Aspartame: The Devil's Sugar.

If the title didn't give it away, I am not a fan of Aspartame, the artificial sugar found in many "Diet ___" products. Most notably, Coke Zero.

In a hopeless attempt to reduce my caloric consumption while retaining some semblance of both caffeine intake and flavor, I started drinking the aforementioned product. Well , I succeeded in that regard; it does taste a hell of a lot better than Diet Coke. However, 3 weeks of Coke Zero intake has resulted in about a month of what can only be politely described as "bowel distress". During this time, I'd been taking Tums in order to help calm my stomach/lower GI. Unfortunately, those tums were actually the sugar free variety, and, you guessed it, contained my new best friend, Aspartame. Even my favorite gum has f***ing Aspartame in it.

Yesterday, I went in to see the good medical care professionals at Cornerstone Medical, right across the street from the blight that is Wheaton Warrenville South High School. After relieving myself on said "educational" institution, I went in to see the Dr. She poked and prodded my stomach, noted the areas of pain, listened while I awkwardly described my symptoms, and agreed with my self diagnosis. Satan, most unclean, had transformed himself into Aspartame, and lodged himself firmly in my large intestine. It's getting better, and Aspartame/Satan is being removed from my body, bit by bit.

So, I'm back to square one. I'm taking probiotics in order to restore the bacteria culture in my digestive tract, and I'm avoiding any kind of sugar replacement substance like the Black Death.

And yes, I realize there has been a rather poor showing in terms of pictures lately, but given the nature of this topic, believe me when I say that you're better off without them. Woof.