Addicted to diet coke.. help :(
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Diet pop is not going to kill you, but it does have some problems. 1- Too much salt. The salt is dehydrating and can cause headaches. 2- Too much caffeine. The can or the bottle is more than one portion. If you have 2 or 3 of them per day, you could end up with stomach irritation and headaches.
Diet pop has very little sodium in it. Nothing at all to be concerned about.3 -
Diet pop is not going to kill you, but it does have some problems. 1- Too much salt. The salt is dehydrating and can cause headaches. 2- Too much caffeine. The can or the bottle is more than one portion. If you have 2 or 3 of them per day, you could end up with stomach irritation and headaches.
The Diet Dr Pepper I'm currently drinking has a whopping 55 mgs of sodium. That does add up over 4 liters, but for 1 or 2 cans a day it's pretty insignificant.4 -
rankinsect wrote: »SusanMFindlay wrote: »rankinsect wrote: »healthy491 wrote: »rainbowbow wrote: »doesn't cause weight gain, doesn't cause diabetes, doesn't cause cancer, etc. etc. etc.
The only worry i'd have consuming the amount you're talking about is the damage to your teeth or potential Reflux/Acid symptoms.
Really ? Thanks
literally EVERYONE tells me how bad it is for my health and that I should stop
The phosphoric acid in Coca Cola has been known to cause osteoporosis by leaching calcium out of bones and weaken teeth when consumed in largr quantities.
Teeth? Sure. Bone? Not a chance. To actually weaken bone via acidity, your blood pH would need to fall below 5.5 - which is far beyond the lethal level. Normal body pH is incredibly tightly regulated.
For that matter, acidic drinks are not going to increase stomach acidity, because you'd never swallow anything more acidic than your stomach acid - whatever you drink is going to reduce the acidity of your stomach contents. Actual acidosis tends to be caused by either kidney damage or poisoning, such as by drinking methanol, or by severe oxygen deprivation, not by consumption of acidic drinks.
http://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/features/soda-osteoporosis ("Researchers at Tufts University, studying several thousand men and women, found that women who regularly drank cola-based sodas -- three or more a day -- had almost 4% lower bone mineral density in the hip, even though researchers controlled for calcium and vitamin D intake.")
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/84/4/936.full
It's not via acidity. If occurring, it's probably via co-ordination (a broad category of interactions including chelation). And, no, not every phosphorus containing compound would have this effect. It would be limited to phosphoric acid and the related phosphates in which there are free oxygen atoms available to co-ordinate to the calcium. It appears that the caffeine may also be a contributing factor (since the noncola sodas were not shown to give the same reduced bone density).
Anyway, I managed to drastically reduce (but not eliminate) my diet soda intake by replacing it with flavoured waters (e.g. Crystal Light) which I increasingly diluted. I was able to get myself up to about half my intake being water, most of the rest being flavoured water or home brewed iced tea, with one or two diet sodas a day as well.
I wouldn't have been worried if the OP said she was drinking half a liter a day, but 4 liters a day is going to be very hard on the teeth and may increase her risk of osteoperosis.
Correlation studies are almost useless, particularly with diet, since diet is so deeply correlated with most of our lifestyle. People who consume more X also consume more Y and Z, and less A and B, etc.
Essentially, the root problem with correlational studies are that you can never prove you've accounted for every confounding variable. You can account for the ones you've thought of, but that's it, you can never prove you've thought of every variable you actually need to correct for. This, along with the fact that typical scientific standards tend to produce a lot of false positives makes this interesting, but inconclusive.
Another thing that strikes me about that study are that the effects were seen only in women, not men, and only in the hip, not the spine. If there was a real effect, we'd expect to see it in both testing sites, and probably both sexes as well.
Hence why I said "if"; however, it is very plausible that the correlation is due to cause-effect given the strong affinity calcium and phosphates have for each other. (There are several pairs of elements and/or ions that have particularly strong affinities. It's why, for example, hydrofluoric acid etches glass but hydrochloric acid does not.) So, an equilibrium based process could easily lead to this type of effect and it should be further investigated. In the meanwhile, 4 L of diet soda every day seems excessive and we can all agree on the potential dental issues.
