missmanda05
05-06-2005, 01:00 AM
Hi all, I keep hearing that diet soda is bad for you, I dont know if its the sodium or what but I keep hearing it....Is that really true I dont know if I can give up my diet soda lol..I drink my 8 glasses of water a day and more I love water...Just like a lil diet pepsi at the end of a hard day know what I mean. Anyhows hope you guys can help smiles...Take care ....Oh yeah btw ITS FRIDAY! :bouncing: :bouncing:
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Magnolia29
05-06-2005, 08:21 AM
As I am reading this, drinking my second diet coke with lime for the day and it isn't even 7:30 am yet.. oh man I hope it isnt bad for you!
tattoos
05-06-2005, 10:46 AM
I have heard that it increases your appetite. And, probably the sodium content is considered high. But I still drink my diet soda, caffeine free though, so no added dehydration. People seem to have a problem with sugar substitutes, so that may be a factor too.
Bella
Bella
Crossbow
05-06-2005, 02:25 PM
YES, it is bad for you.
The carbonation is definitely bad for you because it's hard on your stomach and leeches calcium from your bones.
The caffeine is bad for your digestion. It's also highly addictive and in some people it causes a lot of nervous problems and headaches.
The artificial sweetener is suspected of causing cancer and Alzheimer's disease, although the only thing that's been definitely proven is that Saccharine causes cancer, and it's been been taken off the market.
Regular cola is garbage with sugar, but at least you can metabolize the sugar. Diet cola is just plain garbage.
The carbonation is definitely bad for you because it's hard on your stomach and leeches calcium from your bones.
The caffeine is bad for your digestion. It's also highly addictive and in some people it causes a lot of nervous problems and headaches.
The artificial sweetener is suspected of causing cancer and Alzheimer's disease, although the only thing that's been definitely proven is that Saccharine causes cancer, and it's been been taken off the market.
Regular cola is garbage with sugar, but at least you can metabolize the sugar. Diet cola is just plain garbage.
Sonflower1116
05-06-2005, 04:28 PM
Aspartame, used in diet colas, breaks down in the body into many chemicals, including methanol, a known toxin. Methanol is also known as wood alcohol, and is often used as a paint thinner and an industrial cleaner. When it's metabolized in the body it is broken down into formaldehyde (think "embalming fluid"). Some effects in the body from drinking diet drinks include lethargy, fainting, headaches, nausea and vomiting, blindness, cough, breathing difficulities and other vision problems, birth defects in developing fetuses, as well as other reproductive defects. You won't find methanol listed as an ingredient in aspartame, but it's there nontheless.
Regular colas, on the other hand, include at least 9 teaspoons of sugar, which is know to compromise the immune system, beside leaching calcium from bones.
Water is far superior in that it adds nothing to stimulate, toxify or tax your organs and is great for flushing out toxins. :D Some teas, lemon juice or pure cranberry juice are excellent, nutritious drinks that aid in digestion/elimination.
Probably more than you wanted to know, but knowledge gives you the power to make healthy choices for your body and prevent health issues later on in life.
Regular colas, on the other hand, include at least 9 teaspoons of sugar, which is know to compromise the immune system, beside leaching calcium from bones.
Water is far superior in that it adds nothing to stimulate, toxify or tax your organs and is great for flushing out toxins. :D Some teas, lemon juice or pure cranberry juice are excellent, nutritious drinks that aid in digestion/elimination.
Probably more than you wanted to know, but knowledge gives you the power to make healthy choices for your body and prevent health issues later on in life.
lindan
05-06-2005, 04:35 PM
Sorry - I just don't buy all of the hype about diet sodas being awful for you. Of course, most anything done in excess can be harmful but I think that a Diet Coke or 2 each day won't harm you unless you have other health issues. I'm not giving it up - it's my only "vice!"
