I know how you feel. I really dislike water, but have determined to drink more of it. I don't think a diet coke every once in a while is too bad though. I use it to "treat" myself once I've had my 8 cups of water.

I'll be the first to say that Diet Coke sucks.

That being said, I am a Diet Pepsi addict.. lol.

My name is Elizabeth and I am a Diet Coke addict!

I too have heard that it makes you fat, makes you crave sugar, causes brain cancer etc etc etc.

I am trying to add water, so far it hasn't been too bad but I put Crystal Light in it. So, if I do that, how is that different than drinking Diet Coke?? (other than the lack of caffeine)

Okay, here is the reason that Diet Coke is bad for you:

The poison in Diet Coke is aspartame. Aspartame is uniquely and inherently unstable and breaks down in the can. It decomposes into formaldehyde, methyl alcohol, formic acid, diketopiperazine and other toxins. In a study on 7 monkeys, 5 had grand mal seizures and one died, a casualty rate of 86%.

This is an excerpt from a congressional hearing in 1985 on trying to ban aspartame in the use of beverages.

That said, everything will kill you these days. Diet Coke may not be the greatest thing, but surely it is better than when I consumed massive quantities of iced tea each day (my diabetes thanks me for quitting that one). Its a trade off. Personally, I'm sure we consume many worse things in our food and beverages that we are not even aware of. I drink about 2 cans of diet coke each day...I'm still here! LOL!

There is some chemical in regular Coke (Phosphoric acid?) that does all sorts of nasty things, including cleaning corroded car batteries (tried this and it works) and dirty toilets. Who knows what it does to our system. I have a list of things that it does somewhere, but I'd have to look for it. I don't know about diet.

Crystal light isn't ALL that good for you either, but whether it's better or worse I couldn't tell you. I just dilute mine and I figure that HAS to be better for me than Coke. Anything does.

Hmmm... I heard that aspartame will give rats seizures and kill them, but only at extremely, extremely concentrated doses. Humans would have to drink a gazillion cans. But then, if you don't want to take it all at once, just let the cancer eat you a bite at a time.

I agree with bullseye, though - you have to draw your own line at what you will/won't put in your body. Everyone has to die sometime.

The rumors about Diet Coke giving you brain cancer are bull. I've heard that it CAN give you kidney stones, though, but ****, I've been drinking diet soda for 5 years, and I used to drink much larger amounts of it... and my kidneys are just fine.

I'd LIKE to be able to swear off soda entirely, but diet soda isn't that harmful. I've heard it can make you retain water, but I'm not entirely sure how, as (beware: overshare) it makes you need to pee every 5 seconds!

this is absolutely rediculous! How long has diet soda been around? And in how many deaths has it been the cause? Common people...THINK!

All this stuff about it being so horrible for you is a bunch of BUNK! What is aweful is my Uncle dying from Pancreatic cancer a few years back DUE to drinking too much REGULAR Pepsi...the sugar overloaded his pancreas. This is awful.

I've looked and looked and can't find one single case of someone having cause of death "Diet soda"....*rolls eyes*

Okay, don't shoot the messenger, I merely posted what was published since the question was asked.

Personally, I could care less what any of the studies are. Supposedly my microwave was going to cause me to grow a 2nd head and my laptop is going to give me cancer. My aunt, who was a water guzzling, vegetarian and fitness nut died at 52...my uncle drinks, eats everything bad for you and smokes and he is still going at 84...no rhyme or reason. We all go when its our time.

I had, for the last couple of years or so, developed a burning sensation on my tongue. Didn't ask a doctor about it. But on the aspartame horror story websites I read that among other things, it caused that burning tongue symptom. I had been drinking about 6 cans of diet pepsi per day. I have quit since January and finally, just within the last month or two, the burning tongue symptom is gone. Could be coincidence. I also notice that my appetite has decreased since stopping the diet pepsi. I still sometimes drink a soft drink sweetened with Splenda. I don't notice that it increases my appetite the way diet pepsi did, and I don't have any weird tongue problems anymore.

P.S. - Besides being motivated by the tongue thing, I was also motivated by the fact that I've been growing increasingly more concerned with who is profiting by my dollars spent, and I decided I didn't want to give Pepsi or Coke any more dollar votes. And I know that what I was really craving was not the diet pepsi itself but rather something cold and fizzy, so I switched to soda water. Sometimes with a lemon added. And sometimes, yes, one of those splenda-sweetened things, but not very often.

The important thing to take note of is that some people will have no problems, and other people will have pretty obvious problems. So, the thing to do is remain aware of what your body is doing! If you have some kind of symptom that appears to be related to a food or a beverage, it only makes sense to stop using that for awhile to see what happens. And then, you can add it back, in a small amount, to see if the symptom returns.

Obviously this is NOT something you should do with anything dangerous, like a severe food allergy! But doctors can test for those things.

Jay

I'm sorry guys if it seemed like my posting was rude...I was just getting excited! lol

I aggree Jay....I guess if you're having a reaction and you think it might be something....it's best to just quit that one thing and see if it's the aggravator.

I, too, mostly drink diet sodas sweetned with Splenda because I like the taste better. Diet Rite is my fav and their Cherry Cola is good too. Faygo is another favorite of mine, though it still has aspartame but they don't empty out your wallet. Coke and Pepsi make so much money it's rediculous!

When does this happen? For how many years do I have to drink water before I start to crave it? I've been forcing myself to drink straight water for over a year now and it still tastes like blech! to me. I even put a little lemon in it, or sometimes mint, but it doesn't help.

The fact is, I'm never thirsty. With the exception of decaf coffee and hot tea (both with milk and sweetener, of course), I pretty much have to force myself to drink any beverages at all. I sweat and pee more than seems humanly possible but, except for occasionally during workouts, I'm never thirsty.

Don't feel bad, I have been drinking water for years and I never crave it-unless I am sweating profusely or out in the heat. I have to force myself to drink the daily requirement. I've done the lemon thing too, never made a difference for me. I think it is just a personal taste thing.