Diet Soda

A

Ando3242

New member
Many of us drink soda throughout the day so when we want to lose weight a logical sounding solution is to switch to diet soda. But, I've heard many negative things about it. So,what's the deal with diet soda? I've gathered from several sources the dangers of aspartame, diet soda inhibiting weight loss despite being calorie free, and caffeine also being bad for weight loss.

What is the consensus here?
 
Ando3242 said:
Many of us drink soda throughout the day so when we want to lose weight a logical sounding solution is to switch to diet soda. But, I've heard many negative things about it. So,what's the deal with diet soda? I've gathered from several sources the dangers of aspartame, diet soda inhibiting weight loss despite being calorie free, and caffeine also being bad for weight loss.

What is the consensus here?
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I can say as someone with allergies (including eczema) that diet drinks (or for that matter non diet drinks) make me have itchy skin and rashes. Diet drinks specifically made me naseous when I drank them.

I don't know if this is because my body is malfunctioning, or because there is really something bad in them that is not meant for human consumption. But I have to say that after 3 months of not eating processed foods (and essentially anything that has weird chemical ingredients, or colors or flavors) I am at the point where I don't need to use creams for my eczema.
 
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Try fresh fruit or fruit smoothie with low fat or light yogurt for the sugar rush.
Diet soda actually slows down your metabolism and are unhealthy chemicals for you.
 
I've lost over 40 pounds and I drink diet soda to an extreme amount for most. So, personally, I see no problem.
 
I've lost over 100 lbs while drinking diet soda. So yeah....

It's true that some people react negatively to sweeteners (not just aspartame). I used to, but either the sweeteners changed, or my body did, because I have no more problems with it.

There is no indication that sweeteners 'slow down your metabolism' or anything like that. Just try it out and see for yourself. If you feel nauseous or your stomach acts up, try a different sweetener. If that doesn't work, you're unfortunately one of those that don't deal well with sweeteners. If you're okay, well....you're okay.

Caffeine is not bad for weight loss at all, by the way. In moderation, it can actually aid weight loss by giving you a bit of an energy boost.
 
San said:
I've lost over 100 lbs while drinking diet soda. So yeah....

It's true that some people react negatively to sweeteners (not just aspartame). I used to, but either the sweeteners changed, or my body did, because I have no more problems with it.

There is no indication that sweeteners 'slow down your metabolism' or anything like that. Just try it out and see for yourself. If you feel nauseous or your stomach acts up, try a different sweetener. If that doesn't work, you're unfortunately one of those that don't deal well with sweeteners. If you're okay, well....you're okay.

Caffeine is not bad for weight loss at all, by the way. In moderation, it can actually aid weight loss by giving you a bit of an energy boost.
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Some sweetners trigger off cravings in me. I've stopped eating Weight watchers desserts for that reason but I seem to be ok with diet coke.
 
I drink too much diet drinks. I have not managed to lose weight but thats more to do with struggling to reduce my fruit intake.

The theory with diet drinks is the sweeteners in them. You see sweeteners are a fairly new thing in out biological history. Our bodies take in these sweeteners and assume they are sugar. Acid starts to develop in our stomachs, our brains release certain hormones and....20 mins later, the stomach is still waiting for its sugar. It has none yet wants/needs it so...it sends out a new message to your brain: "find me sugar!" your brain then releases hormones which result in craving for sugar/carbohydrate based foods. You may well have another can of Pepsi Max to get rid of the cravings, but your just feeding the "gimme sugar" message your brain is sending out.

Thats the problem.

Eat and drink real food, your body doesn't do this but then this is the theory, I have been drinking diet drinks since I was about 7. I don't know if it could be any different. I do know though of several people who "don't believe in diet drinks" and are stick thin. I know of one person who isn't and had to switch to diet coke as he was obese so maybe its a genetic thing? or maybe he just had issues with needing more food then his body requires. (Mixing emotions with food rather then just eating for the sake of nutritional intake).
 
I don't know about sweeteners causing 'sugar cravings'. Sounds like an excuse to me. Actually, when I crave something sweet, I will have a diet coke or something similar, and that does the trick. Craving gone.

