Dangit! Now Diet Soda is Bad for You, Too?!?
February 7, 2008 by Liberty Kontranowski
Filed under Diets and Dieting, Drink, Health, Heart Health, Nutrition, Obesity, Prevention, Your Body
Okay, okay. It’s taking me a while, but I’m starting to get the hint that soda, in all its glorious forms, is bad for you. Are you getting that idea, too?
First there was the upheaval over caffeine. Then came the whole dark soda attack. Now, my beloved diet soda is under fire, but this time, we are faced with perhaps the most compelling reason to quit the stuff that I’ve seen yet.
The thing is, some darned scientists decided study the dietary habits and overall health of more than 9,500 men and women ages 45 to 64 over a period of nine years. Sure, they found that the usual suspects of fried foods, refined grains and red meat contributed to an 18 percent increase in the risk for metabolic syndrome (the collection of risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease and diabetes, such as abdominal obesity, high cholesterol/blood glucose levels, and high blood pressure.)
What they didn’t expect to find (and why I firmly believe that sometimes ignorance really is bliss) is that we saps who drink a measly one can of diet soda per day were faced with a 34 percent higher risk for metabolic syndrome than those who abstain from the fizzy delight altogether. One measly can! You know what that means, right? That whole “everything in moderation” theory just had a gaping hole blown right through it! Hmph.
Unfortunately, no conclusions have been drawn about the “why’s” of this devastating statistic. More studies must be done to show whether the cause is a chemical found in the diet soda or whether it’s more about the habits of the person drinking the diet soda.
All I know is that now I’m off to the What Happens to Your Body if Drink a Coke Right Now post for a little support. Or, wait! We can start our own right here! Any diet soda drinkers care to detox with me? Maybe if we do this together, it won’t seem as hard…
Kelly Townsend
I have been an addict with diet pepsi(or any diet cola) for years. I have tried to get off of it numerous times. I am trying again. But I needed to replace the caffeine boost in the morning with coffee for now. I feel better already I feel less bloated at first I peed like crazy. I am not totally off of it yet down to 1 a day. But after reading here today I am totally done now. and so are my kids. I crave sugar all the time the pop makes you want to have sweet all day. So I need to get off the pop first then I am attacking the sugar next. One step at a time or I will be a diabetic next. Thanks for the information.
This is a compelling post. I have been enjoying a Diet Coke with my Veggie Heaven Crispy Cubed Tofu with Brown Bean Sauce weekly for 2 years.
It is likely that these baleful effects manifest themselves with a poor overall diet. The contrasting factors infused into a bottle of apple juice or a jar of almond butter are overwhelmingly beatific, and will certainly soundly repel the metabolic syndrome.
Paul
approaching40.typepad.com/antiaging4geeks
Did you also know that aspertame-the most prevalent sweetener in diet drinks- turns into formaldehyde. I myself have been drinking flavored seltzer. A HUGE adjustment at first but if you add lemon or lime, its actually not horrible!
Wow! Vintage Black Cherry and Lemon-Lime Seltzer are my hydration mainstays. I drink diet cola weekly: that is, one or two cans per week, but I have been drinking seltzer for years.
It is excellent that you also reached such a terminus in diet: there will likely be little improvement on flavored seltzer, and, so be it. It need not get better.
Certain fruit juices work well with certain seltzer flavors and the combinations are intuitive enough and need not be fully elaborated: black cherry with any berry flavored fruit juice. Lemon-Lime with orange juice or even lemonade.
Seltzer is also great on an empty stomach: seems counterintuitive, but it is true.
Paul
http://approaching40.typepad.com/antiaging4geeks/2008/02/metabolic-syndr.html
I meant Vintage Wild Cherry! Sorry. :O)
Thanks for all the tips, guys. I’m a big water drinker, but there are just times when only soda will do (haven’t had flavored seltzers in a while, though).
I think what I will truly miss about drinking diet pop is the taste. I couldn’t drink regular pop unless I was forced to because I’ve become so acclimated to the taste of Diet. Now I love it and crave it. It’s not about the caffeine - I’ve been drinking caffeine-free diet for ages. It’s just the taste. How can I/we get past that???
