Am I the one who gets hungrier after diet coke?

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  • CynthiasChoice
    CynthiasChoice Posts: 1,047 Member
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    I noticed that you conflated hunger with wanting to eat junk food. I would encourage you to take the time to differentiate those 2 in the moment you feel them. A lot of time, there's no hunger accompanied with the craving to eat junk.

    I think most people who ever drank sodas regularly and continue to drink them or diet sodas have trained their brains to expect junk WITH this fizzy sweet drink. I think it triggers the craving, not actual hunger.

    I definitely LOVE carbonated beverages, but I choose carbonated water now instead. Unsweetened, so I don't experience the craving for junk with it. LaCroix coconut or grapefruit flavor is really tasty.

    This sounds like the best advise!
  • Crochetluvr
    Crochetluvr Posts: 3,143 Member
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    Of course you do! Your body (plus your taste buds) can't physically differentiate real sugar from simple carbs and diet coke. All you get from it is an insulin spike, an even bigger sugar/carb tooth, and mad cravings. Do yourself a favor and wean yourself from this habit. Go to www.sweetpoison.com for further enlightenment on this topic ...

    I'm literally tying a noose around my ceiling fan right now.

    :laugh:
  • Cr01502
    Cr01502 Posts: 3,614 Member
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    Snowflake -- what happens is, when your body senses a great rush of something sweet being input, it releases a load of insulin to deal with it. Your body cannot tell the difference between sugar and artificial sweeteners in this respect. So the insulin comes gushing out and drives your blood glucose levels down REALLY FAST. That is why you crave bad foods - you body is desperate for a really quick HIT of something sugary to drive your levels back up.

    You can look up insulin in Wiki or Youtube.

    My advice is STOP DRINKING THAT CRAP!

    No, just... no. That is definitely NOT the physiology of the release insulin. Please don't spread completely wrong information. Your body DOES know the difference between glucose and artificial sugars. If it didn't, a lot of diabetics would be in trouble.

    A quick overview:

    Glucose is the major regulator of insulin release. When glucose is metabolized, it generates ATP. That ATP closes the K+ (potassium) channels which depolarizes the cell membrane of beta cells (which are the insulin producing cells of the pancreas). This then opens up calcium channels, and the influx of calcium stimulates insulin secretion.


    It's not even the "something sweet". It's glucose, period. Some foods will has more glucose than others (in the forms of disaccharides and polysaccharides), diet soda is not one of them. What is sweet in diet soda is aspartame. Aspartame is broken down into aspartic acid and phenylalanine, which are natural amino acids. Basically, stuff you'll find in other foods. In fact, phenylalanine is an essential amino acid, meaning that your body does not produce it and unless you have a genetic disorder (phenylketonuria, PKU), you have to take it in through diet. Are there people who may be sensitive to it, yeah totally. But it does not even come close to releasing insulin.



    To answer the OP's question. There was a period of time when I got really bad cravings after drinking diet soda. So I stopped drinking it for a couple of months. Then I started drinking it again and haven't had a craving since. I think the reason why I had cravings was because I actually read an article about diet sodas causing cravings around the time it started.

    But now that I think about it,I drank diet soda in high school and never had that problem, and once I did my own research, I realized that it just wasn't true. Because I expected the craving (from reading the article), it happened. It was just another excuse for gorging myself with junk. "But it's not my fault, I just had diet soda!"

    I'm actually drinking my diet coke right now and no cravings for me.

    :flowerforyou:

    Thank you for actually taking the time to write this out.
  • now_or_never13
    now_or_never13 Posts: 1,575 Member
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    Go google it. It is the stuff they put in it.. it DOES increase cravings.. I am very anti-diet soda.. that stuff is horrible.

    NOt everything on Google is correct.

    And it increases cravings for some people.. not for everyone. Be anti-diet soda all you want ... the stuff is not "horrible" and nothing has actually been proven.
  • AllAboutThatTreble
    AllAboutThatTreble Posts: 156 Member
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    If you do some research on diet sodas (Google is your friend), you will find that there are plenty of studies out there linking diet soda with obesity. The science is showing that when you drink artificial sweeteners, it actually makes your body crave sweet foods more. Thus, you will eat more.

    It's easy to link a lot of things with obesity. But correlation does not equal causation.

    I think the thing with diet soda and obesity is psychological: A person may think that they're doing themselves a favor by swapping out regular soda with diet soda. Which in truth they are. But it's easy to think: oh I just had a diet soda instead of regular soda so I can eat 2 bags of Cheetos now.

    Heck, I'll admit to doing that when I eat something low calorie. In the end though, it's the excess calories that cause obesity.
  • KenosFeoh
    KenosFeoh Posts: 1,837 Member
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    I've never noticed getting hungrier. I do get headaches from diet pop if I have more than one or two in a week, pounding, OMG-cut-my-head-off headaches.

    I will get a diet Coke sometimes when I'm driving around doing errands and feeling hungry. It satisfies me for awhile.
  • kathleennf
    kathleennf Posts: 606 Member
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    Also...while there are valid reasons to avoid soda (dental health, better alternatives, personal preference, etc) watch out for the anti-aspartame gang. They'll have you believing that a sip of the stuff will kill your whole family ancestors and all.

