How do I quit using Aspartame?

I often receive questions like this on Quora, so I thought it best to add the answer here:

My advice is to go cold turkey. Every time you consume Aspartame, you are at great risk of damaging the body. But here’s what you should be aware of when going cold turkey because everyone is different:

• Depending upon the amount you are consuming daily, and if the product you consume also contains caffeine, such as diet coke, then the withdrawal effects will vary.
• If you’re a heavy user, you might find you’ll have withdrawal headaches, or other aches and pains, possible change of mood etc, even then, because your blood brain barrier is the brain’s protection system for toxins like Aspartame, which is dependant on your overall level of health, then this will determine how you have been affected by Aspartame. So you could be a light user and still have a withdrawal that might be uncomfortable. Be prepared.
• If you can take some days from off work while you do this, it would be helpful. Stress won’t help the situation (and lowers the effectiveness of the blood brain barrier) and if you can avoid operating machinery or driving, then it will make the process safer. You want a safe space and without demands. This may not be possible, but do your best.
• If you can make sure you’re in contact with someone while going through this process or in the least be able to phone someone it would be advisable, just in case of a medical emergency (this really is worst case scenario).
• While going cold turkey, (and after) drink plenty of plain water or water with lemon to help with the detox, don’t switch to another artificial sweetener as they could cause other problems - if you don’t like ordinary tap water or filtered, you could try non-flavoured sparkling/fizzy spring water, but try to avoid other highly caffeinated drinks or at least cut back. During this time, don’t consume Aspartame and check all foods, drinks, medications and other sources like toothpaste etc; you want to be sure you’re not consuming it by accident.
• If you’re drinking products like diet coke, you’ll be detoxing not only from the Aspartame but the caffeine too, again, limiting your other sources of caffeine like in tea and coffee will help the body in this process.
• The detoxing/withdrawal will pass but be aware that consuming Aspartame is no different than consuming alcohol, because Aspartame breaks down into methyl ester or methanol which is a rough alcohol, a sort of industrial alcohol which is highly toxic to the body, especially when addicted to Aspartame where consumption is high. The real ‘addictive’ part of Aspartame is the methanol. You’ve heard of how bad it is for people to kick the alcohol habit, depending on how much you consume, this is no different and reports I’ve read show that it’s something you’ll need to work on so you don’t go back to consuming Aspartame; no different than kicking alcohol dependency.
• If you need to check with your doctor at any time, then don’t hesitate to do so. It might be a good idea, if you’re not already doing so, to take a high quality vitamin and mineral supplement for a few months to help your body through this process. Please check with your doctor if you are on medication that may clash when adding supplementation.
• Don’t let people who want to promote Aspartame hoodwink you into thinking the methanol in Aspartame is safe because it’s naturally in foods, it’s simply not true. Methanol is a natural alcohol found in fruits but because ethanol is also present and is higher in content than methanol, it cancels out the dangerous methanol and makes the fruit safe to consume. Methanol in Aspartame is called 'free' methyl alcohol because it's not bound and safe like the methanol found naturally occurring in fruit and therefore causes damage in the body; it’s a toxic chemical, an excitotoxin, it can bypass the blood brain barrier and go straight to the brain! 
• This is only the start of the journey. Now you have to make a decision of how to stay away from it. Don’t replace it with other artificial sweeteners like Sucralose. Be aware that sometimes Aspartame is not readily visible that it’s in the product; look for a phenylalanine warning, all products that contain Aspartame presently carry this warning. Or look for the E number: E951. Your road to good health will mean a disciplined approach, but you will feel better for it. You may even find a drastic change in your health for the better as others have.
• You can always discuss this issue with me on my blog via the contact form, and I have over 900 testimonies from people who have told their story of how they were affected by Aspartame and many of those, once they stopped consuming it, felt their symptoms subside and their good health returned.
• Good luck! If you are wealthy, I would recommend visiting a nutritionist/toxicologist who deals with poisoning in the body, and is sympathetic and knowledgeable about dealing with Aspartame poisoning. They will offer supplements to aid in this detox process.
• All efforts to stop the world governments from allowing it in the food chain have failed but it’s not for want of many dedicated people trying! This has been going on for over three decades. 
• The whole story of the approval of Aspartame is certainly an eye opener. You can read a comic I wrote about it HERE and other comics that include testimonies from doctors HERE

Below is a video I made about how Aspartame was allowed in the food chain: