how bad are diet sodas?

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  • MaryB2
    MaryB2 Posts: 331 Member
    And everyone I know seems to be terrified of aspartame. A smoker friend of mine was yelling at me the other day about drinking a diet Pepsi because of the aspartame. Really?? WTH!

    That cracks me up! My husband is a smoker and has been yelling at me about aspartame since I met him.
  • i_love_vinegar
    i_love_vinegar Posts: 2,092 Member
    Carbonation is really bad for your bones.

    Not true.
  • wittlethings
    wittlethings Posts: 10
    I looked up some info and found...drinking a reasonable amount of diet soda a day, such as a can or two, isn't likely to hurt you. The artificial sweeteners and other chemicals currently used in diet soda are safe for most people, and there's no credible evidence that these ingredients cause cancer. Some types of diet soda are even fortified with vitamins and minerals. But diet soda isn't a health drink or a silver bullet for weight loss. Although switching from regular soda to diet soda may save you calories, some studies suggest that drinking more than one soda a day — regular or diet — increases your risk of obesity and related health problems such as type 2 diabetes.
  • aj_rock
    aj_rock Posts: 390 Member
    My word that we have this much hysteria surrounding, not even the drinks themselves but stupid aspertame!

    It is fully FDA approved and SAFE for you to drink! It doens't even have to be moderate! You can drink up to 20 cans a day and not feel any adverse affects from aspertame. Carbonation does wreck havoc on your teeth, but no more than sugary juices do.

    Let's put it as simply as possible. Changing NOTHING BUT your soda habits, if you went from say, three cans of coke a day to 3 cans of coke zero, you save almost 500 calories. Over a week, thats 3500 calories, enough to lose a pound of weight.

    My assumption is a big one, but there is nothing in a diet drink to make you crave more food than regular drinks. Some people side step it mentally by 'allowing' themselves more crap since they're drinking 'diet', but at the end of the day, making that simple change can go a long way in changing your diet and body image.

    And if anyone lips me about FDA 'fixing' the result or big corps getting their way... I'll find you and make you bathe in a pool of diet soda >:(
  • glenr79
    glenr79 Posts: 283 Member
    It does cause osteoperosis!! so I do think it is bad for your bones. Also caffeine decreases bone mass, so if you drink coffee, make sure you add some milk to add the calcium for that, that was lost in the caffeine!
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    Yes, Aspartame is really bad, which is why I stopped drinking Diet Coke. However, when I talked to my Dr. about my love for diet soda, she suggested drinking Diet Dr Pepper because the sweetener in it is much less harsh and it is the "safest" diet soda and causes less water retention and has less sodium than other soda's. Now it's the only soda I'll drink except for occasionally if we go out to eat and they don't have it.

    Diet Dr Pepper - while delicious and probably my favorite - also contains aspartame. It's sodium is fairly low at 37mg per 8 oz serving, but Diet Pepsi or Pepsi Max is lower at 25 mg per 8 oz.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    I like having my pleasure center activated every morning. :love:

    I start every day with a diet soda, then drink (Crystal Light flavored) water the rest of the day.

    ooooooooooooo that sounds dirty :devil: I think i need my pleasure center activated lol

    Truth be told - and this sounds even dirtier - I won't put ANYTHING in my mouth that doesn't activate my pleasure center! :wink:
  • Nursingmomof2
    Nursingmomof2 Posts: 13
    Carbonation is really bad for your bones.

    How so? Your body is an amazing buffer. If anything, the phosphoric acid equilibrium could get off-balance with regular drinking of colas.

    I'm one of the VERY few that thinks drinking a diet soda every once in awhile would be alright. I wouldn't go so far as to say drinking one every day would be healthy..

    The Phosphate leaches calcium off of your bones, that's how it's bad. However, if you have a high intake of calcium, you can possibly off set the impact, though high calcium intake has it's own down side too.
  • Fochizzy
    Fochizzy Posts: 505 Member
    Correlation =/= causation.

    Totally awesome! As a Psychology person I appreciate this statement. I say whatever I <3 Diet Coke. Remember that it has lots of Sodium so cannot replace water. But as long as you drink water as well yummy. I am biased, I lost 30lbs in high school by switching from normal soda to diet soda, ah I miss my old metabolism. But I like soda and don't stress it!
  • Nursingmomof2
    Nursingmomof2 Posts: 13
    Unless you are a child suffering from PKU aspartame is NOT, I repeat, NOT bad for you. No you shouldn't pour it in your mouth straight from the package...but everything in moderation. It's the complete denial of things that you like that cause you to yo yo diet and give up.

    If you like the diet soda, drink it. One a day.

    I love diet soda, I would drink it all darn day if I could, however, I have a deal with my self. Three liters of water and THEN I can get a diet soda. If you want to assist yourself with limiting it, dont keep it in the house. Having to go somewhere and buy a can of it decreases the amount of if that I drink. Sometimes I just dont want it bad enough to get me to stop the car, unload the kids, deal with "Can I have this, Can I have that"....so I dont get it that day, but I still got my 3 liters of water in! So, that's a win!
  • ilookthetype
    ilookthetype Posts: 3,021 Member
    This is my take on soda in general. It has nothing whatsoever to do with fitness and if it is hurting your body/weightloss.

    If you can't give something up without having a withdrawl you are addicted. Do you want to deal with addiction?

    I quit smoking cold turkey. I stopped drinkin alcohol. I've never been much of a soda fan, but I don't do/ingest anything that causes physical pain/distress to go without. That is not healthy.
  • chrisfnet
    chrisfnet Posts: 83
    Correlation =/= causation.

    YES
  • chrisfnet
    chrisfnet Posts: 83
    Carbonation is really bad for your bones.

    How so? Your body is an amazing buffer. If anything, the phosphoric acid equilibrium could get off-balance with regular drinking of colas.

    I'm one of the VERY few that thinks drinking a diet soda every once in awhile would be alright. I wouldn't go so far as to say drinking one every day would be healthy..

    The Phosphate leaches calcium off of your bones, that's how it's bad. However, if you have a high intake of calcium, you can possibly off set the impact, though high calcium intake has it's own down side too.

    If your intake does not exceed your renal excretion then this is not a problem at all. Again, it's all about moderation...
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