BethyGirlie
05-06-2005, 06:53 PM
Aspartame, used in diet colas, breaks down in the body into many chemicals, including methanol, a known toxin. Methanol is also known as wood alcohol, and is often used as a paint thinner and an industrial cleaner. When it's metabolized in the body it is broken down into formaldehyde (think "embalming fluid"). Some effects in the body from drinking diet drinks include lethargy, fainting, headaches, nausea and vomiting, blindness, cough, breathing difficulities and other vision problems, birth defects in developing fetuses, as well as other reproductive defects. You won't find methanol listed as an ingredient in aspartame, but it's there nontheless.
Geez, and I thought my smoking habit was bad. Sheesh.
Geez, and I thought my smoking habit was bad. Sheesh.
Musion
05-07-2005, 01:04 AM
Aspartame, Aspartame, Aspartame, you have GOT to get rid of it from your intake of food and drink. Went on Atkins in 2003 and lost 5 lbs in the first three weeks and couldn't understand why! A coworker said you drink dies coke and its bad for you. I said EVERYBODY says its bad for you but nobody can tell me why. She said Aspartame was the reason why look on Atkins web site and do a web search, well I did and low and behold the stuff is dangerous. I stopped right then, no easy task as I was addicted to the stuff.
drank only water (yuck) until I spent like my whole weekend at different grocery stores reading labels. what I found was
Diet Rite - no Aspartame, no sodium, no caffeine(which turns on cravings)
sweetened with Splenda(look for this its a good thing)
Crystal Clear brand flavored water -
no Aspartame(which most flavored waters have), low sodium,
no calories, no caffeine(see note above)
After i got off the Aspartame i went from 295 lbs to 200 lbs in
5 months. And I know this might sound incredible but I don't exercise much at all. But you've got to understand a little of this bad stuff goes a long way, kind of like plastic explosives and gun powder!
I hope this answers your question, the habit is hard to break but worth it!
drank only water (yuck) until I spent like my whole weekend at different grocery stores reading labels. what I found was
Diet Rite - no Aspartame, no sodium, no caffeine(which turns on cravings)
sweetened with Splenda(look for this its a good thing)
Crystal Clear brand flavored water -
no Aspartame(which most flavored waters have), low sodium,
no calories, no caffeine(see note above)
After i got off the Aspartame i went from 295 lbs to 200 lbs in
5 months. And I know this might sound incredible but I don't exercise much at all. But you've got to understand a little of this bad stuff goes a long way, kind of like plastic explosives and gun powder!
I hope this answers your question, the habit is hard to break but worth it!
lainosuta
05-16-2005, 03:48 PM
To be honest, diet coke is not worth it. Firstly, it will still give you empty calories, because your blood sugar will still jump after you drink it, as with all artificial sweetners that have 0 calories. They all have high glycemic indexes, except for Stevia sugar, which you can buy from a Whole Foods Market. Since drinking diet isn't going to help you save on calories anyways, just switch to normal coke for your caffiene kick so you can avoid the aspartame. Or even better, switch to green/black tea or black coffee. Both are not nearly as harmful and are much healthier for you to lose weight with.
hs1977
05-16-2005, 05:58 PM
sorry I don't understand that, if it has 0 calories how can you still gain weight? I'm very interested to know I usually have 2-3 a day always diet thinking I was getting a free treat. :confused:
nikki11
05-17-2005, 08:46 AM
hmm interesting.. i have lost alot of weight cutting out regular coke, switching to diet and watching what i eat.. im not sure witch one has worked, the food or the diet coke but i was drinkina ALOT of regular coke and b'cos i dont really like the taste of diet coke i dont drink as much of it although i do have it a few times a day, makes me feel not so deprived, i loved my coke lol! anywayz.. the aim is that as i dont miss the normal coke so much i will start going without the diet coke oh sorry i got off track, my point was going to be that everything in moderation should b alrite i rekon.. just dont overdo it.. diet coke probably isnt as bad for you as say, the fatty foods that contribute to heart desiese etc.. :)
Sunlover
05-17-2005, 12:32 PM
I would think that it's worse than regular soda! You are consuming CHEMICAL sugar rather than the real stuff. I'm not saying the other one is good either - I mean it's a lot of calories that really sneak in there! Also, my husband soaks rusty things in Coke or Pepsi and it cleans it well! If this stuff takes RUST off metal, what is it doing to your internal organs!?:eek:
Lenin
05-18-2005, 10:25 AM
DIET SODA is god's gift to anyone trying to lose weight. Sweetened with cyclamate(Sucaryl...in most of the world, not the U.S.), aspartame (Nutrasweet), or sucralose (Splenda), whatever your choice, it's better than 10 teaspoon of sugar/can any day of the week.
