Diet soda

MoreBean13

I don't drink coffee or tea becasue I'm Mormon, so those are pretty much out for my caffeine fix. I'm starting to lean towards cutting out soda completely. I'm starting nursing school this week and I know I'll need the caffeine to get me though many late night study sessions. (Yes, as a Mormon I can have soda.)

Out of curiosity, what is the difference between coffee/tea and soda?

There is a sort of health guideline we follow called the Word of Wisdom which is where the no coffee or tea comes from. It isn't based on a what is in it.

You learn something new everyday!

ChrissyRMiller

Well...I drink an occasional diet soda. Not every day, but a couple times a week.....My dad was a diabetic and he got so tired of drinking water and just wanted something with flavor, so he started drinking a LOT of diet soda and got sick.....I asked him to just give up the diet soda for 3 weeks, and to substitute just a little juice..apple or cranberry or orange juice and then fill the rest of the glass with club soda for fiz...he did and remarkably started doing so much better. He never drank another diet soda the rest of his life. I am not that extreme and will have one occasionally because I love the fizz....but I must say my family does do the juice/club soda combo. That may not cure your caffeine needs, but maybe the energy you get from juice will be enough....maybe it would be best to wean yourself from needing the caffeine.

Good luck

I don't do juice simply because it is full of sugars. Even if it is diluted down there is still a lot of sugar in it. Since I'm starting nursing school this week I know I will be going though a lot of late night study sesions. I know I won't be able to stay awake without the caffeine. I had a friend suggest 5 hour energy, but they taste so bad I don't know if I could stand them.

Ilovejacks

I drink Diet coke,maybe 1 a day or every other day.my Dr. see's nothing wrong with it at all.There are sooooo many artificial sweetners out there.Now they put sugar alcohol on everything and list it as sugar free and thats just Sugar too.Like anything-in moderation is what i think:)

MoreBean13

I occasionally use an emergen-C (fizzy vitamin drink) for an energy boost or if I'm feeling a little sluggish. I'm not sure if the boost is real or placebo effect, but it works for me.

lr8812

i drink 4-5 cans of diet soda a day. no problems

rextcat

i tend to dink mine with rum.....:drinker:

darrcn5

I my diet Mountain Dew and it's lovely chemicals. I drink about 3 cans a day, and no issues here. I do make sure I get at least 10 glasses of water a day.

Le_Joy

I occasionally use an emergen-C (fizzy vitamin drink) for an energy boost or if I'm feeling a little sluggish. I'm not sure if the boost is real or placebo effect, but it works for me.

I love emergen-c! I find it helps with energy and staying awake. I am in grad school for midwifery so on top of studying and homework I often up all night at births.

ChrissyRMiller

I my diet Mountain Dew and it's lovely chemicals. I drink about 3 cans a day, and no issues here. I do make sure I get at least 10 glasses of water a day.

I also drink plenty of water! At least 64 ounces (8 glasses), but usually it's closer to double that. I really like water!

LemonBurns

I used to be a Diet Coke ADDICT! All day every day - that's ALL I would drink... but I stopped one day, I dunno why exactly. I hate the idea of drinking calories, too - it's a waste... I would rather eat them! These days, I drink THREE things... WATER, Coffee and Wine. That's it. I drink water all day long everyday, I do have a coffee in the morning, and maybe another in the afternoon - but mostly not. And wine... not everyday, not even weekly (or even monthly) but when I do - Lordy, I do it right (and it won't be a logging day - ha ha)

BTW - I had a hard time not drinking Diet Coke with Pizza - cause really, they just go together... but the last time I ordered pizza, I actually 'caved' and ordered a diet coke as well - it did nothing for me, just bloated me to the point where it hurt - guess I am completely done with that now, eh? Yup

TheVimFuego

I used to be a big Coke Zero fan (especially the vanilla stuff).

Not now though, I read up on Aspartame (the artificial sweentener used in most diet drinks) and the whole thing looks like a messy business from the process of approving it to the list of side-effects attributed to it. No surprise people get headaches and migranes at the very least.

Even if the thing is found safe (by an independant inqury, not one funded by commercial interests) then there is also the question of whether 'tricking' your brain into thinking you a drinking something sweet is a good idea.

