coke zero

*sigh*

Having done my own research on Pubmed, WebMD, and the Mayoclinic websites, I feel safe making the following claim:

Moderate consumption of carbonated, caffeinated, diet or non-diet beverages is harmless for most people.

Some people do react negatively to aspartame (though the evidence here is anecdotal). Some people don't do well with caffeine either.

But the average person will be just fine.

For those making the scary claims... it's fear-mongering. "Chemicals" are not evil. Aspartame is just two amino acids bound together. We eat amino acids every day. Splenda is just the racimer of sucrose, meaning it's a backward version that still tastes sweet but that doesn't get digested. Neither have any effect on weight gain or loss despite what others claim (read the science... its right there in Pubmed). And the nonsense about carbonated beverages being too acidic... stomach acid is pH 1 to 2. Your Coke Zero has a pH of around 3. Your stomach can handle it.

With that out of the way, it's probably NOT a good idea to consume such beverages excessively. I have no real evidence that excessive consumption is bad... just... if you're drinking it at the expense of water... well water is probably better for you in terms of hydration.

Great post as usual Rebekah. Also sending you an FR since I deactivated and I'm now back

Diet drinks are terrible for you. When a doctor tells you he would rather see you drinking regular pop than diet then you know its bad. They say the fake sugar triggers your brain to crave more sugar... plus your drinking a chemical. Coke zero is probably the same as diet. I just dont drink any of it. Was never much of a pop drinker to begin with.

how about this list?

Well played sire, well played.

Shall have to save that somewhere .

As far as the 'chemicals' go, my usual response is to warn people about the chemical 'dhmo' which is in a lot of drinks they drink!
http://www.dhmo.org/

As others have said before me, I drink 1 or 2 cans of Coke Zero a day to satisfying the 'sweet' craving or get through a boring afternoon. It hasn't inhibited my weightloss at all, and it doesn't bring on extra cravings.

I wouldn't claim it's a healthy drink, but relative to my previous diet (full sugar Coke or 'energy' drinks) it's a vast improvement. Like eating a restricted-calorie diet, charting my exercise, and standing on the scales every week, I file drinking diet soda under "A useful tool for losing weight," not a life-long change.

I'm telling you...try some flavored seltzer water!!! Then you get your carbonation fix :bigsmile:

Yeah,Here is a hint, if it's NOT made of chemicals, it will kill you a lot faster than if it is! Chemicals are anything composed of matter on the periodic table....

Stuff that is chemicals:
Water, Oxygen, rocks, and anything that is or has ever been alive.

Stuff that isn't made of chemicals:
Electricity, Plasma, Light, Laser beams and all other forms of electromagnetic radiation.

Unless you can meet your caloric needs with electricity (a stream of electrons) or Electromagnetic radiation. I serious think you should reconsider your "Chemicals are bad" paradigm...

And in case you were planning to fall back to 'All Natural'... Here is a list of things that are All Natural...
Crude Oil, Sulfuric Acid, Hydrocloric Acid, E Coli, Cyanide, Arsenic, Strychnine, Botulism...

Many things we eat normally and have no problems with are poisonus if too much of it is eaten at once, or over a lifetime. We eat some food, like any sort of spice, because they are mildly poisonous, but when you eat them in small enough quanitiies, your body adapts and learns to cope with such toxins, creating higher tolerance and increasing the body's over all adaptability and disease resistance.

I'm just pointing out that all blanket statements are false, (including this one). And Everyone is different (this one too.)
The power of MyFitnesspal is to track what things you eat and your weight so you can see what works for you and what doesn't. If you are feeling good and losing fat mass drinking diet sodas, then where is the harm? If artificial sugars make you crave more sweets, then you know what to do if you want to lose the weight.

If you are telling someone else not to do something, because you don't approve or you heard something... Then you are telling other people what do do without knowing what is best for their particular situation, you are being bossy and you are flat out wrong. Perhaps you honestly want to help, but don't want to admit you don't know everything. It's okay, you actually start sounding smarter when you say what you do know, how you know it and what you don't know but would love to learn. Perhaps you just want to sound smart, and authoritative. Perhaps you are also jerk. :P

If you are suggesting that someone might want to avoid something, because it does something bad in some other people, that's good, you are sharing information that could help someone. Keep an ear open that other people have competing evidence, And when that evidence consists of formal scientific studies researched on long established sources, try not to be arrogant in your belief that what you heard some one say once should have the same weigh.

If you are taking the most credible advice from several sources, particularly weighing scientific controlled studies of large number of people. measuring specific health effects over time balanced against your own personal experience, then don't let anyone tell you something is bad because it contains "chemicals" or something is good because it's "all-natural" or "organic". Because such things are giant oversimplifications and you are smart enough for more nuanced analysis.

Don't let others think for you or tell you want to do.... Not even me! It's your body, your life. Be a scientist and experiment. Use MFP to track what happens to your body when you add or remove different things from your menu. And please don't be telling other people what to do or what they should do.


Thanks,

Aspera