Diet Soda (Waist size, bloated, clothes, etc!)

Stitch_down_carbs

No side affects, but it just makes me crave real sugar. I'd rather just have flat non diet drinks or have tea without sugar at all.

cadaver0usb0nes

I have never experienced any of that with diet soda, but I don't drink soda that often. I will occasionally have a diet coke if I go out to a restaurant or somethings with alcohol. Never was a big soda drinker. I think diet soda and regular soda are both bad in different ways and you should probably limit your intake regardless unless its like an all natural soda.

That_Girl

Diet sodas are usually sweetened with aspartame which is a poison in the body.

I was hooked to diet coke about 9 years ago. I had things like acne, bloating, jaw pain, etc. I quit diet soda (and ALL aspartame) and felt better in 3 days. Acne went away within the month.

Drink water and have a real soda once in a while.

Are you part rat?

Awww, keep living in ignorance

That_Girl

I gave up diet - and all other - soda over a decade ago. noticeable results were saving money & it was a lot easier to get my water in! I was immediately pleased that I was no longer consuming the unnatural & potentially dangerous ingredients.

That's it for me! No noticeable physical improvements at all but I had no negative and noticeable side effects I was trying to get rid of. I did not expect cutting soda to help with weight loss or anything else. Thank goodness, since it did not. Eliminating diet soda and all AS was one of the first things I did when I decided to more toward natural foods.

Protip: soda IS water.

lol... You really think soda is water? Poor, uneducated child.

First ingredient: Carbonated WATER. The rest is syrup, chemicals, and toxins. Well, water is technically a chemical, but you know what I mean.

WOW! Well, that explains a lot. lmao.

amwbox

No calories. Negligible sodium. No, of course I've never had any of those reactions from diet pop. How could I?

Everyone loves a boogie man. I guess diet pops can serve in that role as well as any other thing that people irrationally choose to be afraid of.

Aaron_K123

Diet sodas are usually sweetened with aspartame which is a poison in the body.

I was hooked to diet coke about 9 years ago. I had things like acne, bloating, jaw pain, etc. I quit diet soda (and ALL aspartame) and felt better in 3 days. Acne went away within the month.

Drink water and have a real soda once in a while.

Are you part rat?

Awww, keep living in ignorance

Aspartame is not a poison in the body. Its a methyl ester of aspartame and phenylalanine there is absolutely nothing wrong with ingesting a dipeptide and nothing in the scientific literature supports this fear mongering that aspartame has a negative effect on human biology.

There is no mechanism by which it would cause harm, there is no evidence that it does cause harm. Scary chemical is scary is all I get from those who say it does or a link to one single study in rats showing a "possible" effect at dosages that are absolutely insane compared to the many large scale clinical level studies in humans that show zero effects.

Honestly what IS your reason for thinking aspartame is harmful. Do you have one besides what you have read on the internet which as we all know only has completely trustworthy sane advice on it always.

MeRoHa

I have nothing against using sweeteners. I use Splenda in my coffee every day. I do find carbonated drinks with aspartame give me stomach aches. It was so bad that I was tested for gallbladder problems before I pinpointed the issue. Crystal Light does this to me as well. I also get headaches and just an overall feeling of being unwell. I think some people are just sensitive to it. Splenda, in small amounts, doesn't seem to bother me,

Diet coke is available with Splenda. I switched to it after concerns that the other sweeteners were causing headaches. I am trying to cut down on my daily amount of it, but one addiction at a time. I am still trying to cut out the wheat and chocolate. Very tough to do. Darn wheat seems to be in everything these days.

amwbox

Maybe next week we can all freak out about cellulose being used as an anti-caking agent in shredded cheeses. Cellulose...now THAT'S some scary stuff. =D

DanaDark

I have never had any negative issues with diet soda.

Diet Soda is a useful weight loss tool for those that replace regular soda or other high calorie drinks with it.

If the sweetness of diet soda causes you to want to eat more, and you do eat more because of it, then it will not work for you. This is a combination of the created desire and your self control.

Aspartame has been proven time and time again to be safe medically. It is safer than every single pain medicine in your cabinet. It is one of the most studied chemicals reported to the FDA, where it has been declared safe every time.

Soda, coffee, juices, etc. are sources of water. It may surprise some people, but you have internal organs that can filter things out and extract plain water from these sources. Some animals on the planet are so efficient at it that they never drink a drop of water in their entire life, instead getting their water from juice sources in fruits.

