The Truth about Diet Soda
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Many people think that they are choosing the "healthy choice" by choosing to drink diet soda. This couldn't be farther from the truth. Sure, there are less calories in diet soda and it is "sugar free" so I understand why people consider it a "healthy alternative," but you are actually doing your body more harm than good. The sweeteners (like aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose) used in diet sodas aren't actually food or derived from something natural, they are man made chemicals and your body doesn't know how to process these chemicals! There's more to this chemical cocktail than meets the eye. Here are a few TRUTHS you should know about diet sodas:
It confuses your body
Artificial sweeteners have more intense flavor than real sugar, so over time products like diet soda dull our senses to naturally sweet foods like fruit. Even more troubling, these sugar stand-ins have been shown to have the same effect on your body as sugar. Artificial sweeteners trigger insulin, which sends your body into fat storage mode and leads to weight gain.
It could lead to weight gain, not weight loss
Diet soda is calorie-free, but it won't necessarily help you lose weight. Researchers from the University of Texas found that over the course of about a decade, diet soda drinkers had a 70% greater increase in waist circumference compared with non-drinkers. And get this: participants who slurped down two or more sodas a day experienced a 500% greater increase. The way artificial sweeteners confuse the body may play a part, but another reason might be psychological. When you know you're not consuming any liquid calories, it might be easier to justify that double cheeseburger or extra slice of pizza.
It's associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes
Drinking one diet soda a day was associated with a 36% increased risk of metabolic syndrome and diabetes in a University of Minnesota study. Metabolic syndrome describes a cluster of conditions (including high blood pressure, elevated glucose levels, raised cholesterol, and large waist circumference) that put people at high risk for heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.
Its sweetener is linked to headaches
Early studies on aspartame and anecdotal evidence suggests that this artificial sweetener may trigger headaches in some people.
It'll ruin your smile over time
Excessive soda drinking could leave you looking like a Breaking Bad extra, according to a case study published in the journal General Dentistry. The research compared the mouths of a cocaine-user, a methamphetamine-user, and a habitual diet-soda drinker, and found the same level of tooth erosion in each of them. The culprit here is citric acid, which weakens and destroys tooth enamel over time.
It may hurt your heart
Just one diet soft drink a day could boost your risk of having a vascular event such as stroke, heart attack, or vascular death, according to researchers from the University of Miami and Columbia University.
Their study found that diet soda devotees were 43% more likely to have experienced a vascular event than those who drank none. Regular soda drinkers did not appear to have an increased risk of vascular events.
Oh, and let's not forget: It has no nutritional value
So next time you reach for a soda you might want to reconsider your choice. Choose health, drink water! :)
Truly, disgusting stuff. And far worse than the thing that it's supposed to be better than
It never ceases to amaze me that anyone would drink any kind of soda more than a couple times a year, given what we know about the dangers of sugar and these horrible sugar substitutes. People had better wake up, ASAP. Good post.
Urgh - I HATE diet drinks and have always hated them, even when I was a child. I always get the nasty aspartame aftertaste. It doesn't surprise me that they are bad for you.
Aspartame can cause an almost instant flare up of the symptoms for Lyme disease sufferers. Thank you for raising more awareness on this issue!
Never have been a diet soda drinker, the taste was just pure nasty in my opinion. Now, I am pretty much water or a beer, with a very rare glass of Squirt, like that grapefruit flavor.
Those artificial sweeteners are just deceptive as it comes because of the assumptions people make, instead of researching like they should.
Very nice post! I am joking hahaha
I had read about this topic where it is not good for your body as it is something that does not naturally occur and tricks the mind into being recognized as sweet and thus insulin is released.
I try to limit my soda, opting for water when eating out.
LOL that is a perfect way to get your point across! I knew one or two of these, but I was surprised to learn about most of them. It's crazy what we do to our bodies. I am the world's worst at not doing the right thing for the right reasons.
Keep preaching that good word ;-) I sense your sincerity and your genuine care for health in your posts - appreciate that kind of heart
Our health is all we got and we are in total control of it. Without health it doesn't matter how much money you have, you can't enjoy life. I have learned this through some hard lessons. ;)
Informative. And guilty of drinking the stuff.
Didn't knew this about diet soda
This is informative. Thanks for sharing