Diet Soda-Real Talk!!!

Aspynmom
Aspynmom Posts: 166 Member
edited September 23 in Food and Nutrition
Ok, so I love me some Diet Pepsi. However, based on the research (or whatever) that drinking diet soda can actually contribute to weight GAIN, I've cut my allowance down to one 20 oz. a day. I guess one of the reasons it's bad is it can make you body crave real sugar then you binge? Well, I don't do that, I don't have much of a sweet tooth, I'm more of a chips and crackers girl, so I assume that theory would be out for me.

How bad IS diet soda if you are limiting it? I prefer to eat, not drink my calories, and water and unsweet ice tea only go so far!

Also if it is so bad, WHY is it so bad? We have artificial sweeteners in alot of things we eat while "dieting" (sugar free Jello?) but diet soda seems to be the one most demonized!

Help me with some straight talk! :)

Replies

  • Laceylala
    Laceylala Posts: 3,094 Member
    I think that diet sodas are the easiest to point to because many overweight people drink it thinking its the healtheir version.
    For me, the aspartame in the diet drinks make me feel like *kitten*.

    Many diet foods have a ton of sugar and chemicals in them, that is why they are bad for you. I would add the caveat "if eaten/drank in large quantities over time." Fat free foods are loaded with sugars. Sugar free foods are often, not always, but often loaded with chemical replacers.
    But then you also have people who are diabetic and in order to live and have some of the more fun foods/drinks, they have to have the "diet' or sugar free varieties.

    For me and many others, it is good to eat "real whole foods" with full fat, full sugar etc when attempting to lose weight...just less of them or in limited quantities. Also, I don't think that its a bad thing to drink a diet soda once a day or two days or week...many people do it and lose weight. But I think you will see that most of these people even limit it. So you are off to a good start by reducing the diet pepsi down already!
  • jencompton3821
    jencompton3821 Posts: 28 Member
    I also anxiously await answers!!
  • jgm8land
    jgm8land Posts: 9
    I love Coke Zero and drink a lot of it. I am still losing weight at a good pace. I have a friend who drinks it like crazy and she is dropping sizes, so I don't know either!
  • heathercrist1
    heathercrist1 Posts: 806 Member
    Have you ever turned your bottle around and looked at the ingredients? If you can tell me in normal terms what they are then I say have at it and drink all the diet soda you want. People put chemicals in their bodies that they just trust are okay. Just because a food/drink has zero calories does not make it healthy or even okay to consume. The artificial sweeteners that are in popular "diet" foods overloads your liver with junk and your body doesn't know how to treat the artificial junk. If you can't pronounce it, don't ingest it! Sewage water is also zero calories, but do would we drink it if someone added some asparatame and called it diet?
  • MercuryBlue
    MercuryBlue Posts: 886 Member
    From what I've read and understand, people who cut sugars out of their diet lose their taste for it. That is, things they used to enjoy suddenly become 'too sweet', making it much easier to not eat (or eat less of) them.

    Diet pop is as sweet as the real thing- so people who drink a lot of them (are said to) tend to have a 'sweet tooth', making it more likely that they'll indulge in other sweet/unhealthy foods.

    Personally, I don't understand people who drink pop all day long anyway. I've NEVER been a big pop drinker- my weakness has always been apple juice or orange juice. Or PINEAPPLE juice. Yum. I don't see how a can of pop per day can make much of a difference in whether a person craves sweet stuff or not.

    If you're one of those people who downs a six-pack of pop (or more) a day, though, I can definitely understand how you would develop a sweet tooth overall.

    I do drink diet pop- but I limit myself to one can a day, and I usually can't even finish that. I think that, generally speaking, the less you drink the less you want to drink it. At least, that's my experience.
  • Aspynmom
    Aspynmom Posts: 166 Member
    You make a very good point about the sewage...and it made me giggle!
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
    The brain doesn't distinguish a difference between artificial sweeteners and natural sugars. So when you consume an artificial sweetener insulin (the "fat storing" hormone) is released, signaling for your liver and kidneys to stop burning fat for energy and use sugar from your blood instead. When there isn't enough sugar in your blood you get hypoglycemic and your brain sends hunger signals so that you can eat to replenish your blood sugar. Artificial sweeteners are extremely counterproductive for those trying to lose weight/burn fat.
  • erin6026
    erin6026 Posts: 117 Member
    I think the artificial sweeteners mess with your metabolism. Also, I've heard anything carbonated contributes to weight loss.

    Basically it's very processed and our body doesn't know what to do with foreign chemicals like that.

