diet soda or no diet soda

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Replies

  • MattGetsMad
    MattGetsMad Posts: 429 Member
    I use to drink them, but after making some serious dietary changes, I realized they should go too. If I am not going to eat burgers and fries, I damn sure am not going to drink some chemical concoction that doesn't really taste that good anyway.

    Try seltzer and a little bit of real fruit juice. Makes a wonderful drink.

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  • KatiD83
    KatiD83 Posts: 152 Member
    I had to give up carbonated drinks when I had 2 wisdom teeth taken out 2 weeks ago. I think it's helped my weight loss. I had already cut them down to 3 a week so it wasn't too hard to quit. Since I've been off of them I don't crave them. I plan to only go back to them once I need them, say with a pizza dinner or special occasion.
  • iKristine
    iKristine Posts: 288 Member
    As long as your not counting it as fluid intake. Drink as much water and more for every can you drink.

    Completely wrong. In terms of hydration soda counts just as much as pure water. Caffeine does not dehydrate you.

    This isn't about dehydration. It's about health. Carbonic Acid which is what's added to make carbonated water, has a ph level of 3-4. Which is not neutral. Water is a 7. Which makes soda acidic. That is why you ALWAYS drink equal amounts of water to soda. Sure you can count it, but your not doing yourself justice if your drinking acidic ph level water. It defeats the purpose of flushing your system!

    No one said caffeine dehydrates you. It reduces bone density. Please take the time to understand what the hell your saying.
  • Scorpioangel
    Scorpioangel Posts: 951 Member
    I drink it all the time and have successfully lost 49 pounds. It has never made me more hungry or anything :)
  • NO SODA. Period.
  • WilliamsPeggy
    WilliamsPeggy Posts: 440 Member
    I love Diet Cherry Pepsi & Diet Dr. Pepper. I drink them whenever I feel like it as long as I get in my 8 cups of water too.
  • I love Diet Cherry Pepsi & Diet Dr. Pepper. I drink them whenever I feel like it as long as I get in my 8 cups of water too.

    ^^^agreed.
  • cthoma70
    cthoma70 Posts: 228 Member
    Your body takes the art. sweeter and uses it like sugar, when you eat sugar and a lot of stuff has sugar in it the body deosnt know what to do with it so it stores it as fat, thus you gain weight. I know for personal trial and error I used the art. sweetener I gained, I stop, I lose. It may be different for others but most of the people I talk to about it agrees. Try it and see what happens, if nothing changes then u should be good. If it does then you are better off. I ate 1200 calories a day I count everything even black pepper. The only thing I changed was the art. sweetener.
  • IvoryParchment
    IvoryParchment Posts: 651 Member
    Your body takes the art. sweeter and uses it like sugar, when you eat sugar and a lot of stuff has sugar in it the body deosnt know what to do with it so it stores it as fat, thus you gain weight. I know for personal trial and error I used the art. sweetener I gained, I stop, I lose. It may be different for others but most of the people I talk to about it agrees. Try it and see what happens, if nothing changes then u should be good. If it does then you are better off. I ate 1200 calories a day I count everything even black pepper. The only thing I changed was the art. sweetener.

    I think you're thinking about trans fats.
  • cayadear
    cayadear Posts: 79 Member
    I haven't drunk soda consistently for about 2 years or so. Before then I was a soda fiend. That initial weaning off is terrible, but to me it's just like any other thing you have to work at--counting calories and forcing yourself to go to the gym included.

