Diet Pop

planner lady · Post by **planner lady** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 8:39 pm

I'd like to know how many of you drink diet pop. If you don't, what do you drink instead.

I used to drink about four cans a day of regular pop. In 2001 I switched to diet pop (mostly) and am now drinking four to six cans a day of that. I am a pop addict! I've read various articles on aspartame and diet pop in general and am convinced that I would feel better if I didn't drink any of it but giving it up seems a daunting task at this point. I LOVE pop! Unfortunately I have been drifting back toward regular pop these days and I know that's really bad. However, I am starting on the No-S way of eating starting tomorrow so obviously I won't be having regular pop. However, there's still the issue of diet pop. So what do you think?

VanillaGorilla · Post by **VanillaGorilla** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 8:52 pm

Personally, if I am going to go to the trouble of having a soda, I am going to have a regular one..But that's just me.
I drink it sparingly these days. I find myself drinking a lot of coffee, water and juice more than anything.

Also, I have read quite a few articles in the past couple weeks that say early research may indicate that diet soda is actually more conducive to obesity than regular. Unfortunately, I didn't think to save the links.

JWL · Post by **JWL** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 9:02 pm

I can tell you're from the midwest, since you call it "pop." heh heh

I'm from Ohio, and when I moved to Maine I was surprised that everyone here calls it "soda".

Anyway, my preferred drink by far is water, followed closely by coffee (iced coffee now that it's summer) with a bit of half and half and maple syrup to sweeten it.

I don't care much for aspartame; the aftertaste bugs me and it just doesn't feel right when I drink it. Hard to explain; like its energy is wacky or something.

I don't drink much soda/pop these days; the exception is when I'm at work and the vending machines call to me.

Sometimes I get diet, other times I just enjoy a pepsi or a mountain dew for the sugar/caffeine rush.

My advice is to wean yourself off of soda/pop entirely. Water is the best thing to drink if you're thirsty; once I got over my soda addiction, I started to really enjoy the cool, clean taste of water. Nothing quite like it, and you can drink as much of it as you want. I typically drink 5 or 6 liters of water per day, at least. Much better for you!

VanillaGorilla · Post by **VanillaGorilla** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 9:16 pm

After reading Freakwitch's post, I am reminded of when I was in boot camp. One of the drill instructors told us that after a few weeks and a lot of sweating, plain water would taste like a Michelob.

Jammin' Jan · Post by **Jammin' Jan** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 10:23 pm

I stopped drinking soda pop years ago. When I want something cold, I like club soda with a slice of lime squeezed into it, or an iced tea, or iced coffee, or even plain old water.

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 10:35 pm

Hi Plannerlady

Once a week on S days we have either soda or some kind of decadent milkshake... Today I indulged in a dunkin donuts hazelnut coolatta....
But during the week, it's water, sometimes juice, but not in large amounts, and recently both myself and my nine year old son Richard, are enjoying chilled *unsweetened* flavored seltzers... Orange, raspberry, lemon/lime... We don't use artificial sweeteners... They are very bad for you... I used to though, and I can also say, they used to make me much more "on edge" and prone to illness...
Other choices you may want to entertain, for variety, are Veggie juices, milk, iced tea with a little sugar and lemon, or plain, Peeties favorite,,,Prune juice! Or how about some nice Ovaltine??? (LOL... no that's not okay until S days... Just had to make some sort of reference to the Frau Blucher scene in Young Frankenstein, it was inevitable! LOL...

)
Good luck!
Peace,

Deb

ClickBeetle · Post by **ClickBeetle** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 10:46 pm

I love Coke but daren't drink it because the bubbles seem to work their way around inside for at least two days, with very uncomfortable results. I am on the oppposite of the extremes -- I don't have a clue how the folks who drink more than two or three a day manage the "effervescence"!

Re: regionalisms: around here, everything carbonated (Pepsi, Coke, RC Cola, Sprite, etc., etc.,) is known as a "soft drink."

