No offense, but I am not prepared to take this at face value.
I could tell the difference between Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, Royal Crown Cola and the ‘store brands’. There is a difference in taste. I preferred Diet Coke. But I no longer drink soda of any kind. This decision was largely financial.
I had begun drinking it when I became diabetic. At first, I didn’t like diet drinks. After 2 weeks, I could no longer tolerate the taste of the regular sodas. The regular drinks seemed thicker and flat and unpleasant to me.
As for the ‘it’s not food’ argument…I suppose you are right. But isn’t there a lot of stuff in all processed foods that isn’t food? Like the artificial coloring, other artificial flavors and the many preservatives they put in?
I’d rather have black coffee, water, or tea. With Sweet and Low.
They know full well what you mean and are playing some silly game for some reason to pretend that what a 700 pound man eats is normal because it’s normal for him.
If you really want to know how much he’s overeating that can be done. He can go to a dietitian (or at that weight have one come to him) and get a metabolic measurement using indirect calorimetry. He’d have to go without eating for a few hours ahead of time and strap on a mask to breathe into. Sitting still for about ten minutes will do the trick and when they’re done they’ll let him know how many calories a day his body needs (his bodily functions) to support itself. Not to maintain his 700 pound weight, how much he needs to support his life.
His activity level can be factored into this to allow for more calories for physical work but let’s be honest, at 700 pounds he’s doing good to walk around his house each day unless he’s 9’6".
Now, having said this I think the OP is deliberately trying to fan the flames of a known touchy subject on this messageboard. I’ve never been overweight and when I drink soda I drink regular Pepsi. Are you going to make some kind of thread about it if I order steamed rice and vegetables and then have a big glass of Pepsi with it? No, because that’s not something you can use to slam people.
Some people just have gotten used to the taste of diet soda and prefer it. Get over it.
All I know is Diet Pepsi tastes like bubble blowing solution. Diet Coke tastes like some other chemical. Coke Zero tastes like happy.
I’ll gladly take any test you give me. I know when my SO gives me his Pepsi instead of my Coke Zero.
A lot of people can do a simple taste test with a glass of pepsi and a glass of coke. The real question is if you have two glasses of one and one of the other, can you identify the loner? You’d be surprised at your success rate.
Interesting you would say this. This article on the NYTimes reports that although what you said may be true, diet soda drinkers still have a higher chance than non drinkers (34%) of developing metabolic syndrome. Fat people drinking diet soda are fooling themselves.
Ah sorry, I get your point. My post was came off like a nasty sneer at fat people. What I really meant was anybody who chooses diet soda as a truly “healthier” alternative, is fooling themselves (or is being fooled by misinformation). My point is that there’s nothing healthy about any kind of soda, whether it’s gloopy with hfcs or laced with god knows what kinds of chemicals, and if you really want what’s best for your health, you’d cut it out all together.
Are you saying that diet sodas are not healthier than regular sodas, or just that they aren’t as healthy as drinking water?
Also, I don’t see any evidence that the study you linked to took overall diet into account before analyzing the data on diet cola drinkers. It is possible that people who drink at least one diet soda a day also tend to eat more poorly overall. I don’t think that study provides adequate evidence that diet colas by themselves increase the chance of developing metabolic syndrome.
I have drunk diet soda since I was an overweight teenager, and once switched from diet to regular soda, because the ‘all those fake sweetener chemicals are bad for you’ lobby got to my head.
In the 8 months that I drank regular instead of diet, I gained 40 pounds, which are only a 20% of the many I’m struggling to take off, but it was the fastest weight gain I’ve experienced in my life, and I attribute it primarily to drinking 500+ calories a day in HFCS.
So, hell, yeah, I drink diet coke (or, more and more since I like it better, coke zero) when I want something other than water to drink or could stand some caffeine as a pick me up. The rest of my diet may not be perfect, but I’m working on it. And while I’m working on it, choosing diet soda is a no-brainer alternative to drinking all those calories instead.
My SO - who needs to gain weight - always drinks regular Coke and I - who needs to lose weight - always drink Diet Coke.
When we go out to eat, every once in awhile the server will mix up the drinks - doesn’t take more than a sip to figure out which is which - but oddly, my SO says the Diet Coke tastes far too sweet for him!
I prefer the taste of Diet Coke and yes, it does seem odd to drink a Diet Coke and have food that is anything but diet - but still, I simply prefer the taste of Diet Coke and it really no longer has anything to do with the calories.
I agree that the healthiest drink would be nothing but water. But why does it have to be one extreme or the other? Surely diet soda is healthier than regular, even if it’s not as healthy as plain water.
Fat guy checking in. Most restaurants have one diet soda option, Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi, so the odds are you’ll see me with one or the other. Safeway may offer diet root beer, diet ginger ale and diet Dr. Brown’s Black Cherry, but McDonald’s doesn’t.
Water is my favorite beverage, hands down. Unsweetened, brewed ice tea is my next favorite. You can almost always get that, even in fast food places around here, at least. It really cleanses the palate and refreshes better than soda (diet or regular) ever did.
A couple of years ago, I did basically nothing to my eating/exercise habits except switch to diet sodas. I lost 12 pounds. Later on I lost more weight through a more concerted effort, but even those twelve pounds made a big difference and it was pretty much effortless.
I don’t believe most overweight people will think: “Hey, I’m drinking diet soda now, I can have that extra piece of _____ (pizza, cake, bacon-wrapped lard, whatever you think the big folks eat).”
For some of us it’s the first step to making a larger change (like, a gateway drug to better health choices). But even if it isn’t? That small change really can make a difference. And if nothing else, it won’t make things worse, which sometimes is the best people can hope for.
I need to lose at least 10lbs. 20 wuld probably be better. I drink water, coffee & dry white wine. But I was drinking ready mixed g&ts over the summer & that was when I put on more weight. I merchandise soft drinks, but rarely drink them.
Waaaaaay back in this thread, someone said wouldn’t not drinking enough clear fluids affect your kidneys. So true. My dad, who is in his 80s, is having some kidney problems now. He never drank water, had stopped drinking beer & rarely drank wine. So the only fluids he was getting were coffee & tea. He has now switched to decaffinated tea & coffee & is reluctantly drinking water - but you would think he was being tortured. & he lives in a part of NZ where the water tastes nice!
My sister works with dialysis patients. Believe me, in NZ you don’t want to end up like this - especially when the need for it is skyrocketing & NZ is desparately short of trained staff.
I’m one of the “don’t really like water” folks. I do like it if it’s ice cold and preferably has ice in it. Sometimes it’s just the ticket, in fact. Otherwise it’s like … saliva. Room temperature water grosses me right out.
Yeah, you can get unsweetened ice tea pretty much anywhere, but unsweetened black tea is gross. It’s gaggingly bitter and makes the mouth all puckery and everything you eat with it has that same bitter, gross undertaste. Cleanses the palate, my ass.
