Health
The Fight for Freedom
By: Sophie
The definition of freedom from books is: Freedom refers to a state of independence
where you can do what you like without any restriction by anyone. I agree with this definition
entirely. Another definition is that freedom is a state of mind where you have the right and
freedom of doing what you think of. In my opinion, this definition is also true.
I know that these definitions are true because when American revolution happened, the
people leading the revolution were not fighting because it was fun. No. They were fighting for
their rights. They were willing to take the risk in order to do what they believe in, so that the
future generations wouldn’t have to go through what they went through. They were willing to
risk losing their own lifes so that the world could be a fair place to everyone.
Another example of how freedom is the ability to do what you wish to do without being
stopped, is when the African-Americans fought against segregation. Nobody likes being forced
to do something that is extremely unfair and unjust. So it was no surprise when the black people
fought back], and when they took a stand and said, “No more.” It took a long time and the road
was rocky, but they managed to take their rightful place with others, no matter what their belief
was or what their skin color was. All people are human and everyone should be treated like a
human.
Some people got segregated because of their beliefs. Take the Jews for example. They
had to fight for their beliefs from Germany, during the horrible time of the Holocauast were there
was so much unfairness and there was less hope for freedom. After the Holocaust ended we still
rember what happened during the Holocaust. We remember so it doesn’t happen again. We
remember so that it serves as a reminder of what terrible things can happen from being unjust.
We remember because otherwise we would forget.
Some people are still fighting for freedom today. The people are Palestine, who are
humans, are not being treated like humans by Israel. Israel has built a tremendous wall around
Palestine, which isn’t just. They have them illegally occupied Palestine, and are being unjust to
them. Possibly the worst part of all of this, is that a very few amount of countries are supporting
Palestine, under the false impression that Muslims are bad people. Our own president has an
anti-Muslim campian, which is unjust. Studies have shown that more than half of the muslims
who live in the US are loyal to America, while the other half is neutral. Everyone should have
the right to experience freedom, no matter their race or culture, or belief.
In conclusion freedom is still a thing that many people are fighting to experience and
many people have experienced. Those who have experienced freedom should be helping those
who wish to experience freedom. Freedom is a right and just thing and everyone deserves to
experience it, unless they have used their freedom in a wrong and unjust way. That being said,
everyone deserves a second chance. Freedom is not a thing to be segregated. It is something all
should believe in, all should fight for, and all should experience.
Artificial Sweeteners
By: Sophie
Have you ever read a food label and saw that it said ‘artificial sweeteners’ and wondered
if it is good or bad for you? Read on to find out. While some sources like healthline say “…most
health authorities consider them safe, and many people use them to reduce their sugar intake and
lose weight.” Other articles, such as this one from the Mayo Clinic say otherwise, “Critics of
artificial sweeteners say that they cause a variety of health problems, including cancer.”
Although there are a few benefits to artificial sweeteners there are far more negative than
positives. Artificial sweeteners should not be used in foods because they are heavily linked to
cancer, they will make you gain weight, and they are known to cause brain tumors.
Artificial sweeteners should not be used in foods because although they may have
benefits for people with diabetes as they don’t have much cholesterol, but they are widely known
to give people cancer. A study by The National Cancer Institute shows that this is true, according
to their results,” Studies in laboratory rats during the early 1970s linked saccharin with the
development of bladder cancer, especially in male rats.”(4)(saccharin is a type of artificial
sweetener) This illustrates how bad saccharin is to you and your health. Saccharin is used in
foods that we eat often, a few examples of this being in baked goods, jams, jelly, chewing gum,
canned fruit, candy, dessert toppings, and salad dressings. (Source healthline) Although
saccharin is not immediately detrimental to the human body, an excessive amount can cause
cancer. All of the goods that saccharin is in, most people eat commonly. If someone starts to eat
an overdose of saccharin, it can start to give side effects of cancer. If a person does not stop
there, it can grow into cancer. Most cancers don’t have a cure so you would have to stay in the
hospital. Another quote that reinforces what has been stated is this quote by healthine, “A study
published in 2006 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives suggested that very high
doses of aspartame increased the risk of leukemia, lymphoma, and other types of cancer in rats.”
(7) If this is what it can do in rats then what is to say that something bad may not happen to us.
Although this study has not been proven to affect humans, an overdose can affect the human
body in a negative way. Furthermore, recent studies have been showing that saccharin is linked
to cancer in humans, although this study has not been approved by the FDA.
