A couple of months ago, while I was in the checkout line at the grocery store, I noticed the products in the basket of the woman next to me. I am always curious to investigate and discover what a person chooses to feed their body. What initially drew my attention to her cart was the overflowing boxes of green tea in her basket. Seems like a good healthy choice - right? But why was she buying so many boxes of the same green tea product?

I asked her if I could see one of the boxes of green tea in her basket. Listed in the ingredients was the artificial sweetener aspartame which is also known as NutraSweet and Equal. Now most people who choose to drink green tea, do so for its health supportive properties. I was completely shocked to learn that a green tea product contained aspartame, which is a known excitotoxin and is considered by many reputable experts to be a chemical poison. I realized that this woman must not know the truth about this artificial sweetener, and that there is still an important need to educate the public about aspartame.

Why was this woman buying so many boxes of green tea with aspartame? Excitotoxins like aspartame and MSG are used in food products to enhance flavor. They affect the brain and actually make people crave and consume more of them. I left the store that day knowing that I must speak out again against this deadly chemical poison.

On June 11, 2009, Danielle Heard, MS, HHC, of Artemis in the City was featured in the health section of the Longview News-Journal. The article titled "Food as Medicine," was written by the Longview News-Journal's health and business editor, Mike Elswick.

It was an honor to be interviewed by Mike and really appreciate and thank him for his time spent interviewing, researching, writing and creating such a great article. In addition to the article, the Longview News-Journal published two healthy recipes from the Artemis in the City recipe section of the website.

If you would like the opportunity to read the article, please click on the article link "Food as Medicine" to open a pdf version. The file is 5,135 KB and will take a minute to download. If you would like to print the article you will need to adjust the print size to fit your paper. Enjoy!

Additionally, if you are interested in attending the upcoming event "Sweet Misery - A Poisoned World" documentary film showing on aspartame, which will be held on Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at 6:30 PM in Longview, TX, please RSVP! For a full description, please click on the event link above. Hope to see you there!

For those of you who are not in the East Texas area and were unable to watch my recent television interview, I have managed to convert the interview into a video format that is viewable on the Internet.

I will never forget the night that my dear friend Robbins Davis and I were talking and he informed me that he had started to wear a kilt. My response was with shock and concern that he would wear 'a skirt' in East Texas. He assured me that all was cool and sent me photos and funny videos of the Utili Kilts that he was wearing. From then on I loved and admired seeing my friend in his stylish kilts.

Robbins was a wonderful and very special person. He was unique, creative, talented, funny, kind, sensitive, caring and accepting. He was also extremely intelligent and you would never know that he had suffered a brain injury in an accident while in high school. Robbins would have to remind me and would ask that I call him or email him reminders because he was not good with remembering. In fact, it was his injury that led him to wearing kilts to keep his body cool and to applying dark black eye-makeup around his eyes to prevent him from having migraines. He cared less about what people thought and overtime developed himself into a well loved home-town hero. Everyone that met Robbins loved him. He was often referred to as the pirate because his stylish garb reminded people of Johnny Depp's character Jack Sparrow in the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean."

Last week in my Spring Update blog, I mentioned that I (Artemis in the City) would be featured in the Longview News-Journal and would also be a guest on Jan Statman's talk show Scene. It is such an honor to be featured in my hometown media and want to thank Mike Elswick and Jan Statman for inviting me to talk about holistic health, nutrition and Artemis in the City.

There was a delay in publishing the article in the Longview News-Journal. If you looked for it on June 4th, you have not missed it. The interview is scheduled to run this Thursday, June 11, 2009 in the health section of the newspaper. If you are in the Longview, Texas area please look for it this week.

Additionally, I just returned from taping Jan's talk show Scene this afternoon. The air times are Wednesday, June 10 and 17 and Thursday June 11 and 18 at 7:30 PM on Channel 26 in Longview, Texas. The interview will also be shown at random times throughout each day through June 25, 2009. Please watch for it!

If you are interested in attending my upcoming event "Sweet Misery - A Poisoned World" documentary film showing on aspartame which will be held on Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at 6:30 PM, please RSVP! Even if you already have knowledge about aspartame, please come for a fun night! I would love to see you there!

Finally, if you have not had a chance to read my recent blog on cancer survivors and Gilda's Club, please check it out. This week Gilda's Club will celebrate its 14th birthday. Happy Birthday Gilda's Club!

Today is National Cancer Survivors Day (NCSD). NCSD is held each year within the United States and Canada on the first Sunday, during the month of June. On this special day, many communities organize and hold events to help raise awareness of the growing number of cancer survivors as well as to help raise funds for organizations and support groups that are dedicated to assisting cancer survivors.

According to the National Cancer Institute, there are over 11 million people within the United States that are considered to be cancer survivors. The National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation defines a cancer survivor as anyone living with a history of cancer from diagnosis through the remainder of life. However, when someone receives a diagnosis of cancer, it impacts everyone including family, friends and even co-workers. The Centers for Disease Control defines cancer survivors as individuals who have been diagnosed with cancer and the people in their lives who are affected by the diagnosis, including family members, friends, and caregivers. Approximately 66% of people diagnosed with cancer are estimated to live at least 5 years after receiving an initial diagnosis of cancer.

I would like to point out that in 2001 the number of people who were considered cancer survivors was 9.8 million. This number has significantly grown and reflects the ongoing rise of cancer rates in the United States. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. According to the American Cancer Society, there were 559,888 deaths attributed to cancer in 2006. One in every four people within the United States dies of cancer. The lifetime probability of American men developing cancer is one in two, and the lifetime probability of American women developing cancer is one in three. With statistics like these, there is no denying the great impact cancer has on our society. Almost everyone is in some way affected by cancer.

Artemis in the City, LLC is experiencing rapid growth this spring. Many projects started last year are finally being completed, making way for exciting new work.

Additionally, the demand for Artemis in the City's holistic nutrition services is significantly increasing. More people are discovering us and are ready to make lifestyle changes to naturally improve their health.

Many wonderful people have signed up and are participating in one of Artemis in the City's personalized wellness programs to help them address and overcome a wide range of health issues such as allergies, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, food allergies, candida, depression, food addictions, obesity, hypoglycemia, blood pressure, ulcerative colitis, multiple sclerosis, cyclic vomiting syndrome, thyroid, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, acne, insomnia, constipation and more.

It is a great honor to be chosen to help these amazing people. The main focus and priority of Artemis in the City is on providing clients with quality counseling and support services that help them take control of their own health.

One special client recently wrote this statement in a letter about her experience after being in an Artemis in the City wellness program for less than a month. "My friend said I had 'strength' in my voice. She felt like that was a result of my new way of eating. Maybe she is right. I feel like I have taken control back in lots of ways. My health is no longer something that just happens to me and beats me down. I help create an environment for my body to do the wonderful healing that it knows how to do." This is the kind of consciousness and change that I as Artemis in the City work very hard to help clients achieve for themselves. Taking responsibility and control of your own health is life changing and freeing.