Everyday Systems

Just wondering if I have a cup of coffee with milk or cream inbetween my meals, is it considered a snack.

It feels like a snack, but I just thought I would check.

Thanks.

No, it's not a snack -- not even with milk or cream and sugar.

No, it's not.

If you haven't bought a copy of the No-S Diet book, I'd encourage you to do so. While the strict interpretation is just 14 words long, the book is excellent.

The No S Diet does not count drinks (even caloric ones) as snacks. You can drink whenever you want, unless its something full of sugar, in which case it counts as a sweet (see Chapter 3).

The chapter goes on to discuss the desirabilty of several sorts of drinks. Soda, being full of sugar, is an S. Coffee with a LITTLE sugar and cream, isn't. (You simply WOULDN'T put as much sugar in your coffee, even if you like it very sweet, as what is found in the typical can of Coke).

Yes, calories count, but at two cups of coffee a day, I'm not going to sweat what I put in my own.

I read the book & I cant figure why diet sodas are so bad, I understand water is best but whats wrong with crystal lite or diet pepsi/coke?

Is it that it 'tricks' you into thinking your getting a sweet?

I read the book & I cant figure why diet sodas are so bad, I understand water is best but whats wrong with crystal lite or diet pepsi/coke?

Is it that it 'tricks' you into thinking your getting a sweet?

I think that's part of it. I also think its probably all the junk that is in diet soda... Cancer? Alzheimer's? Diabetes? Does diet soda really cause/increase risk for those? Hard to say, but since there is no real nutritional "pro" to diet soda, the cons don't have to be very well proven to make most diets try to outlaw them. Soda, diet or otherwise, is really bad for your teeth.

In terms of your question about it tricking your body, I can speak from my personal experience.

When I started NoS last June, I also pretty much gave up all diet soda (I gave up regular soda years ago). At some point, I added diet soda back into my diet, although I'm not entirely sure when or why I did. It started with me allowing it on S days and then sort of crept back in to my diet.

As I started to pay more attention to what I ate, I noticed that in general, on days I *do* have diet soda, my cravings for other foods - especially sweets - is drastically increased compared to days that I don't drink diet soda.

Psychological? Real? Who knows. But I figure going back to no soda certainly wouldn't HURT me, and it might even help. So I've been upping my consumption of water+lemon lately.

It's probably worth mentioning that because I was really good about defying the cravings and following the NoS rules, I didn't see a real change in my rate of weight loss when I started drinking soda. So you can certainly drink diet soda and lose weight on NoS. I just think it's easier to follow NoS if I don't drink soda.


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LaCroix (sugar and fake-sugar-free carbonated water) is a great sub for soda, if you have the taste for it. I've actually gotten to a point where I prefer it to real and diet soda. Once you stop drinking/eating sugar substitutes for long enough, it starts to taste noticeably different from the real thing.

Also, I was wondering, is soy milk an okay substitute for real milk? Looks like it has the same amount of sugars nutritionally, but more carbs (???)

Does anybody know?

Thanks!

exdieter wrote:Also, I was wondering, is soy milk an okay substitute for real milk? Looks like it has the same amount of sugars nutritionally, but more carbs (???)

Does anybody know?

Thanks!

I suppose the real answer is why you're substituting it. If you've a lactose intolerance, it's vastly superior to cow milk.

If you're doing it for No-S purposes, there's just no difference at all. Choose what you like best.

Neither one. I try to drink only organic milk, and my local starbucks doesn't carry that. So milk at home, soy if I need a misto to power through the afternoon (without added flavor, of course).

I use almond milk on my cereal because I'm trying be a daytime vegan, meaning I save animal products for dinner time. And except for half and half in my coffee, I've mostly been successful.This has more to do with carbon footprint rather than health/diet, though so I don't consider it a mod. I don't count it a failure if I eat cheese for lunch for example. It's just something I want to be mindful of.