diet coke, sugar free desserts etc.

lookitscaitlin
lookitscaitlin Posts: 157
edited October 4 in Health and Weight Loss
Surely there must be a catch to these sort of things? I put diet coke into my diary and it says no calories, but there must be other effects of having these kinds of things? However, I do realise that because that even though it may show up as 0 or little calories,I shouldn't have too much of it..
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Replies

  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
    *awaits the inevitable "Aspartame is poison!1!!" hysterics crowd to show up...*

    As with anything, as long as you aren't taking them to excess, it's all good :)
  • lookitscaitlin
    lookitscaitlin Posts: 157
    :) sweet, it can be quite deceiving, sometimes I think "ooh! no calories, I can have more" but then I think, there must be a catch! But diet coke is better than normal coke, and it's always good to have something sweet every so often :)
  • lookitscaitlin
    lookitscaitlin Posts: 157
    *awaits the inevitable "Aspartame is poison!1!!" hysterics crowd to show up...*


    hahaha !
  • Tjantik
    Tjantik Posts: 16
    I am not sure that this is true, but my Dr a long time ago said that sugar-free -anything- is like a place holder. It doesn't have the calories but it causes your body to still crave the sweet flavor. Your brain thinks it's getting the sugar so it will continue to cause you to want it. He said the best bet is to go through the two weeks or so of withdrawal so that your brain doesn't want ti anymore.

    It worked for me for several things. I loved chocolate but no longer crave it. I stopped drinking soda 20 years ago and still don't crave it. I don't eat meat very often and don't crave it. It sounds good once in awhile, but I never 'have' to have it anymore.
  • krypt5
    krypt5 Posts: 243 Member
    *awaits the inevitable "Aspartame is poison!1!!" hysterics crowd to show up...*

    As with anything, as long as you aren't taking them to excess, it's all good :)

    Hey don't you know aspartame causes cancer?!?! Oh wait, so does breathing.
  • LorryGuthrie
    LorryGuthrie Posts: 113 Member
    I agree... it's fine in moderation. But I find it seems to make me feel hungrier, for some reason. Not sure if anyone else feels that way. I recommend the diet A & W (with the aged vanilla)...soooo yummy!!
  • lookitscaitlin
    lookitscaitlin Posts: 157
    *awaits the inevitable "Aspartame is poison!1!!" hysterics crowd to show up...*

    As with anything, as long as you aren't taking them to excess, it's all good :)

    Hey don't you know aspartame causes cancer?!?! Oh wait, so does breathing.

    basically... lol
  • FAVOLOSOMII
    FAVOLOSOMII Posts: 188 Member
    *awaits the inevitable "Aspartame is poison!1!!" hysterics crowd to show up...*

    As with anything, as long as you aren't taking them to excess, it's all good :)

    Hey don't you know aspartame causes cancer?!?! Oh wait, so does breathing.

    TOO FUNNY!

    I'm a Dr. Pepper 10 girl myself...
  • Clare_429
    Clare_429 Posts: 19
    I have a serious diet pepsi/pepsi max problem.

    At one point I was drinking 2-3 cans of Irn Bru per day and when I started on Weight Watchers I figured I better cut it out - so I cut right down and replaced it partially with diet pepsi until I convinced myelf that I liked it.

    Now I'm hooked. If I don't watch I can drink two 600ml bottles per day at work and then go home and have a glass with my dinner. I'm now working on replacing it with water except 1 can with lunch and maybe a glass with dinner, hopefully cutting this down to just dinner.

    It's clearly not good for me, but it's better than Irn Bru so I'm going in the right direction
  • Harkins86
    Harkins86 Posts: 58 Member
    *awaits the inevitable "Aspartame is poison!1!!" hysterics crowd to show up...*

    As with anything, as long as you aren't taking them to excess, it's all good :)

    Hey don't you know aspartame causes cancer?!?! Oh wait, so does breathing.

    Umm ...well maybe, but as far as I'm aware breathing is essential for life ... aspartame isn't!
  • missikay1970
    missikay1970 Posts: 588 Member
    i think the thing to keep in mind is that when you eat something "sugar free" or a diet soda, you are have replaced that with eating a healthy calorie food. a better choice than a sugar-free cookie and a diet coke would be water & an apple. but every now and then, it's fine. after all, a sugar-free cookie & a diet soda is better than a bag of Oreos and a "real" Coke, which is what i used to eat every few days! :wink:
  • ShellyRae7
    ShellyRae7 Posts: 8 Member
    You are right you shouldn't have too much of it. I have known a lot of people who have gained weight drinking the sugar subsitute drinks and desserts. All sugar subs should be avoided. There are lots of articles on the net about the effects of sugar subs. You are best to eat the regular items and in moderation and count the calories. I think that's the big trick, since it's 0, we tend to reward ourselves with more. I'm all about quanity, so diet and sugar free items are not my choice anymore. I just skip it all together. I might have a diet coke once a month as a treat.

