Diet soda and weight loss?
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Bumping to kick down the Spammers.2
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I drink diet soda. I recently found the Rubicon spring water with fruit juice, a 500 ml bottle has between 12 - 15 calories depending on flavour. It's not marketed as diet, and it does taste like a diet drink.0
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I drink a fair amount of diet soda, in fact lots of drinks other than water (coffee, tea). While not ideal (water is best to prevent excess fluid retention), one danger of drinking diet soda is that it has a tendency to induce sugar cravings. The science is that the body is expecting sugar from the carbonated nature of the drink, and when that doesn't eventuate, you start to get "hangry". I tend not to experience this as I'm eating at the time of having the soft drink (usually with a moderate amount of alcohol), however if you're surviving on diet soda throughout the day then that is most definitely NOT GOOD. The sugar substitutes haven't been around long enough for proper scientific studies to be carried out on them, so if you're drinking more than one can a day who knows what you're letting yourself in for. As an alternative, I've noticed (In little old New Zealand, hi from down here!) that many drinks are now sweetened with stevia, which is a natural sweetener and plant extract. Stevia is hundreds of times sweeter than sugar, so they use far less of it and you still get the great taste. As for phenylalanine, I think the jury is still out. One further thing - your teeth would take a hammering if you're always on the diet soda (or any carbonated beverage).24
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michaelselwyn wrote: »I drink a fair amount of diet soda, in fact lots of drinks other than water (coffee, tea). While not ideal (water is best to prevent excess fluid retention), one danger of drinking diet soda is that it has a tendency to induce sugar cravings. The science is that the body is expecting sugar from the carbonated nature of the drink, and when that doesn't eventuate, you start to get "hangry". I tend not to experience this as I'm eating at the time of having the soft drink (usually with a moderate amount of alcohol), however if you're surviving on diet soda throughout the day then that is most definitely NOT GOOD. The sugar substitutes haven't been around long enough for proper scientific studies to be carried out on them, so if you're drinking more than one can a day who knows what you're letting yourself in for. As an alternative, I've noticed (In little old New Zealand, hi from down here!) that many drinks are now sweetened with stevia, which is a natural sweetener and plant extract. Stevia is hundreds of times sweeter than sugar, so they use far less of it and you still get the great taste. As for phenylalanine, I think the jury is still out. One further thing - your teeth would take a hammering if you're always on the diet soda (or any carbonated beverage).
1. Even when I drink diet soda on its own (usually at 6 AM when I get to work) I've never experienced sugar cravings.
2. In response to the bolded...yes they have. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1308408/why-aspartame-isnt-scary10 -
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I limit myself to one a day just to moderate myself since I hear it's not the greatest for you.8
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LOL. Please link to said "science". The body doesn't somehow "know" that a carbonated drink may contain sugar. And I'd love to see a peer-reviewed scientific study that referred to being "hangry".michaelselwyn wrote: »...The science is that the body is expecting sugar from the carbonated nature of the drink, and when that doesn't eventuate, you start to get "hangry"...
Not sure where you got this either, as aspartame is one of the most studied substances we consume. There have been tons of studies on its safety. I'll start you off here for some of them:michaelselwyn wrote: »...The sugar substitutes haven't been around long enough for proper scientific studies to be carried out on them, so if you're drinking more than one can a day who knows what you're letting yourself in for....
http://seriecientifica.org/sites/default/files/scl_enc_butchko.pdf (a 93-page PDF of studies pertaining to aspartame safety)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3982014/ (a comprehensive review of the research regarding safety of numerous artificial sweeteners)8 -
60+ lbs lost and weight maintained for closing in on 6 years while getting my "water" almost exclusively from diet drinks (including plenty of diet A&W) and coffee.
