So if something has no added sugar and no artifical colours or preservities..

[DippyDora]

Its not got any crap in it?

Is that right?

does it have sweetners? or fillers?

is it just meat? or veg?

IME it probably has aspartame in it. I have very bad reactions to this additive and I avoid it at all cost.

Well you would think so! But look at the label anyway! I still find aspartame in things labelled no added sugar and not artificial colours etc.

What is aspartame?

if it says no artificial sweeteners it shouldn't have aspartame...

lol in any case, as no added sugar means it has got enough in already... is this for dcs who are sensitive to colours etc or as part of weight loss? give us a clue?

an artificial sweetener... so not sugar lol, so technically no added sugar.

I hate aspartame - it gives me the squits

I'm just trying to educate myself about all this sort of thing.

I know labelling can be very decepitive but I dont know anything else

IMO (& I am very biased) I look for stuff that I can actually find in a kitchen

Things with chemical names are low on my list, as are artifical flavours & colours & sugars

Tescos do a very nice pasta sauce & tomato salsa, in fact a lot of their things only have 'ingredients' in them rather than chemicals

Also DD looks for the food with fewer ingredients - so with burgers - beef, onion, black pepper & salt

Crunchies come out better than haribo

i find that most of the time when it says 'no added sugar' it means 'contains aspartame' there are also other sweeteners similar to aspartame with a similar sounding name

you are far better off with sugar than aspartame. i avoid aspartame at all costs.

read your labels carefully a lot of the vitamins (for ex the boots brand ones) contain aspartame

grouchy - what reaction do you have to it?

Depends on your efinition of crap, of course.

IME if something says "no artificial colours or preservatives" it probably does have artificial sweeteners (since if it didn't it would be loudly trumpeting that fact too. Particularly if it says "no added sugar" as adding artificial sweeteners is ofen how they avoid adding sugar.

Also neee to watch out for fat content (especially trans fats) and salt levels (bear in mind recommende limits and that sometimes figures are counted as grams of salt and sometimes as grams of sodium).

Even if something contains no added nasties at all it doesn't mean that consuming huge amounts of it is good for you.

I agree GPT&L - but my definition suggests that stuff that is made naturally & has been eaten for thousands of years has a slight chance of being safe to eat......so I choose Butter & olive Oil not marg, sugar not artificial sweetners and chocolate not celery

I try to avoid all artificial sweeteners, flavours, and certainly all trans-fats (hydrogenated fats).

Oh god, its all so confusing

Stayinbed. I have Relapsing remitting MS. I find aspartame causes a flare up of my symptoms and I can link an attack to within 2 hours of injesting the stuff.

The thing is it is in so much stuff. Most squashes, even the ones not labeled as 'sugar free' Most fizzy drinks, low fat yoghurts and even crisps FFS.

It is truly toxic IMHO. Just eat less stuff with real sugar in it. I also agree with the points made about fats too. stick to olive oil, butter and no hydrogenated cack.

grouchyoscar - I can so understand where you are coming from

I have ME/CFS which is nothing like MS I know - but it brings on my symptoms very quickly

You sound like me - sat on the floor with the contents of the bin around me trying to work out what the hell it was hiding in this time

With fizzy drinks it is a nightmare - I used to drink oringina while I was out (pubs etc) then for ages it made me ill - couldn't work out why for ages then it turns out they changed the recipe.......then blow me they changed it back a few yrs later???

Yes, Orangina the only fizzy drink I let ds have.

7-p & sprite are aspartame free (but quite acid imo)