    EXACTLY!!
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    Of course you do! Your body (plus your taste buds) can't physically differentiate real sugar from simple carbs and diet coke. All you get from it is an insulin spike, an even bigger sugar/carb tooth, and mad cravings. Do yourself a favor and wean yourself from this habit. Go to www.sweetpoison.com for further enlightenment on this topic ...

    I'm literally tying a noose around my ceiling fan right now.

    lBklvSF.gif
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    If you do some research on diet sodas (Google is your friend), you will find that there are plenty of studies out there linking diet soda with obesity. The science is showing that when you drink artificial sweeteners, it actually makes your body crave sweet foods more. Thus, you will eat more.
    Correlation does not equal causation. Epidemiological studies often confuse the two. How about the possibility that more fat people drink diet soda because they're fat and are trying to cut calories/lose weight?

    Here's my own epidemiological study, which is equally valid: I see a lot of fat people on cardio machines; therefore, my hypothesis is that cardio machines make you fat. For the purposes of making the results of my study confirm my hypothesis, I'll completely disregard the fact that those overweight people are on those cardio machines because they're trying to lose weight. No, they got fat because they use cardio machines.
  • CynthiasChoice
    CynthiasChoice Posts: 1,047 Member
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    When we talk about the human body and it's functions as if we know something to be absolutely true, or absolutely false, we are not being very wise. What we "know for sure" is always being disproved when another unforeseen discovery is made. We can point to studies and say, "this proves blah blah blah," but if you tweak one seemingly insignificant variable in the study you may get an unexpected result, leading to a completely new understanding. Our bodies are wonderfully complex, so we should keep a healthy respect for what we don't yet know.

    Let's keep the studies coming, stay open minded and curious. The truth can hide from us, especially when we are proud of what we "know."

    Until then, I for one try to eat whole, minimally processed foods, stay aware of labeling practices, and drink water.
  • rose944
    rose944 Posts: 13 Member
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    Just don't drink it. Diet coke is not actually "diet" coke. I read in a women's top health magazine that it actually prevents faster weight loss. Just drink lots of water and eat orange slices. Best snack ever. So refreshing! Especially after a run.
  • trina1028
    trina1028 Posts: 2
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    i feel you, i come from a family of diet soda drinkers:bigsmile: , its a habit, diet drinks go with everything.
  • mmddwechanged
    mmddwechanged Posts: 1,687 Member
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    When I was in my twenties I gained about twenty five pounds in a year snacking Inbetween meals on a diet coke, family sized bag of thunder crunch potato chips and a big bean and cheese burrito. ( I lived near a convenience store). When I felt kinda disgusted in myself I dropped my bad habits... Except for the diet coke one:). It does kinda give me a feeling of empty or hungry, but I don't pay attention. I love diet coke.
  • NavyKnightAh13
    NavyKnightAh13 Posts: 1,394 Member
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    Diet pepsi suppresses my appetite for some reason (I have no idea why)....diet coke though makes me hungry for sugar.
  • Markguns
    Markguns Posts: 554 Member
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    Hi! I would love to hear some opinions about it,because I don't know if I am paranoid or this happens to other people.After drinking diet drinks,I feel like stuffing my face with crap food.Of course I don't but I have to use all my willpower not to.Any opinions? An I usually don't drink anything that is not water,but if its an special occasion I have ONE glass of diet coke.

    Try a different diet drink and see if it triggers the same response... Do you like root beer? Diet A&W was good when I drank diet sodas. I just drink various teas and coffee these days. Use Splenda as a sweetener but only 1/2 packs working to eliminate it.
  • angelcurry130
    angelcurry130 Posts: 265 Member
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    I never noticed cravings when I drank diet soda. I still ate the same healthy things that I currently eat now. I'm just not too keen on all the random chemicals swirling around in them, so I limit myself a lot these days. Really, the only thing I've noticed is that I feel less bloaty and that my skin has cleared up. So, other than some pimples, the "evil aspartame" has never done anything to me. :)
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,072 Member
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    I drink a few glasses of diet coke a couple of times per week - have not noticed any increased cravings or appetite at all myself.
  • aminer31
    aminer31 Posts: 54 Member
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    I've actually never had this problem, and as someone else pointed out, I've had quite the opposite effect. Sometimes if I drink too much (though this rarely happens anymore) the caffeine will make me feel jittery which I have mistaken for hunger before, but in moderation diet drinks make me feel full.

    Also...while there are valid reasons to avoid soda (dental health, better alternatives, personal preference, etc) watch out for the anti-aspartame gang. They'll have you believing that a sip of the stuff will kill your whole family ancestors and all.

    LOL
  • krissy_krossy
    krissy_krossy Posts: 307 Member
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    They say it makes people crave sugar (whoever "they" are.) I don't know if that's true or not, but I don't feel that at all. In fact, I feel full after diet pop and I can go the whole day without feeling hungry if I have more than 2 or 3.
  • krissy_krossy
    krissy_krossy Posts: 307 Member
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    If you do some research on diet sodas (Google is your friend), you will find that there are plenty of studies out there linking diet soda with obesity. The science is showing that when you drink artificial sweeteners, it actually makes your body crave sweet foods more. Thus, you will eat more.

    Not to be snarky, but do those studies take into account how overweight people are more likely to drink a diet beverage in the first place?

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