Also, every type of soft drink can be referred to generically as a "coke." As in, Q: "Would you like a coke?" A: "Sure, I'll have a Dr. Pepper."

When you arrive at a cookout, someone may direct you to the beverages by saying, "Are you thirsty? There are cokes in that cooler on the back porch." You open it, and find inside an assortment of Sprites, Mountain Dew, and other soft drinks. There may or may not be actual Coca-Cola involved!!

navin · Post by **navin** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 1:54 am

I second (or third? Or fourth? Or whatever) the vote for plain old water. I too was once a pop addict (don't want to say "coke addict"... heh..) and tried the diet thing for a while. Eventually just weaned myself of it completely. Went from soda to fruit juice, then phased most of that out and just drank water. It did take some time to accomplish this, and I still have juice from time to time, though I try to keep it either in small doses during meals, or during S-days.

goops · Post by **goops** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 3:39 am

I happen to be a reluctant expert on what aspartame can do to you. Aspartame is very addicting. I was drinking about 18 cans of diet Coke a day; I started using diet in the mid 80's when New Coke came out.

In Feb. I woke up with a large black hole in the center of my vision, my left hand was numb and shortly after my left lower leg, foot and left face went numb. I went to the emergency room and my vision improved rapidly, by the time the doctor saw me I had just a blurry streak through my vision. I was in the emergency room most of the day and the whole time I could think of nothing but wanting some Diet Coke. They ran tests and found no blockages, my blood pressure was only borderline high (I believe about 130), they thought that I probably had a mini stroke. I went home and headed right to the Diet Coke and the fast improvement I was experiencing stopped. Within a couple days both sides of my body were numb as well as my tongue. At that point my sister in law told me her step niece had the same symptoms as me and it was aspartame poisoning. I read the web and found the symptoms of Aspartame poisoning and realized that other things that had been happening to me were being caused by aspartame. I had a bad case of Hypoglycemia and ate a low carb diet to control it all the time (I never ate sugar). I also had been having horrible pains behind my knees and in the collar bone area. I also found out that the horrible caffeine addiction I thought I had was actually aspartame. They recommend quitting aspartame but continue with Caffeine because trying to cut both addictions are too hard on a person. I used to be chain smoker but it was harder cutting out the aspartame then the smoking. Within 48 hours my blood pressure fell over 20 points and the phantom pains disappeared my Hypoglycemia almost completely went away too. Those 3 things convinced me that Aspartame was doing horrible things to me. My neurological problems cleared up when I also quit Splenda. It took about 6 weeks for my vision to be completely normal again. I feel good if I eat all homemade food. I am now real food sensitive - in fact I have gained 35 pounds since Feb. and the body fat index leads me to believe that only 10 are fat - the rest is fluid due to food reactions. I am now in a support group and there are many people ill from aspartame. There are also new studies which indicate that aspartame usage leads to Obesity - I believe it because it screws up my blood sugar. Here are some links to the news stories:

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... 13-ON.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/06/ ... age2.shtml

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,159579,00.html

snazzybabe · Post by **snazzybabe** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 5:30 am

goops - Goodness gracious. How does one even drink 18 cans of diet coke per day. I would be so gassy!!

Planner lady - I would only drink the soda on S days and only 1 or 2 cans per day. Completely remove it from your diet during the No S days and drink plenty of water. Your body will thank you for it.

carolejo · Post by **carolejo** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 9:26 am

another reason *not* to drink coke...

The dark coloured fizzy drinks like coke and dr pepper have lots of phosphoric acid in them. your body will always try to create a balance of phosphorous and calcium in your blood stream. both minerals are needed to lay down heathy bones.

Here's the point - your body WILL ACTUALLY LEACH THE CALCIUM OUT OF YOUR EXISTING BONES in order to maintain this blood level balance!

so... Not only are people not improving the situation when they drink sodas instead of something healthier, you are actually making it worse.

