Everyday Systems

I don't now if this is covered in the book or not (still waiting for it to come in the mail), but are diet drinks ok on N days?
Thanks!

They are okay on any days.

Ok, thanks! I'm assuming it's ok between meals?

Yes. You may not need them after awhile, but if you enjoy them and don't believe they are a health risk, drink away.

Just to let you know, some members here feel that having artificially sweetened drinks leads them to eating more sweets or staying more attached to sweets on S days, but that, too, is a personal reaction and decision.

In any case, they are not forbidden.

Great! Thank you for the quick response!

Hi Alice, you might find Reinhard's answer to that question in a previous post interesting. It's called hierarchy of pop alternatives:

Hi Tammy,

If you've been able to pull off no-s except for soda,
you've got a firm foundation of willpower to stand on.
Congratulations, and give yourself some credit!

Now for the pop issue. As you suggest, pop isn't just
pop. Psychologically, it's a lot more to many people.
It's a break, a ritual, and a drug like cigarrettes.
So we need to find you a surrogate, something to take
it's place.

These are the things pop does and the categories on
which we'll have to evaluate a potential replacement:

Health impact
Ritual
Drug appeal

Water has a positive health impact, not much ritual,
and no drug appeal. Cigarettes are wonderful for
ritual and drug appeal but have a nasty tendency to
kill you. Tea or coffee (easy on the sugar/cream, I
drink mine black) do pretty well in every department.
If that's not up your alley, diet drinks are probably
better than non diet drinks, except 1) I'm suspicious
about what the awful chemicals in there are going to
do to you down the road and 2) the sweetness messes
with the habit forming portion of your brain.

So from best to worse:

Water
Tea (green, especially)
Coffee (black)
Diet Soda
Sugar Soda

Go as far up the scale as you can... if diet soda is
the best you can do right now then don't beat yourself
up about it. Revisit the issue in a couple months when
you've graduated to the next level of willpower.

Reinhard

http://www.nosdiet.com/group/121.html

I am still drinking diet pop too! I figure that is the least of my problems for now, and once I have "no snacks" down as a good habit, I'll work on my Diet Pepsi addiction!

I'm not sure if I believe that diet drinks are a "gateway" to binging. I think they are fine for N days, in moderation of course, just like with any food.

eschano, tx for finding that excerpt. It made me gulp a little when I scanned it first and saw the "black" with coffee, but in the paragraph above, it said go easy on the sugar and cream. Whew. I've tried at times to drink coffee black but I'd just as soon skip it as drink it that way. And I loves my coffee!

I don't think it was said that diet drinks are a gateway to bingeing, but they have been found to prolong an attachment to desiring sweets, and some of us have/had a tendency to binge on sweets, thus the connection. I know I've read comments on the board from people who say when they finally gave up sweetened anything on N days, their S days calmed down a lot. I have never been willing to take that route. Consistent eating of moderate, non-sweet meals has done the major work for that, although it took longer. I stay open to the possibility that I could let my sweet drinks go someday, but I find No S very satisfying with them.

As someone else said, if diet drinks are your only indulgence, you're way ahead of the game!

I understand that anything sweet can be a "gateway" for some bingers, although I'm trying to break myself of that mentality. I don't want to feel like if I accidentally ingest something sweet, I'm doomed for a binge. I think there is a happy medium between being strict and being "all or nothing."

I completely agree and believe I am proof of it. I have eaten many foods in moderation that I used to think I could not control and which many others insist must be abstained from in order to be in control. There is a big difference between feeling out of control and actually being out of control.