Diet Soda
 

I have and always will love Diet Coke. I drink 5-6 cans per day. However, I am starting to think it is impeding my weight loss. Does anyone else have any insight into this?

The chemical Aspartame in Diet Coke actually turns into formaldehyde in your digestive system. It basically preserves your fat.

http://www.naturalnews.com/024302_as...diet_soda.html

my passion
 

http://www.dorway.com/ This website has alot of information for you :)

Additionally there is a video out there on the interweb over an hour long which explains in wonderful detail all about aspartame and the conspiracy (sorry but it's true this time) that got it "approved" in the first place. You can find it here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...1488524526735#

http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/nutraswt.htm here is another interesting site

The reason i am all stalker about this topic is that i just used to be addicted to diet pepsi. i was you, i could drink it all_day_long and i never thought i'd be able to give it up. This video made me decide i had to, and when i went vegan, i was able to, thank God, give it up. i have had 2 servings of diet soda in the last 6 weeks so YOU CAN DO IT!!!! :D:carrot:

-fm

It might impede your weight loss--some people find that it whets their appetites--but the preponderance of reputable research from peer-reviewed sources indicates that it won't poison you unless you have phenylketonuria.

Here's a link from Snopes.com, the urban legends web site, that has some extensive information about aspartame. Included are links to articles from the Lancet, the FDA, MIT, Dr. Dean Edell, and Time magazine, all of which are valuable reading for anyone who's curious about the health risks of aspartame.

Pears, apples, and shiitake mushrooms (among other foods) also produce formaldehyde in minute quantities as one of their metabolites or contain trace amounts of it. It's a water-soluble compound, so if it's a concern to you in these foods, give them a soak before eating them. (I don't, but then I figure that if a trace amount of something occurs naturally in foods, my body's probably evolved to be able to cope with it--and if I'm wrong, then the mortician can just use less embalming fluid on me when I'm lying on his table.)

The link I used for the formaldehyde info was the Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety, but if you Google other .gov and .edu sites, you can find some denser literature about it, if you're interested in deeper research. :)

Anecdotally, I never drink water--like, less than a glass a month. I drank diet coke/coke zero for months, and then switched over to Crystal Lite because I developed a taste for it. I also put equal in my tea and cottage cheese. I lost 135 pounds in 14 months and have maintained it since. So I, personally, have not found it to interfere with weight loss.

Ohh..a pet subject for me! I drink coke zero. I will not give up my coke zero. I have lost 71 pounds in 9 months, in a nice steady downward slide, with not a single plateau. I drink at least 2 coke zeros per day, and sometimes 3 or 4. yes..water would be better for me, but I like my carbonation burn and my caffeine. Supposedly the artificial sweetener in diet sodas makes you crave real sugar. This may be true, I can't say for sure. I sometimes crave sugar, but that could be just because I want sugar. But if I could not control my cravings, I would not be where I am now, regardless of whether I drink diet soda or not. So, as I said in one of my very first posts on 3fc, keep your damn hands off my coke zero.
Keep your hands off my coke zero, and I promise not to snigger at your cottage cheese. ewwwww

I just watched "Sweet Misery" this weekend. A good reinforcement for what I already believe - that aspartame is nasty stuff. Everybody's sensitivity to chemicals is different. It never kept me from losing weight but it did make me crave sweets. I quit using it quite a while ago when I was having panic attacks, memory problems, visual disturbances and bloating like blowfish. Every now and then I have a Diet Coke, but even after just one, I feel some of the effects. Anyway, check out the documentary if you get a chance. I think we all know if it sounds too good to be true, or in this case, tastes too good to be true, then it probably isn't.

my thoughts
 

my thoughts would be to do the research yourself, and make the decision for yourself :) Additionally, i would trust snopes with alot of things, but not my health. One more thing too, the chemical compound found in fruit and mushrooms in nature are bound to another substance in nature. Our bodies cannot separate this bond, i believe it is called pectin. Thus the formaldehyde comes through our bodies bound to the pectin. This isn't true in aspartame.

i have no doubt most people, including myself, can consume aspertame and have no ill effects (at least i haven't attributed any to that). But the research done on this product before it's approval is shoddy.

i have been wanting to get off the diet soda band wagon for awhile, i wanted to drink more water and i didn't like that i couldn't control myself with the soda.

i have lost weight since then but i have made alot of drastic changes so i can't attribute it to just that :) :) good luck!!!