Also, those who say that water tastes like nothing have been lucky with their local supplies. When I lived in Calgary, the water regularly tasted like bleach and I would not drink it neat. Fortunately, my current city has much better water.0 -
healthy491 wrote: »
Because, OP, you have posted several other threads displaying concerning behaviour surrounding food and weight loss. Trust me, the first thing that comes to mind when I see your user name is that thread where you were in almost complete meltdown over 500 grams on the scale.
But if this happens regularly, it explains a lot: "So today I went to a confectionery and bought a diet coke and the store owner and my dad started giving me a lecture about how its bad for me , causes diabetes , weight gain etc"
If this is the sort of attitude you have grown up around, then no wonder you have some distorted thinking. OP, there's nothing wrong with diet coke (and PS, enjoying it is not "addiction"), and it won't make you gain weight or give you diabetes. In fact, you're better off drinking diet coke because it's low cal, rather than regular coke. Plus IMO it tastes better
Actually , its quite the opposite. My parents are both average and eat like pigs and whatever they want. For some reason , they always warn me about diet coke though thats why I sometimes get concerned. I grew up on doughnuts and junk food so definetly not the case. Also , i dont think theres anything wrong in being concerned when you gain some weight . At that time , I was new to MFP and didnt know about weight flactuations etc. So I thought that I would gain 500g everytime I have a day where I eat whatever I want. Please , do not judge if you dont know tha facts. And yes, I am a bit obsessed with the scale and will stop, but come on , who on this site is not a bit obsessed with the scale?0 -
"who on this site is not a bit obsessed with the scale?"
Honestly? Quite a few, me included. Scale weight has little to do with your overall health unless you are obese. I'm not obese so I don't care all that much about my scale weight. I do measure it, but if it doesn't go down for a while and I feel better or I've lost an inch around my waist or can do another 5 pushups then I really don't care. From your picture you aren't obese, in fact if that is you you don't even look overweight at all. So I definitely wouldn't obsess over your scale.2 -
The_WoIverine wrote: »Alluminati wrote: »The_WoIverine wrote: »lol gotta love the never ending argument between which study is right and which isn't. Of course, those who claim their studies are the right ones, usually are the people who say McDonalds is good for you, just like drinking an excessive amount of diet soda is harmless. I'm not so concern about sugar but about whatever chemicals (harmless or not) they put in a soda. I rather make my own fruit juices than drinking any of that crap.
Lol gotta love never ending self righteous posts.
Because I disagree with what others say and I know what's best for body? If so, then sure!
Best for whose body? Or are you the ultimate authority on "body"?
Girl, please.
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The_WoIverine wrote: »lol gotta love the never ending argument between which study is right and which isn't. Of course, those who claim their studies are the right ones, usually are the people who say McDonalds is good for you, just like drinking an excessive amount of diet soda is harmless. I'm not so concern about sugar but about whatever chemicals (harmless or not) they put in a soda. I rather make my own fruit juices than drinking any of that crap.
Fruit juice contains methanol. Better not ingest that crap.
It's also acidic. ever seen what lemon juice does to rust?
It's one of the main ingredients in many bathroom cleaners, would you want to ingest bathroom cleaner?2 -
Aaron_K123 wrote: »MissJanet55 wrote: »I'm not one to argue on internet forums, but there is a lot of documentation.
This science paper:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1474447/
And this piece on safefood, although this group obviously has a point of view:
http://www.safefood.org.nz/aspartaddict.html
An FDA paper on aspartame toxicity:
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/jan03/012203/02p-0317_emc-000199.txt
And many more. There are also pieces saying it is perfectly safe, so pick your poison. But one thing is sure - giving it up is not going to hurt you.
I saw a lot of articles that say it is not harmful also. It is confusing because studies are inconclusive.
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/artificial-sweeteners/
Oh! I read the Harvard article wrong. It says, "The health BENEFITS of diet drinks are inconclusive, with research showing mixed findings."
This article is referring to all artificial sweeteners not just the aspartame in a diet Coke.
I do worry about the toxins which are probably being handled well in smaller quantities, but what about any cumulative, long term effects?
There are no toxins in diet coke.