    I'm glad I did it, and now I only drink it occasionally, and not even as a "treat". The only time I ever drink soda is when I'm really thirsty, need to wet my mouth a little and there isn't a drinking fountain or bottle of water nearby, and when I do it's normally just a sip off of my boyfriend's or best friend's cup. :)

    Never transitioned from regular soda to diet soda, either. I always thought diet soda tasted so bad that I would rather have water instead, so...that's what I did, hahah. I have recently started hating wasting calories on things I'm not going to absolutely enjoy, so that goes hand in hand with that now.
  • AliciaV30
    AliciaV30 Posts: 147 Member
    I think its best if we stay away from soda period but me personally I love soda but I cut back to only one a day if that. I drink Diet Dr. Pepper its the only diet soda that tastes good to me as long as its cold. I'm cutting back though. Just do what you want to do its your body. I'm not gonna have soda at all starting monday to see how it affects me for that week I'll let you know how it goes lol

    Alicia
  • I lost quite well (too well...) even while drinking a HUGE amount of diet soda. So, yes, you can definitely still lose while drinking it. But I gave up diet soda about 10 days ago, and feel soooooo much healthier and have a ton more energy. So, I'd say why not try giving it up? You definitely deserve a vice, but maybe make your vice something that has some redeeming value for your health, like splurging on really high quality meats, or exotic fruits, or even the occasional piece of fantastic dark chocolate, or a massage, or a new type of fitness class, or....?
  • summalovaable
    summalovaable Posts: 287 Member
    Some good, but mostly terrible advice on here. When it comes to diet pop, try the search function. you'll be overwhelmed with a bunch of people not really coming to any agreeable conclusion.

    If you want to be healthy, try and cut it down as much as possible. It is a nice treat, but you shouldn't be consuming 12 a day. If health isn't really your concern, and more focused weight loss? Well the facts are still debatable there, but again a few a week will likely be of no harm to you long (or short) term.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,974 Member
    Yea for diet soda!

    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • darrcn5
    darrcn5 Posts: 495 Member
    I love my diet soda, and I am really apathetic about chemicals in my food/drinks so yeah....I drink 24-36 oz a day. It hasn't hindered me at all. I do drink a ton of water though, normally 9-12 glasses.
  • Diet sodas and artificial sweeteners in general have the potential to make your body crave more sweets/sugar. When you're hungry, your body will crave sugar/carbohydrates, but when you consume an artificial sweetener as a response, your body is receiving chemicals that are molecularly similar to sucrose (sugar) but can't be digested. Your body will see that you needed sugar, got it (artificially) but didn't get the energy it needed; so it will adapt and crave more next time.

    This article talks about it a bit:
    http://www.womentowomen.com/healthyweight/dietsoda.aspx
  • darrcn5
    darrcn5 Posts: 495 Member
    Your body takes the art. sweeter and uses it like sugar, when you eat sugar and a lot of stuff has sugar in it the body deosnt know what to do with it so it stores it as fat, thus you gain weight. I know for personal trial and error I used the art. sweetener I gained, I stop, I lose. It may be different for others but most of the people I talk to about it agrees. Try it and see what happens, if nothing changes then u should be good. If it does then you are better off. I ate 1200 calories a day I count everything even black pepper. The only thing I changed was the art. sweetener.

    Yeah, this makes no sense scientifically at all. Your body can't make fat out of something that has NO calories in it.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,974 Member
    Carbonation deteriorates your bone density. So does Caffeine when consumed in large quantities. That's before we talk about the artificial ingredients and colors that ARE KNOW carcinogenics. Fact from Biology educators.
    So is arsenic and we have it in our bodies. What needs to be relayed is how much you NEED to ingest for it to be dangerous.
    Jillian Michaels talks about this issue pretty heavily. She drank a 6 pack of diet soda a day, and when she got her own tv spot after the biggest loser. They had her get tested for bone density as the staple example on the show. Come to find out she had beginning stages of osteopenia. She was 35 at the time.
    Did it say if she was supplementing calcium in her diet? Individuals and what their diets consist of make a difference in results. I've drank diet soda for over 20 years and have no bone density issues..
    If that don't motivate you, then consider this. Soda has ZERO nutritional value, in fact it's nutritional defeceit. What's that mean? It means it takes away rather than gives. Sure a soda a week, two cans a week not a big deal. As long as your not counting it as fluid intake. Drink as much water and more for every can you drink. But moderation is the key to it all.
    Disagree. There water in soda. It's a fluid and you do count it toward total fluid intake. Put it this way, if you were dehydrated and there was nothing but diet soda on hand, would you say that there wouldn't be any nutritional value to reducing dehydration?

