So I've been on a low carb diet since December and I've dropped about 35 pounds now. I rock. Anyhoo, lately I've been drinking a lot of Diet Coke. It has no sugar/carbs, no fat, and very little sodium. I usually drink 2 or 3 cans a day. I'm wondering if this is bad for me or not. I still drink lots of water.
The effects of aspartame, the ingredient used to flavor most diet drinks, have been debated for a while now. It does have an effect on certain people and that is why there is a warning on diet drinks, people suffering from phenylketonuria should not intake aspartame for sure. Like Jeff always says, it is a chemical made by man, aspartame was actually found by accident, and it really was never meant to be ingested so there is really no telling how our bodies react to it. For alot more in-depth info go here.
Well, they aren't good for you, that's for sure. I stopped drinking sodas completely last week. I had been drinking way too many for way too long. I got past the withdrawl/headaches pretty quick fortunately. Just water for me now.
If he had phenylketonuria he would be pretty much dead after the first couple of cokes. There are tons of people who claim to have issues with aspartame but I've never had any problems. Aspartame is basically a two amino acid protein so it's not like throwing something totally foreign into your body like olestra with it's wonderfully descriptive side effect of anal leakage. If you start noticing headaches or other cognitive issues, you might try backing off. Otherwise you are fine. There are tons of scaremongers around who will try and convince you that aspartame makes baby Jesus cry, but they are just trying to get your attention by selling unfounded fear.
After I ran this morning I drank nearly a gallon of water ( because it was kind of humid and I sweated a lot, a lot... like it was streaking down my arms when I finished which isnt normal) and I got a headache. Why?
I got off the caffeine a couple years ago but I still drink caffeine free diet coke. A few weeks ago I had a week long headache that I couldn't explain. Then I realized I was only drinking caffeine free diet coke... sometimes mixed with captain morgans rum. I went to water for a few days and after a day and a half the headaches were gone. Now I drink more water but I still have a few caffeine free diet cokes a week with my captain and haven't had a reoccurance of the headaches. I think it was all the aspartame in my system and no water to flush it out.
Diet sodas are very bad for people that don't keep themselves hydrated. I had an episode about 2 years ago. I passed out when I was getting ready for bed one night. I went to the ER and they did a dehydration test and figured out that I was very dehydrated. I had worked long hours that day, had not eaten properly (most of your body's water comes from food) and only had a big diet soda that whole day. The Doctor speculated that I had allowed myself to get dehydrated and my blood pressure dropped. It was helped along with the fact that I had put a bunch of aspertame in my body with nothing to dilute it. He concluded that is why I probably passed out. My Dad was telling me that one of my Great Uncles got very sick by drinking multiple diet sodas a day while he was driving trucks and the Doctors believed that it was the aspertame. I'll still have a diet soda from time to time, but I went ahead and switched back to regular sodas. I only have one every couple of days now anyways and I figure its not that big of a deal as long as I have them in moderation.
I switched to Diet a couple years back and it helped me drop about 35 pounds. I used to be 4-5 cans of pepsi a day, after about a month I was able to replace the regular ones with stuff like Diet Cherry Coke and Diet Dr Pepper. I try to stay away from them now, every time i go out to eat I get an iced tea and add a couple sweet-n-low's and i'm good. I drink milk, water and juice usually when I'm home. Of course at fast food places I still have a weakness for a nice big fountain Diet Coke with just a little bit of Strawberry Fanta mixed in. mmmmm.
i pretty much never drink cokes or diet cokes (i already have trouble sleeping and don't want the caffeine to make it worse), but i do drink the crystal light lemonade that only has 15 calories per serving. it's basically the sweetest thing i've ever had and only has 15 calories (the carton may as well just say "crack" on the side) so there must be something bad for you in it, but i don't really care.
I drink diet cola like it is going out of style. I doubt it is good for you. I have heard some say that drinking diet cola when trying to diet is a bad thing as you won't lose weight as effectively. I do not drink enough water as I'm usually drinking a diet soda. I'm more concerned about the carbonation and acid in diet soda than I am the aspartame or splenda. Everyone seems to have an opinion on the sugar substitutes and their effects on health. I've read splenda causes chest rashes, upset stomachs, and chest pain among other things. The problem with carbonation and acid in general is that crap can eat away at your esophagus especially if you drink it late at night before going to bed. Sometimes, I will wake up with a sore throat and I know that is what caused it. This can ruin your esophagus over time and cause real problems so that concerns me and I've tried to cut back not drinking it late in the evening. I try to limit my intake to 2-3 cans a day currently. The other solution is to prop your head up high at night so the acids won't flow up into your esophagus and/or take an antacid before going to bed. In summary, diet soda is scary but I can't just drink water for some reason. Regular juice of anything is high in sugar and the diet juice is made with aspartame or splenda. So, drinking juice is questionable practice but it lacks carbonation so that's a good thing. If you really think about diet soda, then your just drinking a bunch of empty calorie, non-natural chemicals that are concocted to taste like the non-empty calorie, non-natural(except for sugar) chemicals in real soda.
Sure it is, if you like drinking vegetable oil. Caffeine Free Diet Coke is my favorite, I usually have 1 a day.
Even though juice is high in sugar, it is mostly the natural glucose, fructose, and sucrose. Just watch out for the non-natural juices like Cranberry Juice cocktail and such because they load those with High Fructose Corn Syrup (also the main sugar in all regular sodas) HFCS should be avoided like the plague since it stores carbs as fat quicker than anything.
If you drank it rather fast, it is likely due to a rapid change in both hydration and body temp which can lead to constriction of your blood vessels and things like headaches. In general, you should hydrate yourself WHILE working out, not just after.
I quit drinking sodas about a month ago maybe....i never had any headaches or anything....maybe it was because I had been drinking diet soda for about 2 yrs?