I will look for the proper research paper references when I get a chance. (I have a doctorate in physics, so although I'm not a biochemist, I like to flatter myself that I know about peer review and scientific literature)

C

gwendo · Post by **gwendo** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 1:14 pm

I have never been too much of a soda drinker, but I used to drink a ton of fruit juice, as well as sweetened coffee drinks (I used to work for Starbucks). Now I go for water, club soda with a splash of cranberry juice and a lime wedge, or unsweetened iced tea with a ton of lemon. I drink all my cold drinks with LOTS of ice. For some reason that makes them much more enjoyable for me.

I'm very happy to say that I haven't consumed any artificial sweeteners (at least to my knowledge!) in several months. I had read that they are bad for hypoglycemia sufferers like me, as they can fool the body into thinking it's taken in sugar, prompting the production of insulin. Then, since no sugar has been consumed, the insulin creates a blood-sugar nosedive. That explains why my hypoglycemia was so much worse when I was "dieting" in the past.

My boyfriend drinks a ton of Coke, and I find it delicious, though I could never consume it in the quantity that he does. Even on a NoS day, I occasionally have a little sip of his, and a sip is always enough.

planner lady · Post by **planner lady** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 2:58 pm

I was thinking I might get a week of No-S eating under my belt before I tackled the diet coke but after reading everyone's posts I think it would be to my benefit to just go ahead and get this over with. I know I'm going to do it at some point and it may as well be now.

Navin -- I'm careful about how I say I'm an addict, too. I said "coke addict" once and immediately realized my mistake. Now I say, "soda addict". There's definitely a difference!

Goops - I've read those articles before but I re-read them again just to refresh my memory. Thanks for the links.

So I'll give it a go. I had a diet coke this morning with my breakfast so maybe that will help me get through the rest of the day with a little less pain. I'm sure the ideal way to do this would be to wean myself off (mainly the caffeine) but I'm not that kind of person. It's all or nothing for me usually so I'll just do it. I just hope my family survives . . . I tried this once before and they begged me to drink a diet coke!

JWL · Post by **JWL** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 3:27 pm

planner lady, good luck to you! This is great. Weaning ourselves off of our addictions is never easy. But you can do it!

Here's something to try, that may ease the caffeine withdrawal (headaches, etc). Try getting some good quality teas to drink. I don't mean Tetley. I mean get something that's good. Try a few different ones with caffeine, ie, English Breakfast Tea, Earl Grey Tea, a good Green Tea or Black Tea, etc. Preferably go to a natural food store near you and pick out some teas.

If you're like me, you don't want to drink hot beverages in the summer. So brew up some tea and then stick it in the fridge. Lots of ways to enjoy iced tea, it doesn't have to be that brownish stuff that everyone drinks. Iced Earl Grey is one of my favorites.

When you drink tea, it's essentially water, and is pretty good for you. It gives you some variety as you're laying off the soda. The trick is to not think of what you're drinking as "not-soda", but to appreciate it for what it is, in itself.

If you want, while you're in the transition, allow yourself a small bit of honey in the tea to sweeten it some. Honey is pretty good for you, esp. if you have allergies and you use locally-harvested honey.

Good luck! You can do it!

ClickBeetle · Post by **ClickBeetle** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 3:33 pm

I concur with Carole Jo about the phosphorus thing. Sometimes you hear soda/pop/cokes/softdrinks referred to as "osteoporosis in a can" and while that is an exaggeration, the chemistry of soft drinks definitely does not work in favor of your bone density.

Incidentally, too much salt also screws up your electrolyte reactions (sodium/potassium "pump") and can result in losing bone mineral as the body tries to compensate by pulling extra calcium from the bones.

carolejo · Post by **carolejo** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 4:34 pm

Oh, yet more on Phosphoric Acid..