    Remember a 32 oz, is nearly three cans. And this is for diet. Don't get me started on the sugar and how high fructose interacts with your liver.
    Diet soda doesn't have sugar in it.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,974 Member
    Your body takes the art. sweeter and uses it like sugar, when you eat sugar and a lot of stuff has sugar in it the body deosnt know what to do with it so it stores it as fat, thus you gain weight. I know for personal trial and error I used the art. sweetener I gained, I stop, I lose. It may be different for others but most of the people I talk to about it agrees. Try it and see what happens, if nothing changes then u should be good. If it does then you are better off. I ate 1200 calories a day I count everything even black pepper. The only thing I changed was the art. sweetener.
    Where's the peer reviewed clinical study that supports what you say? Not an article, blog or anti soda clip, but peer reviewed clinical study. If there isn't one then it's anecdotal.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • aa1440
    aa1440 Posts: 956 Member
    I gave up all sodas about 5 years ago. You would not believe how much better you feel after the first month being soda free. It's just empty calories. Think of all the extra food you could be eating without those extra calories.
  • CallieDerenthal
    CallieDerenthal Posts: 170 Member
    i drink a can a day (diet cream soda for me!) and i still lose weight. i think the research says that the sweet taste of the soda 'tells' your stomach to be expecting food which gets the digestive system going... and then when no food gets to the stomach ('cause it's just a diet soda!) then the hunger kicks in. i haven't noticed this personally. i think that as long as you aren't noticing that you're extra hungry after drinking your soda (or you can control the cravings that you do get) then it should be fine in moderation. i also agree with most of the people that say diet soda isn't exactly healthy. it is pretty unnatural. but as long as you're drinking them in moderation and you're taking good care of yourself otherwise i'm sure you'll be fine :-)
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,974 Member
    Diet sodas and artificial sweeteners in general have the potential to make your body crave more sweets/sugar. When you're hungry, your body will crave sugar/carbohydrates, but when you consume an artificial sweetener as a response, your body is receiving chemicals that are molecularly similar to sucrose (sugar) but can't be digested. Your body will see that you needed sugar, got it (artificially) but didn't get the energy it needed; so it will adapt and crave more next time.

    This article talks about it a bit:
    http://www.womentowomen.com/healthyweight/dietsoda.aspx
    Articles without peer reviewed clinical studies to prove are just that.............articles.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,974 Member
    I gave up all sodas about 5 years ago. You would not believe how much better you feel after the first month being soda free. It's just empty calories. Think of all the extra food you could be eating without those extra calories.
    Diet soda has no calories.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • kouzzzz
    kouzzzz Posts: 540 Member
    Drink water..... Diet soda is a scam.

    Artificial sweeteners could have the effect of triggering appetite but unlike regular sugars they don’t deliver something that will squelch the appetite,
  • After reading all these replies I am now making a conscious effort to halve my diet soda intake (or best case scenario cut them out completely) :)
  • capriciousmoon
    capriciousmoon Posts: 1,263 Member
    Yes diet soda. Lots of diet soda. :heart:

    It helps me not need any sweets. I would pick it over cake any day. If I don't drink it I start to crave carbs and could easily eat an entire loaf of plain bread
  • IvoryParchment
    IvoryParchment Posts: 651 Member
    i think the research says that the sweet taste of the soda 'tells' your stomach to be expecting food which gets the digestive system going... and then when no food gets to the stomach ('cause it's just a diet soda!) then the hunger kicks in. i haven't noticed this personally.

    Actually, I notice it that effect from drinking water. If I'm hungry, drinking water makes my stomach really feel empty.
  • kouzzzz
    kouzzzz Posts: 540 Member
    Here are more serious problems with diet soda:

    Phenylalanine (50 percent of aspartame)
    Don't let artificial sweeteners fool you! Order now and find out the risks of using aspartame.

