Finally!

Hey there everyone!

At the beginning of the term I was convinced that blogging would get the better of me.  I finally figured out how to make it work and enjoyed sharing me with some of you.  I hope that you also learned some new words in the process!

As far as the class goes, I had a great term.  I enjoy writing and this class was a continuation of high school where I earned several awards for my writing.  And I finished writing my book so if you ever see a book called 'Chigamba' that's me!  Thank you all for your comments on the DB and good luck in your endeavors!

ASPARTAME aka Nutrasweet & Equal

Some interesting facts and findings about ASPARTAME that might interest you :)

ASPARTAME –Facts & Findings about Equal and Nutrasweet

Aspartame is defined as, “An artificial sweetener synthesized from two amino acids, aspartic acid and phenylalanine. It is 180 times sweeter than sugar. It is unsuitable for cooking because the flavor is changed when heated. Trade names are Equal and Nutrasweet.” Phenylalanine is “An essential amino acid formed from protein.” Persons with phenylketonuria (PKU) should not use aspartame. Phenylketonuria (PKU) is “A phenylpyruvic acid in the urine. A recessive hereditary disease caused by the body’s failure to oxidize phenylalanine to tyrosine, because of a defective enzyme. If the disease is not treated early, brain damage may occur, causing severe mental retardation” (Taber’s Cyclopedic, 1985).

Amino acids are, “…the building blocks of which proteins are constructed and are the end product of protein digestion or hydrolysis” in the body (Taber’s Cyclopedic, 1985). Essential amino acids are necessary for the digestion of proteins in the body. Nutrasweet and Equal are a combination of aspartic acid and phenylalanine, and thus can be considered as essential to digestion. However, these artificial sweeteners have been found to contain excitotoxins that can cause many complications that can be fatal. “Excitotoxins are molecules, such as MSG and aspartate, that act as excitatory neurotransmitters, and can lead to neurotoxicity when used in excess” Excitotoxins can mimic disease such as fibromyalgia, lupus, diabetes, ADD, and chronic fatigue and depression when used with aspartame (Aspartame, (2010). Excitotoxins can also affect diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s – degenerative neurotransmitter diseases – ALS, and Huntington’s chorea (Pharmacother, A. et al 2001). A review of the book by Dr. Russell L. Blaylock, Excitotoxins – The Taste That Kills, Lawrence R. Huntoon, MD, PhD. States, “Dr. Blaylock defines excitotoxins as “a group of excitatory amino acids that can cause sensitive neurons to die." The most common ones are glutamate, aspartate, and cysteine.

In neuro-degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Huntington's chorea, ALS, are especially vulnerable and at risk due to toxic effects of MSG and aspartame. This is because use of aspartame and MSG causes a breakage in the blood brain barrier (BBB). Stroke victims may also be susceptible to the effects of aspartame due to a disruption of the BBB. Hypoglycemia and hypoxia, which need the protection of cell transport mechanisms, are also affected. BBB is “A physiological mechanism that alters the permeability of brain capillaries, so that some substances, such as certain drugs, are prevented from entering brain tissue, while other substances are allowed to enter freely (Blood brain barrier, 2010). The brain has an innate ability to balance nerve damage as well as cell loss. The BBB mechanism does not allow the MSG and aspartate to enter brain cells and cause the neurons to fire abnormally resulting in cell death. However, the BBB is limited in the face of high levels of MSG and aspartate and brain cells die. This is because these high-level toxins bypass the BBB, causing in cell death. The BBB is ineffective prior to birth so that if MSG is allowed to enter the brain, the BBB is compromised. Also, after birth the BBB may not have reached full development.

Aspartame may also be blamed for memory disruption, including short-term memory loss, brain tumors caused by such things as use of aspartame and cell phones (MedScape Today (1994-2010), among others. Lymphoma and leukemia, weight gain (Lavin, J. H. et al, (1997), as well as hypoglycemia, hypoxia, migraines, seizures, endocrine disorders, and types of obesity (Dr. Russell L. Blaylock, MD, (1994) are often effects of use of aspartame. Aspartame has been reported to result in headaches, memory loss, seizures, vision loss, coma, and cancer.

