Giving up soda - Healthy Lifestyle Message Board

twinkie02 · 03-02-2005, 09:00 PM

I was wondering have any of you given up soda to loose weight? I drink alot of diet soda, but I heard that I would loose alot of weight by giving up. Its really hard for me becasue im addicted to caffiene!

millpark26 · 03-03-2005, 06:22 AM

The American Cancer Society has confirmed through study that users of artificial sweeteners gain more weight than those who don't use the products, further undermining the supposed "purpose" for the existence of aspartame in food. The major selling point of aspartame is as a diet aid, and it has been demonstrated that the use of this product actually causes people to consume more food. Normally, when a significant quantity of carbohydrate are consumed, serotonin levels rise in the brain. This is manifested as a relaxed feeling after a meal. When aspartame is ingested with carbohydrates, such as having a sandwich with a diet drink, aspartame causes the brain to cease production of serotonin, meaning that the feeling of having had enough never materializes. You then eat more foods, many containing aspartame, and the cycle continues.

susieq0726 · 03-03-2005, 06:40 AM

Yes - Give it up. Drink water instead. The artificial sweetner in diet soft drinks is horrible! I am not sure how it works, but a personal trainer told me once that your body doesn't know how to break down the sweetner. She said it was actually better to drink regular soda because at least your body knows what to do with the sugar!!!

(Of course she said stay away from soda period,,,,,,)
I pretty much gave it up except for maybe one or two a week. My down fall now is drinking green tea and putting 1 packet of Splenda in it. I figured Splenda had to be better than Equal.
Drink water - Lots of it and I have heard that really cold or ice water actually helps with weight loss. Your body reacts to the cold water differently than drinking regular room temperature water.

Magpiezoe · 03-03-2005, 12:52 PM

Congratulations!

The other thing that keeps people from loosing weight on diet sodas is the sodium. All that sodium causes water retention, which is known as water weight.

You could add a touch of fruit juice to the water to give it a little more flavor for you. Seltzer water is another option, since it doesn't have much sodium and no sweeteners.

Starrbelie · 03-04-2005, 09:02 AM

Your liver is very important in controlling your weight. Your liver has to detoxify the caffeine alone. It's a long process to explain, your kidneys can't help. To make a long story short, caffeine puts a lot of stress on your liver. Caffeine also affects cortisol secretion, a stress hormone. Cortisol's job is to release glucose and fatty acids for muscles to have energy during stress. Once the time of stress is over cortisol levels remain high to stimulate your appetite so you can replace the fuel it has burned. So in a round about way caffeine increases your appetite. All of this and not to mention caffeine strips the body of calcium, magnesium, and sodium. Very bad for your bones.

Starr