Are "diet" sodas really bad
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beatyfamily1 wrote: »I'll say something with my experience. I use to work for Coca-Cola. When I pulled pallets of diets or zeros it was always heavier than the regular sodas because of all the sugar that's in them.
Lol. No.0 -
lynnstrick01 wrote: »There are conflicting opinions here, which I expected, but I think what I am learning from all of you, (no matter what side you are on) is what I really already knew, (just needed reminding).... MODERATION is the key,, I think I will allow myself that diet soda when I crave it, but i will try to make it more of a "treat" than as a way of life
Moderation is key here really. You never want to feel deprived, that's when we fail. But in all actuality diet soda (and yes I am an occasional diet soda drinker; I have these cravings too) and most artificial sweeteners are not great to be consuming in excess. That's regarding overall health not just weight loss. It can mess with metabolism, confuse your pancreas, promote fat storage, etc. Just do your best to cut down and enjoy one a couple times a week or if that's too much then a can a day and slowly ween yourself. Shouldn't hinder your weight loss drastically. I used to drink it all the time and now I have one maybe a couple times a month.0 -
Lol, if it's diet soda than why does it have sugar in it?beatyfamily1 wrote: »I'll say something with my experience. I use to work for Coca-Cola. When I pulled pallets of diets or zeros it was always heavier than the regular sodas because of all the sugar that's in them.
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How about people who don't drink diet soda are overweight on the forum?I would be interesting to know, how many people on this forum who drink diet soda, are not overweight?
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
[/quote]
aren't most people at mfp overweight?0 -
lynnstrick01 wrote: »
How about people who don't drink diet soda are overweight on the forum?I would be interesting to know, how many people on this forum who drink diet soda, are not overweight?
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
aren't most people at mfp overweight?[/quote]
A lot,maybe. Most, probably not.0 -
Of course. But how many are that don't drink diet soda? I'm betting more people got on here drinking regular soda, beer, sugar filled coffees, energy drinks, wine, etc. versus overweight people who drink diet soda.lynnstrick01 wrote: »aren't most people at mfp overweight?
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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I've been thinking a lot about my diet soda consumption which led me to click on this post. Thank you for posting the articles! I am not a scientist, nor have I done vast reading on it, but what I hear a lot is that artificial sweeteners can trick your body and cause cravings for sweets that may lead to overeating. If you are tracking your calories though, I haven't heard any reason why diet soda should hinder your weight loss. On a previous weight loss attempt, I did not give up Diet Coke, and I lost 40 lbs. I am attempting to give it up this time, but I'm not going to beat myself up when I drink one.0
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beatyfamily1 wrote: »I'll say something with my experience. I use to work for Coca-Cola. When I pulled pallets of diets or zeros it was always heavier than the regular sodas because of all the sugar that's in them.
Lol. No.
Where does this stuff come from??0 -
beatyfamily1 wrote: »I'll say something with my experience. I use to work for Coca-Cola. When I pulled pallets of diets or zeros it was always heavier than the regular sodas because of all the sugar that's in them.
Lol. No.
Where does this stuff come from??
Especially since it's the other way around.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzsORE0ae10 0 -
beatyfamily1 wrote: »I'll say something with my experience. I use to work for Coca-Cola. When I pulled pallets of diets or zeros it was always heavier than the regular sodas because of all the sugar that's in them.
Which one is heavier? Regular Coke sinks in water but diet Coke floats. Not sure it's a weight thing though.0 -
stevencloser wrote: »beatyfamily1 wrote: »I'll say something with my experience. I use to work for Coca-Cola. When I pulled pallets of diets or zeros it was always heavier than the regular sodas because of all the sugar that's in them.
Lol. No.
Where does this stuff come from??
Especially since it's the other way around.
What? You guys never had a brain fart?
