I have finally found a chewing gum I can feel good about: Pur Gum.
While I am not by any means a regular gum chewer, I like to give the kids some during take-off and landing on flights, and on other occasions here and there. The problem has been that every single gum sold in the regular supermarket, 7-11, or airport newsstand contains either aspartame or food dyes or both.
Aspartame has so permeated our food supply that even non-sugar-free gum, like Hubba Bubba or Wrigley’s JuicyFruit, contain high fructose corn syrup and aspartame, too. It’s like a double-whammy in a single piece of gum. The sugar-free gums are so packed with aspartame that I can’t get more than a couple chews in before I have to spit it out in disgust and rinse my mouth of the poisonous taste. Then I get a headache. I’m very sensitive to aspartame and I believe this is a factor in my MS story.
Food Dyes and Colors (FD&C), of course, are petroleum products that haven’t been reviewed for health and safety since 1931, when they were still being manufactured from coal. My son is so sensitive to red and yellow food dyes that if he eats them on an empty stomach he will throw up within 20 minutes. If he manages to hold the food dyes down, within eight hours he becomes a mean, violent, uncontrollable kid who is mad at the world until it works his way out of his system. It’s so not worth it for a few minutes of chewing pleasure.
Pur Gum is aspartame-free and food-dye free. It comes in Spearmint, Peppermint, and my fave, Pomegranate Mint.
If you’re a gum chewer, take a minute to check out the label on the packet and see what all they load into that little stick of chewing gum that then goes into your body. It just may be the cause of some of your ailments, too.