-fm

I can't drink diet sodas. All the chemicals and artificial flavors make me sick.

I have cycled on and off diet soda for years. At times I've given it up because I was living out the country and it was unavailable. I'm gone off it because of cost reasons, and I've been off it for the last 8 weeks specifically to see if it was affecting my weight loss.

Anecdotally, no. My weight loss has actually slowed slightly since I've stopped my beloved Cherry Coke Zero, but I attribute that to my current lower weight. I'm still losing an average of 1-1.5 lbs per week.

Obviously only you can decide for yourself, and I don't think anyone out there is going to call diet soda a health beverage. But, if it keeps you from eating sugar or drinking regular soda, and isn't harmful, why not?

All I can say is stop drinking soda!! I was a die hard diet pepsi drinker...i drank over 2 litres per day. When I decided to go back to WW in Sept I also decided to stop drinking diet soda. I can only wish that I had stopped years ago. I feel so much better and I contribute my WW success so far to giving up diet soda. I joined WW on Sept 11 and I am down 25 lbs as of last week. I am not an exerciser either. I have no cravings for soda or food and barely ever eat anything after supper now because I'm not hungry in the evenings anymore. The first few days were tough but it was smooth sailing after that, give it a try - you'll be glad you did!! Good luck!

I've had a terrible diet cherry pepsi ADDICTION for years. I drank it like water...prolly only drinking about 8 oz of actual water daily...and did this for YEARS!!!:o

Did it stop/slow my weight loss? NO. ( I shrunk all the way down to runway model weight and wore a size 6) Did it cause me to get GASTRITIS (irritation in the lining of your abdominal wall)? YES!!!:mad:

Clearly anything done is excess is BAD for you. period. Drinking soda is no different. No one wants to ever get so 'far removed' from reality as to make losing weight more important than staying ALIVE (which is the bottom line to all of this 'getting skinny' thing right? or maybe not?)

Anyhoot...it's been over a year since I've beat my diet soda addiction. I still drink it, but it usually takes me about 3 weeks or better to go through 12 cans as to the amount I used to drink (2-4 liters daily). I drank about 100 oz of water daily and my skin has never been better. I exercise (run), so I no longer need that "caffeine" high...btw, natures BEST natural stimulant is called "endorphins"...it's really OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!! WOOO HOOOO!!!!

ANNNNNNNNNNNND, I'm completely cured of my gastritis and no longer have to double over in pain in public establishments, drive myself to the ER thinking I'm having a heart attack, and/or worry about bleeding to death....YEAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

Sorry for my sarcasim (it's just me...don't take it personal)...but hopefully you catch my drift and light hearted spirit in which is was meant!

All the best!:)

I have been drinking diet coke since the beginning, and will until I die :D

A little dramatic, but what can I say, I love my diet coke!

Oh, but I don't drink it like water. I only have 2 cans a day and the rest is water.

I like diet pepsi. I don't have it very often, but I never drink regular soda...it tastes like syrup to me. I didn't know that diet soda was bad for you. I understand the chemicals in it now, after reading the above posts. But will having diet soda only every once in a while still be bad? {excuse my ignornace, but I'm curious.}

I am sure it is fine for some. I went cold turkey giving up soda and lost 20lbs. without doing much else. BUT I was addicted to regular soda. I can't stand the flavor of diet and could never make myself get used to it. I said I would NOT drink diet, so the only option was to give it up.

