aiyo chewing/bubble gum la, not the gum holding your teeth in place -___-"
and yes i look damn retarded in the picture, honestly. but well the sole purpose was the bubble!
haha just for fun. and to show you my pearly whites. i should model for an oral b/colgate ad la :D (oh, there's no darlie here, which is why i didnt mention it)
okay first let me scare you with my current stash of gum, which i carry around EVERYWHERE, especially to school (to keep me awake during lessons, why else?).
hmmm what do you think is inside this innocent-looking plastic bag? look at it look at it!
oei the bag la, not my ugly nails :[ just to sidetrack a little, i ripped my fake nails off (literally, cos they were dropping out anyway) as i got sick and tired of them falling out everytime i jabbed people in the ribs (who ask them disturb me? :p)and with the weather getting cold it's hard to wear gloves with long nails... (no la haven't started wearing gloves yet, but hey, just in case)
anyways, back to the bag!
stop looking at my nails! here! shall force you to stare at the bag! heeheeh...
aiya the answer is so freaking obvious.
yes that's the amount of gum i bring to school daily, or anywhere for that matter.
insert *holymamaareyouserious???* here
yes yes i am serious. lie for what.
but look! arent they oh-so cute and colourful? admit it la...
taken with flash
and without flash
scary eh? haha... in case i run out but get too lazy to stock up :D
and yes this is the extra pack i have at home, in case of emergencies :D
haha in case of emergencies, open packet -___-"
so anyways, you know how almost every single piece of gum is sugarfree now? yupyup! huh you dont know? .
.
.
.
.
.
go research la :p my camera is so lousy, cant take a picture of the words on the gum wrappers clearly :/
so, why am i blogging about this, saying it's killing us, you ask.
because. GUM IS SUGARFREE.
"but sugarfree then good ma! siao! how can it kill us???"
BECAUSE. they use aspartame, and occasionally sucralose, to sweeten them. They're artificial sweeteners, that's why companies can claim that they are sugarfree. Where do you think the sweetness comes from huh? chew on the gum then the sweetness come out magically meh? siao.
what is aspartame and what is sucralose? i'll let you know in a while. how do i know this? well from my biology course lor.
okay lets start with aspartame, the one which almost every brand of gum uses. this is not just limited to gum, but to fruit juices and carbonated drinks. so what is aspartame and why is it so harmful?
here goes. first up, aspartame is made up of aspartic acids (40%), which cause indigestion, chronic brain disorders and a whole lot of other acute symptoms if consumed in excess. excess aspartic acids kill the neurons in your brain (as if your brain cells dying daily wasn't enough). from this, many health conditions may arise such as:
-memory loss
-hearing loss
-hormonal problems
-epilepsy
-dementia
-AIDS
-brain lesions
walao. wth. kena AIDS and dementia from chewing gum??? what is the world coming to??? oh and the acute symptoms i was talking about include:
-headaches/migraines (shit now i know where my recent headaches stem from...)
-nausea
-fatigue
-vision problems
-sleep problems
-abdominal pains
-asthma/chest tightness
scary huh? all from gum, juices and other artificially sweetened drinks. another thing that also forms aspartame is methanol, aka wood alcohol/poison (10%). wa i tell you. the moment i read that, i just stopped dead in whatever i was doing. POSION??? then why the hell is aspartame still allowed in foods by the FDA?
how heck i know?
you can read the article from here if you want, but be warned that there are lots of scientific terms and what not. and it's really long too. oh and word of caution: aspartame goes by the brand names of NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful and Equal-Measure. if you're thinking of getting a sugar substitute, remember to read the ingredients list, and keep these brands in mind as the TO AVOID brands.
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moving on to sucralose, not that oftenly used in gum (by my observations la), but it's used in many many other foods as well as a sugar substitute. like aspartame, it's also used in fruit juices/concentrates and carbonated drinks. in fact, many of the "diet drinks" you see on the market actually contain either one of these artificial sweeteners. still think that can of diet coke is healthy? and what is sucralose anyhoo?
in essence, sucralose is sugar chemically mixed with chlorine and a whole lot of other things (including that wood poison chemical), similar to that of aspartame. yes chlorine. that thing in your bleaches and swimming pools. and it's also known to be a carcinogen (cancer causing agent) and a poisonous gas.
oh oh get this: sucralose stems from the fact that it was discovered while trying to create a new insecticide. do you really wanna choose that over pure, organic table sugar???
unfortunately there have not been enough long-term studies to observe what effects or condition might develop from the long term use of sucralose. but there is one that is pretty certain: health and behavorial changes, especially in children. how they kena? feed them diet drinks lor. how else? so watch what you feed to kids too! later they grow up all emo and stuff... =x
hmmm then those people with diabetes how? i have no idea. im sure lots of people are trying to come up with safe ways to make a non-toxic sugar substitute, but yeah :/ can use honey or not? there's another alternative i read about, but im not exactly sure whether it's safe or not. have a look.
it's called stevia, and it's of plant origin. it's even been used traditionally to treat type 2 diabetes in South America! but then again, reader beware.
sighs super sad la! i know i have to kick that gum chewing habit, but how to??? later i fall asleep in class all the time how??? sighs isnt it sucky? the more the world develops, the more problems develop too. sighs maybe i'll sneakily eat sweets in class or something. aiyo between natural sugar (getting fat) and artificial sweeteners (no fats but you get all the other conditions above mentioned), i'd rather getting fat. at least i can exercise or go for liposuction or something. better than messing with your brain. imagine if you're fat and screwed up in the brain. wa jialat.
moral of the story? stick to all things natural. organic if possible. cos now even mother nature is tainted by all the chemicals we humans use on her. so because of us, nothing is safe.
dont eat beef; got mad cow disease. dont eat fish; got mercury poisoning. dont eat poultry; got avian flu. dont eat pork; because i hate the texture of pork and the amount of fats that's inside. then how?
go vegetarian!
eh wait!
vegetables and whatever plants for that matter (including your precious rice) get sprayed by pesticides and insecticides everyday! pesticide poisoning. how? dont eat!
live on water then. oh no that won't work. have you seen what people dump into the waters everyday? you sure you wanna live on that?
live on nothing but air then. no wait! air pollution is all around is! be it from factories, car exhausts, hazes, or second-hand smoke. oh dear, there goes the last physical thing you can possibly live on. how?
aiya fuck la. just eat! sighs. just take certain measures and precautions i suppose =/
links to the sucralose articles i read are here,
here and here.
p.s: the above paragraphs (what we can live on) was something my mum and i actually erm... "quarrelled" over once. haha...
