Diet soda ?

thershey

I drink at least 5-6 20 oz bottles of water a day, and I have one 12oz soda with my lunch and dinner. It does help with my sweet tooth, I drink diet Dr. Pepper.
I know it is not the best thing but I have really cut back I used to drink a case in 2-3 days now It takes a lot longer only drinking 2 cans max a day. It is my one bad habit, I gave up smoking and I do not drink so I drink diet soda twice a day big whoop! Just make sure you are drinking lots of water, and you will be fine.

yesthistime

Until somebody dies from drinking diet soda, pass the pop

kittyneutron

For me personally it has always led to me craving more sweets, eventually giving in to the cravings, because suddenly it's "okay" to have sweet things daily. I do much better having one Coke on Saturdays and enjoying that. I think it messes with your mind when you drink something sweet every day, at least in me it wakes up my sugar tooth big time....Plus, I would rather enjoy the real thing once a week. It's hard though, I loooove Coke

auntiebabs

Is it really that bad ? I know water or tea is a better choice but i have been hearing lately how even diet soda can make you gain weight/prevent you from loosing weight.

The nutrition I went told me something I'd already figured out from listening to my body...
Sugars and artificial sweeteners INCREASE your appetite.

BUT ASIDE FROM THAT.
The whole sapping phosphorus from your bones, preventing the absorption of calcium and other nutrients and stripping the protective coating from your nerves is what concerns me. My Mom has guzzled diet soda for as long as I can remember.

She has severe osteoporosis, has broken both hips and several other bones and is now in a wheelchair.
And she is in chronic pain...

Personally, I haven't even bothered to look up the science behind this, because I figure cutting out diet soda will do no harm... but, continuing drinking it, however, could potential have severe consequences. Not a risk I'm willing to take.

firstnamekaren

BUT ASIDE FROM THAT.
The whole sapping phosphorus from your bones, preventing the absorption of calcium and other nutrients and stripping the protective coating from your nerves is what concerns me. My Mom has guzzled diet soda for as long as I can remember.

This is true. But ANY soda will do this - not just diet.

GoodbyeFatChick

Oi, this thread is making me crave a nice cold coca cola...
I haven't had soda in so long, the last time I did, it tasted really weird >,>

I haven't had a real soda in years, and I'm with ya this is making me crave one. I drink tea (I know all about the caffeine blah blah) I drink a lot of water, some times juice, never milk! The real reason why I haven't drank a soda is----I am on migraine medicine and it makes anything carbonated taste like the nastiest medicine you could ever put your lips on! But I do miss the taste I once knew of Diet Mt. Dew

12skipafew99100

I cut soda out all together and it's killing me. If I want to cheat I have dr.pepper 10. Diet soda is horrible for you though, it has twice the amount of acid that regular soda does. My dentist said if I am going to drink soda he would rather it be regular so I am not acid bathing my teeth, lol.

Where is the information that states that diet soda has more acid than regular soda?


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I do see that you are shooting down everyone's thoughts on this information, where are your peer reviewed articles to actually inform us of what is correct?

Just a few. There is much more from other reputed Journals of study.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15510910
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8168806
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17828671

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Thank you for thinks to these studies.

debbandoli

OK, I have been a heavy Diet Coke drinker all my life. I bought into the whole "it's bad for you" thing and gave it up for 2 years. Giving it up made no difference what so ever in my body....none. So I started back up on my Diet Coke. Most of the research says that the reason it makes you gain weight is because you are drinking something sweet, so it makes you crave sweets. I think that is just silly. I don't crave sweets, and why would I when I just satisfied any possible sweet craving by drinking something sweet.

tigersword

What my nutritionist told me is:

Diet soda has artificial sweetener that is many times sweeter than natural sugar and sugar is a natural energy source for your body (obviously over indulging is not good). So when you ingest Diet sodas with no natural energy source for your body it starts to crave the energy it thought it was getting, so you tend to overeat and crave high calorie (carbs and sugars) as a result. I have switched to water and occasionally crystal light tea which still has artifical sweetener.

It's an interesting theory, but doesn't hold up. See, taste only matters to our brain to decide whether we want to eat something or not, it doesn't matter as far as digestion goes. The sweeteners in diet soda are made from Aspartic acid and phenylalanine, which are proteins. When you drink it, the digestive system doesn't get tricked into thinking it's getting sugar, it sees protein, and breaks them down and uses them just like if you ate a steak, or a soybean, or any other protein source. The other sweetener is made from potassium, and the body sees it as potassium and uses it as needed.