All are endorsed by nearly every major health agency in every country on Earth.
All promote weight loss and help avoid insulin fluctutations.
The horrible illness connections all over the Internet are fabricated nonsense by competitors with no basis in fact. No co-incidence that all the aspartame condemnations came out PRECISELY at the time Splenda started getting peddled. Of course sugar makers, with BIG bucks (including your tax dollars), can finance a LOT of nay-saying about ALL of them.
I repeat...THANK GOD FOR ASPARTAME!
All are endorsed by nearly every major health agency in every country on Earth.
All promote weight loss and help avoid insulin fluctutations.
The horrible illness connections all over the Internet are fabricated nonsense by competitors with no basis in fact. No co-incidence that all the aspartame condemnations came out PRECISELY at the time Splenda started getting peddled. Of course sugar makers, with BIG bucks (including your tax dollars), can finance a LOT of nay-saying about ALL of them.
I repeat...THANK GOD FOR ASPARTAME!
lainosuta
05-19-2005, 02:26 AM
In theory and proven with other artificial sweeteners, Diet Coke still jumps your blood glucose lvls, meaning you will get hungry faster when your blood sugar drops down again at a fast rate. If you cant kick the habit, make sure you eat something full of fiber when you drink a Diet Coke to keep yourself from having blood sugar crashes later. Also, I greatly distrust the validity of no calorie sweeteners. You realise that its possible the reason that it doesn't give calories is the fact that your body cannot tolerate it normally?
I had problems for many years with my weight, despite drinking Diet Coke. When I finally stopped, not only did I no longer did I have to worry about my teeth, I also lost 15 lbs just because it was ten times easier to get through the day without binging by drinking green tea. I dont think drinking one diet coke every three days will harm you greatly, but its like smoking once every three days.. its like a counter counting down. Eventually, the sugar crashes will catch up to you, and make your life harder.
But thats just my opinion. We all have our cheats. >_> Mine is dark unsweeted chocolate. *_*
I had problems for many years with my weight, despite drinking Diet Coke. When I finally stopped, not only did I no longer did I have to worry about my teeth, I also lost 15 lbs just because it was ten times easier to get through the day without binging by drinking green tea. I dont think drinking one diet coke every three days will harm you greatly, but its like smoking once every three days.. its like a counter counting down. Eventually, the sugar crashes will catch up to you, and make your life harder.
But thats just my opinion. We all have our cheats. >_> Mine is dark unsweeted chocolate. *_*
Lenin
05-19-2005, 09:45 AM
I have tested my blood sugar before and after Diet Sodas: an Internet friend did the same.
Serum Glucose did NOT change one iota for either of us, nether at one, two or three hours!
Same was true whether aspartame (Coke) or sucralose (Diet-Rite) was tested. Also the same was true for acesulfame/aspartame (PepsiONE!)
After all where would any glucose COME from...our livers? Evolution isn't stupid: only carbohydrates raise blood glucose and insulin is released only when blood glucose is raised...anything else is VOODOO!
Serum Glucose did NOT change one iota for either of us, nether at one, two or three hours!
Same was true whether aspartame (Coke) or sucralose (Diet-Rite) was tested. Also the same was true for acesulfame/aspartame (PepsiONE!)
After all where would any glucose COME from...our livers? Evolution isn't stupid: only carbohydrates raise blood glucose and insulin is released only when blood glucose is raised...anything else is VOODOO!
CobaltBlue
05-19-2005, 10:18 AM
Hmm--where to start. I don't believe that diet sodas factor into weight gain. I wouldn't blame them. They are empty, nutritionless calories, and I will agree there. However, isn't that wonderful? As Lenin said, thank God for aspartame (and other low/no calorie sweeteners).
