My hubbie wants me to quit drinking Diet Coke. I will admit that I am addicted to it, but I always tell myself that at least it's DIET! He's convinced it's keeping me from losing weight, and I've heard that it makes you want more sweet stuff. Is any of this true?

First I'll admit that I love diet coke too.
Lot's of people have odd reactions to artificial stuff. Just keep in mind that it is a whole serving of chemicals and maybe keep moderation in mind.

I lost 122 pounds drinking one or two DC's per day (and gallons of coffee). Everyone's different in how they react to artificial sweeteners but they've never been a problem for me. I've given up SO many other things -- they'll have to pry the DC out of my cold, dead fingers.

Can only speak for myself--but I love the non-diet Coke and switching to diet works a little while but then I always go back to the real stuff. So in my case I need to just stop all of it.

I'm not sure if it's bad for you because I'm not in your body One thing I do know is that it's bad for me! I used to use these products, many years ago and when i finally connected their use to negative reactions, it all made sense! All the issues I had before disappeared when I stopped taking them into my system...ALL of them!

I have studied artificial sweeteners, chemical additives and colorings extensively and know that I wouldn't use these products or more specifically, drink "diet soda" unless I was in a bomb shelter and there was no other liquid available

It seems like the jury's still out on the long-term effects of artificial sweeteners (aspartame and Splenda), but I drink diet sodas and use other artificially sweetened products in moderation. I love Diet Coke, so I allow myself that little pleasure in life.

Yeah diet coke isn't the best for you but it's not the worst either. The key is you have to limit how much of it you drink, try only drinking 2 12 oz cans a day. Meanwhile drink plenty of water w/ a little crystal light for flavor. That will help flush the unused coke out of your system so it's not just stored sodium. I bet you you'll notice a huge difference in your weight loss.

Thanks a lot everyone! Your replies lead me to believe even more that pretty much anything in moderation can be okay. You gotta have a little fun in life, and if Diet Coke is your "fun," have it in moderation. I will admit I have to keep it to one or two cans per day - when I get stressed at work, I can drink up to 4 cans there!! Not good, I know. Thanks again.

I've written about this topic an infinite amount of times...

It's really up to each one of us - if you like it, drink it, if you don't like it, don't drink it.

I've been drinking diet soda of one type of another for as long as I can remember (at LEAST since kindergarten, and I'm 43 now) and have yet to see any health problems - the only time I HAVE had any real 'health issues', oddly enough, was during the 8 years I was a vegetarian - but that doesn't mean I'm going to say that people should BE vegetarians. It's a PERSONAL choice.

I've never had a taste for coffee, and I don't drink alcohol very often. Like Meg, I've never had a reaction to artficial sweeteners. Also like Meg said - they'll have to pry my diet Coke out of my cold dead hands...there have been plenty of situations in my life where having a diet pop has kept me from eating something I shouldn't have, such as ice cream (which even though it's 'all natural' still tends to make me break out in fat...).

Hahaha, you don't have anything on me. I was drinking 6+ diet cokes per day. Seriously. I decided to switch to caffiene free. I had to go half and half at first, then knocked it completely down. In the meantime I was drinking more water, V8 juice, etc. Now I've killed my complete craving, but I'll allow myself to have one everyday (and hope it won't just start it back up). I mostly wanted to quit because while I was drinking it, I wasn't drinking much water. I also heard it can imede dehydration, and I'm not sure if it is good for my kidneys. Having said that, notice I said I still will allow myself one. As far as guilty pleasures go, it's not a bad one.

Hello,

I am glad to see that I am not the only one whos husbands tells you to quit drinking Diet Coke. He says the same to me that is why I am not loosing weight.

I'm with Meg. I could also reduce my risk of being in a car accident by never going anywhere I can't walk or eliminate the risk of inhaling carcinogens by not breathing, etc., etc. For me, any risks inherent in drinking DC are not nearly as great as the risks of being obese.

At least you all were drinking Diet Cokes. I was used to the regular ones. In a typical day, I would have 5-6 of them. As long as one was in my hands, I wasnt hungry. Now that Im dieting, Im drinking water with Crystal Light in it. The weight should start coming off since Ive eliminated all those extra calories.

As I have said before there can be quite a bit of sodium in diet soft drinks and caffeine in some which both inhibit weight loss.

Dinking one or two isn't that bad you are better off drinking water.

I also read somewhere that diet coke (all coke/pepsi) is not suitable for vegetarians...might not be an issue for you but does anyone else know if that is true?