I decided to stop poisoning myself

You may have read the title with shock, thinking “why WOULD anyone poison themselves?” Or, you may think that I’m now going to launch into a diatribe about the evils of meth and other illegal drugs.
Nope. Neither. Little by little, I am loosening the grip of the 21st century on my body. I celebrate my 50th birthday in a few weeks, and I am in better health than I was 10 or 20 years ago.
Americans are infamous for our awful diets. Some of us eat out three meals a day, seven days a week. Then we wonder why we get sick a lot and why we can’t lose weight. But that’s not what I’m talking about either.
I was as guilty as many other American, with respect to my diet. I have a sweet tooth like a 3-year old. I loved chocolate bars, especially those with caramel. I was not as guilty as some; I’ve never smoked or used any illegal drugs. Never. I used to imbibe alcoholic drinks, and no longer do. It’s not that they are bad; they were just bad for me. But these are not what I’m talking about either.
No, I’ve decided to quit poisoning myself with artificial sweeteners.
This started about a year ago when I enlisted in a fat-burning challenge at work. One of the suggestions for diet improvement was to quit using artificial sweeteners. The person running the challenge actually said that full-sugar pop was not as bad as diet pop! At first, I thought she was nuts, then I tried it. I went without my beloved Diet Coke for a few days. Instead, I drank tea sweetened with Sweet N’ Low. What I found was that I no longer craved candy. I was better in control of what I ate at meals. As a bonus, I also noticed that I no longer got that tired, sleepy feeling in the afternoon. So, instead of having my ritual “Diet Coke and candy bar” in the afternoon, I had a cup of fresh brewed tea, and was very satisfied.
So, I bagged the NutraSweet. Over time, I noticed that my headaches were less frequent. That meant that, not only was I not poisoning myself with the NutraSweet, I was using far less over-the-counter pain relievers. Once in a great while I fell “off the wagon” and had a Diet Coke. It tasted good, but later I paid for it with feeling fatigued and ragged. But, I was still using Sweet N Low, which contains saccharine.
As I’ve gotten further down the road from my 40th birthday, I was noticing that the aches and pains of getting up in the morning were getting worse and worse. Daily exercise helped a lot, but I’ve found an even better helper. A couple of months ago, I started sweetening my morning cup o’ tea with organic sugar, not Sweet N Low. I didn’t notice it, but the aches and pains slowly diminished and disappeared. I didn’t notice they were gone until one day, I decided to use Sweet N Low again, and the next day the aches and pains were back in force. IN ONE DAY. I quit using the pink stuff, and within a few days the aches and pains were just a memory. I decided to donate the rest of the box of Sweet N Low in the cupboard to my local church.
Now, I very rarely need to resort to any of the bottles of pain killers that are in my medicine chest. I don’t need to worry about what they are doing to my stomach or kidneys. I am free from pain, and I’m no longer poisoning myself.