Diet Drinks Today

A question that is asked by many people; “Is Diet Soda Bad for You?” Most diet sodas contain an artificial sweetener called Aspartame, which the majority of experts conclude, is not good for you. So, the simple answer to whether or not diet soda is bad for you is in fact “yes”, it is bad for you! However, it is good to keep in mind that just about anything is bad for you if it is consumed in excess quantities.

While dieting, many people find that certain methods work well for them. Some dieters will even drink diet soda as a means to control their food cravings. There is no scientific evidence to support that consuming diet drinks works for this. However, many dieters are unwilling to part with their diet soda for this reason.

A lot of people claim that “Diet soda is sweet, it tastes good and it even provides a reward while dieting”. One reason the consumption of diet soda is popular is because it provides a sweet tasting alternative to a popular sweetener, high fructose corn syrup.

High fructose corn syrup is the sweetener for most regular sodas. This ingredient is well known for being high in calories and low in nutritional value. Therefore, companies involved in making diet drinks are looking to provide consumers with a different kind of sweetener.

Aspartame is the artificial sweetener of choice for many of today’s popular diet sodas. There is wide spread debate in scientific and medical communities about whether or not Aspartame can be directly linked to several life threatening diseases. Do an online search for the word “Aspartame” if you are interested in finding out more about this debate.

Although, any effective diet program takes a commitment, diet plans that are too strict for the individual dieter will usually not be effective. The dieter on an excessively strict weight loss program will often “fall off the wagon” and give up. Therefore it is important to find a balance in what works for you while dieting.

While finding this balance, it is encouraged to provide yourself with rewards. If diet soda is part of your reward, consider cutting down on it gradually. You will thank yourself in the end for consuming less diet soda because it’s ingredients are in fact, bad for you!

Sodas and colas are incredibly popular across the world. These beverages account for more than a quarter of all drinks consumed in the United States. More than 15 billion gallons were sold in 2000. That works out to at least one 12-ounce can per day for every man, woman and child.

Sodas are full of empty calories and will contribute to obesity, tooth decay, weakened bones and caffeine dependence. Studies have shown strong links between children who drink sodas and childhood obesity. No one can deny the ties to soda and tooth decay, and it isn’t just the high levels of sugar that cause it. The acids in sodas begin to etch away the tooth enamel within 20 minutes. These acids also upset the gastrointestinal system and cause many stomach disorders, as well as disturb the acid/base balance in the body, making an acid climate in which disease flourishes.

Sodas are a huge contributor to caffeine dependence, and it often starts with young children. And diet colas are often packed with a lot more caffeine than their regular counterparts. With the popularity of stimulant drinks such as Red Bull, that contain extra amounts of caffeine, there is a reported rise in aggressive behavior and violence among youths that consume these drinks.

Besides acids and caffeine, sodas contain phosphorus, an ingredient shown to weaken bones by promoting the loss of calcium. Phosphorus contributes to bone breakage during childhood, and osteoporosis later in life.

Another danger is aspartame added to diet sodas as a sugar substitute. There are over 92 different health related side effects associated with aspartame consumption, including brain tumors, birth defects, diabetes, emotional disorders and epilepsy/seizures. Plus, when aspartame is kept in warm areas or stored for long periods of time, it changes to methanol, an alcohol that converts to formaldehyde and formic acid, both of which are carcinogens.

There really are no good reasons to drink sodas. Juices, herbal teas and water are much better substitutes.

In this article I’d like to address meal replacement diet drinks. If you are looking for a quick and easy way to scale the fat burning totem pole, in my view, meal replacement is the very BEST place to start! Why? It’s actually quite simple! A good meal replacement diet drink is low in calories, very filling and tastes great to boot. Plus, there is a natural high that your body gets from a liquid diet that is hard to define….but seems to be the result of giving our digestive systems a well needed break from the heavy lifting of dense foods and artificial fillers.

How to Pick a Meal Replacement Drink that Works?

Be careful here for sure! It’s not that there aren’t MANY that taste good (because there are..:-) but many of the options that are on the market are more for protein consumption, and NOT for weight loss. For an example, the Medifast diet shakes are nutritionally complete, taste great AND are very low in calories as well, ( 5 shakes will run under 1000 calories per day - GREAT for fat fighting weight loss ) while some of the other popular products can pack 450 calories in ONE shake alone! Hey…if I’m going to do that, I’d rather have a nice piece of cheesecake or a roast beef sandwich, wouldn’t you..;-)?