If you experience bloating, swelling, acne, less energy, etc. from drinking diet soda, then it may be that you have some sort of mild food allergy to one of the ingredients or combinations of ingredients. If this is the case, then you shouldn't drink it. I've experienced similar with a very specific brand of orange juice; however, I'd not go so far as proclaim all orange juices and oranges themselves as pure poison.

Aaron_K123

Couple of questions for you That_Girl with regards to aspartame.

1) What is the chemical composition/structure of aspartame?
2) What are the metabolic degradation products of aspartame?
3) Are those products or aspartame itself present in any of the "natural" food that we eat?
4) What is the concentration of those products in things that contain aspartame versus those "natural" foods.
5) What is the dosage in mgs per kg at which aspartame is toxic in humans.
6) What is the mechanism of toxicity?
7) PK and ADME of breakdown products?

You refer to people who do not think aspartame is toxic as "living in ignorance"

Please, enlighten us.

Thanks

amy8400

I can't say I ever experienced bloating or other negative side effects that I could directly attribute to my 2-liter a day diet pop habit. But when I quit drinking diet Pepsi and Coke and replaced it with ice water or unsweetened tea, I didn't crave sweets as much and was able to focus better on healthy eating.

kgeyser

Never had any of those problems while drinking diet soda. Stopped drinking diet soda (any kind of soda) around Thanksgiving. No positive or negative health effects, save a headache for a few days from caffeine withdrawal. Nothing to do with weight, bloating, acne, anything. Have recently started adding them back in. No positive or negative health effects, save the jolt the caffeine gives me that helps prevent me from snacking through the afternoon when I'm tired.

Conclusion based on findings: I have much bigger things to worry about than tinfoil hattery on the internet about diet soda.

PinkyFett

Since cutting out most fake sugars, I get headaches if I drink soda, diet or regular. Never any of the other stuff.

Derpes

walterm852

Coupled with a calorie deficit (the diet soda replaced full-sugar and allows me to eat more cals), I lost almost 30lbs, went from a 33/34" waist to a 30", got satisfactory definition all over (12% BF), and took nearly an hour off my half marathon PR (2:28 down to 1:36).

Is this what you're looking for?

ETA: I don't really want to quit either. I do enjoy soda, but the few times I've sipped full-sugar soda, it tastes very syrupy and gross. I used to be the guy who detested diet and swore I could never drink it. Kinda weird.

I agree with these sentiments. I just want a different taste then water on occasion. I like the taste better vs regular soda which tastes syrupy to me.

Chevy_Quest

This topic is always a "lightning rod". I really think everyone reacts to diet soda differently. I don't know if it is me being strange, but I just feel better when I don't drink a whole bunch of diet cokes and diet pepsis durinng the day.

I like the taste and feel of a diet soda and I will never give them up.

Plus, I am just talking for me, but when I drink diet soda, I tend to eat more because I don't feel "full" like I do when I sip water.

---

But.. I guarantee you.. around here.. it is going to be Hatfields and McCoys! :drinker: ((Runs to shoot off shotgun in the air and yell unintelligibly)

tedrickp

Couple of questions for you That_Girl with regards to aspartame.

1) What is the chemical composition/structure of aspartame?
2) What are the metabolic degradation products of aspartame?
3) Are those products or aspartame itself present in any of the "natural" food that we eat?
4) What is the concentration of those products in things that contain aspartame versus those "natural" foods.
5) What is the dosage in mgs per kg at which aspartame is toxic in humans.
6) What is the mechanism of toxicity?
7) PK and ADME of breakdown products?

You refer to people who do not think aspartame is toxic as "living in ignorance"

Please, enlighten us.

Thanks

SLLRunner

So I wanna start this thread to share your experience with diet sodas!

Do You/Your:
- Get Bloated
- Face Look puffy
- pants fit tighter
- find it hard to lose weight


What happened when you decreased amount or quit?

When I used to drink diet coke, I sure did feel bloated and puffy and made me retain water, but I think it was actually the caffeine in the soda that did this. The reason I say this is because I'd recently started drinking caffeinated coffee and experienced water retention and bloated and puffy feelings. Once I stopped, the water weight starting dropping within a day.

When I started drinking caffeine again, I knew better because I have always been a bit sensitive to it.

I drink Zevia sodas, which are caffeine free, and I don't have any problem with water retention.

Aaron_K123

Here That_Girl, I will get you started:



Question for you. Are these weird breakdown products, lets see if I can pronounce these....phenylalainine and aspartic acid, found in any of our "natural" foods?