    I was ADDICTED to diet coke but gave it up when I started eating clean. It was torture at first, but now I can hardly drink the stuff. Kind of amazing!
  • sarah44254
    sarah44254 Posts: 3,078 Member
    I try not to eat or drink ANYTHING that says 'sugar free'. They taste terrible to me, and I know for a fact it should have sugar in it. Instead of natural sugars (or even corn syrup) the companies add in... something. Some kind of product to make it taste sweet and magically have no sugar? No thank you.

    No saccharine, nutrasweet, or any other thing like that for me.

    I really hope you can learn to love water and drink it all day long and LOVE it!
  • ShannonWinger
    ShannonWinger Posts: 309 Member
    I think the diet drinks are probably worse for your health than the regular. For one people think they are ok because they have no calories so they drink more. Two they are really hard on your kidneys, liver, gall bladder and pancreas and probably other organs as well. I just heard on Dr Oz today that as many as 2 sodas a week increases your risk of pancreatic cancer (can't remember the percentabe but I want to say 20%).
    Not only are the chemicals in them horrible for you but the artificial sweeteners are very bad for you. I'd say they're ok in moderation but if you really want to loose weight and be healthy try to eat and drink as simple as possible. That means cutting out the man made and processed crap and sticking to natural/real foods.
  • Aspynmom
    Aspynmom Posts: 166 Member
    The brain doesn't distinguish a difference between artificial sweeteners and natural sugars. So when you consume an artificial sweetener insulin (the "fat storing" hormone) is released, signaling for your liver and kidneys to stop burning fat for energy and use sugar from your blood instead. When there isn't enough sugar in your blood you get hypoglycemic and your brain sends hunger signals so that you can eat to replenish your blood sugar. Artificial sweeteners are extremely counterproductive for those trying to lose weight/burn fat.

    That makes sense...that could explain why I get absolutely ravenous at times I think I shouldn't be....like after eating a 6 in Subway, Baked Lays, and a 20 oz diet, an hour later I'm starving and have no idea why!

    Thank you all for the tips, this just might help me cut down even more....one every other day, perhaps? I'm remiss to give it up completely as I don't want to "punish" myself....but a gradual slowing might be o.k....
  • ShannonWinger
    ShannonWinger Posts: 309 Member
    I try not to eat or drink ANYTHING that says 'sugar free'. They taste terrible to me, and I know for a fact it should have sugar in it. Instead of natural sugars (or even corn syrup) the companies add in... something. Some kind of product to make it taste sweet and magically have no sugar? No thank you.

    No saccharine, nutrasweet, or any other thing like that for me.

    I really hope you can learn to love water and drink it all day long and LOVE it!

    Really, the taste is horrible and I hate that after taste that lingers.
  • whittrusty
    whittrusty Posts: 533 Member
    Have you ever turned your bottle around and looked at the ingredients? If you can tell me in normal terms what they are then I say have at it and drink all the diet soda you want. People put chemicals in their bodies that they just trust are okay. Just because a food/drink has zero calories does not make it healthy or even okay to consume. The artificial sweeteners that are in popular "diet" foods overloads your liver with junk and your body doesn't know how to treat the artificial junk. If you can't pronounce it, don't ingest it! Sewage water is also zero calories, but do would we drink it if someone added some asparatame and called it diet?

    Diet soda is hardly sewage water, but to each his own.

    Everyone has a few things that they just can't live without. Mine is Diet Coke. I only allow myself one 12 oz. can a day, and I'm trying to cut back to 3-4 a week. But I say, drink in moderation.

    I don't think that Diet soda in moderation is that bad for you. But even if it is, you have to die of something. I don't drink too much, I don't smoke, I don't do drugs, I eat pretty healthy and I exercise 5-6 days a week. I'm working on my weight. If I have to die of something, what the heck, I'm drinking my Diet Coke. :smile:
  • heathercrist1
    heathercrist1 Posts: 806 Member
    The brain doesn't distinguish a difference between artificial sweeteners and natural sugars. So when you consume an artificial sweetener insulin (the "fat storing" hormone) is released, signaling for your liver and kidneys to stop burning fat for energy and use sugar from your blood instead. When there isn't enough sugar in your blood you get hypoglycemic and your brain sends hunger signals so that you can eat to replenish your blood sugar. Artificial sweeteners are extremely counterproductive for those trying to lose weight/burn fat.

    That makes sense...that could explain why I get absolutely ravenous at times I think I shouldn't be....like after eating a 6 in Subway, Baked Lays, and a 20 oz diet, an hour later I'm starving and have no idea why!

