Elimination of Diet Soda & Reduction in Cravings

I gave it up a year ago (Feb 22!) and did not find eliminating it changed my cravings for sugar or made me feel any different physically. I was seriously addicted though and drank 10+ a day, which I didn't like about myself.

What changed my craving for sugar was eating less actual sugar.

I have basically given up diet sodas. Not so much for the sweetner as for the salt. When I drink diet sodas I swell HORRIBLY. The side affect I have found is that I don't crave sweets as bad as I did. So the benefits have been two fold.

I haven't had ANY form of carbonated beverage since 12/25/12 (the day I joined MFP). I drank diet pepsi daily. I have to say I feel great. Less bloating, less gas, and I guess less sugar cravings. I've never super-loved sweets but prior to joining, I was having something daily. I don't crave sweets now. I think that cutting this out has numerous health benefits and would advocate it to anyone who asks.

I struggled with quitting diet soda for a long time. I even went back on my ECA stack thinking it was just the caffeine I was addicted to. Not the case! I actually was finally able to quit it after reading "the 4 hour body". I couldn't believe how all those artificial sweeteners keep the weight on...

I used to drink 3 large sodas a day from McDonalds (310 calories each, 80 something grams of sugar, YUCK). I haven't had a regular soda since April of 2012. I drank nothing but water for 8 months and had a sip of diet Dr. Pepper and was hooked. I was drinking that more than water.

I noticed once I started drinking diet Dr. Pepper, I started craving sweets again. I've really cut back on diet soda and I very rarely crave sweets now. It could be all in my head and have nothing to do with the diet soda... but I'm really trying to eliminate soda completely so whatever it takes to make it happen, I'll take!

I have not been able to completely eliminate non-calorie sweetened drinks. However, on the DAYs when I drink pure water I eat and crave substantially less.

I can't say that giving up diet sodas decreased my cravings for sweet treats, however, it did decrease my daily headaches I got when I drank them.
Drinking diet sodas with aspartame=headaches for me
NO diet sodas=no headaches

Good luck!

I just posted something similar on the Food and Nutrition thread:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/886397-no-more-diet-coke


I stopped drinking Diet Coke about four months ago and I have definitely noticed a big decrease in my urge for candy and sweets. I really think it was due to the Diet Coke. I think since it was still sweet tasting it fueled my desire for sweets. Others posted on the thread that they found that out as well.

I now mainly drink water. I still have artificially-sweetened creamer in my coffee in the morning, and once in a great while I will have artificially sweetened iced tea. But mainly I do water.

My father was a diabetic so I got started on diet soda at a young age. When I first lost weight in HS I reduced the amount of diet soda I consumed (We oblitered 1.5 bottles of 3 liter diet orange soda a day). The second time around Iost 60 pounds and I was on an all natural diet. Now I am drinking more water and have lost 50+ pounds. I do not think its really the soda per se, I do believe that it is the amount of soda you consume. We drank diet soda like it was tap water.

But, it has no calorie. :sad: Y'all are scaring me. *takes a sip of her Diet A&W Root Beer*

4m3 one of my friends on here drinks almond milk with G&B cocoa powder. That's right up my street but I've not seen almond milk where I live. I'm going to venture further affield to see if I have better luck. Chocolate almonds are sorting out my cravings at the moment! Good tip there everyone!

This might help you
Could diet soda make you fat? How zero-calorie sweeteners trick your brain into thinking you're hungry when you're not

By Victoria Wellman

PUBLISHED: 17:47 GMT, 19 June 2012 | UPDATED: 06:58 GMT, 20 June 2012

Comments (24)
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Drinking diet soda could have the exact opposite results when it comes to weight loss than we have been led to believe, according to a new study.

Researchers in San Diego have revealed that low-to-no calorie fizzy beverages could actually encourage overeating and contribute to obesity.

Scientists are attributing the startling new findings to a chemical reaction in the brain when saccharin is introduced to the blood stream of a person who regularly consumes diet drinks versus one who doesn't.
Fattening? A new report suggests that drinking diet soda could in fact make you eat more and put on weight

Fattening? A new report finds that drinking diet soda could in fact make you eat more and put on weight

At some level, scientists believe, the brain can distinguish between calorie-free sweetener and regular sugar but in those that drink diet soda at least once a day, new tests showed that the brain became confused and could no longer tell the difference.

If this is the case, then calorific intake and subsequent energy consumption cannot be 'calculated' and a person is tricked into thinking they need more food.

Susan Swithers of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana admitted to ScienceNews.org: 'This idea that there could be fundamental differences in how people respond to sweet tastes based on their experience with diet sodas is not something that has gotten much attention.'


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The tests that found these aberrations in 'reward activation' areas of the brain were conducted by Erin Green and Claire Murphy of the University of California, San Diego, and San Diego State University scientists.

24 healthy young adults were subjected to a series of brain imagining tests while being given small doses of saccharin and sugar-sweetened water and asked to rate the tastes.

Half of the participants were frequent consumers of diet soda and half claimed they hardly ever indulged in the fizzy drinks but both reported back with enjoyable experiences of flavour.

'There could be fundamental differences in how people respond to sweet tastes based on their experience with diet sodas'

The scans, however, simultaneously picked up on the brain's activity while drinking both variations and found that different 'regions' lit up between the two test groups.

The results, that will be published in an upcoming issue of Physiology & Behavior, showed that as diet soda drinkers consumed the saccharin-sweetened water, the activation of an area that deals with food motivation diminished.

This, as the researchers pointed out, has been linked to an elevated risk of obesity in previous studies.

The Purdue University professor explained: 'The brain normally uses a learned relationship between sweet taste and the delivery of calories to help it regulate food intake' but when a sweet food unreliably delivers bonus calories, the brain 'suddenly has no idea what to expect.'

The result, she concluded, is that the body learns to ignore sweet tastes in its predictions of a food's energy content.

Hi all. I am curious to know if anyone has successfully given up diet soda and noticed a significant improvement in your cravings for sweets?

Now before you go down the aspartame will kill you path.....that's not really my concern. I am not convinced that artificial sweeteners are necessarily BAD for me. What I would like to hear about is anecdotal evidence that switching to water might help me improve my I could kill someone for cheesecake cravings.

Anyone? And if so...how long did it seem to take for the cravings to subside?

(Btw, I quit smoking 6 years ago, I don't drink, I exercise, I try to eat fruits and veggies, I floss daily.....etc. Diet soda remains my one true vice.)

When I was only on water I stuck to my calories and wanted less sweets, when I drink a lot of diet or coke zero type drinks I go into food over drive I don't know why

I quit drinking diet soda a long time ago but still get my cravings. I just go for sweet fruits instead now.