Diet pop

I'm skeptical. People, including credible doctors, have a tendency to attribute cause and effect by just noting that something proceeded something else. Unless there is a reason that protein would cause migraines besides mere anecdotal correlation like there is an understood reason for caffeine I remain skeptical. Not saying I'm 100% sure, just that I doubt.

K. When someone goes through years of elimination diets trying to figure out a trigger for debilitating pain, and they narrow it down to one, it must be something else. :huh: It doesn't give me migraines, but I know many people whom it does. Sorry, as anecdotal as it is, if I eat something and it makes my head feel like it's going to explode, and I have that reaction every time I consume said substance, I'm going to assume it's the cause of the pain.

+1

I drink about half a can of diet pepsi each weekday in the morning. And none on the weekends.

I believe with things like this, moderation is key.

I don't like coffee so I drink one diet pop in the morning, then ~ 70 oz of water, and sometimes a pop with dinner. Before this I only ever drank pop so it was tough to start and I had to force myself to drink that much water, but now it's easy and the pop doesn't seem to satiate my thirst like water.

I usually drink one can of coke zero a day. Instead of making m want sweets, it's help curb my cravings.

This is my experience too. I drink a Diet A&W (am drinking one now) per day. I also put Splenda in my coffee and like Mio in my evening water. It doesn't make me crave sugar at all and I manage to mantain a lean body with it, so....

That's not saying I dont think I should wean off the diet soda. But more for tooth and bone heath than anything else.

I_Will_End_You. You know if you do suffer ill effects from aspartame you should probably get checked by your doctor for phenylketonuria (PKU) which is a disorder of metabolism in which the body is unable to process phenylalanine. As a result imbibing foods that have high phenylalanine content can result in ill effects that are noticeable in the body and it specifically effects the brain. One of the breakdown products of aspartame is phenylalanine and people with PKU should avoid it.

There are a lot of people who suffer from particular genetic metabolic disorders (PKU being one of them) and not know about it. Celiac in which a person cannot properly digest gluten is another common example. If you do get diagnosed with PKU there is probably a whole other host of food items it might be good to avoid that would improve your overall health.

To date the only scientifically supported evidence for ill effects of aspartame are in people who have PKU.

I'll drink it now and again but not as much as I did before. Way I see it isn't doing you any harm but its not really doing you any good either. Better off substituting water if you can manage it. If you need that bit of pop to keep your sanity during a diet/exercise regimen though I wouldn't sweat it.

To be fair (from a scientific and biological standpoint) you aren't "better off" substituting water. They are equivalent substitutes.

I'll drink it now and again but not as much as I did before. Way I see it isn't doing you any harm but its not really doing you any good either. Better off substituting water if you can manage it. If you need that bit of pop to keep your sanity during a diet/exercise regimen though I wouldn't sweat it.

To be fair (from a scientific and biological standpoint) you aren't "better off" substituting water. They are equivalent substitutes.

Soda contains caffeine which is a diuretic and vasoconstrictor, they also contain sodium which increases your need for hydration. If you are getting sufficient fluids then yeah okay no big deal but if you are not drinking sufficient water substituting in a caffeinated beverage is not equivalent. I disagree.

Is it a big difference? Probably not, but there is a difference. I do think people go overboard with the "OMG soda/pop is SO unhealthy for you" but I think if you were trying to be your most healthy you are better off with water than soda.

Bottom line I think is do whatever works best for you to attain what should be your actual goals which would be your diet based on calories, your exercise and your hydration.

If you find drinking diet pop makes it harder for you to hit your calorie goals or exercise as much or drink enough water then yeah probably stop. If you find it doesn't affect those things at all then drink up, doesn't matter.

I drink diet soda. For me it is a replacement for "normal" soda, and as I don't drink tea or coffee its where all my caffine comes from.

Unrelated issue with diet sodas - my dentist says they're much worse on your enamel than regular soda and if I intend to continue drinking them, it's important to use a mouthwash that restores enamel.

What? Okay first how does that make sense. The only difference between diet soda and regular soda is sugar content and protein content neither of which degrade enamel. Also there is no way to "Restore" enamel at all, let alone with a mouthwash. Once your enamel is gone, its gone. You can do things to prevent further decay but you cannot rebuild it.

Unrelated issue with diet sodas - my dentist says they're much worse on your enamel than regular soda and if I intend to continue drinking them, it's important to use a mouthwash that restores enamel.

What? Okay first how does that make sense. The only difference between diet soda and regular soda is sugar content and protein content neither of which degrade enamel. Also there is no way to "Restore" enamel at all, let alone with a mouthwash. Once your enamel is gone, its gone. You can do things to prevent further decay but you cannot rebuild it.

FWIW, from the charts I've seen Diet Pop is usually more acidic than regular.

Either way, it's still my beverage of choice when I reach for pop.

If you want to consider getting off the pop as part of your diet here is what I would suggest that I think is a healthy way to approach it.

Make sure you drink 8 cups of water every day. Do NOT count diet pop towards that number.

Unless you make a point to drink that much anyways you might find it hard to drink 8 cups of water a day at which point the idea of drinking even more fluid might turn you off to pop just in and of itself. If you can drink 8 cups of water a day AND have a pop I think that's fine really.

This is what I would have said. I cut out all pop in general, but seriously after I drink 8-10 cups of water a day, i'm so not thirsty- Nor craving a soda pop.

I_Will_End_You. You know if you do suffer ill effects from aspartame you should probably get checked by your doctor for phenylketonuria (PKU) which is a disorder of metabolism in which the body is unable to process phenylalanine. As a result imbibing foods that have high phenylalanine content can result in ill effects that are noticeable in the body and it specifically effects the brain. One of the breakdown products of aspartame is phenylalanine and people with PKU should avoid it.

As I've said several times in this thread, I do not suffer any ill effects from aspartame. I'm sitting at my desk drinking a Coke Zero right now. I responded to a different post where someone was saying Diet Pepsi gave her migraines, and she didn't know why. Other caffeinated beverages don't bother her, so I suggested it was the aspartame since it is a common migraine trigger.

For what it's worth, I've heard the same thing from a chemistry professor. Something about the aspartame and the nerves. The professor also said it can trigger cramping (like legs) in some people as well.

I heard it had to do with serotonin and dopamine in the brain, but I've only heard that from neurologists and do not have any studies to back up that claim for the aspartame police. I don't know why it seems to have that affect on certain people, just like I don't know why aged cheeses and apples do.

Unrelated issue with diet sodas - my dentist says they're much worse on your enamel than regular soda and if I intend to continue drinking them, it's important to use a mouthwash that restores enamel.

What? Okay first how does that make sense. The only difference between diet soda and regular soda is sugar content and protein content neither of which degrade enamel. Also there is no way to "Restore" enamel at all, let alone with a mouthwash. Once your enamel is gone, its gone. You can do things to prevent further decay but you cannot rebuild it.

It was just an interesting piece of information I was passing on. I don't know anything about dentistry or tooth enamel but it is advice I received from someone whose expertise I appreciate. Maybe 'restore' was the incorrect verb. He has a lot to say about Altoids also, if you're interested.

It was a casualty of my last food service job - for some reason I've picked up a trigger food for each one, something off the menu I started eating more of because of that job that will probably never sit right again. Diet pop has got to be the worst so far - I was in so much misery that I didn't realize it was my new problem item and thought I had come down with something.