Diet drinks

In My Humble Opinion
41

Me, too, on avoiding aspartame. I don’t believe everything I read about it, but I do know that it gives me headaches if I ingest more than just a little bit of it at a time.

I was one of the earliers users of aspartame. I remember when it came only in the little blue packets (circa 1983), and wasn’t even in any soft drinks yet. I started following a recipe on the side of the box for a Grape Cooler — mix a little white grape juice with tonic water (which I hate, so I used diet Sprite, which was then sweetened with saccharine) and add a packet of Nutra-Sweet. It was great! Tasted like a grape soda, with about half the calories. I started consuming it on a regular basis. It was even better with lots of pretzels…

I started getting headaches, which I at first attributed to school stress (my Senior design project was that semester), and then maybe needing new glasses (nope.) Finally, when I noted that all those “Diet” drinks plus pretzels were adding up to a lot of extra calories, I dropped my daily grape coolers, and the headaches went away — not to return until Diet Coke with Nutrasweet hit the market.

When I finally figured out the second time that that Nutrasweet was giving me headaches, I did some research on the subject. There was a big research study out of Duke University debunking the “anecdotal headaches.” Being at a research university, I hit the library to look it up. The first thing I noticed about the study was that it was funded by the makers of aspartame. (Searle Labs? I don’t remember.) The second thing I noticed was that under the study protocol, I wouldn’t have ended up with headaches, either. Their protocol was based upon dosing folks with either aspartame of a placebo, with the amount given based upon their body weight. They were asked a short time later whether they had a headache. Statistically, the results between aspartame and placebo weren’t significant.

I can drink one diet drink, and I won’t end up with a headache. I might have two today, and not notice anything. On the other hand, if I also had some diet jello pudding for dessert at lunch and dinner and then had a diet coke with dinner as well, I’d probably end up with a headache that night or the next day.

The testing protocol didn’t allow for a cumulative effect, or a time lag, both of which were symptomatic of my “anecdotal” headaches. And, quite frankly, I don’t think that debunking research funded by the manufacturers should be considered definitive “proof” of anything.

YMMV. I’ll agree aspartame is probably the best tasting substitute for sugar around — but I avoid it like the plague.

By the way, Diet Cheerwine is another of the soft drinks that bucks the NutraSweet trend. (Sort of an aftertaste, but still nice and effervescent like the real thing.)

42

Pepsi One is what they call Pepsi Max in Europe and Canada. The US version isn’t quite the same, though - I’m not sure exactly what the difference is, but it isn’t nearly as nice. If you can get a hold of real Pepsi Max, try it. It really is by far the best diet soda I’ve ever had.

43

140 calories is alot for just one beverage, to me at least. Then again, I have been on an extremely low calorie diet(around 1000 a day +/-) for the past three weeks and have lost 13 pounds. I eat alot of fruits and vegetables, and I stay away from meats, dairy(nonfat milk is ok), and most importantly, breads, rice and crackers.

I also make shakes which are very very yummy. I usually add one or two single servings of lowfat yougart, a tiny bit of milk(so the motor won’t burn out), a banana, then a cup or two of frozen fruit(mostly strawberries, sometimes black berries or raspberries). They are smooth and delicious. They end up around 100 calories per glass, I make two and sometimes count them as a meal.

44

yuck.
diet sodas (all diet sodas) are horrible. drink the fat stuff or drink water.

or skimmed milk/soy milk/fruit juices.
at least that way you get some vitamins and minerals in there as well, which you’ll need if you diet(and you don’t get so gassy).