Diet Soda

peter56765 wrote: »

Kalikel wrote: »

Don't need the salt.

Why does this myth persist? A can of Diet Coke has around 40 mg of sodium which accounts for a paltry 2% of a recommended total of 2000 mg per day. Nobody is having sodium problems because they drink diet soda.

Agreed. Using salt as a reason to avoid diet soda is completely ridiculous. It has about as much sodium as plain tap water.

I think there's nothing wrong with a can or two a day. I like the fizz, and the caffeine is helpful for some people (people on night shift, like you, for example).

I agree with those who said bring your own from home. There's a couple of benefits - you avoid seeing the Payday in the candy machine, you have a greater variety and can be sure what you want is with you, and it costs a lot less. If you pay $5 for a case of 12 (that seems to be the average non-sale price around here), it's still just 42 cents per can, which is a lot less than vending machines.

I've drank diet soda for decades, and lots of it. I drank it when I was gaining and as I've lost weight.
-It has zero calories, so I don't need to worry about that.
-It has water in it, which hydrates you (yes, studies have shown that your body DOES use water from carbonated and caffeinated diet soda).
-There have been more than 100 studes dones about aspartame (it may actually be the most studied substance regulated by the FDA). The 2 studies that show all kinds of health problems were done by a former doctor (her medical license was revoked) who did not use proper controls and testing to be used for anything. Even if you use the junk data, it doesn't actually conclude that there are risks for people who consume asapartame. So her conclusions didn't match even the inflated empirical results.
*There are some who have a rare genetic disorder that should avoid aspartame.

Most diet sodas are switching to Splenda these days anyway. Splenda is actually natural sugar, but with an atom removed so that your body is unable to absorb it. It just passes through, and thus represents 0 calories still.

OK, so now that I've gotten past that....

I drink a lot of diet soda. In fact, I think I'm addicted. I would like to decrease soda consumption for 2 reasons:
1. To save money. I can easily afford diet soda, but this would free up some extra cash... who doesn't want that?! But I don't want this badly enough to suffer through trying to quit.
2. I hate feeling like I need to have it. I don't like to be dependent on this substance, and I fear what would happen if I were unable to access diet soda for an extended period of time.

I'm not sure if I'll ever decrease consumption or quit, just because it is stressful... maybe when I have less stress otherwise in my life, I might try to quit.

I love my diet Dr Pepper!! I have heard that drinking diet sodas can actually hinder weight loss. I've never actually looked into that nor did it cause me any issues, though. But we all know that "water is best"

The biggest concern with diet soda as it pertains to weight loss, is the fact it produces the same chemical triggers in the body as a regular soda or other high sugar item. You get the high, followed shortly by the crash, and the crash tends to cause ppl to crave and overeat.

How well you handle cravings will determine what you should do concerning allowing or limiting your intake.

As to health concerns due to artificial sweeteners or other additives, that is a whole different story. I'm not a doctor or a nutritionist, and I dont keep up on the latest info, so I can't tell you which ones they have reclassified as poisons or safe this week.

Since they're constantly changing their recommendations on everything, and just about anything these days has some kinda chemical additive in it, your gonna get exposed to something that causes an increased risk of some medical issue like every 15 mins, and theres nothing you can do about it. Since it's impossible ( at least practically ) to get away from it, it just ends up being more useless noise/chatter, and I ignore it.

I hate it. I used to drink it, but I don't anymore.

Hell, I don't even drink regular soda most of the time.

1princesswarrior wrote: »

I miss it, there is nothing wrong with it.

I get bad migraines and when I stopped drinking diet soda with aspartame my headaches decreased. Otherwise I would still be drinking it. Unfortunately anything sweetened with aspartame triggers migraines for me so I have to watch all foods that are artificially sweetened.

Correlation =\\\= causation.....

OP: diet soda is my favorite calories of the day!!! Although I do enjoy coffee more.

I love diet soda, and I think it tastes even better since I've reduced my sugar intake.

I laugh when I read studies that link obesity with diet soda, then everyone runs around screaming that diet soda makes you fat. I think the more likely reason is people just tend to overeat when they think they're saving so many calories with the diet soda. If you're tracking calories, overeating shouldn't be a problem.

teephil wrote: »

I love diet soda, and I think it tastes even better since I've reduced my sugar intake.

I laugh when I read studies that link obesity with diet soda, then everyone runs around screaming that diet soda makes you fat. I think the more likely reason is people just tend to overeat when they think they're saving so many calories with the diet soda. If you're tracking calories, overeating shouldn't be a problem.

There is a link between shopping at Walmart and being fat, ergo shopping at Walmart makes you fat.
There is a link between driving your car to work and being fat, ergo driving your car makes you fat.
There is a link between eating chicken and being fat, ergo eating chicken makes you fat.
There is a link between sleeping on a mattress and being fat, ergo sleeping on a mattress makes you fat.
...
etc.