Cutting out diet soda

Sarauk2sf

What's soda? Is that like, pop?

Yes

Jennifer076

I used to drink monster energy(big can) drinks EVERYDAY for along time, coca cola, and mt.dew( only fountain pop often). I am proud to say that I haven't had any of it in about a month.I don't drink diet pops either. I drink coffee in the a.m. and water for the rest of the day. I feel that I have a lot more energy then before. But I also take B12 vitamins. I can also see a difference in my skin. It's nice not having those mid day crashes.

KarenJean91

I remember reading about how diet soda makes you crave sugary things....... didn't realize how true that was until I stopped drinking it!!! It helped me a lot.

extraordinary_machine

You've made so many other changes, I seriously doubt it's just due to the lack of soda.Correlation=/= causation.

paleirishmother

Are you sure that is the only reason?

Juashmom

Thats awesome! I quit drinking diet soda when I started MFP...I was drinking nothing but diet soda all day every day! Quiting was a challenge the first few days I went cold turkey then decided to have a small juice glass when I felt the headach coming on..this helped...I haven't cut it out completely either I will have a diet coke when I go out to eat (which is more often than I like to admit)...I did notice a difference as I have other times when I've given it up...I'm not as puffy...but then I'm prone to water retention..

RECowgill

I know my statement sounded a bit extreme, but I prefer to avoid the stuff completely. I just think its better to not have it than to have it. And if someone feels like they need it as a reward or something, I would encourage them to look at the rewards of not drinking it. It's like fast food, does anyone really need it, ever? Ideally people would consume exactly zero amount of it.

I think anyone serious about their health just needs to cut out all soda, diet or otherwise, and corn syrup (as much as possible). It's not just about inches on your waist, there's diabetes and heart/blood problems, kidney stones, muscle loss, all very serious. Figure out how to quit drinking it and do that thing. Most people won't need to supplement it with something else, your energy levels from diet and exercise should naturally increase.

So you are saying that soda, diet soda, corn syrup has risks for diabetes and heart/blood problems at any dosage?

suzywantsitall

ok giving up All diet soda, Only drinking lite Beer, Not really, I too have to stop the diet Mt.Dew, I lose count on how many a day I have, but do know there are days I have headaches from to many. My goal for December is too only have 3 a day.

Selunca

I just wanted to say that I did this too, only drinking it on special occasions (Christmas, etc.) but otherwise don't drink really anything other then water and after a few months, I don't even miss it. I feel 100% better and enjoy other things, I drink tea and coffee now and haven't been happier.

Sarauk2sf

I know my statement sounded a bit extreme, but I prefer to avoid the stuff completely. I just think its better to not have it than to have it. And if someone feels like they need it as a reward or something, I would encourage them to look at the rewards of not drinking it. It's like fast food, does anyone really need it, ever? Ideally people would consume exactly zero amount of it.

I think anyone serious about their health just needs to cut out all soda, diet or otherwise, and corn syrup (as much as possible). It's not just about inches on your waist, there's diabetes and heart/blood problems, kidney stones, muscle loss, all very serious. Figure out how to quit drinking it and do that thing. Most people won't need to supplement it with something else, your energy levels from diet and exercise should naturally increase.

So you are saying that soda, diet soda, corn syrup has risks for diabetes and heart/blood problems at any dosage?

Do we need it? No. Do we need any individual foods? No. Do we want it because in reasonable dosage there is not harm and its yummy? - Yes, so why not?

IMO your statement sounded extreme because it was.

rsellersCST

I remember reading about how diet soda makes you crave sugary things....... didn't realize how true that was until I stopped drinking it!!! It helped me a lot.

^^This^^

Soda was something I never thought I'd be able to kick. It was actually my teenage daughter that inspired me... she gave it up for the most part... opting for water even when soda was readily available. I started doing the same... and I had HEARD the same things... that it's the cravings...

THAT was really an issue for me before... one that I didn't even realize how big it was... until I actually kicked the habit... once I was clear of the soda for a few weeks it dawned on me that I wasn't craving the crap I used to. Then I had some sodas here and there... and wouldn't you know... I noticed some cravings I hadn't had in a couple months... I stopped and thought about it... SODA!

That's what it was for me anyway.

Now... I really crave coffee about 2-3 times a week... we'll see if I can eventually kick that down... who knows!

jereneyz

You've made so many other changes, I seriously doubt it's just due to the lack of soda.Correlation=/= causation.

The reason why I think it's the diet soda is:

Not necessarily. However, I've been on and off diets for the past 13 years. (...) The only differentiating factor this time is diet soda. So I'm inclined to believe that it is the root cause.

