I think everything has some potential to harm us (natural or unnatural)...what they generally don't tell you is that most of the time, you have to use mass quantities of the substance (whatever that is) to cause the serious long-term harm that it's capable of (if that makes any sense). I "encountered" splenda awhile back, when a friend who was trying to cut sugar found it. I can't "do" aspartamine (I feel sick to my stomach less than 10 min after ingesting it), but splenda didn't seem to have that effect, so I do use it in moderation (two packets in my breakfast shakes every morning), though lately I've been a bit sick to my stomach, so I might quit using it for a few days and see if that's the cause. And I'll occasionally add it to cooking, though anything baked gets real sugar. I tend to be of the mind that a little real sugar won't hurt you, as long as it's kept to a "little". ;-) DF is doing Atkins...he's drinking one diet soda with splenda per day, and I made him some chai tea with one packet last night, but otherwise, he's not had the need for it at all on Atkins - I haven't made anything that needs "sweetening", really. Other than that, I think the smartest thing we can do is learn to like things a little less sweet. I learned to like my tea black, and just got used to eating foods that weren't as sweet (or were naturally sweet). So I really don't have much of a need for sweeteners - I could probably even get used to drinking my shakes without, if I had the desire to. :-)

If you want low-carb recipes try doing a web search for the 'Paleolithic diet' on yahoo. I am a graduate student working with lipidology and human metabolism. I wanted to point out a few things: -it is true that almost all foods contain some amount of carbohydrate, but grain-based foods are not digestable by the human gut. That's why we have all of that lovely bacteria living inside us, they break down the complex plant matter into easily absorbed material. -the brain does not use just carbohydrates/sugar for energy. Most human tissues, especially the brain, can easily transfer to ketone bodies as a source of energy. These ketones are made from the body's metabolic breakdown of fats (a process called ketogenesis) and are produced in response to low carb availability. -the FDA Food Pyramid is not what you may think. The recommended daily allowances SUGGESTED by the FDA are not backed up by controlled experimental studies. Even the recommended amounts of vit. and minerals are a matter of guess work. Just like the Atkins diet, veganism, and several others, the studies the FDA based its recommendations on were small (number of participants and number/length of the studies), the test diets were bordering on inappropriate, and the results were summarized by people trying to prove their own ideas. Unfortunately, most scientific work has those same problems. Ask your doctor if she/he knows where you can find the FDA tests that the pyramid are based - they won't know, but they still recommend following it. Anyway, I'll get off my soap-box. If anyone is interested in a friendly discussion about diets, I would love to start one. Stephen

I don't know all that much about WW, but I have had good results with the ketogenic/Paleolithic diet first mentioned. It was hard to get started, like most dietary changes, but now its habit. I have not found many chat sites for it, but if you have already gone back to WW I guess it doesn't matter too much. It seems to work pretty well, after being on the Paleolithic diet for two years I have lost ~60lbs, decreased my serum cholesterol and triglycerides, and become a really good cook (I think I remember what eating out was like ;) ) If anyone would like a friendly ear,... I guess we should all just be thankful these diets are self-imposed only for dropping the pounds rather than required for severe health problems. Good luck, whatever you choose. Stephen

probably 15 years or more, I was listening to talk radio. He was a Dr. and had more old fashioned recipes. for example, take cod liver oil caps everyday, and when ypu strt getting on in age, your bones wont be brittle.. ok...He lived in KY and always gave his phone # out over the radio.. It seemed I was always on an interstate and never got it down exactly. .he had a juice drink, that he concocked that was for better health.and loose some weight, I made a gallon every week, and could see it was some detoxing.it had cider vinger cramberry juice apple juice grape juice and i can't remember what else. nor the proprotions. just wondering if anyone has the recipe////////