This stuff is so harmful that when they transport Coca-Cola syrup in bulk tankers it must travel with a 'Hazardous Chemical' warning sticker.

Do you really need another reason not to drink coke?

OK, here we go. The Coca-Cola company is currently sponsoring the 'bumping off' of trade union activists in Colombia. Really. I'm not making this stuff up! One of them was even killed whilst on the premises going about his daily work.

planner lady · Post by **planner lady** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 6:50 pm

Carolejo -- is that really true about the coca-cola syrup being transported as "hazardous"? How can something hazardous be in something we put in our bodies?

Freakwitch -- I'll try the tea. I've gone five hours with no soda and I usually have one with lunch. I'm starting to get a headache and I really want something to drink other than water!!! What do you think about stevia as a sweetener in the tea?

cvmom · Post by **cvmom** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 8:51 pm

Okay, I have to chime in here.

I'm with Freakwitch. Iced or hot tea will give you the same caffiene buzz without the chemicals. I have used stevia in the past. I don't think it is too bad. Splenda is gross and so is aspertame.

Once in a while I will have a diet coke at a party. (I don't drink alcohol so a diet coke is living it up for me.) But, we don't keep soda (posting from CA here) in our house.

I just get freaked out about artificial sweeteners. I prefer my kids (when we go out) to have a real Sprite or a real dessert with sugar. At least the human body can figure out how to process it even if it is not the most brilliant thing.

I drink coffee, water, iced tea, water, water, water and water. (Aguafina is my preferred).

I hope that helps.

CVmom

carolejo · Post by **carolejo** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 10:30 pm

It is *absolutely* true about the Haz-Chem stickers. It's Corrosive. That's how come you can even use the diluted stuff for cleaning pennies in! Fantastic! It behaves just like bleach!!!

I'm not making any of this stuff up. Coke is NASTY however you look at it!!!

I'll admit, it sure does taste pretty damn good, but so do a lot of other nasty things we really need like a hole in the head.

Anyone for a cup of bleach...?
C.

JWL · Post by **JWL** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 4:01 am

planner lady wrote:Freakwitch -- I'll try the tea. I've gone five hours with no soda and I usually have one with lunch. I'm starting to get a headache and I really want something to drink other than water!!! What do you think about stevia as a sweetener in the tea?

I've used Stevia before. I like it, actually. I don't know much about it. There is a Wild Oats across from my work, and I get an iced coffee there with Stevia. I guess it's a non-caloric, naturally sweet herb that's ground....

I'd say go for it. Though in general, maple syrup is my sweetener of choice... I can get away with splenda in iced coffee. Splenda has a horrid aftertaste in hot coffee, though.

carolejo · Post by **carolejo** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 11:15 am

mmm. Maple syrup!!

Unfortunately as we don't have any maple trees in Blighty, it costs an absolute bomb to buy. We're talking 5 quid for 200ml (I've no idea what that is in your money, but a fair guess would be 5 dollars a fluid ounce!!)

Oh well. I'm sure I'll survive!
C.

Jammin' Jan · Post by **Jammin' Jan** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 12:18 pm

Freakwitch, do you put maple syrup in your iced coffee?

Next time an S-Day rolls around, I'm going to try that!

Carolejo: if real maple syrup is too pricey, I can give you a recipe for syrup that uses maple extract. Let me know if you're interested in that. Save it for S-Days though!

carolejo · Post by **carolejo** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 12:32 pm

Maple Extract...?

I don't even think they sell this AT ALL!!

I've certainly never seen it anywhere here.

C.

Post by **reinhard** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 1:27 pm

Whether it's actually bad for you or not, I don't know, but to me the larger issue is this: thin people don't cram themselves with diet products. If you want to be thin, eat (and drink) like a thin person. Eat real food, even real sugar, just less of it. I don't think there's any other long term alternative. Why not save your pop quota for a real pop come Saturday? Naturally, your habits may be so shot right now that this ideal may be out of immediate reach, but keep it in mind.