    Good luck Smiley! It's a hard long road we are on, but we can do it.
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    It's clearly not good for me
    Clearly?
  • ignatiusreilly
    ignatiusreilly Posts: 411 Member
    I am not sure that this is true, but my Dr a long time ago said that sugar-free -anything- is like a place holder. It doesn't have the calories but it causes your body to still crave the sweet flavor. Your brain thinks it's getting the sugar so it will continue to cause you to want it. He said the best bet is to go through the two weeks or so of withdrawal so that your brain doesn't want ti anymore.

    I've read this and heard this also, but from my own experience, I have not found it to be accurate at all.
  • lookitscaitlin
    lookitscaitlin Posts: 157
    *awaits the inevitable "Aspartame is poison!1!!" hysterics crowd to show up...*

    As with anything, as long as you aren't taking them to excess, it's all good :)

    Hey don't you know aspartame causes cancer?!?! Oh wait, so does breathing.

    Umm ...well maybe, but as far as I'm aware breathing is essential for life ... aspartame isn't!

    lol i think he was being sarcastic.
  • lookitscaitlin
    lookitscaitlin Posts: 157
    You are right you shouldn't have too much of it. I have known a lot of people who have gained weight drinking the sugar subsitute drinks and desserts. All sugar subs should be avoided. There are lots of articles on the net about the effects of sugar subs. You are best to eat the regular items and in moderation and count the calories. I think that's the big trick, since it's 0, we tend to reward ourselves with more. I'm all about quanity, so diet and sugar free items are not my choice anymore. I just skip it all together. I might have a diet coke once a month as a treat.

    Good luck Smiley! It's a hard long road we are on, but we can do it.


    great advice!
  • Clare_429
    Clare_429 Posts: 19
    It's clearly not good for me
    Clearly?

    Clearly.
  • meeperoon
    meeperoon Posts: 270 Member
    I drink a lot of diet coke, more than I should but I could drink water instead...

    But as my bf said the other day, water just doesn't satisfy the thirst!

    I know I know water will satisfy the thirst but that little bit of flavouring and that fizz just makes it taste so much better, as long as you aren't drinking 14 pints a day (as I read about someone else the other day...) then you should be fine :)

    P.s I can't drink the 'normal stuff' you can taste the sugar in it and I don't like it!
  • ShellyRae7
    ShellyRae7 Posts: 8 Member
    Tjantik - I have heard that too from other health professionals. And it all makes sense.
  • lookitscaitlin
    lookitscaitlin Posts: 157
    I drink a lot of diet coke, more than I should but I could drink water instead...

    yeah i usually make sure I have my 8 glasses a day and then I'll have like 1 can with lunch once a week or so.. :)

    I eventually get sick of drinking water , need some sort of flavour like you said
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    I don't know if aspertame is poison. Maybe, maybe not.

    But it tastes like crap, so that's a pretty huge catch for me. :-)

    I'd much rather indulge in a little of the real thing than a lot of the fake. But some people like it, so if it's what you enjoy, then feel free to indulge. It's not really my business what you eat.

    There have been a couple studies that say that the sugar free stuff messes with your body so you end up eating more than you would have if you had just had the "real thing," but that doesn't happen to everyone.
  • BeanyFrog13
    BeanyFrog13 Posts: 161 Member
    We had someone come into the school I work at to talk to the kids there (the staff were just as fascinated! :D) about the "dangers" of drinks like diet coke and pepsi max. Basically the quantities you'd need to drink it in to feel the effects of aspartame is just ridiculous! Gallons per day! His message was drink it, but like all other things, in moderation.

    My main issue with fizzy drinks/sodas is the bloating that accompanies them! I cut them out completely and my stomach flattened noticeably within a few days. I try hard to only have one glass every few days or so, if that often. :D

    It's nice to go out and have a cold condensation covered class of coke with a meal sometimes though :D
  • SPheonix22
    SPheonix22 Posts: 90 Member
    I think you should drink eight glasses of water a day and see if you still want it. I wouldn't go sugar free. There is nothing wrong with sugar in moderation. Yes regular soda is too much.... but as someone stated earlier wouldn't it be better not to want it at all? I started drinking just water and I was a Pepsi and coffee junkie. When I started to do this I didn't have any room for any other liquid in my system. I still drink it about 2wice a week but dont crave it. When I want something else I usually drink a half cup of cranberry juice.