If you are really truly ready to commit to a weight loss program that works, I DO recommend you go the meal replacement route…not ONLY for the reasons mentioned above, but for the veritable avalanche of important benefits they offer. Which diet, and which shakes are the best? I say Medifast…..but you have to make your OWN mind up! Just pick a program that you will STICK with, and works best for your particular goals, and well on your way you’ll be!

What on earth does water have to do with weight loss? Actually, a lot more than you previously imagined.

Are you aware that some studies have shown that your brain cannot distinguish between hunger and thirst? Sometimes when your body is telling you that you are thirsty, your brain may be hearing that you are hungry. So what do you do? You put food in your mouth when a glass of water might have been sufficient. Most food has calories, most water doesn’t. Simple equation. ‘Nuff said on that topic.

By the way, ever wake up in the middle of the night and crave a snack? Nine times out of ten, a glass of water will do the trick. I know, I didn’t believe it either until I tried it. It really works!

Tissue, muscle, cells, even blood are all comprised to a large per cent of water. When your brain starts getting signals that water is needed…well, remember the confusion factor mentioned above? We eat something instead of giving our body what it really craves and needs! Your entire body works much better, by the way, when the fluid levels are kept up where they need to be.

BUT I DRINK LOTS OF LIQUID AND STILL GAIN WEIGHT!

Sure you do, but what KIND of liquid. I won’t even talk about sodas, coffee, or tea sweetened with sugar. I’m going to assume that you already know that sugar is not the way to go if you want to lose weight, but what about the artificially sweetened drinks?

Did you know…

ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS CAN CAUSE YOU TO GAIN WEIGHT?

Some studies have shown that using artificial sweeteners can contribute to weight gain in at least two ways.

First, there is the confusion factor. When you use artificial sweeteners, you, and your brain, become confused about the calorie content of the food you eat. You may actually find yourself eating more in an effort to satisfy an internal urge or interpretation, and this urge may be related to the assumed “fact” that the sweet soda you just drank didn’t have that many calories, so neither does this cinnamon roll. Actually, before artificial sweeteners, our bodies and brains were pretty good at relating calorie content to food based on the sweetness.

A WORD FOR PARENTS!

Our bodies’ understanding of “sweetness” and the development of the internal calorie estimating apparatus mentioned above apparently occurs in childhood. Early use of artificial sweeteners could cause the grown-up years later to ingest more of sweet foods than they should.

The second way in which artificial sweeteners may contribute to weight gain is what could be called…

THE SUGAR TRAP!

Your body is a complicated device which has developed a huge number of inter-related, synergistic, stimulus sensing and automatic response mechanisms. It has learned to begin things happening inside when something sweet is detected. The digestive system is prepared to receive a certain type of fuel…which it welcomes! When you ingest food or drink which has been artificially sweetened, all your little hormones, glands, cells, and systems begin asking, “What’s going on?” Like prisoners in an old movie, they start rattling their tin cups and yelling out, “FEED ME!” Oh yeah, that was the plant in “Little Shop Of Horrors”, wasn’t it?

Anyway, your internal messengers are now not very happy, nor will they be until you send down some calories for them to munch on. See the trap? It reminds me of when I managed a restaurant when people would order a salad and diet drink and then smother the salad in high-calorie, high-fat dressing and have ice cream for dessert. Get the picture.

WAIT! IT MIGHT EVEN BE WORSE!

Artificial sweeteners are much sweeter than ordinary sugar, and that’s why you can sweeten a cup of coffee with one little white pill. However, there are some studies which indicate that artificial sweeteners become somewhat addictive. If that isn’t bad enough, this brings us to one of the most popular drugs in America…

CAFFEINE

Even though a lot of people who want to lose weight are drinking artificially sweetened drinks, a lot of these drinks - coffee, tea, sodas - contain caffeine. Caffeine is a diuretic. It dehydrates you, causing your body to lose water. Remember, water = good. When you are dehydrated, low on internal liquid, your metabolism slows down. This means your body gets by on fewer calories and stores the rest as fat. Think it through: You get dehydrated, you get thirsty. You just drank a cup of tea, coffee, or soda, so you can’t be thirsty, can you? Since your brain can’t really tell the difference between hunger and thirst signals, it tells you to eat something when all that’s really going on is that you need a drink of water.

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO?

1. Substitute water for most of the other stuff you’re drinking.

2. “Buy” your artificially sweetened drinks. My wife came up with this idea, but I have seen it used in other contexts as well. If you drink an artificially sweetened drink and/or one with caffeine, buy it back with at least an equivalent sized drink of water. Eight ounces of coffee? Follow it with eight ounces of water.

3. Is water boring for you? Then try flavoring your water with lemon or something else. Use herbal teas that have their own flavor and might not even need to be sweetened.