Missy · Post by **Missy** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 1:45 pm

carolejo wrote:Maple Extract...?

I don't even think they sell this AT ALL!!

I've certainly never seen it anywhere here.

C.

We have it at my grocery store in the baking section with the other extracts but I'm from the Northeast so maybe it's a regional thing.

carolejo · Post by **carolejo** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 3:38 pm

I'm in 'Old' England, unfortunately, not your shiny (and very pleasant) 'New' version *grin*
C.

Ariel King · Post by **Ariel King** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 4:08 pm

Someone (I think Freakwitch) used the term "liquid candy" to describe regular soda in another thread. I think that's the best description I've heard yet.

After reading all this, I have to reiterate how lucky I feel that fake sugar in any form does NOT taste good to me.

JWL · Post by **JWL** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 4:29 pm

I can't remember where I picked up the term 'liquid candy' as applied to soda. I thought it was on the nosdiet.com page, but I just did a search there and it didn't come up. Ah well. It's a good description, to be sure....

Yes, I put maple syrup in my iced coffee. It works wonderfully. My summer coffee drink of choice is an "iced Americano" (you can order these at Starbucks):

I brew a small pot of espresso in my stovetop espresso maker, which makes about 4 shots of espresso, and then pour it over ice to cool it off. Add some half-n-half and maple syrup, and then more ice cubes. Yum!

I can get a half-gallon of maple syrup here for about $15. It's expensive, which is a nice incentive to use less.

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 9:23 pm

Hello Freakwitch et al! Just a little FYI stuff about Maple syrup... It is most definitely an S if you use more than a teeny bit.. At least from my fading senile memory, I believe that I saw something like calorie readings of 150 for 1/4 cup.... It's dense I say... Yes, it's yummolicious, and that combo with the half and half must be to die for!

However, beware... it's really caloric... At least the authentic/real maple syrup (which I presume you prefer) I know, that I could easily put much more than 1/4 cup on each pancake, if I decide it's pancake day!
Don't mean to be raining on anyones maple syrup parade, or be a crumudgeon who seems to be anti-maple syrup... I am not

Just a post to increase our cumulative awareness!

ps.. Heh, Freakwitch... Funny you mentioned Starbucks.. I used to work for a short stint at Starbucks while putting myself through school... Within less than two months I had put on at least 10 pounds, maybe more... Starbucks should really be renamed, "Sugarbucks" since that is the number one ingredient, other than coffee, in everything they offer... I truly felt a serious carb addiction once I had been there for some time..
Peace and Love,

Deb

JWL · Post by **JWL** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 10:01 pm

Hi, I agree that maple syrup is quite caloric. But, not as much as refined sugar. In the above coffee concoction I discuss, I use maybe 2 tablespoons of syrup in the drink, which is a 24-oz mug. Maybe 3 tbsp of half and half. I don't really measure the half & half, just put it in until it's the right color.

Rumba · Post by **Rumba** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:27 am

Golly, goops, what a scary experience with diet soda pop!!

I often drink carbonated water, and sometimes I add a little bit of pomegranate juice. Use POM Wonderful brand, and you only need the tiniest little bit to flavor a big glass of fizzy water. (Maybe 1/2 to 1 ounce in a 16 oz glass of water.) To me it is an adequate substitute for soda pop which I hardly ever drink any more. It has that bite to it that somehow satisfies the palate.

Oh, goops, I think I'm never going to drink a diet soda pop again. I don't particularly like them anyway, but after reading your story.... eek.

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 12:20 pm

What story? What story?.....
Can't see it!
Which thread is it on?
Love,

Deb

Rumba · Post by **Rumba** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 12:46 pm

gratefuldeb67 wrote:What story? What story?.....
Can't see it!
Which thread is it on?
Love,
Deb

Deb it's in this thread, post number 9. I quote just the beginning of it:
"In Feb. I woke up with a large black hole in the center of my vision......"

