Do you drink Coke Zero, Diet Coke, etc? I used to but have stopped since it may affect insulin, etc. I think it is better than sugar-sweetened beverages and typical fruit juice though. Some people I know were horrified when I told them a while ago that I thought diet Pepsi was ok and that I used to have a lot of diet jelly (Jello). At the moment I only drink water and low sugar red wine.
BTW recently I found out about “Zevia” which is a soda which is only sweetened by stevia, a natural sweetener. Apparently it doesn’t affect insulin. I’m still sticking to water and red wine for now though.
I forgot! I also have started to drink black coffee (first thing in the morning before exercise on an empty stomach)
Enough about me…
When I dieted, one of the choices I made was to switch to diet sodas (as well as water, obs). The only one I found drinkable was Pepsi Max.
Now I’ve largely abandoned the diet (I exercise a lot now, and I can eat whatever I like within reason), but I still drink Pepsi Max. Regular colas taste too sweet now.
I drink diet Pepsi. I do prefer the diet version of Pepsi to the diet version of Coke. The fat versions of both products being equally good. With regards to the part of your post I highlighted I do think diet drinks are easy to get used to. Once you get a taste for them you really don’t believe you are missing out on *not *drinking the “fat” varieties of soft drinks. I found that with diet Pepsi at least.
I drink all kinds of diet sodas and other drinks like Crystal Light. They have all kinds of artificial sweeteners like aspartame and ace-K. I eschew any drink that has HFCS. I drink a couple of cans of soda a day, so that’s between 300-400 extra calories I’m eliminating a day.
The reason they were horrified was to do with their belief that diet drinks aren’t healthy. One said that they can corrode metal objects or something. Some people I know thing diet drinks can cause cancer.
I drink copious amounts of Diet Coke and have since the mid 1980s. It hasn’t adversely affected me in any perceptible way.
No artificial sweeteners. If I need something sweetened I will use a measured amount of sugar or honey.
I am diabetic. Portion control and choices are the key, not artificial substitutes.
Yep, all the time. Sugarfree is the way to go, whenever possible.
Your own, natural, stomach secretions can corrode metal objects. Some people just don’t know their biology.
Anyhow - normally I drink either tea or water, and I brew my own tea. At home, I use real sugar sparingly. I won’t necessarily reject a diet drink if I’m out of the house and I’m offered one, or in a restaurant, but I won’t necessarily reject a “fat” soft drink either. Since months go by between episode where I drink such a think it’s a far too rare event to impact my health.
(By the way - I think pre-bottled tea to be a “soft drink”, almost all of them have as much sugar/HCFS/whatever as the fizzy drinks)
I stock the help-yourself refrigerator at work with Diet Coke, Diet Dr Pepper, Fresca, and Diet Mountain Dew. I’ve never had a complaint, never a request for “regular” soda.
I broke the sugared soda habit by switching to Diet Coke with Lime. A neighbor turned me onto it.
It really tastes the closest to regular cola of any drink and, no, it isn’t the same as squeezing a lime into a Diet Coke. Something else is different.
When I first tried to kick the habit, I really couldn’t stand the taste of any diet cola, but I had no trouble with the Diet Coke with Lime. Now, when that’s not available, I can drink other diet cola drinks without much problem, but I still prefer the lime version.
One of the doctors on one of the protein diets recommended avoiding Nutrasweet (aspartame) which is used in all the mainstream diet drinks for a simple reason.
He claimed it was a weight loss suppressant. So attempts to lose weight while drinking that, will be less successful. Not sure where the research for that came from, but the infererence is that it was medical…
His recommendation was to use sucralose based drinks. The cheaper end of the scale (supermarket’s own diet drinks), tend to be the sucralose based ones in the uk.
I hate to sound like one of *those *people but you would all do better if you broke the soda habit completely.
I use sucralose daily. It’s the one sweetener that doesn’t have an aftertaste to me. I don’t drink fizzy drinks because i have kidney problems since childhood.
I have found no credible argument to stop using sucralose, or aspartame.
On a side note, research suggests that how sweeteners taste to us is largely genetic.
Pepsi Max is good and I find it to taste infinitely better than Diet Pepsi, which I hate.
Diet Pepsi is pure poison. Totally disgusting. Diet Coke is drinkable, but I am not a huge fan. Coke Zero is the best diet cola I’ve had, especially its cherry version.
And I would agree that with Coke Zero, at least, I no longer think or miss regular Coke or Pepsi. It is adequate.
Quiet, you.
As a side note, Diet Mountain Dew is one of the worst diet sodas invented. They need to scrap it and rework it. Mello Yello Zero, however, is really good.
I avoid added artificial sweeteners. I also avoid added natural sweeteners. The only sugar in my diet is from whole fruits and vegetables. As a result, naturally sweet foods like fruits taste ever so much more so. I only drink unsweetened seltzer or iced tea, so now any soda, diet or otherwise, tastes cloyingly sweet.
I have been on this diet for over a year, for weight loss reasons. It hasn’t been hard, since I am more of a salty/fatty food craver. The only disappointment has been, I do not feel remarkably better as I was led to believe by others who gave up added sugar. I have lost about 20lbs though.
I find that artificial sweeteners make it more difficult to resist other, sugar sweetened foods. Kind of like an alcoholic trying alcohol-free beer; that didn’t work for me either.
I don’t know if this is broadening the OP or not, but I guess one time lots of people consume artificial sweeteners is in sugarfree gum.
There are a couple of brands of regular, “sugared” gum which market themselves as freshening breath, but I think they are (rightly) in the minority now.
Certainly 20 lbs of weight loss must feel good. However, I am also surprised how many people say they feel a mental/emotional change from giving up sugar(well, added sugar).