I was obese from the ages of 22-35, and never really drank much soda. Now, I drink at least a six pack of diet soda a day, but I also run daily, compete in races and keep my weight down (low end of normal BMI). I am a type 2 diabetic, but since the weight loss and exercise was added, no symptoms at all. I do check my sugars from time to time and have not noticed an effect from diet drinks. I have noticed an effect, however, from decreasing exercise duration and frequency...far more detrimental than any ingested diet drink.
I feel less hungry from drinking diet drinks--they tend to fill me up. Yes, the carbonation does provide a bloated effect, but I don't notice any increased craving. If I want to up my food cravings to uncontrollable levels, I simply have to reach for a box of cereal...
Speaking of which, a major knock against soda is the sweetness and that leads to dental caries. I know, so will that box of cereal. Net effect, sugar is sugar, but that's not the subject here....now we have aspartame, splenda, artificial sweetners.
My challenge is this: Name a person close to you that has died from artificial sweetners. In return, I will name 10 people close to me who have died from heart disease due to obesity. I think that much of the reaction to artificial sweetners has to do with a (perhaps justifiable?) fear of synthetic chemicals. True, nature didn't make these, but by the same token, you would be surprised what nature does make that is far more toxic.
I used to hear that the sodium content of soft drinks were up there, but I think the manufacturers have toned it down a bit. Now that I am label reading junkie, I see that most are in the 35-40 mg/can range. If you want to be floored by sodium levels, take a look at the back of a soup can the next time you are in the grocery store ;) It would take about 36 sodas to get the sodium that you would in one serving of a small soup can.
The carbonation via dissolving CO2 into the soda water is not the root of all evils, either. Sparkling water, although not common here in the US, is very very common in other countries (I notice this when I travel in Europe and when I was in Brazil a few years back). I didn't notice any particular ill effects in most of these people. In fact, they looked healthier than the average American (and that included me back then)! :eek:
As for production of methanol from aspartame, I don't doubt it in the least. In fact, as I mentioned above, nature is amazing at times, and our bodies are included in that. We produce methanol as a breakdown product, present on the skin, present in the breath (as are dimethyl disulfide, acetaldehyde, styrene, isoprene, etc.---take a look at the MSDS sheets for those!). However, the highest methanol concentration that I have ever observed in a study involved a subject that was an alcoholic. Some of you may be aware that chronic alcoholics (and others of us that drink too much the night before) can sweat and produce an odor the next day that is reminiscent of the previous night's intoxication fest. Well, this subject had a very high level of ethanol emanating on the skin, but the methanol concentration was almost equivalent! Take home message: If methanol is the concern, it is better to reach for the aspartame than for a bottle of beer, glass of wine, etc.
As for Splenda, with it's trichlorinated version of sugar. I actually do like this stuff to a point, but too much of it at a time and I notice the bitterness of it. I am not worried too much about the Cl attached to it, because without chlorine, we would cease to live. Plenty of natural and unnatural compounds have chlorine/are chlorides. However, this is not vinyl chloride that is being added to foods, this "stuff" does resemble sugar, at least in part ;)
About pH of sodas (colas, etc.) and the damage there. Yes, they are at the acid end, but the dissolved CO2 only lowers it slightly. What really puts it down near pH 2-3.5 is the phosphoric acid. However, even that pH is not bad when compared to nature, i.e. the content of your stomach, which is <2 normally (actually pH 1-2). If you remember that the pH scale is log based (p=log), then that is 10x or more concentrated than sodas.
Yes, I have to concede that sodas will wear down the enamel of teeth, and presumably from the acid content and its effect on the calcium containing enamel. The evidence is there, and certainly made obvious by the state of teeth (from the stomach acid...) of someone that is bulimic.
Finally, I have to concede that water is indeed the best choice, but we only live once! I agree in part with enjoying life as much as possible and if diet sodas enable that and play a part in it, then by all means I feel they are the better choice than the sugar alternative. (Especially when heart disease and diabetes from obesity is one of the other choices--as it was/is/could be again in my case).
