Originally published November 21 2012
How aspartame stole Thanksgiving
by Matt Stone
(NaturalNews) It's that time of year again and the Calorie Control Council is spewing its warnings about the massive feasting that Americans are about to do this Thursday. They don't have a leg to stand on, so don't let them undermine your celebration.
They just released some research saying:
"The average American may consume more than 4,500 calories and a whopping 229 grams of fat from snacking and eating a traditional holiday dinner with turkey and all the trimmings. And these figures don't even include breakfast or the late evening munching on leftovers!"
While some have challenged that this is actually true, as few humans are actually physically capable of ingesting this much food in one sitting, and modest calculations on a typical holiday feast come in at roughly half that calorie quantity, the Calorie Control Council insists on spreading obesity fear mongering.
Interesting; seeing that there is very little evidence that calorie consumption or lack thereof is the primary determinant of body weight and body composition, and an extremely large mountain of evidence showing that conscious manipulation of dietary calories is a completely ineffective and perhaps even counterproductive approach for losing weight. In fact, obesity scholar Paul Campos refers to frequent conscious attempts at restricting calories - traditional dieting, as "perhaps the single best predictor of future weight gain."
Thus, the very scientific foundation that the Calorie Control Council rests upon is very shaky. Interestingly, in an informational video on their website, they reveal what is a much more likely motivation for their existence other than vehemently promoting a disproven stance on body fat regulation, or to turn people's attention away from the communion with family members on Thanksgiving and towards the calorie content of the food they are served.
The Calorie Control Council - Conflict of interest?
One of their proposed holiday solutions for excess calorie consumption is to switch from drinking regular soda to a diet soda sweetened with aspartame, which they go on to champion as if they are doing a brief infomercial on its benefits - throwing out specific claims like "you could lose 15 pounds if you did that." "That" referring to replacing one regular soda with a diet soda every day for a year - a completely false and thoroughly disproven line of reasoning.
Interestingly, the Calorie Control Council allegedly is the publisher of the website "The Truth About Aspartame," a site defending aspartame's safety and potential health benefits. Both entities are owned by the Robert H. Kellen Company. Robert H. Kellen, and two of his former company vice presidents, have all at one time been listed as the president of the Glutamate Association, a grouping of powerful international food conglomerates in support of the use of the amino acid-derived monosodium glutamate, which is a close cousin to the amino acid-derived aspartame.
In short, it's probably not advisable to panic about the calorie content of your Thanksgiving meal based on an entity that supports minimizing calorie intake to promote its commercially-driven artificial sweetener agenda. In shorter, don't let aspartame steal your Thanksgiving.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.caloriecontrol.org
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Calorie_Control_Council
http://www.truthinlabeling.org/WhoRuns.htm
About the author:
Matt Stone is the author and independent health researcher behind 180DegreeHealth.com In 2005, he launched a full-scale independent investigation into human health through disciplines as diverse as nutrition, exercise, the culinary arts and traditional agriculture, to paleopathology and psychoneuroendocrinology. It soon became clear that the typical ideas that the mainstream has about health don''t make much sense, are not congruent with history or even the most basic logic, and are often wildly misinformed. Thus was born 180DegreeHealth; the name implies both a 180 to our standard health advice and Matt''s aim of turning a 180 on the alarming health trends of today, including the dramatic and exponential rise of obesity, type II diabetes, tooth decay, crooked teeth, mental disorders of all kinds, autoimmune disease, allergies and asthma, heart disease, cancer, early puberty, and even nearsightedness. His pledge to readers is to provide the most logical, unbiased, worthwhile, effective, and accurate discourse on human health in existence. Follow along with him and his life''s work, and together, help build the foundation of knowledge and understanding required to improve our own health while we ensure the well-being of many generations to come. It''ll be a fun ride!
Matt Stone is the author and independent health researcher behind 180DegreeHealth.com In 2005, he launched a full-scale independent investigation into human health through disciplines as diverse as nutrition, exercise, the culinary arts and traditional agriculture, to paleopathology and psychoneuroendocrinology. It soon became clear that the typical ideas that the mainstream has about health don''t make much sense, are not congruent with history or even the most basic logic, and are often wildly misinformed. Thus was born 180DegreeHealth; the name implies both a 180 to our standard health advice and Matt''s aim of turning a 180 on the alarming health trends of today, including the dramatic and exponential rise of obesity, type II diabetes, tooth decay, crooked teeth, mental disorders of all kinds, autoimmune disease, allergies and asthma, heart disease, cancer, early puberty, and even nearsightedness. His pledge to readers is to provide the most logical, unbiased, worthwhile, effective, and accurate discourse on human health in existence. Follow along with him and his life''s work, and together, help build the foundation of knowledge and understanding required to improve our own health while we ensure the well-being of many generations to come. It''ll be a fun ride!
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