EEEEK!

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 2:35 pm

Wow Goops, that is one harrowing tale... I'm glad you are still here alive!

I only used Equal for about 4 years... I had roughly 4 packs a day for my coffee.. Never drank Diet cokes though, as I didn't like it... I never really was a soda person anyway...
I am very sensitive to body changes and not much of a substance can have a big impact on me... This I attribute to being Bi Polar... My nervous system has some "Insulation" issues...
When I read this article by a former FDA investigator named someone Evangelista, which basically said that aspartame should never have been approved for general consumption and that somehow it got through via a big coverup, I was wary... But then he said that it was a cousin, chemically to MSG... We all know that's not good for us... When I read that it destroys the CNS, and especially attacks the hypothalamus, I realized that I'd rather be fatter with more braincells and less overall illness... The Hypothalamus is the main control center for all our internal functions... Mess with that, and you get all these "secondary" illnesses cropping up... Supposedly the way this happens is by the buidup of methyl formaldehyde in the bloodstream, and the fact that Aspartame is able to easily pass through the Blood Brain Barrier... (a mechanism we have for self protection which helps to keep toxins in the blood from reaching the brain...)
That was enough for me... As soon as I cut out Equal, I was measurably less anxious and wired, and I definitely got sick less often.... What a difference it made in my feeling "edgy".... It was immediate... Then I went to Splenda, which I sadly found out was bad too, but to a lesser degree... I just switched back to sugar... At that point I needed to have FOUR teaspoons for each cup of coffee to match the sweetness perception I had developed from the artificial sweeteners...
I am proud to say that last Winter I cut that to two.. And this is my second month of only having one teaspoon per cup... (I still have chocolate soy milk though, but before I used 4 tps sugar, hot chocolate mix, and sweetend soymilk... This is a big improvement!!!!)
That stuff is pure evil... Sorry Reinhard, if you're reading this, because I know we had issues on the last group over talking about Aspartame etc... vs NoS talk... I hope in light of Goops story, people will be encouraged to stop using it... Of course that's their decision.
Goops, seriously, so sorry you had to live through such a horrific experience to find out the truth about that very dangerous toxin..
Hope NoS is helping your life these days...
Hey Rumba, I love pomegranate juice!!! Good idea to mix it with the seltzer... That's what Richard and I love to do for flavor and fizzies!
Peace and Love,

Deb

brownstudy · Post by **brownstudy** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:21 pm

At work, I may drink one diet soda after lunch because I like the sweet taste as a 'finish' to my drab lunches. I also like the burn of the carbonation. But since it's like drinking candy, I don't do more than 1 can during the weekdays.

At home, I love lemon-lime seltzers. My grocery store carries the Vintage brand, and I drink 'em up.

goops · Post by **goops** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 11:19 pm

cvmom wrote:Okay, I have to chime in here.

I'm with Freakwitch. Iced or hot tea will give you the same caffiene buzz without the chemicals. I have used stevia in the past. I don't think it is too bad. Splenda is gross and so is aspertame.

Once in a while I will have a diet coke at a party. (I don't drink alcohol so a diet coke is living it up for me.) But, we don't keep soda (posting from CA here) in our house.

I just get freaked out about artificial sweeteners. I prefer my kids (when we go out) to have a real Sprite or a real dessert with sugar. At least the human body can figure out how to process it even if it is not the most brilliant thing.

I drink coffee, water, iced tea, water, water, water and water. (Aguafina is my preferred).

I hope that helps.

CVmom

'

I promise not to go on and on about aspartame but I just wanted to make sure that people who want their kids to not have it should know that most gums (even the full sugar kind) are made with aspartame now. I found that out the hard way. I was chewing double mint gum and suddenly started having my limbs go numb again. I have found that the best bet for gum is bubble gum.

Everyday Systems

Diet Pop

Diet Pop

To Goops