Diet soda has no calories, but can't be good for you, right?

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I drink way too much and was wondering what you guys thought about the long or short term effects.
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  • ChantalGG
    ChantalGG Posts: 2,404 Member
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    Try to get you 8 cups of water in there plus your milk and if you are still thirsty then have a cup of diet soda but dont have it as your only beverage.
  • Trixtabella
    Trixtabella Posts: 471 Member
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    I drink Pepsi Max quite a bit actually, as well as my 8 glasses and probs more of water. I am thirsty quite a bit.
  • whitejessamine
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    Some are worse than others. All dark ones (colas, for instance) will leach the calcium out of your bones, whereas the fruit sodas (sprite, orange, etc.) will not. Something to keep in mind.
  • GypsyRose25
    GypsyRose25 Posts: 407
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    I don't see anything wrong with having 1 or 2 a day, diet soda wise. Just make sure you keep up on your water intake.
  • marciam1205
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    I agree - I get my 8 cups of water in......and if I need to have a diet soda, I limit myself to 1 diet soda a day. I also buy a variety of the crystal light packets to put in the water bottle. This mixes it up a bit - good luck!!!
  • laddyboy
    laddyboy Posts: 1,565 Member
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    You are correct. Not good.

    Diet Soda Linked to Fat Gain! -Says Study

    Diet soda Does NOT Help You Stay Trim!
    ~ new research reveals
    ..........................
    A study presented at an American Diabetes Association meeting this week shows
    that drinking diet soda is associated with a wider waist in humans. And a second
    study shows that aspartame -- an artificial sweetener in diet soda -- actually raises
    blood sugar.
    ..............................
    "Data from this and other prospective studies suggest that the promotion of diet sodas
    and artificial sweeteners as healthy alternatives may be ill-advised," study researcher
    Helen P. Hazuda, Ph.D., said in a statement. "They may be free of calories but
    not of consequences."
    ..............................
    In the first study, researchers collected height, weight, waist circumference and diet
    soda intake data from 474 elderly people who participated in the San Antonio
    Longitudinal Study of Aging. They were followed up an average of 9.5 years later,
    according to the research
    ...................................
    Researchers found that the diet soda drinkers had waist circumference increases
    of 70 percent greater than those who non-diet soda drinkers. And people who drank
    diet soda the most frequently -- at least two diet sodas a day -- had waist
    circumference increases that were 500 % greater than people who didn't
    drink any diet soda, the study said
    .............
    This isn't the first news illuminating diet soda's health risks. A study published earlier
    this year found people who drink the beverage every day have a higher stroke
    and heart attack risks. And UK researchers found earlier this month that sugary
    drinks can dull taste buds, leading consumers to crave the sweet stuff even more
  • calliegirl1288
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    well, i'm pretty sure soda in general is bad for your bones, makes you retain water, and diet soda contains aspertane (sp?) from the artificial sweetner which is cancer causing I believe. but i suggest googling it if you want to know more.
  • stanvoodoo
    stanvoodoo Posts: 1,023 Member
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    It is a real hinderence to weight loss, try cutting back and switching out with water or a water subsitute = no cafeine, no sugar and non carbonated.

    I never thought I could do it and no soda in almost 8 months, give it try and see if you feel better.

    Best of Luck!
  • callmefor911
    callmefor911 Posts: 155 Member
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    diet sodas have lots of sodium... which is not good for u.. there was a great article here somewhere in the forums about diet soda. I am sure u can also google it and find it.. was very eye opening.. I dont drink diet soda but my husband did.
  • Heatherbelle_87
    Heatherbelle_87 Posts: 1,078 Member
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    We can find coca cola with real sugar here :) worth every calorie :)
  • laddyboy
    laddyboy Posts: 1,565 Member
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    Actually Soda has been linked with weak bones.
  • Julijulz
    Julijulz Posts: 119 Member
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    Don't forget that the acid in soda's eats away at your enamel on your teeth!!!!!!!!!! If you have tooth sensitivity, that could be why. And the thing about the calcium from your bones requires quite a bit of soda. I wouldn't worry too much if you have a soda a day. Just don't make it your only fluid intake for the day. :)
  • laddyboy
    laddyboy Posts: 1,565 Member
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    Then there is the NON Diet Soda. Bottom Line, avoid them both.

