Foot pain and artificial sweetners?

ken5380
ken5380 Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi Everyone, First off, I would like to wish you continued success on your MFP journey. I would like to ask of those who use Aspartame as a regular part of your weight loss plan a question. Now before the flamethrowers are lighted and the pitch forks sharpened, I want to say I am not trying to create a debate about natural sugars vs. artificial sweeteners. My personal journey at MFP started in July. Up into that point I was a two teaspoon a day in my coffee sugar addict kinda guy. The thought of using no sweetener was a real deal breaker. I tried several artificial sweeteners but settled on Aspartame containing products as my choice. I drank ice tea by the quarts, chewed the sugar free mints by the tin full and stayed away from products with a high sugar content. I have had good success losing weight and I am pleased with the results for sure. The weight loss stimulated me to add exercise to my daily regiment.This past week started with terrible foot pain, specifically on the heels.

It has been years since I had a heel spur which seemed like the logical reason however after doing stretching exercises and adding custom shoe orthopedics, replacing footwear, the pain has continued. My question to those of you who have also added Aspartame products to their diet if they have any similar foot or heel pain? Health notes: I am not a diabetic, have had a total of three gout attacks over several years but never any other foot issues. I just would like some feedback from others who may have had a similar problem where the only modification to their daily eating was eliminating artificial sweeteners altogether. Remember people, I'm not asking for a debate on the benefits or evils of artificial sweeteners just an unscientific raise of hands (or feet) to anyone having a similar condition.

Thanks Much to all the MFP Brothers & Sisters! -Ken

Replies

  • schustc
    schustc Posts: 428 Member
    sounds a lot like plantar faciitis. I have this. It was caused by hard orthotic inserts in not well cushioned shoes. I ended up having to have physical therapy and get special shoes, and do special exercises in the morning - and it took months to improve.

    do you feel the worst pain when you wake up in the morning and get out of bed? that's a good tell tale sign of plantar faciitis..
  • schustc
    schustc Posts: 428 Member
    actually, since you seemed to have added exercise to your routine, (recently?) I'd almost bet money on plantar faciitis. It's an injury that you have to let heal over time. there are things you can do to improve it but it's not going to get better overnight.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    I also have problems with plantar fascitis from way too high arches and a lot of walking. It comes and goes. I had it in an excruciating way a few years ago. Got inserts and it went away. Now I haven't worn them for several years and I'm mostly okay.

    It gets worse when my shoes get just a little worn. Look at the heels of your shoes.

    I'd also wonder about your gout. My dad has gout. He first got it hard and bad (in his heel) when he was dieting. In parficular, it was too high protein in the diet he was on (something similar to the 1970s version of paleo). Also anything that vaguely looks like beer will do it - I assume because of how it changes kidney functioning.

    So I would think more about obvious problems than about what seems a more distal link in an artificial sweetener.

    Good luck. Those pains are excruciating.
  • michaeleverson
    michaeleverson Posts: 1
    I suffered from plantar for many years. I gave up all food with artificial sweeteners while dieting. One of the (side effects) was no more plantar. It took about 2 months and it was gone. It was the only thing I changed in my diet.
    Try giving up the sweetener. Strange but true
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
    sounds a lot like plantar faciitis ... caused by hard orthotic inserts in not well cushioned shoes.

    It varies. My plantar fasciitis responds best to solid shoes with high rigid arches, e.g. dansko professional clogs. Well padded shoes made it worse. Soft arch supports don't work for me at all. I need rigid ones.

    Do get it attended to and figure out what works for you. It will only get worse otherwise.
  • fultimers
    fultimers Posts: 153 Member
    I think this topic is interesting because I use quite a few artificial sweeteners (Splenda) and I also have lots of foot pain (but not in my heels).

    I'm not going to bash artificial sweeteners either. I know that lots of us depend on them for a taste of something sweet when we're trying to cut calories.

    I will say, however, that since I stopped drinking diet soda (which had aspartame), my fibromyalgia symptoms are almost all gone. I know that different artificial sweeteners can affect different people differently so my discovery is by no means scientific, but it's made a difference in my life.

    I would find it extremely hard to give up my little yellow packets of Splenda so I may never find out if giving them up will reduce any of my foot pain or other aches and pains but I suppose it's something to keep in mind.
  • Colliey
    Colliey Posts: 19 Member
    When I searched in Google on Aspartame and foot pain, I was surprised there were so many pages relating to it. I too have a foot spur but I have managed to keep it under control by stretching (mostly Yoga moves), I have found wrong size shoes irritate it. Though I can't blame any artificial sweeteners as the cause. Personally if you were able to drop the "artificial" it has to be more beneficial for your overall health, not just your feet. I actually avoid all "lite" stuffs now and have the full version.

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