crunchy potato chip that was “natural”, tasted great and totally good for you, youd probably buy it, right?

Makers of potato chips, corn chips, pancake mixes, frozen waffles, frosted breakfast cereals, ice cream and other taste tempters think so too. Thats why the word “natural” appears so frequently on food packages these days. Marketing experts know that, for many consumers, “natural” equals “healthy”, and “healthy” sells.

In fact, the word “natural” on a food package means next to nothing because “natural” has no meaning in law or regulation. For these reasons, the use of “natural” on food products all too often detracts attention from more important considerations.

“Natural” and “Organic” may even be misleading if it implies that the product is free of chemical additives (often not the case) or that competitors products are “un-natural” and therefore bad for you.

Almost all foods today are processed in some way, and unless you are able to buy exclusively from a farmers market or grow your own fruits and vegetables, much of what you eat have seen the inside of a lab, factory or high-tech warehouse. Food science has become so sophisticated that it can be difficult to know where natural and organic ends and unnatural and organic begins.

There are breakfast cereals made from organically grown wheat with raisins made from organically grown grapes. But the cereal itself can have lots of preservatives. Or it may contain lots of added aluminized salt and processed sugar which are “natural,” but in the quantities that you find in breakfast cereals, theyre not healthful and can be very harmful. Even natural and organic foods require some degree of processing. “Is it organic? Is it natural? Well, NO.” Not if natural in this case means: “the way nature made it”.

When it comes to shopping for items in the fresh fruit and vegetable aisles, be aware that the nutritional content can vary considerably from store to store. A good question is, how long ago were they picked? You never know for sure how long fruits and vegetables have been on the shelf or even on the truck in the warehouse.

Fruits and vegetables loose nutritional value over time. If they are fresh when you bring them home be sure to eat them within 3 or 4 days of purchase or they will have lost so much of the nutritional value youd be better off buying frozen.

So whats my recommendation? Wherever possible, buy organic, locally grown produce that has recently been picked. Its best not to buy produce that has been transported, stored and refrigerated for days and weeks on end, even if it does carry an “organic” label. First and foremost, I always choose fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables and enjoy them within the first few days of taking them home.

Defining Natural Foods written by Don Tolman. Copyright Don Tolman International 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Don Tolman International publishes the popular P.O.W.E.R. (Pearls of Wisdom, Enlightenment and Results) weekly eZine with over 9,800 subscribers from all over the globe. If youre ready to discover the wisdom and power of Self-Care and Self-Education and receive FREE tips and EVENT news from Don Tolman International, join our online community today and youll immediately be emailed a FREE eBook entitled “WHAT MAKES A BALANCED DIET”. Subscribe to: P.O.W.E.R. now

As I was busily clipping pictures for my 2010 vision board this morning, I came across an article in the November 2009 issue of New Zealand Women’s Health. It stopped me dead in my clipping tracks.

On page 18 was an advertorial called Balancing Your Weight, with advice from nutritionist Nikki Hart. The subhead? “Nikki explains how low-calorie sweeteners like aspartame can help”. Say what? Were the words “nutritionist”, “aspartame” and “help” just used in the same sentence?

Is this same nutritionist also telling us readers to swap a muffin or chocolate for a diet drink with aspartame? I wouldn’t have believed it if it wasn’t in front of me in black and white. Where did Nikki get her degree? The University of Coca Cola?

If you don’t know about this man made chemical called aspartame, research has shown it is the cause of toxicity and disease and should not be marketed for human consumption.

A recent study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Nephrology in San Diego found that adult women who drink at least two diet sodas a day experience a 30 percent drop in kidney function over the course of a decade.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. According to a report from Natural News, those using aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc.) and suffer from fibromyalgia symptoms, spasms, shooting pains, numbness in legs, cramps, vertigo, dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, joint pain, unexplainable depression, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, blurred vision, or memory loss, probably have aspartame poisoning.

