Thoughts on Diet Coke

now_or_never12

Some say that artificial sweeteners cause them to crave more sweets. I don't find that happens to me. Some avoid it because it causes migraines.

Unless you have a medical issue with the ingredients I don't think there's a reason to not drink it. I drink it regularly... I prefer the taste of the diet over the sweetness of regular pop however some people hate the taste.

For me I find diet pop helps me to not eat. It's a treat for me as I don't have it regularly so it helps for me.

heatherina1983

Blurgh can't stand the taste of it. I'll have a can of regular coke every so often. I really wish I liked the taste of water but I find it hard to drink unless i'm exercising or dying of thirst. Tend to stick to squash.

gwenmf

I drink diet pop all the time.
My sister drank it all the time while PREGNANT and her kids have all their toes.
My Grandmother drinks it and she is 95 living on her own.

That's enough scientific data for me to keep drinking it!! Awesome! thanks! lol

KittieLea

I used to drink diet cokes everyday. There was nothing better than a diet coke with real lime from Sonic. It never affected my weight loss either. However, during this time, I got headaches daily. My doctor told me to quit drinking all diet drinks or drinks that contain aspartame. He suggested having a "real" coke once or twice a week as a treat but stay away from diet, so I did and the heachaches disappeared. Pretty scary! I still need caffeine but now I drink black coffee.

TexanThom

I mix Diet Dr. Pepper Cherry with Sprite Zero, half and half. Best tasting diet drink I have found.

myfitnessnmhoy

Probably harmless, the FDA is happy with it.

I will, however, state a non-medical personal two-part opinion on sweet drinks which you may take or ignore as you like.

Chemicals are our friends. We use chemicals every day for a variety of ways to benefit our bodies. I submit that using a chemical to make a drink sweet may not be an optimal use if you can learn to do without it. There's a near-zero chance that aspartame is hurting your weight loss, but a zero chance that unsweetened water would.

I found when I was drinking soda frequently that the daily ingestion of something sweet exacerbated my cravings for other sweet things, even if that sweet was from a zero-calorie sweetener. I switched from full-sugar soda to diet, and didn't notice much of a difference. When I gave up soda entirely, my outlook on food underwent a pretty dramatic change for the better. In my personal experience, which may or may not match yours, I find things like donuts and sweets a lot easier to resist now that the diet soda monkey is off my back. I also enjoy the actual taste of sweet things more but get tired of the sweetness sooner, and therefore can get by with a lot less of them to satisfy what cravings I do have. My overall diet is a lot cleaner, and it wasn't really much of a conscious effort on my part once the diet soda went bye-bye.

elaineanne1

i do drink diet coke but wish I did'nt, I try to keep it down to one a one a day unless I am feeling stressed.

Cgrnlaw

I may have one every once in a while, like one in two weeks/

kaydensmom12

I think that its made with aspartame, not splenda? My nursing instructor told us that aspartame (nutrasweet) is neurotoxic by allowing too much glutamate into the cells, which may eventually cause multiple sclerosis, parkinsons disease, alzheimers, brain lesions. She said that splenda is not as bad for you.

She also said that when you open the pop and all of the mist comes off of it, it is actually formaldehyde (embalming fluid), there is much more of it when the diet coke is at room temp.

Real pop is healthier for you than diet. You are not going to automatically die if you drink it, it happens slowly.

CountryMom03

Is there research on it or just internet myths? I believe it's harmless. The FDA believes it's harmless.

There is tons out there of proven studies that show how dangerous it is. You just have to go look it all up yourself because the media and food companies wont tell you these things. And its not like if you drink it, your going to automatically get sick or die, its very slow and causes other problems, cancers, etc that they blame on other things. Also...the FDA is a joke...look up and do your research on them. If it comes out of the mouths of the FDA then you can bet its a lie. Most people though believe them and wont ever do their own research and see the ties and the truth. Thats all Im going to say about this though because I know that nothing I say will change anyones mind, it will probably go in one ear and out the other like it always does with most people:) Everyone has to make their own decisions and make the best choice for them:) Zero and Free drinks also contain it along with most low fat and non fat products. Eat & Drink the real stuff and do it in moderation.

~Carrie~

Dare2BThin

I prefer diet pespi but will drink diet coke Im down to one a day with lunch..I also drink tons of water too

ninerbuff

It's just crap.

Ignoring the health stuff - fizzy drinks are so bad for teeth. Why not just have fresh juice instead or concentrate?

It's sugar that's bad for the teeth not the fizz. And juice has more sugar than many other sodas.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

kgprice11

Don't drink pop (soda) that much maybe once or twice on the weekends. But other than that it is so calorie consuming from just one can

Bobby_Clerici

I am into optimal health, and Diet Coke is not it.
Green tea is healthier. No debate.
We don't know what these diet sodas really do to our bodies long term, and I'll take my changes with green tea over some processed soda laced with chemicals.
Maybe they're harmless though....:noway:
Good luck....

ninerbuff

I use diet coke to strip the finish off of my golf clubs (wedges). The stuff literally eats off the finish......it's better than CLR.

In terms of drinking it, see what I just said.

So will baking soda, but apparently it's okay to ingest. The hydrochloric acid in your stomach obliterates the fizz in any soft drink.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

m16shane

Moderation!!!