How did you all do this weekend, anyway (especially you, catmassie)? I did great until Sunday - had 1/2 a can. Then a little at Mc Donald’s tonight because it’s not humanly possible to have water with nuggets and fries (and yes, I KNOW I shouldn’t have been ingesting that poison either!) I don’t want the calories of Sprite or Hi-C, so yanno, what were my choices? Oy.
I need help to stop drinking Diet Coke! I tried to quit! Is iced tea bad too?
OMG..how to quit is the question. I thought I was being good by drinking the diet soda…no sugar…now I need to quit that too…urgh…any ideas…
OMG…my husband has been trying to get me to give up the diet coke for a long time but this article about the metabolic syndrome, has done it. I’m on the band wagon. I start right now.
I do notice however, that there’s a Diet Pepsi Max ad on the page right next to my note.
I quit diet sodas plus anything with artificial sweetner 3 days ago due to mirgraines for years. My doctor wanted me to start a bloodpressure as a preventative but, I think I will try to alieviate things in my diet first before going on meds. I think the aspartame and splenda that I take in several times a day may have something to do with it. I already feel different. Not as slugglish, more awake….and no headaches.
Although I commented not long ago of my love for seltzer and diet soda, I confess a recent developing appreciation of Full Throttle Mother: 40% fruit juice energy drink. As long as I do not surround it with other sugars and caffeine, it is ok in its splendid isolation.
Full Throttle Mother? Haven’t heard of it. Sounds pretty fab, though.
I’ve taken to “treating” myself to V-8 Splash with lunch (and hoorah, it’s even considered a fruit serving), coffee in the morning, and Light Chocolate Soy Milk at dinner (since I despise cow’s milk, too. Sigh.) Water for the rest of the day, beer and margaritas on the weekends.
So far so good.
I did have a diet soda the other day while out to eat. I ended up with heartburn for the whole night. Lesson learned.
I’ve quit soda a few times and I don’t drink the real thing anymore unless I need energy or it’s a treat (like once every 2-3 weeks) but I’ve found that it’s not hard to quit drinking it, but it’s hard not to start again. The best trick I can give anyone to not start drinking it again, is to not give yourself excuses. I used to say, oh once a month isn’t bad for me, then it went to once every two weeks, then once a week and then I was a regular again. It will be hard, but like I’ve read before… if water is just too boring, try Iced home made Tea. not the bottled soda kind, unless it’s the new ones that look pretty good!
Good luck everyone!!
Jean-Guy
I think people tend to take information go overboard sometimes. For all of the evidence supporting this, people have been drinking soda for the past century and diet since 1964. My grandparents drank it their entire lives, regular soda no less, and lived well into their 80’s. I’m not saying that soda is good for you or that diet soda can be harmful over time, but live your lives. You could be hit by a bus tomorrow. I like a diet pepsi here and there, so I’m gonna have one. Don’t kill yourselves over these things. If you have metabolic syndrome, the chances are its all the other crap you eat, not the soda. Sorry I just get sick of people hearing something and just quitting something they like doing. For those of you that actually can’t stop drinking it, I feel for you and hope that you soldier through the cravings. Good luck. I’ll let you guys know if I die. MHO.
The Mayo Clinic : A reputable source of medical info
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/diet-soda/AN01732
If you want ice tea make sure that it does not have high fructose corn syrup. It is suspected for helping people become obese. Either look at the ingredients list, go to PCC natural market where they sell organic food, or make your own with regular sugar. Regular sugar is better for you than artificial sweeteners and if you make it yourself, you know there is only tea, water, and sugar. There is nothing more organic than that.
I am proof that diet soda makes your stomach pooch and gain weight! I drink 3 diet cokes a day and crave it! I am addicted. I workout to loose weight. Yet I have a hard time quitting if I stop drinking soda I get bad headaches! Somebody help!!
Does anyone know if there is something addicting in Diet Coke/ other Diet sodas?
It seems like I crave it, and I get cranky and uneasy without my daily Diet Coke.
Now how to quit is the question…
ANY IDEAS?
Lauren, you are craving the caffine in your diet soda. THat is what is making your cranky and uneasy. I have been diabetic for 25 years and have been drinking diet since diagnosed…only change i made was going from diet coke products (brown, caffinated sodas) to diet sierra mist (clear sodas without caffine).
I still don’t believe there is proof that diet is bad.