    Sugary Drinks Make You Crave More Calories

    According to the Guardian, UK researchers are suggesting that two sugary
    drinks a day can dull your taste buds, which leads to a "dulled sensitivity
    to sweet tastes." This, in turn, can cause people to seek out high-calorie,
    sweet snacks.
    ..................................
    "As the sweet 'treat' becomes less rewarding, so people tend to look for more sweet
    food to drink, and a vicious circle of eating sweet and calorie-laden food is established,"
    a press release describing the study explained
    ..........................................
    Perhaps even more notable is that the researchers concluded that it doesn't take
    long for the sweet beverages to have an effect. The researchers found that by drinking
    two sugary drinks per day for four weeks, people could dramatically change how they
    taste and thus, their eating habits. ~ And not for the better
    ....................................
    "From our research, it is clear to see how this situation may have created a cycle of
    sweet food and drink consumption," Dr. Hans-Peter Kubis, one of the study's authors
    said in a statement. "As taste satisfaction levels drop; the more sweet foods are
    consumed, contributing to these problems
    .............................
    This is just the latest in bad press for sugary libations, which have been blamed for
    everything from damaging teeth to increasing blood pressure
  • anberlingasm
    anberlingasm Posts: 177
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    All that research above tells us is that diet soda drinkers are fat. It doesn't (and can't - it's a correlation) say that diet soda drinkers are fatter BECAUSE of the diet soda.

    You don't need a piece of research to tell me that diet soda drinkers are fatter. That's why they drink diet soda!
  • pwrchrd
    pwrchrd Posts: 25 Member
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    This article is cause enough not to drink the stuff: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/29/diet-soda-weight-gain_n_886409.html

    A trainer I once had made an interesting statement that I haven't found clear supporting evidence, but I suspect she was right. When we crave sugar, or salt, or carbs, or protein, our body is telling us it needs that particular item. When we fail to give it that item it continues to send signals. If we give it a diet version of sugar, it doesn't respond to stop craving sugar, however, the insulin response to diet sugar is the same as eating sugar, minus calories. That is why you continue to crave sugar after having diet soda. Sugar craving ease when you give the body what it wants. However, you must do this in moderation and continue to decrease your sugar intake so the craving go away. Like weening a person off of a drug, you can't stop cold turkey without going through some sort of DT's. If you can physically and mentally handle the DT's, then go for it, otherwise, slowly decrease it until the cravings are minimal. My opinion anyways.
  • anacsitham5
    anacsitham5 Posts: 814 Member
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    Diet soda has aspartame or sucralose (another fancy name for splenda). These products actually trigger yourself into gaining weight and are chemicals. I was a diet soda/pop junky. Had to have it all the time. After I googled it and read all of the bad stuff you can get from having aspartame or sucralose in your diet, I went cold turkey two weeks ago.

    It took me about an hour at the grocery store but I finally found "True Lemon". It is a powered packet you can put in a bottle of water. I love the raspberry lemonade flavor. It tastes like pink lemonade. It has no aspartame or sucralose. The sweetness comes only from stevia. I keep a bottle of liquid stevia at work, at home and in my purse. I put it in my tea if I need sweetness. It has a dropper top so you add what you need. I think the packet of True Lemon to a bottle of water is just a bit too watered down, so I usually take a few swallows out of the bottle before I add the packet. Shake and enjoy!

    You can google "side effects of aspartame" or "dangers of splenda" and see how bad it is for you. My weight loss had actually stalled out as I met my goal weight and when I stopped drinking diet pop/soda and no longer ingest aspartame or suclarose I've started losing again. I would consider losing 3 pounds in 2 weeks - when you already hit your goal weight - to be good. By the way, it wasn't a half *kitten* goal either. I went from a size (tight 14) to a loose 6. I actually have a size 2 skirt and several pair of size 4 pants.
  • abratt1113
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    I agree it cannot be good for you. When I went on a diet a few years back I stopped drinking regular soda, but started drinking diet. I was probably drinking at least 4 per day. Someone mentioned all the sodium in diet soda and suggested that was probably why I had not lost weight drinking it.

