Thoughts on drinking diet cokes, etc
Brocksterdanza
Posts: 208 Member
I have a rather odd question...i used to drink them alot during my initial weight loss journey. In fact, i drank about 4 20 oz diet pepsi's a day. While at the beach, i read an article about their link to cancer and other dreadful diseases and i quit cold turkey for well over a year. I changed to unsweatened tea with no sweatener, water, etc. However, nearly 5 months after quitting them, i had gained about 20 pounds.... i know its supposed to go the other way... thoughts on them? I still drink them now, just wondering if that needs to cease.
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Replies
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My thoughts are that something other than swapping diet coke for unsweetened tea caused the weight gain.
I also don't think ' it is meant to go the other way' - had you swapped diet coke for unsweetened tea or viceversa I would expect no change.
A no calorie drink is a no calorie drink, whatever drink it is.15 -
Your weight gain had nothing to do with swapping diet soda with unsweetened tea. You simply consumed more calories than you burned. Also, I have not read any scientific peer-reviewed studies linking diet soda to cancer. You would be hard pressed to find something that doesn't supposedly cause cancer these days. Just living increases your chances of getting cancer. If you like diet soda, drink it.12
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I like to drink whiskey. and wine, and vodka.4
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Going the other way was in reference to the thought that drinking diet soda and the artificial sweeteners makes you crave more high sugar, other foods... sorry for confusion1
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Brocksterdanza wrote: »I have a rather odd question...i used to drink them alot during my initial weight loss journey. In fact, i drank about 4 20 oz diet pepsi's a day. While at the beach, i read an article about their link to cancer and other dreadful diseases and i quit cold turkey for well over a year. I changed to unsweatened tea with no sweatener, water, etc. However, nearly 5 months after quitting them, i had gained about 20 pounds.... i know its supposed to go the other way... thoughts on them? I still drink them now, just wondering if that needs to cease.
When you have time this thread is well worth the read-
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1308408/why-aspartame-isnt-scary/p1
I switched from regular soda to diet soda when I started my weight loss phase a few years ago. I lost 50lbs while drinking it several times a day and I also improved all my health markers, including getting a pre-diabetic glucose number down into the normal range. In fact the American Diabetes Association recommends diet soda for diabetics
http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/what-can-i-eat/making-healthy-food-choices/what-can-i-drink.html
Now I'm approaching 4 years of maintenance and I still drink diet soda several times a day. I have no problem maintaining my weight (current bmi is 21) and my twice a year blood work panels are still consistently coming back great with glucose number still solidly in the normal range
For me-diet soda is a great replacement for when I want something sweet that has calories. I've cut it out before and I have a harder time controlling my calorie intake without it.
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Yuck, I wouldn't want sweat in my tea either.
But yea, the switch didn't have anything to do with the weight gain. Both have zero calories.7 -
Diet soda doesn't cause cancer in moderation. Lots of those stupid experiments involved rats/mice who were fed a ridiculous amount (equivalent to drinking like 2 cases of diet soda a day). Personally I've drank it for over 25+ years now with no health issues to speak of.
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 don't think consuming diet soda or not consuming diet soda will cause weight gain. Calories (too many) cause weight gain. That said, I drink too much coffee and specifically decided not to quit coffee when I was losing weight because it was so easy to rely on if I wanted to eat. If you were using diet soda in that way and quit it, it could be you compensated by eating more. You could now work on controlling food intake and whatever bad habits might have developed, if that's the case.
I don't drink much diet soda and I'd personally not start drinking a ton of it if you don't currently, but in moderation it's fine and the linked discussion on aspartame is good on the health issue (for the real information not the nonsense that gets spread).2 -
I've drank diet soda for over 20 years. I drank probably close to two 2-liters a day while I lost 160 pounds. I've never had problems with health or losing weight. For some people they may cause sugar cravings, or have a sensitivity to the artificial sweeteners, but for me, no problems at all. I can easily drink a 12-pack of Coke Zero in a day, on top of my 48oz of coffee and water.0
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I think over time there will be a connection between artificial sweeteners and something negative happening to our bodies but at this point who knows? I see diet drinks as empty calories and zero nutritional value, like water. The difference is water is free and unlikely to cause many problems down the road. Once I got used to drinking water or unsweet tea I prefered them. You are free to drink what you like but you may get a kick out of a game I play during my morning run. I count how many semi trucks with coke or pepsi pass me, its usually between five and seven 18 wheeler loads.1
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Switched from Diet Coke to unsweetened iced tea about 3 years ago and it caused me to gain/lose 0 lbs. I stopped dealing with gas and bloating, though, which was nice.1
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I like it, 20+ years of drinking it.
I can tolerate water too but sometimes I can just need the caffeine or fizzy ice cold pop.4 -
I think over time there will be a connection between artificial sweeteners and something negative happening to our bodies but at this point who knows? I see diet drinks as empty calories and zero nutritional value, like water. The difference is water is free and unlikely to cause many problems down the road. Once I got used to drinking water or unsweet tea I prefered them. You are free to drink what you like but you may get a kick out of a game I play during my morning run. I count how many semi trucks with coke or pepsi pass me, its usually between five and seven 18 wheeler loads.
