Cheat days and Pepsi Max

4. Aspartame is a popular artificial sweetener, both as a stand alone product and as a food and beverage ingredient.

Several rat studies have shown aspartame to cause leukemia and tumors. However, industry sponsored studies and heavy pressure on the FDA have allowed aspartame to receive the coveted GRAS (generally recognized as safe) designation.

How about quoting the dosage?

Hi all. I'm new to the forum, but not new to the MFP program and apps. I just had a couple of questions and looking for opinions. I just restarted my plan and made a few tweaks (increased calorie count from 1200 to 1500). I have 15lbs to lose (current weight 200lbs). I have, what I call a cheat day on Saturdays.
This doesn't mean that I eat three or four cheeseburgers or eat a whole pizza. For me, my cheat day consists of mainly cereal (silly, I know). I LOVE cereal (Smacks and Fruit Loops) and will generally eat about 4-5 bowls throughout the day. I may eat something else, but I usually just binge on cereal. However yesterday, I had the cereal then for dinner had pork steak and mashed potatoes. Is it okay to have a cheat day and still lose weight? I also don't log it mainly because I know my count will be out of whack.
Also, I gave up on soda completely back in February as it has greatly contributed to my weight gain. But I recently learned about Pepsi Max and saw that it has 0 calories and sugar. Can I just drink that and not have to worry about weight gain? Do diet sodas harm weight loss at all? Thanks in advance.

Woo hoo cereal lovers unite!!!!
Errr that's all I got out of this post...don't care much about the arguments for and against diet drinks. I think not too many can't be a bad thing, and there's no proven evidence that they are 'harmful' as such despite extensive research.
Ahem carry on.

I wouldn't be able to survive without my diet sodas (which I've been drinking my entire life). I've had 2 small cavities my entire life and recently lost 70 pounds. My personal experience allows to me to continue drinking. My only warning on Pepsi Max is it has a crap-ton of caffeine in it. That's where the "Max" comes from. So if that's something that affects you, then just beware of that. If not, more power to you!

I drink the beep out of Coke Zero and other diet drinks and I almost never get headaches.

so this doesnt happen, right?

I find it amusing when someone with a posted 0 pounds of weight loss tries to tell me my daily Diet Dr. Pepper is evil and will interfere with my weight loss.

^
100x this! Although with me, it's Diet Coke, which I've been drinking off and on for many years. Still have all my teeth~

4. Aspartame is a popular artificial sweetener, both as a stand alone product and as a food and beverage ingredient.

Several rat studies have shown aspartame to cause leukemia and tumors. However, industry sponsored studies and heavy pressure on the FDA have allowed aspartame to receive the coveted GRAS (generally recognized as safe) designation.

How about quoting the dosage?

This!!!

Regardless of how it affects your weight, you have to bear in mind that artificial sweeteners as with any other substance that has "artificial" in its name, are probably not the best stuff to put into your body. And diet soda is full of exactly that.

I'm sure if you have a can of Pepsi Max every once in a while that's not a problem (and given the tons of sugar in normal Coke/Pepsi probably the more sensible choice), but pumping your body full of caffeine, food colouring, and artificial sweeteners on a daily basis (and swishing fizzy drinks round your teeth) sounds pretty awful.

So...if something is natural, then it's automatically good for you? Man made doesn't mean bad, natural doesn't mean good. There are good and bad foods in both areas.

All you have to do is go to Science Daily and do a search on Diet Sodas , sugar, high fructose corn syrup,

eg here are some of the studies that have come up
Soda and Illegal Drugs Cause Similar Damage to Teeth: Acids Erode Enamel


May 28, 2013 — Addicted to soda? You may be shocked to learn that drinking large quantities of your favorite carbonated soda could be as damaging to your teeth as methamphetamine and crack cocaine use. The ... > full story

So, we should also stop ingesting any acidic foods?

Hold the Diet Soda? Sweetened Drinks Linked to Depression, Coffee Tied to Lower Risk

January 8, 2013 — New research suggests that drinking sweetened beverages, especially diet drinks, is associated with an increased risk of depression in adults while drinking coffee was tied to a slightly lower ... > full story

"The study involved 263,925 people between the ages of 50 and 71 at enrollment. From 1995 to 1996, consumption of drinks such as soda, tea, fruit punch and coffee was evaluated. About 10 years later, researchers asked the participants whether they had been diagnosed with depression since the year 2000. A total of 11,311 depression diagnoses were made. People who drank more than four cans or cups per day of soda were 30 percent more likely to develop depression than those who drank no soda. Those who drank four cans of fruit punch per day were about 38 percent more likely to develop depression than those who did not drink sweetened drinks. People who drank four cups of coffee per day were about 10 percent less likely to develop depression than those who drank no coffee. The risk appeared to be greater for people who drank diet than regular soda, diet than regular fruit punches and for diet than regular iced tea."

Also, I hate to do the 'correlation' thing....

In addition, sounds like coffee is a good thing...makes me happy!

Even in Normal Range, High Blood Sugar Linked to Brain Shrinkage

September 3, 2012 — People whose blood sugar is on the high end of the normal range may be at greater risk of brain shrinkage that occurs with aging and diseases such as dementia, according to new ... > full story

This is about blood sugar levels...not soda specifically and definitely not about diet soda. You do realize that other things spike your blood sugar levels, right? The study was also conducted on 60 - 64 year olds who I assume were not particularly active.

"The study involved 249 people age 60 to 64 who had blood sugar in the normal range as defined by the World Health Organization. The participants had brain scans at the start of the study and again an average of four years later. Those with higher fasting blood sugar levels within the normal range and below 6.1 mmol/l (or 110 mg/dL) were more likely to have a loss of brain volume in the areas of the hippocampus and the amygdala, areas that are involved in memory and cognitive skills, than those with lower blood sugar levels. A fasting blood sugar level of 10.0 mmol/l (180 mg/dL) or higher was defined as diabetes and a level of 6.1 mmol/l (110 mg/dL) was considered impaired, or prediabetes."

You can ignore Minnie and the copy and paste stuff.
Sugar substitute sodas have no correlation to the high blood sugar or depression studies she's posting.
For each pH study posted there are real studies with actual long term use of soda that show no correlation at regular amounts of soda drunk. If you drink 5+ cans per day, yes perhaps think about reducing a bit. Otherwise, meh.

And i'm not trying to justify my own behavior, I don't drink soda because I don't like the taste.
The epidemiological studies show that people that have poor nutritional behavior are likelier to drink soda; not that soda is always bad, particularly diet soda.

Werd.

I do not drink soda, diet or otherwise myself as I prefer my lattes - which apparently will make me less depressed according to one of the studies. :happy: