Diet Soda vs. Crystal Light

sahm23ladies

I quit regular soda ages ago & finally gave up diet soda last November. I wonder if all the talk about diet soda being worse for you than regular, making you crave sweets & being full of chemicals and fake sugar means that drinks like Crystal Light considered the same?

Right now, if it's not coffee or hot tea, (or beer!) I basically only drink water. I've never been a fan of it & that's all I drink... day in and day out. It gets kinda boring.

So, should Crystal Light be considered as bad as a diet soda?

:drinker:

Richie2shoes

I quit diet soda back in April, I was drinking 60-80 ounces of Diet Mountain Dew a day! I still use sweet n low in my iced tea and use crystal light. My personal experience is that I don't drink as much crystal light as I did soda. I don't know why but I always gulped soda down and sip iced tea and crystal light. I also notice that I don't have as much urge to snack like I did when I was drinking soda.

I guess any chemical is bad for you, but I like it so I'm going to drink it.

seena511

i think one of the main issues with soda is the use of all the chemicals and coloring that go into it, namely formaldehyde and phosphorus. you can probably find most of these ingredients in a lot of other foods we eat, however. crystal light has fewer ingredients and is added to actual water, not carbonated and caffeinated water that only serves to dehydrate you and contributes nothing to your physical well-being.

n0ob

Neither have to be avoided. Crystal light is more hydrating (not saying sodas dehydrate you, as that's ignorant) and I would say "better".

jasonp_ritzert

I drink Propel Zero (bottles or the mix) and there isn't a long list of ingredients, all of which I know what they do. I think it's just like anything else, in moderation is fine.

Chief_Rocka

neither is water

n0ob

neither is water

neither aren't water either...

BondBomb

neither is water

Oh Heisenberg!

Chief_Rocka

neither is water

Oh Heisenberg!

Say my name.

wildechild74

here is my experience/my body's response: i have never been a pop drinker, and if i do decide to have soda i go for regular, and generally cant even finish a can. iced tea is my weakness, unsweetened (and coffee but that is just a morning thing). for YEARS i would drink crystal light iced tea, faster than waiting for "sun tea", and the plain instant tea tastes nasty.

anyway, i could easily drink a pitcher plus a day- well hydrated. but for ME, i believe the aspartame made me hungry. aspartame in general is very controversial, some people dont have an issue, and some have said it does affect their hunger. so, in november, i gave up my relationship with crystal light. still drinking ample water, and i have noticed the difference. no more constantly feeling hungry. but that is just me.as with anything we are 'addicted to', it was hard to not have my crystal light.

brower47

i think one of the main issues with soda is the use of all the chemicals and coloring that go into it, namely formaldehyde and phosphorus. you can probably find most of these ingredients in a lot of other foods we eat, however. crystal light has fewer ingredients and is added to actual water, not carbonated and caffeinated water that only serves to dehydrate you and contributes nothing to your physical well-being.

I wouldn't worry too much about the formaldehyde you get from a can of diet coke. Most fruits (2.0 mg) (from the digestion of pectin) give us more formaldehyde than does an entire can of coke (.42 mg). Heck, a single jelly bean has more. Please help stop the myths about formaldehyde and diet soda. Heck, stop the over vilification of formaldehyde for that matter.

"A lie can travel around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." -- Mark Twain

seena511

i think one of the main issues with soda is the use of all the chemicals and coloring that go into it, namely formaldehyde and phosphorus. you can probably find most of these ingredients in a lot of other foods we eat, however. crystal light has fewer ingredients and is added to actual water, not carbonated and caffeinated water that only serves to dehydrate you and contributes nothing to your physical well-being.

I wouldn't worry too much about the formaldehyde you get from a can of diet coke. Most fruits (2.0 mg) (from the digestion of pectin) give us more formaldehyde than does an entire can of coke (.42 mg). Heck, a single jelly bean has more. Please help stop the myths about formaldehyde and diet soda. Heck, stop the over vilification of formaldehyde for that matter.

"A lie can travel around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." -- Mark Twain

hence my statement about how you can find most of these ingredients in other foods we eat.

OP, the point i was trying to make is that even if soda is not necessarily as "bad" for you as some health food gurus would have you believe, there are lots of better things you could drink as well. caffeine makes you urinate more often, and you don't get any water from that carbonation, so you end up less hydated than you were before. water however is able to actually directly contribute to muscle growth and development.

now if you'll excuse me, i'm off to buy myself a diet mountain dew.

leodru

I personally find the more natural the food the better your system reacts and the better you feel. I still have Diet Pepsi once or twice a week (although i think i shouldnt) and i find with reduced sugar and artificial sweetners in my diet i tend to not crave as much. People on here would have you not eat nuts because they are high calorie but yet if you check with most buff trainers they have lots of veg, fruit and nuts in there diet but none of aritificial sweetners. I'm not saying that its a never food but i do believe you should really restrict the amount you take in. Water and a piece of lemon is tasty and calorie free.....and all natural.

stephdeeable

I only drink water from puddles. I sure hope it rains soon.




But in seriousness, I hate crystal light and mio and all that, I just don't enjoy the taste. But I love True Lemon/True Grapefruit....if I found out it was actually made from crushed puppy bones I'd probably still drink it..

vicmonster

Arnold Palmer packets!

MizTerry

I quit colas a while back and went to diet peach tea. Yeah, the artificial sweeteners DO make you more hungry, and the calories in them, to me, were high. Recently I started drinking Sparkling Ice, it's a sparkling water with no calories, no carbs, but it does contain vitamin D, B3, B6, B12, B5 and geen tea extract.
They are REALLY good.
My favorites are black raspberry (reminds me of a sno-cone) and orange mango (tastes, to me, like a fuzzy navel).

LisaR517

When I use Crystal Light or the like, I buy the to-go packets that are intended for a 20oz bottle of water. But I only use HALF for my big water bottle and that's plenty strong enough - just enough to add some flavor w/o it being boring water!

heypurdy

I make my crystal light pink lemonade pretty watery because I hate sweet drinks. So I'm sure crystal light is better for you than diet soda.

Sarauk2sf

Unless you have a sensitivity to artificial sweeteners, then either is fine.

wellbert

Diet soda is fine. Ignore the alarmists.

AmyFett

if the fake sugars in diet soda are bad, so are the ones in crystal light. It only makes sense right? I cut out both as much as I can. I haven't had crystal light in forever. I do drink soda on occasion, but regular.