As for the article....well.....it's one of those 'might do', 'could do', 'there's indications that' articles. In other words, they have no clue if it is the sweeteners, one particular ingredient of the sweeteners, or something altogether different.
 
Water. Drink water, it keeps you hydrated and is the only true zero calorie food/drink out there! Also being dehydrated can slow your motabsum by 10%!! 10% is a lot, so make sure you drink enugh water. It also kills hunger pains and when exercising it will help keep you from getting cramps.
 
Aspartame is, in molecular form, too big for our systems to break down and use as energy. This is why it is a 'no calorie' sweetener. It has calories, just not ones we can use. So, if calories are your only concern, then go for it, drink all the diet soda you want.

But I would like to point out that diet soda is just as damaging to your teeth as regular soda, because it still contains carbonic acid, which really does a number on your enamel. Liquids cling around the gumline, and cause the worst kinds of cavities, that almost always lead to root canals. I drank diet soda throughout my childhood and adolescence, and I'm now paying the consequences at my dentist's office. I'm all water, all the time, and my pearly whites are thanking me for it.
 
ando3242 said:
many of us drink soda throughout the day so when we want to lose weight a logical sounding solution is to switch to diet soda. But, i've heard many negative things about it. So,what's the deal with diet soda? I've gathered from several sources the dangers of aspartame, diet soda inhibiting weight loss despite being calorie free, and caffeine also being bad for weight loss.

What is the consensus here?
Click to expand...

water, water & more water!!!
 
Ando3242 said:
Many of us drink soda throughout the day so when we want to lose weight a logical sounding solution is to switch to diet soda. But, I've heard many negative things about it. So,what's the deal with diet soda? I've gathered from several sources the dangers of aspartame, diet soda inhibiting weight loss despite being calorie free, and caffeine also being bad for weight loss.

What is the consensus here?
Click to expand...

I drank diet sodas years ago before I started all of my training and I have to say, it made me more hungry. I put it down to the stimulants inside, possibly the aspartame. So basically, I ate more when I drank it regularly. Having quit the sodas for 10 years, I recently had a can of diet coke out of emergency as there was nothing else around and I was so thirsty and not only did it taste horrendous, just like chemicals, but it gave me horrific abdominal cramping and I had to go to bed. Better to avoid anything synthetic like that, really, it can't be good for you. Stick to water and nice fruit juices......if you really fancy a soda, why don't you just have full fat coke, but a very small quantity? I'm sure the sugar inside there is potentially better for you than the artificial sweeteners they put inside the diet drinks. Of course, full fat coke also contains a lot of caffeine, again, another stimulant that could potentially increase your appetite.
Whatever it is you choose to do, I think its best to do it in moderation.
 
I have been drinking diet soda since I was a little kid. I was chubby long before my mom let me drink diet soda.

I don't drink regular soda ever, prefer the taste of diet in general. I sometimes think that taking diet soda out of the mix might help with the weight loss, but at the same time it's one of the things that I really enjoy, so if I also eliminate that, it will make the diet even less appealing to me, because then the diet is TOO restrictive.

I would say if you like soda, and the tast of diet, then treat yourself to diet soda early in the course of your weight loss. Once you get the weight loss established, then if you think you are being inhibited by the soda, cut that out as well.

Diets are already pretty tough to maintain as it is, I believe that treating yourslf to soda every now and then is not so bad.
 
Oh and one last thing:

The stuff that makes drinks fizzy messes with bones, it leeches calcium from bones, not just caffienated drinks (they are a double wammy) just things like diet or even non diet lemonade.

This may seem like nothing to you but osteoperosis is a horrible thing to have. Broken bones which take a very very long time to mend or just don't mend? pain whenever you walk? weakness?