For me their need to be a balance in life. Be healthy, but if you enjoy something (diet coke, a Reese's cup, etc...) than do it moderation. Be smart about your choices and you can enjoy the little things in life.

myfitnessnmhoy

I used to drink diet cokes everyday. There was nothing better than a diet coke with real lime from Sonic. It never affected my weight loss either. However, during this time, I got headaches daily. My doctor told me to quit drinking all diet drinks or drinks that contain aspartame. He suggested having a "real" coke once or twice a week as a treat but stay away from diet, so I did and the heachaches disappeared. Pretty scary! I still need caffeine but now I drink black coffee.

There are people who are sensitive to aspartame, and it can trigger a headache (and other reactions) in members of that sensitive population. So this is good advice - if you get frequent headaches and you're drinking diet pop, try giving up the pop for a week or two and see if it helps.

If you're drinking caffeinated pop, though, be sure to replace that caffeine with another source (black coffee, caffeinated tea, etc) or you'll find a whole new definition of the word "severe headache" and invalidate your experiment entirely. Or be prepared to suffer through a few days of caffeine withdrawal, which means it might take two weeks for the headaches to go away.

Avoid headache-specific painkillers during this transition. Most contain caffeine, so you're just prolonging the addiction. Read the labels carefully and avoid the ones that contain caffeine (or use them but understand that you're still going to have continued withdrawal symptoms, albeit less severe ones because most headache meds contain very low doses of caffeine).

Loves418

I have switched to coke zero it takes like regular soda to me. I hate diet soda but this one is good. I drink one a day either with lunch or dinner. I also don't drink coffee so it is my only caffeine.

NovemberJune

I drink one can a day and it hasn't hindered my weight loss. I drink a lot of water too, always have.

dirtyloveletters

I used to drink diet coke excessively to substitute meals ( i was bulimic) and because I refused to drink water. Im always dehydrated. I bought a book called "skinny *****' and it taught me about aspartame. I eventually managed to get used to water and drank it all the time instead of diet coke but im back on the diet coke yet again! I buy a huge 30pack of cans from costco but I have about 11 left. Once they are finished, that is it. I don't want to go back to the stuff. It's lovely but I don't want to feel like I need it to survive because I don't and I can do better than it.

Thats a useless ramble, sorry. But the book is really good...

mayerel

I still drink a can or two everyday. Still losing weight!

I track everything I eat so, while I do eat sweets, I don't attribute it to the Diet Coke and I still remain within my calorie count. And, if it kills me, slowly, in 40+ years, I'm ok with it. We're all going to die at some point, may as well enjoy the ride!

ninerbuff

Is there research on it or just internet myths? I believe it's harmless. The FDA believes it's harmless.

FDA?! SchmeshDA!

FDA sponsored by who?

To anyone interested, check out the Sweet Misery documentary, available on-line ... Watch that and tell me there isn't reasonable doubt ...

Personally I'll take peer reviewed scientific evidence over any documentary unless that documentary actually presents it that way.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

kaydensmom12

I still drink a can or two everyday. Still losing weight!

I track everything I eat so, while I do eat sweets, I don't attribute it to the Diet Coke and I still remain within my calorie count. And, if it kills me, slowly, in 40+ years, I'm ok with it. We're all going to die at some point, may as well enjoy the ride!

I would rather die in 40 years due to old age, rather than die uncomfortably with Parkinsons or MS, the ride won't be as sweet then:)

CountryMom03

I use diet coke to strip the finish off of my golf clubs (wedges). The stuff literally eats off the finish......it's better than CLR.

In terms of drinking it, see what I just said.

:flowerforyou:

luv_lea

...It goes well with rum.

jsidel126

I used to drink a lot of Diet Coke when it was my only drink. Now I have it accasionally and I usually water it down 2-3:1.
Still plenty sweet. My taste has changed and I prefer less sweet drinks.

ninerbuff

I think that its made with aspartame, not splenda? My nursing instructor told us that aspartame (nutrasweet) is neurotoxic by allowing too much glutamate into the cells, which may eventually cause multiple sclerosis, parkinsons disease, alzheimers, brain lesions. She said that splenda is not as bad for you.

She also said that when you open the pop and all of the mist comes off of it, it is actually formaldehyde (embalming fluid), there is much more of it when the diet coke is at room temp.

Real pop is healthier for you than diet. You are not going to automatically die if you drink it, it happens slowly.

Did you realize that eating fruits and vegetables also forms formaldehyde in the body? Alarmism at it's best.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

HunterKiller_wechange

Tastes like crap. I prefer Diet Pepsi but dont have it often. As for whats in it, i think anything artificial best avoided.

Clarevmb

Prefer Pepsi Max but only drink one or two glasses a week. Eldest son is a cola/Dr Pepper addict and try to limit him to one glass a day - everything in moderation.
However if you've seen the Daily Mail today (UK) they are linking the caramel colouring in coca cola with cancer (4-methylimidazole). Seemingly coca cola has switched to new manufacturing process in US to bring down the levels of this chemical. So maybe aspartame is not your main concern!

dirtyloveletters

I use diet coke to strip the finish off of my golf clubs (wedges). The stuff literally eats off the finish......it's better than CLR.

In terms of drinking it, see what I just said.

:flowerforyou:

I really need to get my *kitten* in gear.