I guess there is an element of 'scare story' about all this but anyone consuming this stuff should watch this and then say there isn't reasonable doubt:

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/sweet-misery-a-poisoned-world/

As to where I get my caffeine fix, I don't need one, I have plenty of energy and drive without it.

If I did want something fizzy and 'sweet' I would get some Zevia:

http://www.aussiehealthproducts.com.au/zevia.php

jagonthedestroyr

As a doctor I do not understand the "I can drink soda, but not coffee part because I am Mormon." From my understanding you can not drink ANY caffeine and soda is the worse part you can get caffeine, unless it's artificial than it would fit your strict religious concept of anything without caffeine. Although, based on physiology in today's standards I'd say artificial are much worse than caffeine, but that is a philosophical debate which I'd prefer to avoid. I'd like to address the coffee/caffeine issues though.

Coffee is actually beneficial to you because in laymen terms without getting too technical it "wakes up" some parts of your body which tend to start up slow in the morning. This is completely natural, and there is no "added" chemical to coffee that wasn't already there unless you are drinking some sort of synthetic crap from Starbucks. I can not think of anything worse to drink than soda as one of the reader's mentions all the chemicals alone in Soda, not to mention soda often uses artificial sweeteners which are 1000x stronger than normal sugar, let alone anything found in nature.

Why this is a problem is that even though artificial sweeteners might have ZERO calories, they desensitize your taste buds meaning your sense of what is sweet is skewed, which often means you will crave some this sweet, or sweeter. There is nothing naturally out there that mimics the intensity of artificial sweeteners. A side note, getting medical jargon, in copious amounts artificial sweeteners CAN be turned into a toxic chemical (same chemical we use to embalm bodies - formaldehyde). Now this takes massive amounts, but it is possible at lesser amounts if for some reason you body was not able to process it.

Now to the caffeine answer and "speeding up your GIT." Caffeine naturally breaks down an enzyme in your body called PDE, PDE is used to break down your energy c-AMP which is a a second messenger. What this means is that c-AMP signals many things to turn on. At low concentrations c-AMP acts as sympathetic stimulus, while higher its acts as parasympathetic response. Think 'Fight and Flight' versus 'rest and digest.' ALL these processes are naturally occurring in your body, therefore the whole caffeine is this terrible chemical versus soda in a strictly medical opinion based on body physiology is BS.

I just wanted to illustrate this because as a physician it is my job to educate based on the body. Now, if your particular belief states to refrain from it, everybody has a right to follow their own belief. But as I said based on physiology that caffeine is some terrible monster is simply not true. As everything, moderation is the key with anything. Sorry I had to digress to a little hard core physiology, but I just wanted people to understand a few misconceptions they might have had about caffeine.

Any other medical questions based on body physiology I'd be happy to answer as this is my specialty.

AmyRhubarb

Never been a diet soda drinker because I didn't like the taste. Got myself off of regular soda a few years ago, and although I am a coffee drinker and get my morning caffeine fix from that,for an afternoon pick-me-up I drink unsweetened iced tea.

ChrissyRMiller

[/quote]
Any other medical questions based on body physiology I'd be happy to answer as this is my specialty.
[/quote]

Is it possible that the artificial sweetners in diet soda can aggravate chronic anemia? My "normal" hemoglobin is 10-11. It has been this way my entire life (never found a reason why) even before I started drinking diet sodas (which has been in the last 5 years).

HMonsterX

Is aspartame safe?

Yes. Aspartame has been tested for more than three decades, in more than 200 studies, with the same result: Aspartame is safe. In fact, the FDA Commissioner, upon approving aspartame, noted, “Few compounds have withstood such detailed testing and repeated, close scrutiny, and the process through which aspartame has gone should provide the public with additional confidence of its safety.”


Have other regulatory bodies reviewed aspartame's safety?

Yes. In addition to FDA, aspartame has been reviewed and determined to be safe by the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) of the Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization, the Scientific Committee on Food of the European Commission, and the regulatory bodies of over 100 countries.


Have independent health organizations reviewed the safety of aspartame?

Yes. The American Medical Association’s Council on Scientific Affairs, the American Diabetes Association, and the American Dietetic Association (ADA) have reviewed research on aspartame and found it to be safe. In fact, the ADA’s 2004 updated position paper states, “A comprehensive review of the safety of aspartame has recently been published. The review covers previous publications as well as new information that support the safety of aspartame as a food additive and negates claims of its association with a range of health problems...” Links to numerous other health organizations, which have confirmed the safety of aspartame, can be found at www.aspartame.org.