Diet Soda has a lot of sodium in it, so it creates some water retention. That is water weight.

False, or at least very much exaggerated. You can get more sodium out of fresh vegetables than you do in a diet soda. A can has roughly 40 milligrams. 1 teaspoon of salt has about 2000 milligrams. So you'd need to drink 50 cans of soda to get enough sodium to equal a teaspoon of salt.

ninerbuff

Whether people are for it or not, it's IRRESPONSIBLE to make claims with no actual evidence to back it up. Anything in excess is bad. Anything in moderation is okay. Diet soda is not the best choice, but it's not the worst. It hasn't been shown to cause some of the reported issues in the general population that a few may be experiencing.
If people started stating squats were bad because it hurt their back, should everyone stop doing them? Of course not. Do actual research. Understand chemistry. Understand how the body actually breaks down anything you consume and how other hormones actually react with them.

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LabRat529

Diet or not, its very low in pH and tears away the enamel of your teeth.

Hmm. I'm tempted to go buy a diet coke right now and stick my pH meter in it. In fact.... I think I'll do just that. Excuse me. I'll be back in a few. (Don't tell health and safety I'm taking diet coke into the lab).

pH = 3.28

Which is in line with other values I found with a quick google search. Go pH meter.

And then I went to pubmed and by accident, I discovered that TEA erodes the enamel on your teeth too (at least according to one study).

Anyhow... I don't sit around with diet coke in my mouth. I take a swallow, the acidity washes over my teeth before I do, and then the pH returns rapidly to whatever the normal pH of my mouth is (no, I'm not putting a pH probe in my mouth to find out).

We drink a lot of acidic stuff. Not really worth freaking out about. Proper dental hygiene solves the problem.

DRINK DA COKE! (If you want it)

mspears1198

It's your choice. Soda no matter the type isn't good for the body. Regular soda is high in sugar and carbs and diet soda is high in sodium and filled with artificial sweeteners. Ask yourself; what is the nutritional value is this soda adding to my body? I will be the first to attempt I had a Dr. Pepper habit. After I started losing weight, I analyzed everything that was keeping me from reaching my daily goals. I cut the Dr. Pepper which lead to cutting the empty carbs, sugar, and calories.

LabRat529

Whether people are for it or not, it's IRRESPONSIBLE to make claims with no actual evidence to back it up. Anything in excess is bad. Anything in moderation is okay. Diet soda is not the best choice, but it's not the worst. It hasn't been shown to cause some of the reported issues in the general population that a few may be experiencing.
If people started stating squats were bad because it hurt their back, should everyone stop doing them? Of course not. Do actual research. Understand chemistry. Understand how the body actually breaks down anything you consume and how other hormones actually react with them.

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This. I agree 100%. It drives me nuts when people make irresponsible and unreasonable claims. The research is out there, folks. It's paid for by YOUR tax dollars (most of the time). Don't you think you should know what it says?

And I'm talking REAL SCIENCE, not googled up nonsense.

Erica002

I say if you're going to have soda, drink the regular kind, diet is bad for you!

debilang

Many artifical sweeteners cause insulin levels to rise in your blood. This creates problems when all you are doing is drinking a soda with no other foods. Up goes insulin and this means that any sugar in your blood will move into cells, reducing your blood sugar. Th end result of eating artifical sweeteners, especially when it is a soda, is lowered blood sugar. When you have low blood sugar, you are going to be hungry and crave more food. Ref: Sugarettes - Dr. Scott Olson ND

tigersword

The whole sapping phosphorus from your bones, preventing the absorption of calcium and other nutrients and stripping the protective coating from your nerves is what concerns me. My Mom has guzzled diet soda for as long as I can remember.

It's been proven that soda does NOT strip calcium or prevent calcium absorption. Studies proved that while, in the presence of caffeine, more calcium is lost by the body, however, once the caffeine is out of the system, the body loses less calcium, leading to a net difference of 0 compared to normal daily calcium loss without caffeine. And yes, the studies eliminated all the other ingredients in sodas, and confirmed that it's the caffeine that's responsible for it. So drinking coffee and tea will have the same effect.

smbrock85

I'm a firm believer that regular pop is way better for you than diet (although ANY pop is bad for you!). Here's my PERSONAL reason why:

I used to get migraines so severe that my doctor thought it could be a tumor (IT'S NOT A TUMOR. Sorry, bad Kindergarten Cop reference). Anyway, after 4 neurologists later, and then giving up in life, I stopped drinking diet pop. Migraines decreased SEVERELY. Not saying I'm not getting any migraines now, but ever since I stopped drinking diet, I'm getting less, and the severity of the migraines has decreased.