    Thank you all for the tips, this just might help me cut down even more....one every other day, perhaps? I'm remiss to give it up completely as I don't want to "punish" myself....but a gradual slowing might be o.k....

    You can also attribute that feeling to the high fructose corn syrup in the bread at Subway. Their bread is the worst for that. Low cal but VERY high amounts of hfcs which does the same thing as the artificial sweeteners in your diet soda. Just can't win for losing can we?!
  • TonyaJ83
    TonyaJ83 Posts: 155
    Just because diet soda is low in calories doesn't mean it can't lead to weight gain.

    It may have only 5 or fewer calories per serving, but emerging research suggests that consuming sugary-tasting beverages--even if they're artificially sweetened--may lead to a high preference for sweetness overall. That means sweeter (and more caloric) cereal, bread, dessert--everything.

    Guzzling these drinks all day long forces out the healthy beverages you need.

    Diet soda is 100 percent nutrition-free, and again, it's just as important to actively drink the good stuff as it is to avoid that bad stuff. So one diet soda a day is fine, but if you're downing five or six cans, that means you're limiting your intake of healthful beverages, particularly water and tea.

    There remain some concerns over aspartame, the low-calorie chemical used to give diet sodas their flavor.

    Aspartame is 180 times sweeter than sugar, and some animal research has linked consumption of high amounts of the sweetener to brain tumors and lymphoma in rodents. The FDA maintains that the sweetener is safe, but reported side effects include dizziness, headaches, diarrhea, memory loss, and mood changes. Bottom line: Diet soda does you no good, and it might just be doing you wrong.
  • Jain
    Jain Posts: 861 Member
    Since (amost) cutting Diet Coke out compleatly I've found that when I crack & have a sneaky can it makes me very, very hungry.:ohwell:
  • milehighcritic
    milehighcritic Posts: 199
    I cut out diet soda from my diet four weeks ago. I used to be a 3 -4 can a day consumer. It was tough at first but now I don't even notice.


    I decided to give up the soda after reviewing some of the posts on MFP.
  • TonyaJ83
    TonyaJ83 Posts: 155
    I cut out diet soda from my diet four weeks ago. I used to be a 3 -4 can a day consumer. It was tough at first but now I don't even notice.


    I decided to give up the soda after reviewing some of the posts on MFP.

    Good for you!! :)
  • tommieptac
    tommieptac Posts: 4 Member
    http://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/features/soda-osteoporosis

    i googled and got this. check it out...
  • she_elf
    she_elf Posts: 108
    Aspartame--the sweetener in most diet drinks--can only be broken down by the body into four things. All four of those things are carcinogens. Current studies are also showing a very strong link between diet sodas and dementia.

    If you're diabetic and NEED to have it, I guess you really can't do anything about it. But if you're drinking pop once a day, or a couple times a week, do an extra bit of a workout and just drink regular soda instead of giving yourself cancer or dementia.
  • TurboJenn
    TurboJenn Posts: 64 Member
    "If you're drinking soda pop instead of lowfat milk or orange juice, or eating a candy bar instead of a piece of fruit, you're missing a chance to cut your risk of osteoporosis, cancer, or heart disease," said Bonnie Liebman, CSPI nutrition director.
  • ybba12490
    ybba12490 Posts: 252
    If you turn around the soda can, are half of the ingredients readable? Do you know what half that stuff is? Soda has no nutritional value. While yes, it may have less sugar and calories than say, orange juice, but with orange juice at least you are getting some nutrients. I repeat, there is NOTHING healthy about soda. It is completely processed. I don't drink soda anymore, but when I did, it made me hungrier than I was before and made me crave different sugars. I wanted sweets all. the. time. which is terrible for someone like me who has a sweet tooth.... no weight loss help there. I would assume that if a beverage is basically toxic with no nutritional value, that would not be healthy or help you in the long run. It may help with weight loss now, but what about in 15 years when they discover it causes cancer? I don't know, just a thought.
  • velvetkat
    velvetkat Posts: 454 Member
    Interesting topic as I have drank Diet Pepsi for years.. I have been overweight for years. Hmmm a bit of a correlation there maybe! I probably drank a 6 pack a day. I now limit myself to one a day but I do go days without any. Now it tastes really overly sweet to me. I also used to drink ice tea sweetened with Splenda. I had to make it unsweetened as the sweetness was just way too much and I barely even drink that so not much caffeine anymore. I am not a coffee drinker at all. I am going to see the next time I drink a diet pepsi if I get extra hungry afterwards. I usually drink it in the late afternoon so I hungry anyway but we will see. I look forward to seeing more posts and more answers!
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