    So I went cold turkey and drank water, unsweetened tea, and sometimes grapefruit juice (once a day). I lost 12lbs in under a month. It could have been faster, but I had a slip up or two. At this point, I had not changed my eating habits, only the beverages.
    That told me right there, there is a lot of junk my body doesn’t need in soda. I hope that helps!
  • anacsitham5
    anacsitham5 Posts: 814 Member
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    My nephew also works for a commercial plumber. He said they are always at a fast food restaurant putting in new pipes and drains for the soda pop machines as the ingredients in it eat through the copper pipes. And we "drink" this stuff?
  • PalmettoparkGuy
    PalmettoparkGuy Posts: 212 Member
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    Wow, thanks for the info. I just threw away my diet soda.
  • callmefor911
    callmefor911 Posts: 155 Member
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    Healthy LivingFriday, July 22, 2011

    Subscribe to This BlogAdd to My Yahoo!RSS..Related Topics: back to schoolsummertime funsummer travelsummer beauty.
    Diet soda may be making you fat.
    editor

    by Lylah M. Alphonse, Senior Editor, Manage Your Life, on Wed Jun 29, 2011 10:55am PDT1157 CommentsPost a CommentRead More from This Author »Report Abuse..Share
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    Photo: Thinkstock
    Think you're making a healthier choice when you reach for diet soda instead of a sugary soft drink? Think again.

    Diet soft drinks may have minimal calories, but they can still have a major impact on your waistline, according to two studies presented at a meeting of the American Diabetes Association in San Diego.

    Researchers at the Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio tracked 474 people, all 65 to 74 years old, for nearly a decade, measuring the subjects' height, weight, waist circumference, and diet soft drink intake every 3.6 years. The waists of those who drank diet soft drinks grew 70 percent more than those who avoided the artificially sweetened stuff; people who drank two or more servings a day had waist-circumference increases that were five times larger than non-diet-soda consumers.

    The findings are in line with those of a 2005 study, also conducted by researchers at the Texas Health Science Center, in which the chance of becoming overweight or obese increased with every diet soda consumed.

    “On average, for each diet soft drink our participants drank per day, they were 65 percent more likely to become overweight during the next seven to eight years, and 41 percent more likely to become obese,” said Sharon Fowler, who was a faculty associate in the division of clinical epidemiology in the Health Science Center’s department of medicine at the time.

    But how does something with no calories cause weight gain? Turns out that even if our taste buds can't tell the difference between real and fake sugar, our brains can. Another study, also presented at the American Diabetes Association meeting on Sunday, found that after three months of eating food laced with aspartame (which is also found in many diet soft drinks), mice had higher blood sugar levels than rodents who ate regular food. According to Fowler, who worked on all three studies and is now a researcher at UT Health Science Center at San Diego, the aspartame could trigger the appetite but do nothing to satisfy it. That could interfere with your body's ability to tell when you're full—and could lead you to eat more in general.

    It happens in humans, too. A 2008 study found that women who drank water sweetened with sugar and water sweetened with Splenda couldn't taste a difference, but functional MRI scans showed that their brains' reward center responded to real sugar "more completely" than it did to the artificial sweetener.

    "Your senses tell you there's something sweet that you're tasting, but your brain tells you, 'actually, it's not as much of a reward as I expected,'" Dr. Martin P. Paulus, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California San Diego and one of the authors of the study, told the Huffington Post. So you chase that no-calorie soda with something more caloric, like a salty snack. The sweet taste could also trigger your body to produce insulin, which blocks your ability to burn fat.

    Aside from the health problems that go along with a widening waistline, diet soft drinks have also been linked to an increase in diabetes, heart attack, and stroke. One study of more than 2,500 people found that those "who drank diet soda daily had a 61 percent increased risk of cardiovascular events compared to those who drank no soda, even when accounting for smoking, physical activity, alcohol consumption and calories consumed per day," ABC News reported in February. And a 2008 University of Minnesota study of nearly 10,000 adults ages 45 to 64 found that drinking a single can of diet soda a day led to a 34 percent higher risk of developing metabolic syndrome, a collection of health problems that includes high blood sugar, high cholesterol, and high levels of belly fat.

    "Drinking a reasonable amount of diet soda a day, such as a can or two, isn't likely to hurt you," writes Katherine Zeratsky, a nutritionist at the Mayo Clinic. "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."

    "It’s hard to make a blanket statement on whether or not you should drink diet soda," Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D., the nutrition editor for EatingWell Magazine, says. "At the end of the day what I think it comes down to is how are you using diet soda—is it truly a substitute for a higher calorie beverage or is it just an excuse to order the fries with your burger or a cookie for dessert? If it’s the former, go ahead. If it’s the latter, perhaps think twice."

    But no matter how the soda is sweetened, it is an empty calorie food, Wright points out. "It delivers no nutritional value whatsoever and so should only be consumed in moderation."