I totally agree. I was using A LOT of Splenda in my iced tea. Headaches decreased when i stopped using it. I switched to plain old sugar.

kimmie185

I drink diet soda's all of the time and I lose weight just fine. It's not the best as far as health, but there are worse things out there (such as regular soda which contains typically over 30 grams of sugar).

tigersword

Many artifical sweeteners cause insulin levels to rise in your blood. This creates problems when all you are doing is drinking a soda with no other foods. Up goes insulin and this means that any sugar in your blood will move into cells, reducing your blood sugar. Th end result of eating artifical sweeteners, especially when it is a soda, is lowered blood sugar. When you have low blood sugar, you are going to be hungry and crave more food. Ref: Sugarettes - Dr. Scott Olson ND

Interesting, but completely ignores the way the body works. You could apply this same argument to any low/no calorie food. Eating anything at all causes insulin to rise. If blood sugar gets low, glucagon is released, which burns fat to raise blood sugar and stabilize it. So, if anything, the end result would be no change in blood glucose levels.

Does his statement apply to eating a snack of plain celery? It's roughly the same amount of calories, and you get an insulin response, so, according to his logic, celery should make you hungry and craving food. Good thing ghrelin controls hunger and not insulin.

H_Factor

Many artifical sweeteners cause insulin levels to rise in your blood. This creates problems when all you are doing is drinking a soda with no other foods. Up goes insulin and this means that any sugar in your blood will move into cells, reducing your blood sugar. Th end result of eating artifical sweeteners, especially when it is a soda, is lowered blood sugar. When you have low blood sugar, you are going to be hungry and crave more food. Ref: Sugarettes - Dr. Scott Olson ND

^^ THIS ^^

Here's the deal, diet soda by itself will not prevent you from losing weight. I drank the crap during my first few months on this journey and lost weight. The problem that's been recently discovered with diet soda is that it triggers cravings for more sugary stuff. Obviously, if you give in to the cravings too often, you are not going to lose weight. If, however, you can fight off the cravings and not eat outside the bounds of your calorie limits, then you will be fine. In short, diet soda can make the journey more challenging for you...adds a degree of difficulty in the form of unnecessary cravings. I'm personally glad I gave up the stuff last April and don't have to fight off those unnecessary cravings that it can cause

kimmie185

Regular soda's are not by any means better and healhier for you....

A 12 oz can of Dr. Pepper contains 150 calories which come from 40 grams of sugar (which is very large amount) which is nothing by simple carbs. Simple carbs get stored as fat into your body which contribute to obesity.

bevskiwolf

I love Skinny Water. Drink at least 2 a day. That and a Lipton Green Tea once in a while (sugar free). Other than that it's plain water. I gave up soda completely (I was on 6-8 *regular* Cokes daily over 2 years ago) and now I can't stand the taste or the bubbles.

It is amazing how you can train your tastebuds to change!

DonnaRe2012

It's a can/bottle of chemicals and non-food ingredients, how can it be good for you? Adding all those chemicals into your system impeeds your systems from working properly.

debilang

Many artifical sweeteners cause insulin levels to rise in your blood. This creates problems when all you are doing is drinking a soda with no other foods. Up goes insulin and this means that any sugar in your blood will move into cells, reducing your blood sugar. Th end result of eating artifical sweeteners, especially when it is a soda, is lowered blood sugar. When you have low blood sugar, you are going to be hungry and crave more food. Ref: Sugarettes - Dr. Scott Olson ND

Interesting, but completely ignores the way the body works. You could apply this same argument to any low/no calorie food. Eating anything at all causes insulin to rise. If blood sugar gets low, glucagon is released, which burns fat to raise blood sugar and stabilize it. So, if anything, the end result would be no change in blood glucose levels.

Does his statement apply to eating a snack of plain celery? It's roughly the same amount of calories, and you get an insulin response, so, according to his logic, celery should make you hungry and craving food. Good thing ghrelin controls hunger and not insulin.