    Phenylalanine is an amino acid normally found in the brain. Persons with the genetic disorder phenylketonuria (PKU) cannot metabolize phenylalanine. This leads to dangerously high levels of phenylalanine in the brain (sometimes lethal). It has been shown that ingesting aspartame, especially along with carbohydrates, can lead to excess levels of phenylalanine in the brain even in persons who do not have PKU.

    This is not just a theory, as many people who have eaten large amounts of aspartame over a long period of time and do not have PKU have been shown to have excessive levels of phenylalanine in the blood. Excessive levels of phenylalanine in the brain can cause the levels of seratonin in the brain to decrease, leading to emotional disorders such as depression. It was shown in human testing that phenylalanine levels of the blood were increased significantly in human subjects who chronically used aspartame.

    Even a single use of aspartame raised the blood phenylalanine levels. In his testimony before the U.S. Congress, Dr. Louis J. Elsas showed that high blood phenylalanine can be concentrated in parts of the brain and is especially dangerous for infants and fetuses. He also showed that phenylalanine is metabolised much more effeciently by rodents than by humans.

    One account of a case of extremely high phenylalanine levels caused by aspartame was recently published the "Wednesday Journal" in an article titled "An Aspartame Nightmare." John Cook began drinking six to eight diet drinks every day. His symptoms started out as memory loss and frequent headaches. He began to crave more aspartame-sweetened drinks. His condition deteriorated so much that he experienced wide mood swings and violent rages. Even though he did not suffer from PKU, a blood test revealed a phenylalanine level of 80 mg/dl. He also showed abnormal brain function and brain damage. After he kicked his aspartame habit, his symptoms improved dramatically.

    As Blaylock points out in his book, early studies measuring phenylalanine buildup in the brain were flawed. Investigators who measured specific brain regions and not the average throughout the brain notice significant rises in phenylalanine levels. Specifically the hypothalamus, medulla oblongata, and corpus striatum areas of the brain had the largest increases in phenylalanine. Blaylock goes on to point out that excessive buildup of phenylalanine in the brain can cause schizophrenia or make one more susceptible to seizures.

    Therefore, long-term, excessive use of aspartame may provid a boost to sales of seratonin reuptake inhibitors such as Prozac and drugs to control schizophrenia and seizures.
    Methanol (aka wood alcohol/poison) (10 percent of aspartame)

    Methanol/wood alcohol is a deadly poison. Some people may remember methanol as the poison that has caused some "skid row" alcoholics to end up blind or dead. Methanol is gradually released in the small intestine when the methyl group of aspartame encounter the enzyme chymotrypsin.

    The absorption of methanol into the body is sped up considerably when free methanol is ingested. Free methanol is created from aspartame when it is heated to above 86 Fahrenheit (30 Centigrade). This would occur when aspartame-containing product is improperly stored or when it is heated (e.g., as part of a "food" product such as Jello).

    methanolMethanol breaks down into formic acid and formaldehyde in the body. Formaldehyde is a deadly neurotoxin. An EPA assessment of methanol states that methanol "is considered a cumulative poison due to the low rate of excretion once it is absorbed. In the body, methanol is oxidized to formaldehyde and formic acid; both of these metabolites are toxic." They recommend a limit of consumption of 7.8 mg/day. A one-liter (approx. 1 quart) aspartame-sweetened beverage contains about 56 mg of methanol. Heavy users of aspartame-containing products consume as much as 250 mg of methanol daily or 32 times the EPA limit.

    Symptoms from methanol poisoning include headaches, ear buzzing, dizziness, nausea, gastrointestinal disturbances, weakness, vertigo, chills, memory lapses, numbness and shooting pains in the extremities, behavioral disturbances, and neuritis. The most well known problems from methanol poisoning are vision problems including misty vision, progressive contraction of visual fields, blurring of vision, obscuration of vision, retinal damage, and blindness. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen, causes retinal damage, interferes with DNA replication and causes birth defects.