ETA: And apart from a vitamin D deficiency which runs in my family, my blood work for my last check up was exemplary.4 -
For me, it's a total gateway drug to snacks. I have a Diet Coke (my ULTIMATE weakness), and I have to be prepared to budget in something sweet.7
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DanielleGrubaugh2014 wrote: »Has anyone had success losing wt and still drinking diet soda? I'm not a big fan of water.
Why would diet soda hinder weight loss...it's zero calorie5 -
I lost 95lbs while switching from regular soda to diet soda. It didn't adversely affect anything drinking diet soda2
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YepItsKriss wrote: »
It is.1 -
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I avoid them because of my family history of Type 2 diabetes. Some artificial sweetners are thought to create unanswered insulin release and you end up taxing your system needlessly. Maybe not a concern for those not at risk for T2D, but for me it's not worth finding out. And just anecdotally, my taste buds were shot to crap when I drank diet soda daily. When I was able to get off of it completely, things tasted better. Now if I really want a soda, I have a regular one, log it and go on. The slippery slope is that I tend to want to eat more carbs when I do drink it. But the idea that it messes with weight loss in otherwise healthy people? Nah.17
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YepItsKriss wrote: »As a former T2D I can assure you diet soda has absolutely no impact on blood sugars. The dietitians i used to see when i was diabetic encouraged diet soda. When i was losing weight and had to give up my medications and bring my sugars down on my own for a time being, i still didnt have any issues with diet soda
I'm glad to hear it! For my mom it's quite the opposite. When she pairs diet soda with an otherwise balanced meal, her glucose levels aren't as stable as they are without the soda. Since we're genetically similar, I'm going to take my cue from that.
I think if it works for someone, then more power to them. Just throwing in my experience.
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YepItsKriss wrote: »I think maybe some more education on diabetes is needed?
You could eat the same meal every meal every day and have it perfectly carb balanced with protein and fat and fiber and your blood sugars are going to have their ups and downs. Situations through out the day are going to be different, ultimately what you do in the run of a day can impact sugar levels.
Oy. I'm not challenging scientific understanding of glucose and how (in a very standard sense) variables affect diabetes. I'm saying that for my mom, her blood sugar is less stable when she consumes artificial sweetners-- be it soda or jello or ice cream.
I am super glad that you don't have that response. I'm not sure how that negates the experience of someone else.
Bottom line: do what works for you.7 -
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DanielleGrubaugh2014 wrote: »Thank you for all the responses! I'm so happy to hear this. I know it's calorie free, but it does have quite a bit of sodium in it. I was just worried that I wouldn't see results on the scale as much because of the sodium/water retention.
It doesn't have much more sodium in it than tap water actually. That is not a coincidence either, the sodium in soda is likely due to them just using tap water. Google "Sodium in coke" then "Sodium in tap water" and compare the same amount, say 100g of each. Same sodium content.
If you compare it to other beverages it generally has less sodium really. Sodium in a can of coke is 10mg in 8 oz. Sodium in milk is about 107mg in 8oz for comparison, 10 times more.
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Drinking it for over 25+ years and it's help me to keep weight in check.DanielleGrubaugh2014 wrote: »Has anyone had success losing wt and still drinking diet soda? I'm not a big fan of water.
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I drink one or two cans of Diet Mountain Dew every day. It didn't slow my weight loss.2
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spiriteagle99 wrote: »I drink one or two cans of Diet Mountain Dew every day. It didn't slow my weight loss.
Team Diet Mountain Dew!3 -
I drink diet coke almost everyday. Love it. Hasn't hurt me at all. I love the taste of cold carbonated drinks and I really cant handle the calories that they have.
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I did not drink diet soda at all until I started trying to lose weight - one of the first things I did was swap regular soda for diet version.
Amazingly i lost the amount I planned to lose doing that ( and eating to calorie level MFP set for me)
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spiriteagle99 wrote: »I drink one or two cans of Diet Mountain Dew every day. It didn't slow my weight loss.
Only one or two? You aren't trying very hard. That's my breakfast coffee substitute. And we go from there.7
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