Give the lady some credit. She had the right idea that the regular sugary drinks weigh more and simply messed up on her delivery.0 -
When I was pre-diabetic and over 200 pounds, about to be on meds, I went on a diet to lose the weight. No more threat of diabetes, no eating crap and insane portions, lost 70 pounds. And it was with a diet soda every day. I don't think it's the worst of the worst.0
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markrgeary1 wrote: »
Which one is heavier? Regular Coke sinks in water but diet Coke floats. Not sure it's a weight thing though.
Yes and no.
Diet sodas float due to having nearly the same density as water and a gas pocket inside the can. The mass of water displaced is greater than the mass of gas in the pocket. (Same principle that allows steel ships to float).
Regular sodas sink due to the the additional weight of the sugar, ~40 grams which is more mass than the water that the gas bubble displaces. (Same principle that makes overload ships sink.)
In a nutshell;
Weight of artificial sweetener 0.4 grams, less than mass of water displaced, soda can floats.
Weight of sugar 40 grams, more than mass of water displaced, soda can sinks.
(Since both sodas have the same light weight aluminum can, I leave the influence of the can to the student.)
Not sure what that has to due with thread topic, but that is the science of the floating diet soda can.0 -
You all are kidding - right? It is not the lack of calories that make diet soda bad for you, it is the chemicals which increase the risk of metabolic syndrome.
Google "scientific research on diet soda" and several journal articles pop up. Here is a quote from the American Diabetes Association "At least daily consumption of diet soda was associated with a 36% greater relative risk of incident metabolic syndrome and a 67% greater relative risk of incident type 2 diabetes compared with nonconsumption (HR 1.36 [95% CI 1.11–1.66] for metabolic syndrome and 1.67 [1.27–2.20] for type 2 diabetes)" (source: http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/32/4/688.full)
and here is another "This is one of the largest studies on this topic, and our findings are consistent with some previous data, especially those linking diet drinks to the metabolic syndrome.” – Dr. Ankur Vyas, a Fellow in cardiovascular disease at UI Hospitals and Clinics, and the lead investigator of the study". (source: http://now.uiowa.edu/2014/03/ui-study-finds-diet-drinks-associated-heart-trouble-older-women)
If you don't know what metabolic syndrome is, I strongly encourage you to find out. It is a very scary syndrome without which there would be no MFP.
Take care of you total body health, quit diet soda today.
Increased association does not causality define.
People that eat diet soda are likelier to eat poorly.
Those studies are not corrected for actual calories eaten.0 -
I think a lot of people who posted in this thread drink diet soda and aren't overweight, just look at some of the avatars. Personally, I'm 5'7", maintaining around 140lbs, and drink between 1-3 cans of diet soda or 10-35 calorie soda a day.I would be interesting to know, how many people on this forum who drink diet soda, are not overweight?
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finneyjason218 wrote: »arditarose wrote: »finneyjason218 wrote: »The problem with diet sodas isn't the calories or the "chemicals". It's the artificial sweetener, but not for the reasons you have probably been told... (They do not cause cancer)
When you consume zero calorie sweetened foods or beverages you are tricking your body. Your body wants sugar because it has a lot of quickly available energy that your ancestors might need to go hunt a deer and kill it with their bare hands. But your body also has an 'off switch' for your sweet tooth that tells you when you've had all the short release energy your body can use at a time. When you consume artificial sweeteners, your body thinks it has achieved it's goal to obtain quickly available calories, when it hasn't. Upon realizing that it didn't get the energy that it thinks it should have, it quickly puts in a order for more sugar. If you again satisfy this impulse with another diet soda, the pattern will repeat itself. After prolonged diet soda consumption, your body's sweetness regulation is all out of wack. It now believes you need to consume an ungodly amount of sweets in order to get just a tiny amount of energy from them. Now when you reach for that candy bar, the real sugar (with the calories) will be registered as a tiny fraction of what you need, and you will more than likely go in for a second or third. This is where the weight gain from diet sodas comes from.
