I'll say something about those nut allergies, why was it when I went to school I never knew of anybody who had one or heard of this problem but now so many of the yuppie kids supposedly have nut allergies? I don't doubt they're real for some people but it seems like a lot of people are faking it. PB&J was always standard kid food when I was growing up, nothing dangerous about it.
There are a lot of toxins in 'healthy foods' anyway. Carcinogens in celery, Goitrogens in cruciferous vegetables, oxalates in greens, cyanide in small doses in lima beans, etc. and I'm not going to cut out all those foods from my diet either because the benefits in general outweigh the risks. This is what I find ironic about people considering sweeteners to be bad.
There is a higher risk of having problems with food created by "man" than food that Gd created...same goes with religion.
Everything should be in moderation.
As far as eating spinach instead of pie made with artificial sweetners, of course spinach should be preferred, but I understand that sometimes its ok to indulge in cake in pie (once in awhile) and shouldn't be a substitution for foods that are in actuality healthy for us.. So don't get me wrong, Rubystars.
I can understand somebody making a choice to turn their health around and they are morbidly obese or have major diabetes issues and they need to substitute sugar for an artificial sweetner...like someone who has high blood pressure and needs to take medicine (which can also be considered poison..but it saves lives better than not taking medicine).
Rubystars, if you have it in your will power, better not to eat fruits from a can with artificial sweetners..or even using fruit from a can to make a healthier pie or cake. There are healthy organic ingredients that can be used to make delicious pie. Substitute white sugar with brown sugar. Instead of regular wheat, whole wheat flower. Instead of butter, use grapeseed oil. If you like the taste of bananas, you can use less sugar to make something yummy and sweet. Nuts are optional.
As far as nut allergies...it has always been quite common and the allergies can be deadly. I don't think it has anything to do with yuppies making up allergies. The same is true with shellfish and even certain other foods, like mango allergies.
But as far as a healthy well balanced diet and for weight loss, avoid the diet soda...it does more harm than good. Drink water, seltzer, or if you have to have soda, go 50/50 on the seltzer and soda...half the calories...and the more you get used to having less salty and less sweet tasting items, you will not only get used to it, but won't like the taste of the original saltiness and sweetness you used to have.
Btw, a great salad dressing: forget the non fat ranch/italian crap. Olive oil, lemon or balsamic vinegar, a touch of salt and pepper.
Or better yet, add to your salad greens like arugula and watercress...both flavorable greens that allow you to reduce the amount of salad dressing.
Another great dressing you can use yougurt, water it down and add dill or horseradish/wasabi with small pieces of cucumber. Very yummy.