Diet soda

I drink coke zero all day long. I love it!! Hope it won't kill me, cause I am not quiting. My teeth are not the prettiest, but they weren't before I started drinking them. It's been 7 years now. YUMMMY!

It can rot your teeth. Not through sugar but citric acid which causes the enamel on your teeth to wear away. My dentist said you are better with the regular stuff and limiting it. Or if you really have to drink diet soda drink it through a straw to stop it touching your teeth.

Uhh.. Yes and no.
The amount of citric acid, and the PH of the soda, is THE SAME between regular and diet.... And yes.. they do soften tooth enamel.. If you leave your teeth soaked in them. Its not an instant thing.
No good dentist would recommend regular soda, because along with temporally softening the enamel, it has tons of sugar for bacteria.
If you sip it throughout the day, it can soften the enamel, and if you a 'grinder' you will wear your teeth down faster.

This is true for ANY acidic drink... but soda is one of the more common ones.



All that said, I drink about 2 liters a day.

Doesn't it have sodium in it?

Also, I think it's just not...right....somehow....but then, I don't even color my hair, so artificial sweeteners and flavors seem like a waste of money to me.

If you colored your hair... you'd drink diet soda?

*sits and waits*

scroll back to page 1. Answered.

I would start to be concerned about this obscene chemical luxury of yours (lol) if it was triggering unwanted/excessive hunger pangs. Artificial sweeteners on many (most?) can trigger excess appetite since the sweet taste is telling the brain that calories are on their way. When they don't come and the body was all revv'd up to receive them, then hunger is triggered. There are all sorts of scientific studies that show this and explain it in more detail. But, if you can handle it currently then I would not worry. Here is one example of many in case you are curious:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/96849.php

I drink a lot of diet soda. When I go without for whatever reason, I notice no change in my appetite. My only problem is combining diet soda, water and coffee. I spend way too much time in the bathroom. My operating plan is to alternate coffee (16 oz. cup) with 24 oz. water bottle until I've reached eight cups. I don't permit myself any diet soda until I reach my water goal, thereby limiting my soda intake both by being full and not having a diet soda until the afternoon.

Wait for Me!! Got my popcorn!! Running to get my 24 oz. Big Red Zero!!! Love a Good Diet Soda Thread!! LOL

I am totally addicted to Diet Coke, and I feel so guilty about it! I hate regular soda like a lot of people on here. I can quit it for a few months, and then I'm right back to drinking it. I have heard that you can lose weight more by avoiding diet sodas, but who knows. Obviously if I had the answer, I wouldn't be a fatty trying to figure it out!

For me I always eat cleaner drinking only water. I always seem to crave the bad foods when drinking diet coke like something salty or even chocolate (go figure). Also I never feel full drinking diet coke compared to water.

So if I understand you correctly, you catagorize foods as "good" and "bad" and salt and chocolate are in the "bad" category? What about the fact that salt is a key mineral that we can't live without? Or that chocolate is high in anti oxidants? You might want to consider that the whole good/bad thing is dependent on dose and context (a tip of the cap to Acg67). A little chocolate or a salty food in moderation occaisional can be just fine and even postive for you health.

To the OP, 2 a day is no biggie and I wouldn't lose sleep over it. I personally used to drink lots but I eliminated it because I can't just have one or 2 a day. If I start drinking it, I keep on drinking it. Just me and I know it's kinda weird. I'm also a little hung up on the fact that is nutritionally nothing so why bother. But, again, that's just me and I don't think you have anything to be concerned about at that daily dose.

A quick google inquiry lead to more research on my part, which promptly ended my 10 year love affair with diet coke.

Obviously you should do what you feel is best, but the majority of actual research on this topic shows that aside from potential migraines, diet soda is quite safe at anything resembling normal human consumption.

Like I said I went off the deep end and into completely crunchy territory food and lifestyle wise. I realize where I stand on these issues is not the standard consensus. Generally safe for human consumption is no longer good enough for me anymore. Basically, I try not to consume anything I would not feel comfortable giving my toddler. Besides that I was SHOCKED at how much my dental health has improved. That was probably a combo of food and drink changes though, not just the diet coke.

Regular soda makes me feel like I have sweaters on my teeth, so I always go for diet when I have it. The only thing I've read that seems bad about any soda is that it leaches calcium from your bones. My memory sucks, so I can't remember the exact chemical reaction. That was before I learned about peer reviewed studies, so it could be bs. I should look for one.

edited for spelling

caffeine pulls calcium from your bones.

And at what dose would that happen at a level that should cause one concern?

From the WSJ health article link I posted:

Katherine Tucker, epidemiologist at the USDA Nutrition Research Center at Tufts University and lead author of the cola study published last year, says more research is needed to determine the long-term effects of drinking cola. "The effect of dosing of phosphoric acid may be small at any one time, but a very small effect with a very constant habit may accumulate over many years," she says.

Take it for what it's worth. Like I said, it was just one group discrediting the other. I'd imagine if you're getting enough calcium in your diet otherwise, it's not a problem.

Edited to add that I'm currently drinking a diet Barq's. The only thing that'll keep me from drinking it is absolute concrete evidence that it'll make my girly parts drop out.

I used to kill some diet sun drop. I'm talking a 2 liter a day. I think that was part of my weight gain. I've since cut back to about 2 cups a day... but i don't think i can ever give up the fizzy bubbly party in my mouth feeling that diet sun drop gives me. I Diet Sun Drop!

For me I always eat cleaner drinking only water. I always seem to crave the bad foods when drinking diet coke like something salty or even chocolate (go figure). Also I never feel full drinking diet coke compared to water.

this this this! i used to be a diet coke and pizza (or diet coke and burger) kind of gal, and in the same way I can't drink alcohol without wanting to smoke, I can't have a diet coke without wanting something greasy.

I cut out the association and cravings by not having it in my diet.

I like the caffeine mornings and when I wake up from naps, and I don't drink tea in the summer. Now, I drink far less of it now simply because if I keep my water consumption somewhere around a gallon and a half to to two gallons a day I feel better, and I usually don't have time to have the soda in all that. (grin) But I will probably move to cut it out altogether when I go back on my ADHD meds; they'll dispel the brain fog and fuzziness, and the water will taste much better, since they give me dry mouth. I'm down to drinking two to three a day, so it won't be hard to cut it out when I get my meds again.

Diet soda in moderation is just fine.

When I was 235, I drank 3 cans of regular soda/day. In order to assist with weight loss, I switched out the regular for diet (helped me get to 205 by cutting out 500 calories/day).

Once I got down to 205, I cut down on the diet soda (from probably 3 cans to 1 can/day). The reason is that I seemed to crave sugar. Mind you, I didn't drink a diet and then down a bunch of cupcakes or pudding. However, that sugar craving you get while drinking diet seemed to last long past when I finished drinking a can of it.

Once I joined MFP, I decided to stop drinking diet soda. I'll still drink one child size cup per month while at the movie theater. I found that once I stopped drinking diet soda altogether, the "bloated feeling" (as well as my bloated stomach) and a lot of my sugar cravings that seem to accompany drinking diet soda went away. (See my before and current photos. I wore the same shirt. You can really see the difference in the photo taken from the side). Not all of that stomach loss was from cutting out the diet soda. I also switched to lower sodium dinners (mostly).

I look at it this way, if diet soda was a healthy choice, all of the fitness competitors, bodybuilders, and personal trainers would be carrying around 2 liter bottles of diet soda instead of a gallon of water.