Just the excitotoxins unless those are mythological.
Well, the first few results when searching for it are a rather short wiki article, one 20 year old study and many many fearmongering woo sites such as the global healing center.0 -
Diet pop is not going to kill you, but it does have some problems. 1- Too much salt. The salt is dehydrating and can cause headaches. 2- Too much caffeine. The can or the bottle is more than one portion. If you have 2 or 3 of them per day, you could end up with stomach irritation and headaches.
No, and no.
1- Not any more than water. Yes water has salt in it, you're not drinking distilled water. Look at the bottle or google minerals in tap water.
2 - Also not much. Three 12 oz bottles of coke equals 1 cup of coffee.5 -
I was a diet coke addict, I just weaned myself off it. Looking at the black tar like substance I used to drink makes me shudder and wanna slap myself silly lol. Just throw it away and drink water.2
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soufauxgirl wrote: »I was a diet coke addict, I just weaned myself off it. Looking at the black tar like substance I used to drink makes me shudder and wanna slap myself silly lol. Just throw it away and drink water.
Must be some crappy tar you've been around if diet coke seems tarlike to you.4 -
Aaron_K123 wrote: »Aaron_K123 wrote: »MissJanet55 wrote: »I'm not one to argue on internet forums, but there is a lot of documentation.
This science paper:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1474447/
And this piece on safefood, although this group obviously has a point of view:
http://www.safefood.org.nz/aspartaddict.html
An FDA paper on aspartame toxicity:
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/jan03/012203/02p-0317_emc-000199.txt
And many more. There are also pieces saying it is perfectly safe, so pick your poison. But one thing is sure - giving it up is not going to hurt you.
I saw a lot of articles that say it is not harmful also. It is confusing because studies are inconclusive.
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/artificial-sweeteners/
Oh! I read the Harvard article wrong. It says, "The health BENEFITS of diet drinks are inconclusive, with research showing mixed findings."
This article is referring to all artificial sweeteners not just the aspartame in a diet Coke.
I do worry about the toxins which are probably being handled well in smaller quantities, but what about any cumulative, long term effects?
There are no toxins in diet coke.
Just the excitotoxins unless those are mythological.
Explain what you mean. Perhaps might want to look up what toxin means.
Toxin: a poisonous substance that is a specific product of the metabolic activities of a living organism and is usually very unstable, notably toxic when introduced into the tissues.
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If people would use the search feature before starting redundant threads like this, they'd see that all of their questions have been answered time and time again, and then you and others trying to refute woo with actual fact wouldn't get so darned frustrated.Aaron_K123 wrote: »I should stop posting on this thread though, I've done this topic to death and therefore just end up getting frustrated by it.
I can dream, can't I?
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I'm addicted to Diet Pepsi, diet soda isn't going to cause weight gain. What causes weight gain is eating more calories than you Burn. What's bad for you is all of the aspartame and caffeine. Diet Pepsi doesn't have aspartame anymore and you can choose a caffeine free option. Also crystal light drinks are 5 calories a serving and are a good substitute.0
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snickerscharlie wrote: »
If people would use the search feature before starting redundant threads like this, they'd see that all of their questions have been answered time and time again, and then you and others trying to refute woo with actual fact wouldn't get so darned frustrated.Aaron_K123 wrote: »I should stop posting on this thread though, I've done this topic to death and therefore just end up getting frustrated by it.
I can dream, can't I?
Even informing themselves how much of something is in it would half the replies to those kinds of threads.0 -
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queenliz99 wrote: »
^ The only appropriate response to a number of nutrition threads6 -
I always keep a two-liter of tap water iced down in my refrigerator. It's free and refreshing. And it has more purposes and benefits than a soda can provide.2
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Diet coke is chemicals. Why do we want to drink chemicals. They make it taste so good. I would slowly ween myself off of it. If we drink chemicals we will damage our body. Please take care of yourself, you are worth it!!0
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Diet coke is chemicals. Why do we want to drink chemicals. They make it taste so good. I would slowly ween myself off of it. If we drink chemicals we will damage our body. Please take care of yourself, you are worth it!!
The biggest chemical in diet soda is dihydrogen monoxide, which is found in nearly everything12
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