50 years of intensive research and we've got nothing bad on it. I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.10 -
Worry more about drinking enough water. I like diet sodas too, but I aim to drink 2 gallons of water per day so I'm probably not going to drink much soda because I'm too full!! 2 gallons is a lot, I know; even if you drank 1 per day you'd probably see your soda consumption drop by default.1
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I know some people like the diet soda because the carbonation helps them feel fuller longer than just water, or in your case, unsweetened tea. Do you need the caffeine? If not, and you feel like you should cut back, what about flavored seltzer water? They have the carbonation and different fruit flavors, and none of the asparatme some people question in diet sodas.2
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stevencloser wrote: »I think over time there will be a connection between artificial sweeteners and something negative happening to our bodies but at this point who knows? I see diet drinks as empty calories and zero nutritional value, like water. The difference is water is free and unlikely to cause many problems down the road. Once I got used to drinking water or unsweet tea I prefered them. You are free to drink what you like but you may get a kick out of a game I play during my morning run. I count how many semi trucks with coke or pepsi pass me, its usually between five and seven 18 wheeler loads.
50 years of intensive research and we've got nothing bad on it. I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.
That may be true but I feel a connection between artificial sweeteners and diabetes may be found. Anyway you may notice I have a lot of "I feel" and "May be" followed by "who knows" so really I got nothing. On the other hand I challenge you to find healthy benefits to drinking them. As stated I don't care if anyone likes or drinks them, I am just cheap and would rather not drink them.0 -
stevencloser wrote: »I think over time there will be a connection between artificial sweeteners and something negative happening to our bodies but at this point who knows? I see diet drinks as empty calories and zero nutritional value, like water. The difference is water is free and unlikely to cause many problems down the road. Once I got used to drinking water or unsweet tea I prefered them. You are free to drink what you like but you may get a kick out of a game I play during my morning run. I count how many semi trucks with coke or pepsi pass me, its usually between five and seven 18 wheeler loads.
50 years of intensive research and we've got nothing bad on it. I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.
That may be true but I feel a connection between artificial sweeteners and diabetes may be found. Anyway you may notice I have a lot of "I feel" and "May be" followed by "who knows" so really I got nothing. On the other hand I challenge you to find healthy benefits to drinking them. As stated I don't care if anyone likes or drinks them, I am just cheap and would rather not drink them.
My own little n=1 shows this has not been the case at all and I have hard data going back several years now to prove it. When I was a pre-diabetic I did not drink diet soda. I started drinking it when I started my weight loss phase. Fast forward to today and I'm no longer a pre-diabetic with fasting glucose numbers coming in at the 80s and 90s. My weight controls my glucose numbers, not artificial sweeteners Like I posted above-the ADA actually recommends diet soda for diabetics. 3 -
my thought is I love them!2
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stevencloser wrote: »I think over time there will be a connection between artificial sweeteners and something negative happening to our bodies but at this point who knows? I see diet drinks as empty calories and zero nutritional value, like water. The difference is water is free and unlikely to cause many problems down the road. Once I got used to drinking water or unsweet tea I prefered them. You are free to drink what you like but you may get a kick out of a game I play during my morning run. I count how many semi trucks with coke or pepsi pass me, its usually between five and seven 18 wheeler loads.
50 years of intensive research and we've got nothing bad on it. I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.
That may be true but I feel a connection between artificial sweeteners and diabetes may be found. Anyway you may notice I have a lot of "I feel" and "May be" followed by "who knows" so really I got nothing. On the other hand I challenge you to find healthy benefits to drinking them. As stated I don't care if anyone likes or drinks them, I am just cheap and would rather not drink them.
You need to read this thread. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1308408/why-aspartame-isnt-scary/p1
I'm not that keen on them myself, and drink more water than anything, but it's just that I don't like the taste that much, not that I think there is anything scary about them.
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Drink up! I am okay with it.0
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JoeMacCready wrote: »Worry more about drinking enough water. I like diet sodas too, but I aim to drink 2 gallons of water per day so I'm probably not going to drink much soda because I'm too full!! 2 gallons is a lot, I know; even if you drank 1 per day you'd probably see your soda consumption drop by default.
2 gallons a day is excessive and not needed in most people/could lead to an electrolyte imbalance.9 -
It's been 60 years with them on the market. And artificial sweeteners are the most studied additive on the market. If ANYTHING is totally negative with the body using them, it would be available by now.I think over time there will be a connection between artificial sweeteners and something negative happening to our bodies but at this point who knows? I see diet drinks as empty calories and zero nutritional value, like water. The difference is water is free and unlikely to cause many problems down the road. Once I got used to drinking water or unsweet tea I prefered them. You are free to drink what you like but you may get a kick out of a game I play during my morning run. I count how many semi trucks with coke or pepsi pass me, its usually between five and seven 18 wheeler loads.