I was addicted to Diet Dr Pepper - I drank about a six pack a day for nearly 5 years. When I was skinny (~130-135 lbs), I did not gain weight drinking all that soda. However, when my metabolism slowed down, and I started gaining weight, I wondered about the effect the diet soda may be having on me - but I didn't stop drinking it. I liked it too much. :)

I decided to stop drinking the stuff last summer (August 2009), when I came to the conclusion that it just couldn't be good for me to drink so much soda all the time. I had been trying (rather unsuccessfully) to lose weight since early 2009, and decided to just cut it out all together and see what happened. Long story short, I didn't lose weight by eliminating the soda from my diet - but I did feel better. I can't really explain it, but I've not been as tired, I sleep better, etc. I have occasionally given in to temptation, but I would estimate that since August 2009 I've had a soda less than 10 times.

As for weight loss - I've been calorie counting since June 30, 2010, and have lost almost 20 lbs! Again, I'm not sure if the absence of diet soda has helped at all with my diet, but I'm not about to tempt fate and start drinking it again!

I have lost 90 lbs drinking water & crystal light mainly. Both have "zero" carlories but do contain aspartame. I drink diet coke only when I go out to eat. I'd have to say it can't make too much of a difference, at least not in my case anyways....

I used to be majorly addicted to diet coke. I wasn't drinking 2 litres a day or 8 cans a day but I'd drink at least a glass every day. I would never have regular coke because I didn't like the taste compared to the diet. Then I read in Prevention that one of the syrups they use to colour both regular and diet coke was proven to increase belly fat. Since that is a major problem for me I cut it out.

Did I lose any belly fat? no. Did it affect my weight or craving for sweets in the slightest? no.

after a year or so I went back to diet pops but had lost my taste for diet coke. Now I drink diet sprite. But still one or two glasses a day. Again, I havn't seen any difference in my ability to lose weight or my cravings for sweets.

still, 2 litres or multiple cans a day is a lot to drink of anything.

I think I remember seeing somewhere that aspartame is certified as a biological weapon.
I don't think it impedes weight loss, but I often notice that soda drinkers
don't make the best food choices - so I think its a big generalization. Maybe
soda drinkers in general lose less weight but it does not mean that it will
happen to you. Soda can be pretty acidic though and hard on the tummy.
I used to have a massive diet coke habit, I stopped drinking it when I heard
aspartame can make anxiety worse. Did not make a difference for me but I figured oh what the heck I already gave it up why go back. At the time it was the ONE healthy thing I ever did for myself.

I too am a diet coke addict and I won't give it up. For all those 'bad' research findings there are also ones that show no significant difference and the FDA has found no solid reliable research to show its bad for you or weight loss or they would have banned it or put a warning label on it.

But even if they do, this is my ONE vice. I don't drink alcohol, I don't smoke, I don't do drugs, I don't drink coffee or tea. Never have, never will. Of all those things I think Diet coke is the least of all the evils.

So yes you will find tons of "research" online saying its bad for you but nothing has been determined accurate or reliable. So if you think it will help stop it and see if it does.

I've been drinking diet coke since the 3rd grade and yes I'm overweight now but I've been in the 120s-130s drinking it too. As long as you don't see it as 'free calories' to indulge elsewhere I think its fine. I also think the fact that it makes some people hungry is a personal thing. I've never found that it makes me hungry. Every body is different so its all trial and error.

Sorry if my post seems rude, this is just one of my pet peeves. I'm sick and tired of people 'informing' me of how bad diet coke is for me. ARGH! lol

Originally Posted by TornadoSiren:
Ohh..a pet subject for me! I drink coke zero. I will not give up my coke zero. I have lost 71 pounds in 9 months, in a nice steady downward slide, with not a single plateau. I drink at least 2 coke zeros per day, and sometimes 3 or 4. yes..water would be better for me, but I like my carbonation burn and my caffeine. Supposedly the artificial sweetener in diet sodas makes you crave real sugar. This may be true, I can't say for sure. I sometimes crave sugar, but that could be just because I want sugar. But if I could not control my cravings, I would not be where I am now, regardless of whether I drink diet soda or not. So, as I said in one of my very first posts on 3fc, keep your damn hands off my coke zero.
Keep your hands off my coke zero, and I promise not to snigger at your cottage cheese. ewwwww

HERE HERE!!! :D If you don't touch my Diet Coke I won't touch your Coke Zero!!! :D