First of all, most of you Aussie lovelies will all know and be familiar with this particular brand of yogurt adorning our TV screens and our supermarket chilled cabinets:
First of all, the name is a marketers dream-child.
Formé - as in "You are in fine form today" (and with particular reference to outward definition and shape....)
Or For Me as in "get your mitts off, those yogurts are for me only"
Or pronounce it correctly and get "Formay" which sounds quite French, very creamy and very delicious?
Secondly, the stuff tastes fecking lovely. Honestly. I do not fall for advertising hype easily but I was offered some at my local supermarket by a taster lady and I was sold. It is the lowest calorie, lowest fat yogurt on the market, at a very competitive price, and I think it tastes really bloody good......'specially the fancy flavours like Apple Pie or Sticky date.
BUT (and here is where it becomes evident that I am NOT being sponsored by Yoplait to review their product) I do not think I can buy it again.
It's got the drugs in it.
The scary numbered stuff.
Aspartame
I won't bore you with pages of Google links or chunky blocks of scientific research quotes, 'cos you can all use Dr Google if you dare. But honestly, the stuff is, to my mind, poison.
Sweet poison maybe, but evil.
Aspartame is linked to over 90 different side affects.
Some are instant, but many are insidious.
The instant affect, for me, is a slight nausea. A vague headache perhaps? Aspartame makes my insulin levels spike badly. So that, despite the fact that a yogurt it is low calorie and low fat and totally cool on my diet plan, within 20 minutes of eating it my body and my blood sugar levels send me frantically craving, badly craving, a big sugar and carb hit. Which is not totally cool on any healthy eating plan. See? it's like a drug.
The longer term, the more sinister and stealthy impacts are terrifying. Googling is not for the faint hearted, especially if you are already addicted to diet drinks........
Aspartame is found in so many diet products. So I've decided that it is just easier for me to cut the crap, not eat the fake products that contain additives 950 or 951, and just eat less of real foods. Wholesome foods without scary drugs in them.
This blog post skims the surface, in a fairly superficial way, of a subject matter that needs, to my mind, an entire enquiry undertaken by the FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA).
So, at the risk of being a kill joy, no more Formé for me.
