Water, Soda and Bananas

Water is good for you, to put it simply. Your body needs water for a lot of its daily functions. Being properly hrdrated keeps your brain and internal organs healthy, keeps your body running like it should, and may even help reduce cravings (sometimes your body goes into craving mode, where it wants food, but in reality you're really just in need of some hydration)

You're going to get a lot of differing opinions on diet soda. It really comes down to whether you are okay with artificial sweeteners or not. Some people will tell you that aspartame is the devil's *kitten* that will grow fat on your belly, and other people will tell you that its perfectly harmless. Some will say that it increases your cravings for sweets, and others will say that diet soda is a good zero calorie cure for sweet cravings (I'm in the latter group, but I do believe that for some people, it increases cravings). My recommendation is that you do your own research and draw your own conclusion about it.

That being said, diet soda *will* hydrate you. Just because its flavored and carbonated does not take away the fact that it is water based. However, if it is caffeinated it will not hydrate you as well as water because caffeine is a diuretic (meaning it has to make you pee a lot) so you will expel some of the liquid. Personally, aspartame is a bit of a diuretic to me as well, but it doesn't have that effect on every one. I drink diet soda and I love it. THis is a very controversial topic though. I highly recommend looking through some credible sources (google scholar is a good start)

Bananas are healthy for you. Yes, they are higher in calories than most fruit, but one regular sized banana is just about 100 calories, so they're not exactly calorie dense. You should definitely factor them into your daily calorie goal, but do not stay away from them because you think they are fattening. Look at a banana, think of it as 100 SUPER HEALTHY calories, and then *you* decide if you like bananas enough to spend 100 calories on it. This is not like a brownie, where you try to fit in an unhealthy splurge. Bananas are very good for you and if you want a banana, you should make it fit.

Your body needs water for several reasons, to keep you hydrated because that is what carries the food and oxygen to all the cells in your body via your blood stream. It also assists in the prevention of cravings. Often when your body need water you think you are hungry (cravings) but you really need some water. Eight glasses a day is not that much, if you have a glass before and after each meal that's already six glasses and you only need another two.

Soda is not good for you not only because of the sugar (or artificial sweetener) content, but any fizzy drink acts as a diuretic, in that it makes your body pass more water than you take in, therefore it could potentially contribute to dehydration. Tea and coffee have the same effect and do not count towards hydration.

Bananas, love bananas, beside being a fruit, they are rich in potassium, calcium and manganese, fill you when you have one and fill you with energy. Great after a workout.

You should be drinking enough that your urine is light straw yellow to almost clear. If you're peeing every hour and the pee looks like water, you're drinking more than you need. It probably won't hurt you, but it probably won't help you either. Also, all the water content in your food and other beverages counts as water, so technically you get water from tea, milk, juice, lemonade, watermelon, etc, etc, etc.

I think diet soda is probably 'health neutral' for most people. If you like it, enjoy it in moderation and you'll probably be fine.

And no, bananas don't make you fat - too many calories make you fat.