New research has found that use of aspartame found in most diet drinks, might affect brain function, specifically a disruption in short-term memory loss. Studies have been ongoing since the early 1980s.Timothy M. Barth, Ph. D., a psychology professor at Texas Christian University, does not agree, and states in his study of 90 students participating in a lab study, that students who regularly drank diet soda performed equally in laboratory tests. However, it was also found that people who regularly use aspartame reported lapses in long-term memory, such as forgetting personal details of daily routines or in completing tasks in more instances than those who did not use aspartame. This was most likely due to participants reporting memory problems that were inconsistent to the types of memory loss in laboratory studies. Dr. Barth reiterates further that the untested effects of long-term use of aspartame may still need to be carried out before choosing to refrain from drinking diet soda.

                An 8-year study conducted at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center reported as much as a 41% increase in the risk factor of weight gain for every diet soda consumed per day. The study concluded, “that females with eating restraint had a higher Calorie intake subsequent to aspartame intake as opposed to sugar or water intake” (Lavin, J. H., French, S. J., Read, N. W., (1997).

                Processed supermarket foods, especially diet food or frozen foods, often contain from 2-4 types of excitotoxins. The sweet taste of sugar makes our brains release endorphins “any of a group of endogenous peptides (enkephalin) found especially in the brain that bind chiefly to opiate receptors and produce some pharmacological effects (as pain relief) like those of opiates”(Merriam-Webster Online), or pleasure hormones. Sugar provides energy, something the body needs, and aspartame has no calories and therefore no energy. Mixed messages to the brain only makes the body crave more sugar to replenish energy. It becomes a vicious circle resulting in weight gain in some people.

                Personal experience has demonstrated that discontinuing the use of aspartame and MSG by at risk persons has resulted in amazing improvements in the symptoms of some of the diseases detailed in this discourse.  Benefits can be gained by using more natural ways to sweeten our lives.

References:

Academy of Wellness, (2010). Excitotoxins, 1, Retrieved from www.academyofwellness.com/excitotoxins.htm

Aspartame, (2010). 1, retrieved from www.HealthHound.org/Aspartame

Blood brain barrier, (2010).1, Retrieved from www.answers.com

Dr. Russell L. Blaylock, MD, (1994). Excitotoxins – The Taste That Kills, Santa Fe, NM:Health Press.

Retrieved from Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills

Lavin, J. H., French, S. J., Read, N. W., (1997). The Effect of Sucrose- and Aspartame-Sweetened Drinks on

Energy Intake, Hunger and Food Choice of Female, Moderately Restrained Eaters, International Journal of

Obesity, Volume 21, 37-42.

MedScape Today (1994-2010). Brain Tumors, 1. Cell Phone Link to Brain Tumors – Still No Clear Answers by

                Roxanne Nelson Retrieved from www.medscape.com/MedGenMed/braintumors

Pharmacother, A., Smith, J. D., Terpening, C. M., Schmidt, S. O., Gums, J.G., Randall, M., (Jun 2001).

Relief of fibromyalgia symptoms following discontinuation of dietary excitotoxins. 35(6):702-6. Veterans

Affairs Medical Center, Gainesville, FL, USA.

Rebhahn, P. (Mar/April 2001). Dangerous Diet Drinks, Facts &Findings, Subject(s): ASPARTAME – Physiological

effect; NONNUTRITIVE sweeteners, Side effects; MEMORY Source: Psychology Today, Vol. 34, Issue 2,

p 20, p.2/5, Section, Nutrition.

Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary (1985). Various Definitions: Amino Acids (p. 74)

Aspartame (p. 150), Phenylalanine and Phenylketonuria (p. 1385).

November!

I have been thinking about the month of NOVEMBER.. This is not a good month for me and has not been so for a great many years. Here are some things about November in my life to think about:

 

§  In Rhodesia where I grew up, November is Spring.

§  November starts on the same day of the week as February in common years (not Leap year), and in March every year.

§  November ends on the same day of the week as August of every year.

§  November 1^st is All Saints Day.

§  My brother shared a birthday on November 10^th the USMC.

§  On November 11, 1965 Rhodesia declared independence from Britain. Veteran’s Day is celebrated in the US on November 11^th.

§  My sister was married November 11th the year I returned to the US.

§  My youngest daughter’s father abandoned us in November.

§  My grandmother died on November 13^th.

§  On my birthday in 1493, Christopher Columbus discovered Puerto Rico. I also share my birthday with the McCaughey septuplets, Meg Ryan, Jodie Foster, and Larry King among others.

§  Thanksgiving is celebrated every November.

§  Black Friday occurs the Friday following Thanksgiving.

§  My husband died on November 29^th, the Monday following Thanksgiving.

§  The last time I saw my brother alive was at Thanksgiving 9-years ago this year.
§  My sister was married November 11th the year I returned to the US.