I have experienced this first hand. About 3 years ago, I was drinking 12 diet sodas a day roughly. No big deal, that's still 0 calories right? Wrong. I remember that I couldn't trust myself around sweets, I had to keep them out of the house or I would eat all of them. I could easily eat a whole package of Oreo's in one sitting. I just thought I had a crazy intense sweet tooth. Then, about 2 years ago, I learned what diet sodas where actually doing to my body's built in regulation center, and cut them out entirely. Now, I maaaybe have 1 regular soda every month or two, and can easily have a one piece of cake, or a cookie when grandma goes through a lot of effort to make them for us, without needing to eat them all.
If you do drink diet sodas, just know that you haven't done any permanent damage to your body, but if your goal is to lose weight, you really should cut them out of your life. They will turn satisfying treats into unsatisfying binges very quickly.
I have no idea about the science behind this but I'm pretty sure most of us aren't drinking 12 diet sodas per day.
I went overboard with the diet sodas, sure, but really any artificial sweetener will have this effect. The more you drink the more you will notice it. 12 sodas a day and you will have no sweetness regulation at all. One every 2 days, and the effect will probably be too mild to notice.
As had been said before, taking anything in moderation, you will probably be fine
Not really. Several studies have shown that many artificial sweeteners actually DO NOT have the result you describe.0 -
d_thomas02 wrote: »stevencloser wrote: »beatyfamily1 wrote: »I'll say something with my experience. I use to work for Coca-Cola. When I pulled pallets of diets or zeros it was always heavier than the regular sodas because of all the sugar that's in them.
Lol. No.
Where does this stuff come from??
Especially since it's the other way around.
What? You guys never had a brain fart?
Give the lady some credit. She had the right idea that the regular sugary drinks weigh more and simply messed up on her delivery.
Even giving her that it has nothing to do with diet soda being good or bad0 -
elaineously wrote: »finneyjason218 wrote: »The problem with diet sodas isn't the calories or the "chemicals". It's the artificial sweetener, but not for the reasons you have probably been told... (They do not cause cancer)
When you consume zero calorie sweetened foods or beverages you are tricking your body. Your body wants sugar because it has a lot of quickly available energy that your ancestors might need to go hunt a deer and kill it with their bare hands. But your body also has an 'off switch' for your sweet tooth that tells you when you've had all the short release energy your body can use at a time. When you consume artificial sweeteners, your body thinks it has achieved it's goal to obtain quickly available calories, when it hasn't. Upon realizing that it didn't get the energy that it thinks it should have, it quickly puts in a order for more sugar. If you again satisfy this impulse with another diet soda, the pattern will repeat itself. After prolonged diet soda consumption, your body's sweetness regulation is all out of wack. It now believes you need to consume an ungodly amount of sweets in order to get just a tiny amount of energy from them. Now when you reach for that candy bar, the real sugar (with the calories) will be registered as a tiny fraction of what you need, and you will more than likely go in for a second or third. This is where the weight gain from diet sodas comes from.
I have experienced this first hand. About 3 years ago, I was drinking 12 diet sodas a day roughly. No big deal, that's still 0 calories right? Wrong. I remember that I couldn't trust myself around sweets, I had to keep them out of the house or I would eat all of them. I could easily eat a whole package of Oreo's in one sitting. I just thought I had a crazy intense sweet tooth. Then, about 2 years ago, I learned what diet sodas where actually doing to my body's built in regulation center, and cut them out entirely. Now, I maaaybe have 1 regular soda every month or two, and can easily have a one piece of cake, or a cookie when grandma goes through a lot of effort to make them for us, without needing to eat them all.
If you do drink diet sodas, just know that you haven't done any permanent damage to your body, but if your goal is to lose weight, you really should cut them out of your life. They will turn satisfying treats into unsatisfying binges very quickly.
Bravo! I'm glad someone finally explained the insulin release that happens with fake and or real sugar. When I stopped drinking sweetened drinks I lost weight easier and quicker.
Except it doesn't.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2900484/0 -
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By itself, no, it's not bad. Pay attention to how it influences your other habits. I find when drinking diet soda I crave more salty/sweet/fatty foods.0
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