I was obese from the ages of 22-35, and never really drank much soda. Now, I drink at least a six pack of diet soda a day, but I also run daily, compete in races and keep my weight down (low end of normal BMI). I am a type 2 diabetic, but since the weight loss and exercise was added, no symptoms at all. I do check my sugars from time to time and have not noticed an effect from diet drinks. I have noticed an effect, however, from decreasing exercise duration and frequency...far more detrimental than any ingested diet drink.
I feel less hungry from drinking diet drinks--they tend to fill me up. Yes, the carbonation does provide a bloated effect, but I don't notice any increased craving. If I want to up my food cravings to uncontrollable levels, I simply have to reach for a box of cereal...
Speaking of which, a major knock against soda is the sweetness and that leads to dental caries. I know, so will that box of cereal. Net effect, sugar is sugar, but that's not the subject here....now we have aspartame, splenda, artificial sweetners.
My challenge is this: Name a person close to you that has died from artificial sweetners. In return, I will name 10 people close to me who have died from heart disease due to obesity. I think that much of the reaction to artificial sweetners has to do with a (perhaps justifiable?) fear of synthetic chemicals. True, nature didn't make these, but by the same token, you would be surprised what nature does make that is far more toxic.
I used to hear that the sodium content of soft drinks were up there, but I think the manufacturers have toned it down a bit. Now that I am label reading junkie, I see that most are in the 35-40 mg/can range. If you want to be floored by sodium levels, take a look at the back of a soup can the next time you are in the grocery store ;) It would take about 36 sodas to get the sodium that you would in one serving of a small soup can.
The carbonation via dissolving CO2 into the soda water is not the root of all evils, either. Sparkling water, although not common here in the US, is very very common in other countries (I notice this when I travel in Europe and when I was in Brazil a few years back). I didn't notice any particular ill effects in most of these people. In fact, they looked healthier than the average American (and that included me back then)! :eek:
As for production of methanol from aspartame, I don't doubt it in the least. In fact, as I mentioned above, nature is amazing at times, and our bodies are included in that. We produce methanol as a breakdown product, present on the skin, present in the breath (as are dimethyl disulfide, acetaldehyde, styrene, isoprene, etc.---take a look at the MSDS sheets for those!). However, the highest methanol concentration that I have ever observed in a study involved a subject that was an alcoholic. Some of you may be aware that chronic alcoholics (and others of us that drink too much the night before) can sweat and produce an odor the next day that is reminiscent of the previous night's intoxication fest. Well, this subject had a very high level of ethanol emanating on the skin, but the methanol concentration was almost equivalent! Take home message: If methanol is the concern, it is better to reach for the aspartame than for a bottle of beer, glass of wine, etc.
As for Splenda, with it's trichlorinated version of sugar. I actually do like this stuff to a point, but too much of it at a time and I notice the bitterness of it. I am not worried too much about the Cl attached to it, because without chlorine, we would cease to live. Plenty of natural and unnatural compounds have chlorine/are chlorides. However, this is not vinyl chloride that is being added to foods, this "stuff" does resemble sugar, at least in part ;)
About pH of sodas (colas, etc.) and the damage there. Yes, they are at the acid end, but the dissolved CO2 only lowers it slightly. What really puts it down near pH 2-3.5 is the phosphoric acid. However, even that pH is not bad when compared to nature, i.e. the content of your stomach, which is <2 normally (actually pH 1-2). If you remember that the pH scale is log based (p=log), then that is 10x or more concentrated than sodas.
Yes, I have to concede that sodas will wear down the enamel of teeth, and presumably from the acid content and its effect on the calcium containing enamel. The evidence is there, and certainly made obvious by the state of teeth (from the stomach acid...) of someone that is bulimic.
Finally, I have to concede that water is indeed the best choice, but we only live once! I agree in part with enjoying life as much as possible and if diet sodas enable that and play a part in it, then by all means I feel they are the better choice than the sugar alternative. (Especially when heart disease and diabetes from obesity is one of the other choices--as it was/is/could be again in my case).
sbdot
05-19-2005, 10:38 AM
Hmm--where to start...
Excellent post CB.
sbdot
Excellent post CB.
sbdot