A second reason why artificial sugars should not be used in foods is because they will
make you gain weight. Like most sugars artificial sugars do make you gain weight, maybe not as
much as other sugar but it is more according to fattening based on health.clevelandclinic.org’s
(cleveland and clinic) opinion, “Artificial sweeteners are typically 200 to 600 times sweeter than
sugar. They stimulate your taste buds, go to your brain, affect your hormones and slow your
metabolism.”(4) This shows that artificial sugars are much much sweeter than natural sugar, and
can have many other not so good effects such as it is affecting yours, or others hormones This
shows that no matter what stage of life you are in artificial sugars can and will affect you.
Furthermore in an article titled by times they stated Artificial sweeteners are linked to weight
gain not weight loss. In this article (Artificial sweeteners are linked to weight gain not weight
loss) by Times, it proves the point that artificial sweeteners make you gain more weight than
natural sugars. ”Artificial sweeteners did not appear to help people lose weight. Instead,
observational studies that looked at consumption over time suggested that people who regularly
consumed them—by drinking one or more artificially-sweetened beverages a day—had a higher
risk for health issues like weight gain, obesity, diabetes and heart disease.”(3)Natural sugars don’t
add quite as much fat, and are overall much healthier than artificial sugars because the weight
gained from natural sugars is the weight that the human body can store and eventually use when
you need energy. Artificial sugars make you feel full when you are not which can lead to you
losing far more fat then what should be lost.
Almost everyone likes to eat sweet things, whether that be ice cream, macaroons, or soda.
When people found out about artificial sweeteners, which were cheaper, and tasted the same
without giving you as many calories, people were excited. Although, at that time people didn’t
entirely know about the downside of artificial sweeteners. Although artificial sweeteners may be
cheaper, they can change the way that you taste naturally sweeter foods, based on a study done
by harvard in which they found that,”people who routinely use artificial sweeteners may start to
find less intensely sweet foods, such as fruit, less appealing and unsweet foods, such as
vegetables, downright unpalatable.” This means that you may start to dislike fruits and other
healthy items, so much so that in extreme cases, when you decide to go healthy it’s too hard
because you are so used to an intense amount of sweetness. Most people would be willing to pay
a few extras pennies to save themselves from never being able to go healthier again.
The third reason why artificial sugars are bad for you is because they can give you brain
tumors. it will affect your brain and can cost you a seriously long stay in the hospital. The reason
I bring this up is because it can and it will. According to research by Amen Clinics, they have
proved this is true through doing a study that left them with, “One of the most commonly used
artificial sweeteners in diet sodas, aspartame is particularly damaging to the brain.”(6) another
source to prove this is true is this quote by the national library of medicine which states, “
Evidence potentially implicating aspartame includes an early animal study revealing an
exceedingly high incidence of brain tumors in aspartame-fed rats” (6)Aspartame is a type of
artificial sweetener that is commonly used in diet sodas because it does not add as much weight
to the human body than regular sodas. But at what cost? Your brain? Brain damage can be quite
severe, leading to strokes, nerve damage, and multiple other affects. Another Artificial sweaters
may be good for certain people with certain conditions, but it is certainly not good for the
average person, especially a person that is having financial troubles, and/or is having health
issues, pre existing conditions, etc.
To sum up everything that has been stated up until this point, Artificial sweeteners are
terrible for your body. They cause cancer, which can cost you a long stay in the hospital, and you
don’t even know if you are going to come out alive! (this is because cancer has no discovered
cure) This can also cause you such a large financial debt that it would be much to be spending
more money to get the items with the natural sugars, as it would give you much more peace than
staying in a hospital and it would save you quite a large sum of money. Secondly they will make
you feel full when you aren’t and, to some extreme effects, it can leave you starving without
evening knowing it and your body would not get calories and/or the right amount of calories and
it also would not give you sufficient minerals that your body needs to survive, as well not enough
minerals, which your body also needs. Finally, artificial sweeteners/sugars can cause your brain
to receive serious damage, such as brain tumors, which can lead to strokes and nerve damage.
These can change your whole perspective and way of thinking all because of artificial
sweeteners. It can also make your decisions unjustified and can make you impulsive, which, in
my opinion, is an extremely heavy price to pay just to have some artificial and processed
sweeteners. This is why artificial sweeteners are bad for you and why they should no longer be
allowed to be put in food.