Sarauk2sf

You've made so many other changes, I seriously doubt it's just due to the lack of soda.Correlation=/= causation.

The reason why I think it's the diet soda is:

Not necessarily. However, I've been on and off diets for the past 13 years. (...) The only differentiating factor this time is diet soda. So I'm inclined to believe that it is the root cause.

Have you tracked your calories throughout all that time?

ninerbuff

I have put on about 3 lbs though. Also, inches are dropping off as well. Furthermore, I'm doing weights and aerobics.

When you start any lifting/exercise program, weight gain is not uncommon. The gain is from water/glycogen storage. Muscle is VERY hard to put on even if you're nutritionally sound and in calorie surplus.

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

ninerbuff

I think anyone serious about their health just needs to cut out all soda, diet or otherwise, and corn syrup (as much as possible). It's not just about inches on your waist, there's diabetes and heart/blood problems, kidney stones, muscle loss, all very serious. Figure out how to quit drinking it and do that thing. Most people won't need to supplement it with something else, your energy levels from diet and exercise should naturally increase.

You can't attribute all those symptoms to just soda/diet soda. Correlation isn't causation. Unless you have peer reviewed clinical studies backing the claim, the symptoms could be caused by genetics, obesity/being overweight, etc.

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

RECowgill

No worries, I see from your bio that you're opinionated about foods and people's attitudes towards them. Your approach isn't a clean/pure one, that works for you. I just avoid these things because I don't need them or want them.

For what its worth I'm not a perfect eater myself. I'm not into any clean eating, I have my less-than-ideal foods. But I take exception with soda, as food products go, I think it does more harm than good.

I know my statement sounded a bit extreme, but I prefer to avoid the stuff completely. I just think its better to not have it than to have it. And if someone feels like they need it as a reward or something, I would encourage them to look at the rewards of not drinking it. It's like fast food, does anyone really need it, ever? Ideally people would consume exactly zero amount of it.

I think anyone serious about their health just needs to cut out all soda, diet or otherwise, and corn syrup (as much as possible). It's not just about inches on your waist, there's diabetes and heart/blood problems, kidney stones, muscle loss, all very serious. Figure out how to quit drinking it and do that thing. Most people won't need to supplement it with something else, your energy levels from diet and exercise should naturally increase.

So you are saying that soda, diet soda, corn syrup has risks for diabetes and heart/blood problems at any dosage?

Do we need it? No. Do we need any individual foods? No. Do we want it because in reasonable dosage there is not harm and its yummy? - Yes, so why not?

IMO your statement sounded extreme because it was.

RECowgill

I don't doubt your knowledge, but I thought it was pretty well established that soda and corn syrup can contribute towards:
* weight gain
* muscle loss
* diabetes
* kidney stones

In addition to the reasons you suggest like genetics. I never said it was soda alone that caused these problems.

I think anyone serious about their health just needs to cut out all soda, diet or otherwise, and corn syrup (as much as possible). It's not just about inches on your waist, there's diabetes and heart/blood problems, kidney stones, muscle loss, all very serious. Figure out how to quit drinking it and do that thing. Most people won't need to supplement it with something else, your energy levels from diet and exercise should naturally increase.

You can't attribute all those symptoms to just soda/diet soda. Correlation isn't causation. Unless you have peer reviewed clinical studies backing the claim, the symptoms could be caused by genetics, obesity/being overweight, etc.

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

Sarauk2sf

I don't doubt your knowledge, but I thought it was pretty well established that soda and corn syrup can contribute towards:
* weight gain
* muscle loss
* diabetes
* kidney stones

In addition to the reasons you suggest like genetics. I never said it was soda alone that caused these problems.

I think anyone serious about their health just needs to cut out all soda, diet or otherwise, and corn syrup (as much as possible). It's not just about inches on your waist, there's diabetes and heart/blood problems, kidney stones, muscle loss, all very serious. Figure out how to quit drinking it and do that thing. Most people won't need to supplement it with something else, your energy levels from diet and exercise should naturally increase.

You can't attribute all those symptoms to just soda/diet soda. Correlation isn't causation. Unless you have peer reviewed clinical studies backing the claim, the symptoms could be caused by genetics, obesity/being overweight, etc.

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

Could you cite sources of studies or even articles from reputable sources that show a causation of these problems from soda and corn syrup. It is not well established as far as I am aware.

Sarauk2sf

No worries, I see from your bio that you're opinionated about foods and people's attitudes towards them. Your approach isn't a clean/pure one, that works for you. I just avoid these things because I don't need them or want them.