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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stevencloser wrote: »I think over time there will be a connection between artificial sweeteners and something negative happening to our bodies but at this point who knows? I see diet drinks as empty calories and zero nutritional value, like water. The difference is water is free and unlikely to cause many problems down the road. Once I got used to drinking water or unsweet tea I prefered them. You are free to drink what you like but you may get a kick out of a game I play during my morning run. I count how many semi trucks with coke or pepsi pass me, its usually between five and seven 18 wheeler loads.
50 years of intensive research and we've got nothing bad on it. I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.
That may be true but I feel a connection between artificial sweeteners and diabetes may be found. Anyway you may notice I have a lot of "I feel" and "May be" followed by "who knows" so really I got nothing. On the other hand I challenge you to find healthy benefits to drinking them. As stated I don't care if anyone likes or drinks them, I am just cheap and would rather not drink them.
Hydration. Staying hydrated seems to be pretty healthy.
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Diet soda is a recommended alternative drink for diabetics.stevencloser wrote: »I think over time there will be a connection between artificial sweeteners and something negative happening to our bodies but at this point who knows? I see diet drinks as empty calories and zero nutritional value, like water. The difference is water is free and unlikely to cause many problems down the road. Once I got used to drinking water or unsweet tea I prefered them. You are free to drink what you like but you may get a kick out of a game I play during my morning run. I count how many semi trucks with coke or pepsi pass me, its usually between five and seven 18 wheeler loads.
50 years of intensive research and we've got nothing bad on it. I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.
That may be true but I feel a connection between artificial sweeteners and diabetes may be found.
Healthy benefit: you REDUCE the amount of sugar you take in vs a regular drink of any kind with added sugar.Anyway you may notice I have a lot of "I feel" and "May be" followed by "who knows" so really I got nothing. On the other hand I challenge you to find healthy benefits to drinking them. As stated I don't care if anyone likes or drinks them, I am just cheap and would rather not drink them.
And indirectly, going into a 3rd world country with water sanitation issues, I'd rather drink a diet soda than trust their water is safer to drink.
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 6 -
Brocksterdanza wrote: »Going the other way was in reference to the thought that drinking diet soda and the artificial sweeteners makes you crave more high sugar, other foods... sorry for confusion
This often gets brought up that people believe artificial sweeteners may contribute to cravings for sweet foods.... but I don't understand. You were consuming the Diet Pepsi, did you have cravings for sweet foods? Why would you rely on what other people say might happen when you have your own individual experience to fall back on?
Additionally, you said you drank the diet soda during your initial weight loss period, then gave them up and over time gained some weight back. What was your weight loss method you were using when losing? Was it successful? Were you following a particular program? Using MFP to log calories? Have you been logging during the gaining period? What has changed?
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Diet soda hasn't been linked to cancer or weight gain in any reputable sources. It doesn't lead to anything (besides keeping me up all night to work on research if I drink it alongside of coffee/espresso). I've lost 70-ish pounds drinking one or two a day.4
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I've lost almost 50 lbs this year and diet soda has been my constant companion. I feel like it is my ONE vice left, and they can pry it out of my cold dead hands. If my doctor tells me "Great! You've lost 50 lbs! Now we really gotta talk about your Diet Pepsi habit." then I might consider it. But he hasn't mentioned it yet so I'm not giving it up. I drink about 4 12-oz cans per day.3
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I don't drink them, mostly because the taste is grim, and some of the combinations give me a headache.
It seems a bit odd that it's the only thing you want to hang your weight change on. Isn't there anything else that coluld have contributed? like portion creep, relaxed logging, less activity, more cheat days, etc? May be worth looking at those sort of things in the first instance.
I second reading the post below.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1308408/why-aspartame-isnt-scary/p1
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There may be some individuals who want more sweet tastes after consuming artificial sweeteners but this is largely a myth. Also, it would be logical (and is my experience) that an artificial sweetener would satisfy such cravings, not cause them.Brocksterdanza wrote: »Going the other way was in reference to the thought that drinking diet soda and the artificial sweeteners makes you crave more high sugar, other foods... sorry for confusionstevencloser wrote: »I think over time there will be a connection between artificial sweeteners and something negative happening to our bodies but at this point who knows? I see diet drinks as empty calories and zero nutritional value, like water. The difference is water is free and unlikely to cause many problems down the road. Once I got used to drinking water or unsweet tea I prefered them. You are free to drink what you like but you may get a kick out of a game I play during my morning run. I count how many semi trucks with coke or pepsi pass me, its usually between five and seven 18 wheeler loads.
50 years of intensive research and we've got nothing bad on it. I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.
That may be true but I feel a connection between artificial sweeteners and diabetes may be found. Anyway you may notice I have a lot of "I feel" and "May be" followed by "who knows" so really I got nothing. On the other hand I challenge you to find healthy benefits to drinking them. As stated I don't care if anyone likes or drinks them, I am just cheap and would rather not drink them.
Then you have no idea how either diabetes or artificial sweeteners work.8 -
Exactly.Carlos_421 wrote:Then you have no idea how either diabetes or artificial sweeteners work.
The only correlation between artificial sweeteners and diabetes is that diabetics tend to use artificial sweeteners to help control their diabetes when they want sweets.
correlation != causation ... especially in this case.5
This discussion has been closed.
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