ChrissyRMiller

As a doctor I do not understand the "I can drink soda, but not coffee part because I am Mormon." From my understanding you can not drink ANY caffeine and soda is the worse part you can get caffeine, unless it's artificial than it would fit your strict religious concept of anything without caffeine. Although, based on physiology in today's standards I'd say artificial are much worse than caffeine, but that is a philosophical debate which I'd prefer to avoid. I'd like to address the coffee/caffeine issues though.

Coffee is actually beneficial to you because in laymen terms without getting too technical it "wakes up" some parts of your body which tend to start up slow in the morning. This is completely natural, and there is no "added" chemical to coffee that wasn't already there unless you are drinking some sort of synthetic crap from Starbucks. I can not think of anything worse to drink than soda as one of the reader's mentions all the chemicals alone in Soda, not to mention soda often uses artificial sweeteners which are 1000x stronger than normal sugar, let alone anything found in nature.

Why this is a problem is that even though artificial sweeteners might have ZERO calories, they desensitize your taste buds meaning your sense of what is sweet is skewed, which often means you will crave some this sweet, or sweeter. There is nothing naturally out there that mimics the intensity of artificial sweeteners. A side note, getting medical jargon, in copious amounts artificial sweeteners CAN be turned into a toxic chemical (same chemical we use to embalm bodies - formaldehyde). Now this takes massive amounts, but it is possible at lesser amounts if for some reason you body was not able to process it.

Now to the caffeine answer and "speeding up your GIT." Caffeine naturally breaks down an enzyme in your body called PDE, PDE is used to break down your energy c-AMP which is a a second messenger. What this means is that c-AMP signals many things to turn on. At low concentrations c-AMP acts as sympathetic stimulus, while higher its acts as parasympathetic response. Think 'Fight and Flight' versus 'rest and digest.' ALL these processes are naturally occurring in your body, therefore the whole caffeine is this terrible chemical versus soda in a strictly medical opinion based on body physiology is BS.

I just wanted to illustrate this because as a physician it is my job to educate based on the body. Now, if your particular belief states to refrain from it, everybody has a right to follow their own belief. But as I said based on physiology that caffeine is some terrible monster is simply not true. As everything, moderation is the key with anything. Sorry I had to digress to a little hard core physiology, but I just wanted people to understand a few misconceptions they might have had about caffeine.

Any other medical questions based on body physiology I'd be happy to answer as this is my specialty.

Is it possible that the artificial sweetners in diet soda can aggravate chronic anemia? My "normal" hemoglobin is 10-11. It has been this way my entire life (never found a reason why) even before I started drinking diet sodas (which has been in the last 5 years).

Catjag

I enjoy Coke Zero but yesterday tried Zevia and quite enjoyed it. I love bubbles in my drink yet despise gassy water. I plan on testing more flavors of Zevia though I still make the bulk of the liquids I drink straight water.

Sabine_Stroehm

I drink zip fizz first thing (a bit before my workout, a bit after). (It's a powdered vitamin pack that mixes with water)
Then one green tea latte (in the colder months), or one iced tea (hotter months)
Other wise...water, or my glass of wine.

tbushjr

I'm not LDS but my wife's family is and I asked about this. I was told that it is the hotness of the drink that is a problem not the drink it's self. So that being said I suggest you drink cold tea. You can make your own and control what you use as a sweetener. Lipton makes one that works in cold water and can be made in a snap.

One other suggestion I have is to take B12 Complex. That is what is in 5 hour energy. It will pick you up but it can make you hungry too so be careful with that. Also 5 hour energy tastes a lot better very cold.

I drink a Diet coke everyday with breakfast and switch to ice tea for lunch then follow the rest of the day with water. What I have found is that the soda tends to dehydrate me but tea does not. I asked a doctor about it and was told that Diet Coke is a diuretic. Drink one and it will make you want to drink more. It also makes me hungry even when I'm not. Not good when you want to control what you eat.

It is all about moderation!

sashatranett

green tea. and add some stevia if you need some sweetness. stevia is a natural sweetener with no cals