    Besidess that's a lot of sodium from just your drinks. It's 2% times how ever many you drink. Do you have any trouble with bloating?
  • jenbit
    jenbit Posts: 4,252 Member
    I dont have a problem with diet drinks However soda is bad for you its more the carbination than anything else actually. I mean it can take rust off a car battery. That being said I love my soda and will still have one occasionally. They do have a new study out saying that artifical sugars deaden your sweet taste receptors and when you do eat something with sugar people usually ended up eating twice what they normally would to get the same sweet taste.
    But if you like it drink it. Everthing is going to kill us eventually. Just dont drink only that.
  • ShellyRae7
    ShellyRae7 Posts: 8 Member
    Meeperoon - Drinking water is a big problem for a lot of people. Might want to try squeezing a lime or lemon juice in it. something to add flavor. Stay away from sugar sub mixes for your water. we had a trainer/nutritionist come to one of your weight loss meetings and he mentioned how much water is in different parts of the body. I'm was surprised how much the brain needs to function. I did find this paragraph on the web - We were also suggested to drink 1/2 our weight in oz of water. For some of us, thats a lot of water. I'm not an expert and also struggle with this. Just sharing whats been shared with me.

    Think of what you need to survive, really just survive. Food? Water? Air? Facebook? Naturally, I'm going to concentrate on water here. Water is of major importance to all living things; in some organisms, up to 90% of their body weight comes from water. Up to 60% of the human body is water, the brain is composed of 70% water, and the lungs are nearly 90% water. Lean muscle tissue contains about 75% water by weight, as is the brain; body fat contains 10% water and bone has 22% water. About 83% of our blood is water, which helps digest our food, transport waste, and control body temperature. Each day humans must replace 2.4 litres of water, some through drinking and the rest taken by the body from the foods eaten. http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/propertyyou.html
  • sycarroll
    sycarroll Posts: 14 Member
    The diet coke itself has no calories, but they are still linked heart disease and diabetes, as the artificial sweetens used are still absorbed into the bloodstream and cause the release of insulin, they also block the absorption of calcium.

    I love Soda and have previously have a can coke/diet coke with lunch or as a mixture when out, but I have really limited my intake of it by having sparkling water, I found it really help me.

    Those favor water are just a bad a soda...

    http://www.fitsugar.com/Diet-Coke-Healthy-Choice-7794668

    http://www.fitsugar.com/Diet-Healthier-Than-Regular-Soda-4403721
  • thor1god1of1awesome
    thor1god1of1awesome Posts: 481 Member
    *awaits the inevitable "Aspartame is poison!1!!" hysterics crowd to show up...*

    As with anything, as long as you aren't taking them to excess, it's all good :)

    Hey don't you know aspartame causes cancer?!?! Oh wait, so does breathing.
    as does sleeping *takes a sip of my coke zero
  • piratepiet
    piratepiet Posts: 45 Member
    I'm on Coke Zero - and since I quit smoking, started walking at least one hour per day and log every bite of air into mfp - that's the only thing I got left :-) You can die of so many stupid things, don't let people scare you away from sugarfree drinks.

    I don't think there are more bad chemicals in diet coke than on the skin of an apple in the supermarket.
  • cppeace
    cppeace Posts: 764 Member
    ok anything made in a lab as a sweetner isn't good for you.. If you want a soda like product make some rootbeer and use some natural low calorie to zero calorie sweetner from the healthfood store.. The name of the actual plant is escaping me currently but make sure you get the kinda that says no after taste.. Truvia is made from this plant.. Stevia it may be called...
    Diet products have been known to actually hinder weight loss...
    Stick with as much water as possible.. Get a smoothie or fruit juice.. Drink real sodas only occassionally...
    The point is to to be living healthy... Fake sweetner isn't healthy...
    Best of luck though
  • Painten
    Painten Posts: 499 Member
    I'm in the uk and here there is calorie info for diet cola and it does say that is has 1 calorie in a 330 ml can. I've seen lots of people say that in the US the labeling info isn't as strict as over here so bare that in mind if your having multiple cans/ bottles a day.
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