For what its worth I'm not a perfect eater myself. I'm not into any clean eating, I have my less-than-ideal foods. But I take exception with soda, as food products go, I think it does more harm than good.

I know my statement sounded a bit extreme, but I prefer to avoid the stuff completely. I just think its better to not have it than to have it. And if someone feels like they need it as a reward or something, I would encourage them to look at the rewards of not drinking it. It's like fast food, does anyone really need it, ever? Ideally people would consume exactly zero amount of it.

I think anyone serious about their health just needs to cut out all soda, diet or otherwise, and corn syrup (as much as possible). It's not just about inches on your waist, there's diabetes and heart/blood problems, kidney stones, muscle loss, all very serious. Figure out how to quit drinking it and do that thing. Most people won't need to supplement it with something else, your energy levels from diet and exercise should naturally increase.

So you are saying that soda, diet soda, corn syrup has risks for diabetes and heart/blood problems at any dosage?

Do we need it? No. Do we need any individual foods? No. Do we want it because in reasonable dosage there is not harm and its yummy? - Yes, so why not?

IMO your statement sounded extreme because it was.

You are obviously rather opinionated yourself - see bold. Far more than me to be honest. I generally back my opinions up with peer based studies when making a claim where possible. You have not.

If you do not want a food, that is fine and I respect that. But making claims about them that have no basis is a very different matter.

GingerRunner

For those looking to replace soda, even sweetened iced tea is a healthier choice--at least you get some good phytochemicals and stuff. Plus, most people make it with regular old sugar, which is a step up the bad list from HFCS. And if you make your own, you can gradually back off on the sugar. I've learned to like unsweetened green or black tea, but it took a determined effort fueled mostly by my resentment/disappointment that I had become addicted to mass produced garbage.

True story. This is exactly how I quit sodas several years ago. I substituted it for sweet tea made at home. Then I backed out of the sugar. That kept me from going bonkers "needing" a drink that had more flavor than just plain water.

Fast forward several years (I guess my final good bye to sodas was about 5 years ago) I only drink coffee in the morning and water the rest of the day. If I am running a lot outside in the summer I do have the occasional sports drink and I always have sugar free electrolyte replacement powders. Other than that, water.

Oh, and my lovely vice--red wine.

jereneyz

You've made so many other changes, I seriously doubt it's just due to the lack of soda.Correlation=/= causation.

The reason why I think it's the diet soda is:

Not necessarily. However, I've been on and off diets for the past 13 years. (...) The only differentiating factor this time is diet soda. So I'm inclined to believe that it is the root cause.

Have you tracked your calories throughout all that time?

Yes.

RECowgill

replied below.

RECowgill

You are obviously rather opinionated yourself - see bold. Far more than me to be honest. I generally back my opinions up with peer based studies when making a claim where possible. You have not.

If you do not want a food, that is fine and I respect that. But making claims about them that have no basis is a very different matter.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1829363/

Would you count this as reputable? They cite peer reviewed research that shows soda and especially corn syrup can cause type 2 diabetes, weight gain and other negative health outcomes, including liver problems and cancer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/health/nutrition/22real.html?em&ex=1201410000&en=66790a693871559a&ei=5087 &_r=0

This article states that the NIH did controlled studies on heavy soda drinkers and found their kidney related problems, including kidney stones, shot up by 2x.

Sarauk2sf

You are obviously rather opinionated yourself - see bold. Far more than me to be honest. I generally back my opinions up with peer based studies when making a claim where possible. You have not.

If you do not want a food, that is fine and I respect that. But making claims about them that have no basis is a very different matter.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1829363/

Would you count this as reputable? They cite peer reviewed research that shows soda and especially corn syrup can cause type 2 diabetes, weight gain and other negative health outcomes, including liver problems and cancer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/health/nutrition/22real.html?em&ex=1201410000&en=66790a693871559a&ei=5087 &_r=0

This article states that the NIH did controlled studies on heavy soda drinkers and found their kidney related problems, including kidney stones, shot up by 2x.

Thank you for actually providing something.

I need to look at these in more detail (it's late here) to comment further but from a quick look what I am seeing is there is correlation and not causation from meta analysis. Also, this is on non-diet soda where the topic at hand is in relation to diet soda.

As noted in the first link, the main issue is that drinking non-diet soda for example, displaces drinking more nutritious and less calorific beverages. For someone on a calorie controlled diet as most people on this site are, there is no direct issue with drinking soda assuming an otherwise nutritious diet. And no issues were noted with diet soda.