4. Include soups and juices in your diet. These are high liquid content. Just be aware that while nutritionally better for you than diet drinks or drinks with caffeine, they DO contain calories.

5. Can’t do without sweetened drinks? Try stevia. This is a natural food additive available online and at most health food stores. While it has a sweetening effect, the FDA does not allow it to be called or marketed as a sweetener. Due to its chemical makeup, it does not seem to produce the cravings for more food as do other non-sugar sweeteners. I read that in a book, but I tried Stevia and that’s how it worked for me. I was drinking four to eight cups of coffee sweetened with artificial sweeteners a day, and munching tons of snacks as I drank the coffee! I started using stevia, and the desire for constant snacking went away. I will warn you, while technically VERY sweet, it does have an acquired taste. I figure if I could get used to it, anybody could. It’s the only sweetener in our house now.

Many low-calorie diet drinks get their sweetness from the common sweetener aspartame. While regular soda remains the king of the soft-drink industry, consumption of diet versions has increased consistently. A new health scare erupted over soft drinks last night amid evidence they may cause serious cell damage.

When it comes to beverages, consider more healthful alternatives, and save the sodas for weekend treats. Their makers and the British Soft Drinks Association said they entrusted the safety of additives to the Government. United States on evidence that they caused cancer in lab rats. Cyclamates are still used in many countries around the world, including for diet soda.

The first artificial sweeteners used in diet soda were cyclamates (often synergistically with saccharin). While many say these cyclamate-sweetened soda had a more pleasant taste than the diet soda that followed them, in 1970 the Food and Drug Administration banned cyclamates in the Coca-Cola and Britvic’s Pepsi Max and Diet Pepsi all contain sodium benzoate. Their makers and the British Soft Drinks Association said they entrusted the safety of additives to the Government. United States on evidence that they caused cancer in lab rats. Cyclamates are still used in many countries around the world, including for diet soda.

The Diet Soft Drink Information Center is an information portal offering a variety of resources all related to diet soft drinks. The diet soft drink ingredients such as citric acid, caffeine, low-calorie sweeteners and more.

Pop is sweetened, acidic, often caffeinated carbonated drink. There is “regular” pop that is sweetened with different kinds of sweeteners and “diet” pop that is sweetened with artificial sweeteners. The pH of regular and diet pops ranges from 2.47-3.35.

Aspartame has had anything but a sweet run, since it was approved by the American Food and Drug Administration in 1981. Aspartame is a low-calorie sweetener, which was invented in 1965. The Diet Soft Drink Information Center is an information portal offering a variety of resources all related to diet soft drinks. The diet soft drink ingredients such as citric acid, caffeine, low-calorie sweeteners and more. Weight for weight, it is about 200 times sweeter than sugar. The acceptable daily Intake is about 50 mg/kg of body weight per day. For a 75 kg person, this works out to 20 cans of diet drink per day. While many say these cyclamate-sweetened soda had a more pleasant taste than the diet soda that followed them, in 1970 the Food and Drug Administration banned cyclamates in the Coca-Cola and Britvic’s Pepsi Max and Diet Pepsi all contain sodium benzoate.

Coca-Cola and Britvic’s Pepsi Max and Diet Pepsi all contain sodium benzoate. Their makers and the British Soft Drinks Association said they entrusted the safety of additives to the Government. Aspartame has had anything but a sweet run, since it was approved by the American Food and Drug Administration in 1981.

Diet Mountain Dew - Mountain Dew is one of the most popular citrus soft drinks. Both diet and regular have the same amount of caffeine. In countries outside the USA - Mountain Dew has either reduced amounts of caffeine (or no caffeine at all).

“Are diet drinks such as diet coke and such really that bad for me?”

For many of us who try to watch the amount of sugar we consume, diet drinks are an excellent alternative to the calorie dense drinks which fill the convience store shelves. However, diet drinks like anything else these days, does come with some negatives as well.

Diet sodas contain phosphorus, and a high phosphorus intake. beverages that contain phosphorus adds to the problem of good calcium balance, and this can be a problem for those prone to osteoporosis. As well, diet sodas often contain caffeine, which is de-hydrating and adds to the challenge of replacing lost fluids.

However, the phosphorous issue is mostly a concern in colas, not clear drinks - as the colas contain the highest levels of phosphorous. just make sure you take a calcium supp. As well it should be noted that red meat is also high in phosphorous.

And the caffeine is a non-issue in people who normally consume caffeine — it doesn’t have as much of an effect in those who regularly consume it.

In the end, for many of us, diet drinks are a great addition to a diet. However, just because there are little to no calories to count, doesn’t mean you can drink as much as you want. Everything in moderation is key.