Crystal light or diet soda?

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  • bagge72
    bagge72 Posts: 1,377 Member
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    bagge72 wrote: »
    Neither. Both trick your body's insulin response and you end up storing weight. Yes diet drinks make you gain weight. Drink water. Add lemon or cucumber if you don't like the taste.

    Tricks it into doing what? I never got the whole "artificial sweetener makes your body release insulin" thing. I mean the major sweeteners that people talk about are 0 on the GI scale, and there would probably be a lot of dead diabetics if it did what people claim it does.

    There is evidence that sweeteners do affect insulin. This is caused by certain parts of the structure mimicking intermediate metabolites (I'm not a biochemist and it's along time since I've done any). But - there are also some papers that refute this.

    So - you reads your information, you makes your informed choice.

    I'm not sure I understand what this means...

    again, what does it trick your body into doing? Also I think I have read evidence, that artificial sweeteners when had with certain proteins might cause an insulin spike, but they aren't sure what actually causes it. So is there definite proof that certain artificial sweeteners that people are always talking about on here are doing this. I mean there are different artificial sweeteners, and the are all different on the GI scale, but they are all less than sugar.
  • UltimateTrashBae
    UltimateTrashBae Posts: 175 Member
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    I drink Diet Coke. Almost exclusively. I have since I was a young teen. Even now, as I'm losing weight, I still drink it. The only time I drink water is when I am actively running on the treadmill. I've had no problems so far and will likely drink Diet Coke until I either die or it gets discontinued.
  • MissBecca145
    MissBecca145 Posts: 149 Member
    edited February 2017
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    Sugar alcohols = xylitol and erithrytol from memory. They are 'tooth friendly' - my ex was a dentist and would sing about them at every opportunity. They are found in a good many boutique/healthy sodas on the market (here in Australia at least).

    And I'll put my hand up as one of those who lost weight drinking diet soda, gained weight drinking diet soda, lost weight and so on and so forth. Diet soda doesn't impact the whole cals in cals out business.

    The caffeine dependancy on the other hand was another story. I knew I didn't want to cut it out completely (because I enjoy it and genuinely have always preferred it to full sugar sodas), so have worked this year at cutting back to 1 can a day. Drinking sparkling water has helped.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
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    Diet soda doesn't impact the whole cals in cals out business.

    I'm being a pedant here to divert attention from the pointless debate going on above; but even Diet soda has calories :P
  • astrology681
    astrology681 Posts: 4 Member
    edited February 2017
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    I agree that you can lose weight on diet soda. It gives you a full or bloated feeling and decreases your appetite for food. I did it on coffee and could go up to mid afternoon on one or two cups. Bottom line is it is not supporting a healthy clean diet. Many of these artificial sweetners have long term effects and some believe can even cause cancer. When looking at long term weight loss it would be best to adhere to a healthy lifestyle of exercise and balance diet with fresh fruits and vegetables. I think there is much better alternatives. Stay away from man made junk that has no nutritional value. Its a chemical that your body does not need. It can run on its own with the proper fuel.
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    edited February 2017
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    I lived on diet coke when I was anorexic. I guess I'm odd since I lost a lot of weight and became dangerously underweight.

    I do not know the mechanism of your anorexia and I'm very sorry that you had to suffer that horrible disease. I have seen close up what it can do. How are you now?

    There are no calories in diet drinks (or very little) and so they will no on their own make you gain weight. But the sweeteners in them (according to evidence) affect insulin levels. It's the insulin level that has an affect in weight gain.

    Yes - many of those papers are about diabetics (both Type 1 & 2). That is where most of the research has been done.

    How does insulin affect weight gain in a caloric deficit? Also, you posted a rat study. Rats react differently than humans to some things. The study done on humans was pitifully small.
  • MarieCoreaa1
    MarieCoreaa1 Posts: 68 Member
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    Neither are good for you. Try infused water. Add some cucumbers/Peppermint to your water-Actually your favorite fruit will do
  • MissBecca145
    MissBecca145 Posts: 149 Member
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    Diet soda doesn't impact the whole cals in cals out business.

    I'm being a pedant here to divert attention from the pointless debate going on above; but even Diet soda has calories :P

    YES! Forgive me. The 2 cals in my Pepsi Max can go f*** themselves. :wink:
  • cheermomblessed
    cheermomblessed Posts: 149 Member
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    I'm sure someone already said this but I'm not reading all the responses. Both are crap lol. Try flavoring your water with lemons or oranges. Something natural. I struggled with this myself for years. Diet soda was the reason I packed on so much weight bc it actually makes you crave more sweet things .. if you have to flavor your water with something by some organic juice made with real sugar and try to just add a little for flavor. I personally hated water but you'll get use to it. :) Best of luck love but stay away from those artificial sweeteners.. they are crap
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
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    We were told by an orthopedist that soda is bad for bones, so I'd go with Crystal Light.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
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    To address the OP, please ignore the fear mongering.

    Read this post by a man with an advanced degree in biochemistry who knows what he's talking about. Aspartame is two amino acids. That's all. It has been extensively studied and is quite safe. it is not crap. Drink what you like, either diet soda or Crystal Lite.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1308408/why-aspartame-isnt-scary/p1

    There is a small subset of people for whom artificial sweeteners trigger a craving for more sweets. If you're not one of them, don't worry about it.

    This.

    *End thread
  • johnwelk
    johnwelk Posts: 396 Member
    edited February 2017
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    Where there is confusion is that artificial sweeteners affect insulin levels.
    Nope, no confusion here. Artificial sweeteners MAY affect insulin levels in rodents. But, alas, we as humans, are not rodents.
    There is a mechanism that insulin resistance (type 2) is negatively affected by sweeteners and that puts weight on.
    There may be a proposed mechanism by you, but what you linked to in no way supports your conclusion.
    There is also evidence that the flora and fauna of your mice gut has a large may have a roll to play in metabolism. There is evidence that sweeteners affect the flora/fauna in your the gut of mice.
    Fixed it for you.
    This could have a direct reflection on weight gain etc.
    Or not:
    http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v40/n3/full/ijo2015177a.html
  • desireeshaffer16
    desireeshaffer16 Posts: 15 Member
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    I like Powerade zero. It uses Sucralose which doesn't spike insulin. I usually dilute it with water and it helps the water go down much easier while also providing electrolytes.