[Carrie Todd]

I am so glad someone posted on this topic. I was told 16 years ago that my nightly migraines as well as a heart murmur were caused by the diet pepsi I was drinking. When I stopped, after a two week withdrawal period, I felt tons better.

Unfortunately my desire to not gain weight combined with my sweet tooth caused me to "relapse" a few years ago. This time, not only did I get periodic, nearly debilitating, migraines but I started having panic attacks at work.

Fortunately, my fabulous boyfriend was adamant about my kicking the can, so to speak. He encouraged me to research it on my own. I discovered that fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and even symptoms of MS could in many cases be traced to aspartame. REmoving it from a person's diet could eliminate the symptoms altogether.

This is a vile substance that should never have been introduced into the public food and beverages.

I have since weaned myself from most sweets, using honey, stevia, and natural fruit juice sparingly and seldomly. When I really crave the sweets, which I rarely do now, I use raw organic sugar.

Although food is essentially fuel, it's nice if it tastes good too.