§  The Zodiac signs of November are Scorpio and Sagittarius.

§  The chrysanthemum is the flower for November.

§  The birthstone for November is the yellow topaz.
There are 11 family and friends' birthdays in the month of November.

 

This time of the year continues to be a source of pain and a time of memories, most of them good ones, but every year as November comes around, the sadness comes along. Every year I tell myself in all the months preceding November that this is the year things will be better. Invariably when November rolls in, things are just the same as before in spite of all my positive thoughts. I feel a dampening of spirit that stays with me until mid-March every year.

I wish that September through March would just disappear from my life.......But then I remember a quote from George Iles: "Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark." and I go on hoping that next November will be better :)

Guy Fawkes

It's Guy Fawkes Day! When I was a kid growing up in Africa, this day was my favorite day each year because we were treated to the best fireworks display and burning of an effigy of Guy Fawkes at the stake. We also had sparklers to celebrate the event :) In early England a man named Guy Fawkes headed a plot to blow up Parliament but was caught before he could make it happen and was burnt at the stake instead.
At this celebration, the fireworks display is quite spectacular and ends with a buring at stake. The only difference is that the effigy is filled with firecrackers of every kind. When the flames finally get to his head, his head explodes with dozens of rockets that fly into the air in wild succession! It was always such fun!!

I reached another milestone today - I finally decided on a title for my book! I am really excited about that because the title is a nickname that was given to my father by the schoolboys at the boarding school where he was the principal for many years. The one word title in the dialect means 'Patches' because the book is written in 3 sections. My father had an amazing ability to fix anything with nothing, a skill that he acquired as an airplane mechanic in the Navy at Guadalcanal during WWII and which served him well as the principal of a boarding school. My novel is dedicated to the memory of my husband and also to my father :)

I wonder why?

In San Diego we have a TV anchor who periodically gives us an "I wonder Why?" segment on the news.

Here are two of MY "I wonder Why?" questions for you:

1) I wonder why there is a Braille keypad on some drive-up teller machines?

2) I wonder why people like the term 'Free Gift'?  All gifts are free so if you advertize something as a 'Free Gift' then there must be strings attached and in the end it's not free at all!

The CAT in the HAT on Aging - 10/29/10

This is for all the chronologically-challenged people out there to make them smile today. I definitely needed a smile for today :)

Just in case you weren't feeling too old today. 

The people who are starting college this fall were born in 1989. 

They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up. 

Their lifetime has always included AIDS.. 

The CD was introduced two years before they were born. 

They have always had an answering machine. 

They have always had cable.. 

Jay Leno has always been on the Tonight Show. 

Popcorn has always been microwaved.                 

They never took a swim and thought about Jaws. 

They don't know who Mork was or where he was from. 

They never heard: 'Where's the Beef?', 'I'd walk a mile for a Camel ', or 'de plane Boss, de plane'. 

McDonald's never came in Styrofoam containers. 

They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter. 

Pass this on to the other old fogies on your list. 

Notice the larger type?

That's for those of us who have trouble reading. 

P.S. Save the earth. It's the only planet with chocolate.

Word of the Day List - 10/27/10

Professor Feraldi asked me to post the word of the day list and I will update it as we continue through this term :) Enjoy!

• vivisection - animal experimentation that causes distress to living animals; minute examination or criticism.
• sentient - conscious of sense expression; finely sensitive in perception or feeling.
• flume – narrow gorge with a stream running through it.
• propinquity – nearness of blood (kinship); nearness in place or time (proximity)
• gitches – underwear (yesteryear)
• gittern – a medieval guitar.
• specious – false look of truth or genuineness.
• excelsior – fine, curled wood shavings used especially for packing fragile items.
• anamnesis(ses) – a recalling to mind (reminiscence); a preliminary medical or psychiatric case history of a patient.
• yttrium – a silvery, metallic element included in the rare-earth elements in minerals used in phosphors, YAG lasers, and super alloys.
• coprolalia – the use of vulgar, obscene, or sacrilegious language as in schizophrenia and Tourette’s syndrome.
• effulgent (adj.) – shining brilliantly; effulgence (n.).
• concatenation (n) – a linking together or being linked together in a series; a series of things or events regarded as casually or dependently connected.
• detritivore – an organism (as an earthworm or fungus) that feeds on dead or decomposing organic matter.
• fillister (n)- a plane for cutting grooves in wood; a groove as in a window frame for holding the glass.