Here’s an excerpt from the same article:

Diet soda is not a diet product, but a chemically altered, multiple sodium (salt) and Aspartame-containing product that actually makes you crave for carbohydrates and gain weight. These products also contain formaldehyde, which stores in the fat cells, particularly in the hips and thighs; no wonder the American population is turning obese and/or suffering from cancers and diabetes [From FAT to Fit, Dr. Leo Rebello, (www.healthwisdom.org) ].

Formaldehyde is an absolute toxin and is used mainly to preserve ’tissue specimens’ in laboratories. Formaldehyde poisoning symptoms include local irritation of eyes, nose, mouth, throat, respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts, and central nervous system causing vertigo, stupor, convulsions, unconsciousness, renal damage.

Aspartame is especially dangerous for diabetics. Physicians who thought they had a patient with retinopathy in fact had patients with symptoms caused by Aspartame. The latter drives the blood sugar out of control. Thus diabetics may suffer acute memory loss due to the fact that aspartic acid and phenylalanine are neurotoxic. With diabetics, Aspartame passes the blood-brain barrier, attacks the neurons of the brain causing various levels of brain damage, seizures, depression, panic attacks, uncontrollable anger and rage [Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, First Indian Edition, 1990] .

Ah yes folks, this little advertisement is indeed sponsored by one of the world’s leading soda companies. Go figure.

At the bottom of this intriguing article is teeny-tiny print that reads: *Phenylketonurics, aspartame contains phenylalanine. No really, say what? Are they speaking English? For all of us dummy readers here’s what this fine print translates into:

Phenylalanine is an amino acid normally found in the brain. Human testing has shown phenylalanine levels in the blood are increased significantly in those who chronically use aspartame. Excessive levels of phenylalanine in the brain can cause the levels of serotonin to decrease, which can lead to depression, schizophrenia and make one more susceptible to seizures.

Studies conducted on rats by G.D. Searle found phenylalanine to be safe for humans. However, Louis J. Elsas, II, M.D., Director of Medical Genetics and Professor of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine told the U.S. Senate in 1987 that, “Normal humans do not metabolize phenylalanine as efficiently as do lower species such as rodents and thus most of the previous studies on aspartame effects on rodents are irrelevant.” Unfortunately, this fell on deaf ears and failed to garner additional testing.

But the glaring question begs to be answered: why would someone who has dedicated their time to obtaining a degree in nutrition tell readers to up our intake of a chemical that can harm us?

To read more articles on the dangers of Aspartame, click here.

Be Your Own Expert & Don’t Always Believe What You Read by Vegan Girl.

Photo: Deesillustration.com

Editor’s Note: Nikki Hart, who received a Masters degree in Nutritional Science at Massey University, kindly responded to our questions about her relationship with the soda company that paid for her expertise, as well as why she chooses to promote aspartame. Here, we share her responses.

Yes my time and quotes were paid for – as any professional is for their intellectual expertise. I dont think a solicitor would €˜cough up information for a client without charging them – do you? However, I am never told what to say. Whether the client choose to use my information after I have supplied it is up to them – it is never biased.

I collate all my information from reputable peer reviewed medical journals not €˜popular media sources. As far as I am concerned there is no scientific proof that aspartame causes health problems. When someone asks me about aspartame usage I simply say that it is a matter of choice. You can select not to have products with this ingredient added to it but that if you do choose to consume this ingredient then there is no reputable information that says that it causes harm when consumed as per the recommendations.

Its not about €˜manmade chemicals benefiting the body as you have asked – its about this ingredient being tested for safety – which it has been many times and most recently independently by a board who were chosen to test all aspects of aspartame. See Bernadene Magnussons toxicological work. Considering that the methanol component of aspartame for example is 4-5 times higher in tomato juice than an equivalent amount of soft drink sweetened with aspartame then maybe people should do their homework about what is really in our food.

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