I've been reading many articles popping up about diet pop, low or no calorie sweeteners causing your body to crave more calories and making it difficult to judge how much you've eaten.
THAT scares me a bit - I suppose if you count every calorie you eat, the diet pop (yes I'm from MN haha) wouldn't be much of an issue. But for those like me who have a hard time consistently counting calories, it could be dangerous.
I stil drink Sprite, and I know it's terrible for me. I do find that I eat less when I have regular pop than diet. But I suppose the overall calories are higher anyways.
I'm thinking about cutting out pop/soda/artificial sweeteners out all together. Who knows what the effects will be 50 years from now too.
"For every diet soda you sip daily, your risk of becoming overweight can rise by 37 percent, according to researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio"
honestly i think its all about consuming it in moderation, sometimes people think well its low cal, low fat or artificial sweet. not realt sugar so its "better" for you, well not if you consume twice as much! moderation in everything is the key. i have been drinking less diet soda myself because i want to stop drinking it not because of the artificial sweet. issue.
I decided to do this in january and i can't tell you how great i feel. It appears that aspartame was contributing greatly to my migranes, and i get so many fewer headaches now. I've been losing a ton of wieght and contribute that mainly to the rest of my diet/exercise, but i do know that stopping with the soda has helped. As far as artificial sweetners go, a good move is to head to your local health food store and go to the supplements aisle and buy stevia. It's super sweet so you need a lot less of it than normal sweetners; i used to use like 3 packets of sweet and lo in tea, and i use less than half a packet of stevia. But it's all natural, comes from plants, and zero calories zero glycemic index, meaning it won't stimulate insulin production and make you hugnrier.
If you seach 3FC you'll find this is a long debate.
"To artificially sweeten, or not to artificially sweeten."
Basically, some people notice a difference/are concerned about possible health & side effects.
Some people don't notice a difference and have found that artificial sweeteners have helped them to lose weight by being able to "indulge" in something that is low calorie.
And some people... really don't care either way.
In the end, this is really an individual choice area. Same as chosing a weight-loss program. What works for one does not always fit the lifestyle of all.
If you're interested in seeing how it's affecting you, then cut it out for a few weeks. Only you'll know if it's worth doing.
Yep, I agree -- there is no hard and fast rule here. Some people find that diet sodas and artificial sweeteners help keep them on track because it helps them to get over their real sugar cravings and move on to healthier food. Some people can't do without soda generally so opting for the diet soda lessens the caloric punch. Others find that soda/artificial sweetener causes wait loss stalls, headaches, fatigue, stomach problems, etc.
It's really, really individual.
None of the science is reliable at this point, IMHO. Too much of it is conflicting, too much of it is poorly executed. Even with stevia - supposed to be so much better because it's 'natural' - I've read enough negative press on it that I don't think of it as being anything special next to splenda or equal or whatever. Absolutely everything out there has two sides.
The best advice is what faerie said - If you want to find out if your body reacts negatively to artificial sweeteners, stop using them for a couple weeks. See if you feel different. If you don't think you do, add them back in and see if anything changes. You might be experiencing adverse reactions right now that you don't realize because you're so acclimated to them that you don't think it's abnormal/diet-related. You might not. Who knows?
My personal experience is that artificial sweeteners are a good tool for me, in moderation. There are a couple things I eat with artificial sweeteners - my popcicles, FiberOne, and diet soda. I have about two diet sodas per week, I eat FiberOne maybe three mornings each week, and I have a popcicle almost every evening. On top of that I will sweeten something with Splenda a couple times a week - plain yogurt, oatmeal, or almond milk. So you can see it's pretty much a non-issue for me. I eat small quantities of it very regularly. If you are looking to cut it out you'll have to spend some time really looking for it in your food, it ends up in a lot of processed foods nowadays.
I agree with faerie, this has been an ongoing debate and probably will for some time to come.
Just a point to remember: stevia is not FDA approved. Main reason is because it is considered a plant or herb so it doesn't fall under their jurisdiction.
I have used artificial sweetners since 1971. I have gone periods without drinking any diet soda (pop---I am originally from MN). All I noticed is some of my "preference" for the diet soda was lessened.
I have had migraines in the past but I attributed that to a very displeasing mother-in-law. Once divorced from her alcoholic and emotionally abusive son, my migraines ceased! Hmmmm????
I use artificial sweetners in my present food plan. I have also removed all added sugar from all of my foods. I have found that when I eat something with white sugar in it, I have almost uncontrolable cravings. With artificial sweetners I do not.
I feel better physically because I am eating more healthy and more consistently. I also feel better because I am losing a lot of the unhealthy extra weight I have been carrying around.
i have decided that I will continue to use artificial sweetners until I have lost all of this weight and then I will "tackle" the artificial sweetners and diet soda (pop for you Midwesteners) then. One bad habit at a time!
Artificial sweetners give me an instant migraine. Aspartame is the worst but they all bother me. There's no way I could ever do a low carb diet because I can substitute sweetners. I just wish more companies would make lower sugar versions of products. Smuckers has this great low sugar preserves, Snapple has their white tea, Gatorade has that new G2 and Propel - real sugar (or corn syrup) just less of it. I don't really trust artificial anything frankly. Same reason I use smaller ammounts of real butter, cheese, sour cream etc. rather than the fake stuff.
I have been using artificial sweetners for a very long time and have had no problems... so I guess it's based on preference. Then again I've never been the organic type either... Personally I love them because they add a lot of taste for no calories. Also, the way I see it (and this may not be a good way of seeing things but everyone has their right to an opinion) my father was the example of perfect health. He worked out and ate what he was supposed to and passed away from cancer. If someone has health conscious as him can get cancer and die then anyone can regardless of if I eat organic or stay away from the sweetners.
I do get aspartame and probably other sugar substitutes in my diet (I don't really keep track of what substitute is in which soda I drink), and I do just fine with them. I agree with others, its an individual thing. I know some people who are super sensitive to caffeine for instance, and others who could drink red bull after red bull with no discernable effect. I can say that MY weight loss hasn't been slowed by adding these to my diet, I used to only drink water, and when I dieted then I was losing at the same rate as now, when I drink diet sodas that have sugar substitutes. I have heard that the sugar substitutes make you gain because you end up craving and eating more sugary foods. I have personally not found this to be true for me, though I am sure it happens with some people.
Im with pamatga. I'm going to have to focus on losing the weight first, or at least getting more used to dieting, before I think about losing the sweetners.
I love diet coke, I dont think I can reduce my options by one more thing at this point.
I'll think about that tomorrow....
Your feelings on low/no calorie sweeteners
I have commented on this before...