Celery does not have sugar. The name of the book is "Sugarettes". He explains in GREAT detail how the body works, and how SUGAR or ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS react in the body. If the book is at your local library or cheap on Amazon.com, it is good reading. The question is asking about "Diet Soda". People will do what they want and will suffer or rejoice the consequences. Thanks for your question.

tigersword

What people need to realize is that the chemicals found in diet soda are the same in many "natural" foods you eat. The body DOESN'T distinguish chemicals differently from source to source. It take the chemical introduced then breaks it down accordingly regardless of the source. So whether it's phenylalanine is in diet soda.......................but also in breast milk. Weird huh?

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100 times THIS. Aspartic Acid + phenylalanine = Aspartame. Guess what, beef, pork, chicken, nuts, beans, tofu, fish, and any other source of protein you can think contain much higher levels of both aspartic acid and phenylalanine than you will find in any can of soda. Sometimes, they are even chained together. Meaning any time you eat protein, you are consuming aspartame. At least, the human body sees it that way, it doesn't differentiate between Diet Coke or whey protein, it just sees what's on the molecular level, as in both have aspartic acid and phenylalanine, and the body can use both of them in the same way to build muscle and repair skin cells.

Suziq2you

Diet Soda has a lot of sodium in it, so it creates some water retention. That is water weight.

Diet soda does not have a lot of sodium.

frankie964

Chemical cocktail

JennW130

ill keep having my once a day habitual consumption of my chemical concoction AKA Coke Zero.

H_Factor

Many artifical sweeteners cause insulin levels to rise in your blood. This creates problems when all you are doing is drinking a soda with no other foods. Up goes insulin and this means that any sugar in your blood will move into cells, reducing your blood sugar. Th end result of eating artifical sweeteners, especially when it is a soda, is lowered blood sugar. When you have low blood sugar, you are going to be hungry and crave more food. Ref: Sugarettes - Dr. Scott Olson ND

Interesting, but completely ignores the way the body works. You could apply this same argument to any low/no calorie food. Eating anything at all causes insulin to rise. If blood sugar gets low, glucagon is released, which burns fat to raise blood sugar and stabilize it. So, if anything, the end result would be no change in blood glucose levels.

Does his statement apply to eating a snack of plain celery? It's roughly the same amount of calories, and you get an insulin response, so, according to his logic, celery should make you hungry and craving food. Good thing ghrelin controls hunger and not insulin.

actually, this has some truth as well. ANY carbs with a medium or high glycemic index (GI) value will cause enough of an insulin spike that could result in cravings for more carbs with higher GI values. I think the recent studies showed this happens with the artificial sweeteners in diet sodas, as well as carbs with higher GI values.

SOLUTION: limit your processed foods folks.

tigersword

Many artifical sweeteners cause insulin levels to rise in your blood. This creates problems when all you are doing is drinking a soda with no other foods. Up goes insulin and this means that any sugar in your blood will move into cells, reducing your blood sugar. Th end result of eating artifical sweeteners, especially when it is a soda, is lowered blood sugar. When you have low blood sugar, you are going to be hungry and crave more food. Ref: Sugarettes - Dr. Scott Olson ND

Interesting, but completely ignores the way the body works. You could apply this same argument to any low/no calorie food. Eating anything at all causes insulin to rise. If blood sugar gets low, glucagon is released, which burns fat to raise blood sugar and stabilize it. So, if anything, the end result would be no change in blood glucose levels.

Does his statement apply to eating a snack of plain celery? It's roughly the same amount of calories, and you get an insulin response, so, according to his logic, celery should make you hungry and craving food. Good thing ghrelin controls hunger and not insulin.

Celery does not have sugar. The name of the book is "Sugarettes". He explains in GREAT detail how the body works, and how SUGAR or ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS react in the body. If the book is at your local library or cheap on Amazon.com, it is good reading. The question is asking about "Diet Soda". People will do what they want and will suffer or rejoice the consequences. Thanks for your question.

That's my entire point. When you eat ANYTHING, sugar, fat, protein, vegetables, you still get that same insulin response, where levels rise in anticipation of digestion and elevated glucose in the blood. According to the quote you posted, that means any time you eat any food that doesn't contain sugar, all on it's own, you will get low blood sugar and crave food. It doesn't hold up to how the body actually works. Besides, as I already said, the body doesn't think that artificial sweeteners are sugar, it sees them molecularly, for what they are. Protein, usually.