    Due to the lack of a couple of key enzymes, humans are many times more sensitive to the toxic effects of methanol than animals. Therefore, tests of aspartame or methanol on animals do not accurately reflect the danger for humans. As pointed out by Dr. Woodrow C. Monte, director of the food science and nutrition laboratory at Arizona State University, "There are no human or mammalian studies to evaluate the possible mutagenic, teratogenic or carcinogenic effects of chronic administration of methyl alcohol."

    He was so concerned about the unresolved safety issues that he filed suit with the FDA requesting a hearing to address these issues. He asked the FDA to "slow down on this soft drink issue long enough to answer some of the important questions. It's not fair that you are leaving the full burden of proof on the few of us who are concerned and have such limited resources. You must remember that you are the American public's last defense. Once you allow usage (of aspartame) there is literally nothing I or my colleagues can do to reverse the course. Aspartame will then join saccharin, the sulfiting agents, and God knows how many other questionable compounds enjoined to insult the human constitution with governmental approval." Shortly thereafter, the Commissioner of the FDA, Arthur Hull Hayes, Jr., approved the use of aspartame in carbonated beverages, he then left for a position with G.D. Searle's public relations firm.

    It has been pointed out that some fruit juices and alcoholic beverages contain small amounts of methanol. It is important to remember, however, that methanol never appears alone. In every case, ethanol is present, usually in much higher amounts. Ethanol is an antidote for methanol toxicity in humans. The troops of Desert Storm were "treated" to large amounts of aspartame-sweetened beverages, which had been heated to over 86 degrees F in the Saudi Arabian sun. Many of them returned home with numerous disorders similar to what has been seen in persons who have been chemically poisoned by formaldehyde. The free methanol in the beverages may have been a contributing factor in these illnesses. Other breakdown products of aspartame such as DKP (discussed below) may also have been a factor.

    In a 1993 act that can only be described as "unconscionable," the FDA approved aspartame as an ingredient in numerous food items that would always be heated to above 86 degree F (30 degree C).
    Diketopiperazine (DKP)

    DKP is a byproduct of aspartame metabolism. DKP has been implicated in the occurrence of brain tumors. Olney noticed that DKP, when nitrosated in the gut, produced a compound that was similar to N-nitrosourea, a powerful brain tumor causing chemical. Some authors have said that DKP is produced after aspartame ingestion. I am not sure if that is correct. It is definitely true that DKP is formed in liquid aspartame-containing products during prolonged storage.

    G.D. Searle conducted animal experiments on the safety of DKP. The FDA found numerous experimental errors occurred, including "clerical errors, mixed-up animals, animals not getting drugs they were supposed to get, pathological specimens lost because of improper handling," and many other errors. These sloppy laboratory procedures may explain why both the test and control animals had sixteen times more brain tumors than would be expected in experiments of this length.

    In an ironic twist, shortly after these experimental errors were discovered, the FDA used guidelines recommended by G.D. Searle to develop the industry-wide FDA standards for good laboratory practices.

    DKP has also been implicated as a cause of uterine polyps and changes in blood cholesterol by FDA Toxicologist Dr. Jacqueline Verrett in her testimony before the U.S. Senate.
  • Not for me, too many chemicals. I'm not just trying to lose weight, I'm trying to make my body healthier, and adding crap is not in the plan.

    ^^^^^ this.
    diet soda is chemical poison..
    http://www.google.com/search?q=diet+soda+dangers&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
    http://www.google.com/search?q=diet+soda+cancer&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
    http://www.google.com/search?q=diet+soda+weight+gain&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
    just start clinking and reading.i couldn't even begin to give individual links, or just type diet soda into your own search engine and look at the drop downs- you see anything positive?
    or ask yourself do the words healthy and diet soda ever belong in same sentence?
  • Cold_Steel
    Cold_Steel Posts: 897 Member
    Here are more serious problems with diet soda:

    Phenylalanine (50 percent of aspartame)
    Don't let artificial sweeteners fool you! Order now and find out the risks of using aspartame.

    "Order now and find out the risks of aspartame" LOL at that one

    I love me some paint thinning wood alcohol, uterine killing chemical peel.

    I especially like the diet dr pepper, and diet cream soda.
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