Women are most at risk. Men are too but with women, bones are formed as you grow up, the calcium in them to build the strength accumulates until your about 25-30, Mess with this your not giving your bones enough calcium to support them in old age. When you get past the age of about 30, your bones naturally decline. The calcium in them stops building. The reason is to do with a reduction in the hormones in a women as she ages. See once the calcium is in decline its an uphill battle to rebuild as its already natrually in decline. Taking more fizzy drinks as you grow which leeches calcium from the bones before you get to around 30 just puts you at a disadvantage.
The best things you can do to help this if you feel you cannot cut out fizzy drinks, is to take dairy, do resistance training (this helps bones) and keep stress levels to a minimum. Stress itself can also negatively affects calcium levels.
 
Would you pour diet soda on your car? No, it would hurt the paint finish right? So, imagine what it does to our bodies. A friend/nutritionist ice told me that and I've never drank it again.

Drink water with lemon, herbal teas, iced herbal teas with Agave Nectar for a sweeter. If you want caffeine drink coffee. I drink it with rice vanilla rice milk. That sweetens it up with out adding any sugar.
 
motivatedmama said:
Would you pour diet soda on your car? No, it would hurt the paint finish right? So, imagine what it does to our bodies. A friend/nutritionist ice told me that and I've never drank it again.

Drink water with lemon, herbal teas, iced herbal teas with Agave Nectar for a sweeter. If you want caffeine drink coffee. I drink it with rice vanilla rice milk. That sweetens it up with out adding any sugar.
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Eh? Since when would diet soda hurt the paint finish? Of all the arguments for and against diet soda, this is probably the one that makes the least sense. I mean, would you splash herbal tea over your leather sofa? No, it would hurt the leather, right? So imagine what it does to your body.

Oh, and pigs can fly, a friend told me that, and I've never taken a plane ever since. Might collide with one.

Diet Soda is perfectly fine to drink, as long as you drink it alongside a healthy diet, and in MODERATION. Like everything else. Stop making absolute statements (either for or against diet soda), because neither side has absolute proof, and probably never will do.
 
As much as I agree with you, it can damage paint finishes!

I was 10, I went to a summer school which was held inside a normal school. We were in an orchestra and had the entire cantiene area as out "green room". One time I spilled a can of diet coke. I was new and too embarrassed to ask for anything to mop up the mess. I just left it.
Can back the next day? it had eaten into the table!

Now I know the full sugar stuff is worse (ever do the coke + tooth test at school?) and that we generally have siliva rolling around our mouths to wash out any diet drink residue but thats not to say it doesn't have a knock on effect every time you drink. When you eat or drink ANYTHING, the enamel on your teeth softens. (This is a reason why your supposed to wait before brushing your teeth, not brush immediatly after eating). Over time, harsh acidic foods and drinks can also cause weakening.

Like you say, its fine in moderation but the general trend is not to have the odd 1 or 2 cans a week, but to have a can or few every day or even a bottle a day. This is when real damage can be caused.
 
San said:
Eh? Since when would diet soda hurt the paint finish? Of all the arguments for and against diet soda, this is probably the one that makes the least sense. I mean, would you splash herbal tea over your leather sofa? No, it would hurt the leather, right? So imagine what it does to your body.

Oh, and pigs can fly, a friend told me that, and I've never taken a plane ever since. Might collide with one.

Diet Soda is perfectly fine to drink, as long as you drink it alongside a healthy diet, and in MODERATION. Like everything else. Stop making absolute statements (either for or against diet soda), because neither side has absolute proof, and probably never will do.
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Diet soda is not perfectly fine. The sodium benzoate commonly found in all sodas has been linked as a carcinogen and even as an agent to damaging DNA. Check out this excerpt from Wikipedia:

"Professor Peter Piper of the University of Sheffield claims that sodium benzoate by itself can damage and inactivate vital parts of DNA in a cell's mitochondria. Mitochondria consume oxygen to generate ATP, the body's energy currency. If they are damaged due to disease, the cell malfunctions and may enter apoptosis. There are many illnesses now tied to DNA damage, including Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases, but above all, the aging process in general."

Just because it's commonly consumed doesn't make it fit to eat. Why would you want to poison your body, even in moderation? Drink water with lemon or lime squeezed in it, or drink tea (which actually supplies your body with loads of beneficial nutrients) instead.
 
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