Also, the highest consumption of soda was found in diets that were pretty cr@ppy generally. Why blame the soda? - the blame can equally lay at the feet of the fast food burgers. Again, correlation, not causation

With regard to the second link - I cannot see the actual study so cannot comment but this was linked to cola only and specifically mentioned that it was not linked to any other kind of soda. Unfortunately the study is not cited in the article.

Do you have anything on the muscle loss you mentioned? I would be interested in seeing that. Could you also cite anything you have in relation to diet soda causing the issues you noted. As I mention above, this is what the topic is about.

To be clear - do I think high consumption of non-diet sodas a good idea? - absolutely not.

Sarauk2sf

You've made so many other changes, I seriously doubt it's just due to the lack of soda.Correlation=/= causation.

The reason why I think it's the diet soda is:

Not necessarily. However, I've been on and off diets for the past 13 years. (...) The only differentiating factor this time is diet soda. So I'm inclined to believe that it is the root cause.

Have you tracked your calories throughout all that time?

Yes.

And you did exactly the same exercises?

jereneyz

You've made so many other changes, I seriously doubt it's just due to the lack of soda.Correlation=/= causation.

The reason why I think it's the diet soda is:

Not necessarily. However, I've been on and off diets for the past 13 years. (...) The only differentiating factor this time is diet soda. So I'm inclined to believe that it is the root cause.

Have you tracked your calories throughout all that time?

Yes.

And you did exactly the same exercises?

Yes. In fact, slightly more than now, but not by much. If you'd re-read my original post, if I didn't realize that there are probably other factors that contribute to my lost inches / better complexion, I wouldn't bother mentioning all the other changes in the first place..? I ate roughly the same food too (amount / types). However, the major change is soda, ergo my conclusion.

If you want to believe that it's all the other changes, I'm aware of it and I'm happy with that too. But personally, I'm leaning more towards the soda change.

Sarauk2sf

You've made so many other changes, I seriously doubt it's just due to the lack of soda.Correlation=/= causation.

The reason why I think it's the diet soda is:

Not necessarily. However, I've been on and off diets for the past 13 years. (...) The only differentiating factor this time is diet soda. So I'm inclined to believe that it is the root cause.

Have you tracked your calories throughout all that time?

Yes.

And you did exactly the same exercises?

Yes. In fact, slightly more than now, but not by much. If you'd re-read my original post, if I didn't realize that there are probably other factors that contribute to my lost inches / better complexion, I wouldn't bother mentioning all the other changes in the first place..? I ate roughly the same food too (amount / types). However, the major change is soda, ergo my conclusion.

If you want to believe that it's all the other changes, I'm aware of it and I'm happy with that too. But personally, I'm leaning more towards the soda change.

Sounds legit

rousehouse

I remember reading about how diet soda makes you crave sugary things....... didn't realize how true that was until I stopped drinking it!!! It helped me a lot.

Same here! When I stopped drinking diet soda, it made a huge difference in how hungry I was. I drank a lot of it (2+ litres per day).

takumaku

I think anyone serious about their health just needs to cut out all soda, diet or otherwise, and corn syrup (as much as possible). It's not just about inches on your waist, there's diabetes and heart/blood problems, kidney stones, muscle loss, all very serious. Figure out how to quit drinking it and do that thing. Most people won't need to supplement it with something else, your energy levels from diet and exercise should naturally increase.

I feel I should respond to this statement because of my knowledge in research/statistical methodology. The statement above, I feel, is demonstrating questionable cause logical fallacy (cum hoc ergo propter hoc) ... correlation proves causation.

If we let A be the statement, "those who are serious about their health". Let B be the statement "needs to cut out all soda and corn syrup". Let C be the statement "diabetes, and heart/blood problems, kidney stones, muscle loss..."

A --> B --> C .... and ... C --> B --> A

It is questionable because the causation which is illogical, however inferred in the statement is "IF we give up soda THEN we will not have diabetes, heart/blood problems, kidney stones, and muscle loss" in ALL CASES.

I do not have kidney stones, muscle loss, heart problems, blood problems, or diabetes, yet I drink diet sodas on a regular basis. Because my case invalidates the OP's statement, a causation does not exist. I agree a correlation exist.

Therefore, "Correlation does not imply causation"

RECowgill

I feel I should respond to this statement because of my knowledge in research/statistical methodology. The statement above, I feel, is demonstrating questionable cause logical fallacy (cum hoc ergo propter hoc) ... correlation proves causation. <snip>

Like a wordsmith scientist mining for truth.