If it takes me more than seven seconds to subvocalize the ingredients of any food item, its back to the shelf buddy. Here’s a good one: Acesulfame Potassium. Someone correct my pronunciation if I am wrong. A licensed dietitian forced me to say it like that.

Ace K was approved by the FDA in 1988. Big deal. This stuff taste like crap and has undergone minimal testing, especially human testing. Given its bitterness it is typically combined with other artificial sweeteners such as sucralose which adds another layer of risk to the product. Ace K is typically found in baked goods, chewing gum and beverages. It is also very prominent in sports supplements such as protein powders and energy drinks. I once gave a $40 container of protein to my friend because it contained Ace K. His gym rat aspirations outweighed the potential health risks of consuming 30 different ingredients for 20 grams of protein.

There are several alternatives for obese sweet lovers with zero self control. Aside from turning off the Xbox and exploring your lower body motor skills, you may consider the following “natural” alternatives. And by “natural” I mean observing the beauty of a living plant and sacrificing that living plant directly into the food you are about to eat. Here are some:

Stevia: a low calorie plant that has significant sweetness. It can have a bitter aftertaste which really upsets me. Get it fresh or the green dried form. The white stuff is processed garbage. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia)

Honey: we all know what this is. It has a higher caloric content than Stevia but is less processed than refined sugar.

Some people prefer agave nectar over honey, especially the hippie vegans. Personally I am on the fence with agave nectar due to its outrageous amount of fructose (more than high fructose corn syrup) John Kohler has a great article on the subject: http://www.living-foods.com/articles/agave.html

Here is some further reading:

Wikipedia (for starters): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ace_K

Center for Science in the Public Interest: http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm

Remember, pick your battles. It’s hard to eat right all of the time. Follow basic principles and stick with it. Weight loss and maintaining health is much easier once you get your diet right. Read the ingredients and if you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it. Unless it’s ethnic.