# YES, I'm drinking a DIET COKE!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [August 2, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981 "2004-08-02T16:07:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981/1 "2004-08-02T16:07:51Z")
Grrrrr…
For the fourth or fifth time in the past month and a half, I’ve heard people bashing overweight folks for drinking diet coke with large meals. So I’ll lay it out one time just to be clear.
Yes, I’m overweight.
Yes, I like to eat large meals.
I drink diet coke not for weight control, and not because I like the taste, but because my body doesn’t do processed sugars. In fact, they make me very ill.
I know other people that drink diet for similar reasons. The derision over this makes me sick. And even if someone -is- drinking diet coke for weight loss… Well, isn’t that kinda the point? Why give them even larger hassles than they already have?
I’ve been told that being overweight is the current ‘trendy’ prejudice today, and it may or may not be true- we know it’s a health risk, and it seems to be the one thing that it’s quite all right to make fun of a person for in most films and television now, when it comes to an ‘appearance stereotype’. This doesn’t help. Lay off. It’s not that we don’t know we’re overweight. Giving us crap about our beverage choices doesn’t help us, and I can’t see it making you feel that much better about yourself.
Just my two drachma.
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981/2 "2004-08-02T16:11:03Z")
Hey man, whatever floats your boat. I personally think almost all diet soda tastes like pisswater, but if you like it, then more power to ya.
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### Author:  [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981/3 "2004-08-02T16:12:00Z")
That’s interesting. I always order Diet Coke with fast food meals. Occasionally even supersized ones, and no one has ever commented on it to me. Who is doing this? Not the people taking your order, I hope.
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### Author:  [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981/4 "2004-08-02T16:16:30Z")
I’m with you. I’m a large guy and I drink diet drinks exclusively-and not because I hold some false idea that drinking diet coke/pepsi/sprite, etc etc will make me magically lose weight. It’s more because the taste of full-sugared drinks is awful(IMO) and I just can’t justify stomaching the taste of a full-sugared drink and all the wasted calories contained within.
So lay off overweight people\* who drink diet drinks with normal meals, occasionally we have other reasons for drinking them than the whole diet thing.
Sam
\*- note that I’ve never gotten slack for ordering a diet with a normal meal, but I know there are some people who definitely would-and probably do-behind my back.
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### Author:  [@dre2xl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dre2xl)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981/5 "2004-08-02T16:17:44Z")
I couldn’t agree more and I’m not overweight. I am the stereotypical “Supersize it with diet coke” person. Well, my mother never allowed me to drink regular sodas, she always told me to NEVER drink anything except diet ones, and I just grew to like the sweetness of apartasme. I even like sugar-free yogurt and sugar-free syrup a lot better than their “regular” versions. I HATE candy although I’ll eat some super-duper-ultra dark chocolate sometimes (which is quite bitter). Mmm, apartasme.
And, the amount of calories in a regular cup of coke isn’t trivial at all. My boyfriend used to drink these things like a fish. He was thin, but only because he ate teeny weensy meals… half a sandwich and he was full. It really embarassed me when we first started dating, but I got used to it, screw him if he thinks I’m a glutton.
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### Author:  [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981/6 "2004-08-02T16:23:23Z")
That sucks. I rarely eat fast food (simply because I’m not a big meat-eater or anything like that), but when I do, I always get regular Coke - and yeah, I get the Big Mac and fries at the same time. You’d think I’d be the one getting weird looks (I’m a bit overweight, but not much - it’s noticeable, though).
I don’t get why it’s necessary to comment on other people’s choice of drink. My best friend always drinks diet if she wants soda, no matter where we go - but she also eats what she wants. And I’m sure people think the same about her as they say to you - but they also don’t know that she has lost a lot of weight in the past two years, and she watches every bite that goes into her mouth - she knows exactly what she’s eating. I’m incred-fucking-ly proud of her for that, and if I were ever to hear ANYONE comment on her drink choice, they’d get an earful from me.
(I do drink Diet Code Red Mountain Dew at work and home - I can’t stand the taste of Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi most of the time, but I freakin’ LOVE Diet Code Red - go figure. Now if they’d just stock it in places other than convenient stores and grocery stores, I’d be set…).
Ava
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981/7 "2004-08-02T16:24:25Z")
> [@cher3](#):
>
> That’s interesting. I always order Diet Coke with fast food meals. Occasionally even supersized ones, and no one has ever commented on it to me. Who is doing this? Not the people taking your order, I hope.
I was ordering White Castles for my family (there are 4 of us). I ordered 4 White Castles and 15 White Castles with cheese. The person behind me tells the person next to him, “Now watch her get a diet soda!” Loud enough for me to hear but not loud enough to be talking to me.
And yes, I did order one diet soda (mine), everyone else drinks regular.
Yeup, an absolute stranger. I didn’t say anything because my husband gets a little tired of me starting arguments with people every where. Sometimes you just gotta let it slide, he tells me.
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### Author:  [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981/8 "2004-08-02T16:30:04Z")
> [@Biggirl](#):
>
> The person behind me tells the person next to him, “Now watch her get a diet soda!” Loud enough for me to hear but not loud enough to be talking to me.
:eek: That’s just fucking obnoxious. I would have said something to him.
Did he really think you were going to at 19 hamburgers by yourself? I know WC’s are small, but really. What an ass.
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981/9 "2004-08-02T16:40:26Z")
I NEVER drink diet soda. Yuck. But I do love ice-cold water. Yet every time my mother sees me drinking a regular soda, she tells me I should “learn to drink diet soda.” Even though I always tell her that when I want a healthy drink, I will gladly drink WATER, which is (1) free and (2) better for me anyway because it’s not full of chemicals and caffeine. But she never hears that, and the next time we do the whole thing all over again.
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### Author:  [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981/10 "2004-08-02T17:06:59Z")
Diet soda and a non-diet meal makes wonderful sense for someone trying to deal with a blood sugar problem. Most non-diabetics fail miserably trying to grasp the concept, however.
[hijack]
“Low Carb” beer irks the shit out of me. Anyone trying to follow an Atkins or South Beach diet, the rule is no alcohol, because alcohol is metabolized faster than the carbs, and will wreck the entire process the diets set up.
Feh.
[/hijack]
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### Author:  [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981/11 "2004-08-02T17:13:40Z")
> [@avabeth](#):
>
> I don’t get why it’s necessary to comment on other people’s choice of drink. My best friend always drinks diet if she wants soda, no matter where we go - but she also eats what she wants.
Well, to me, it’s simple math; diet soda, however many bad-for-you ingredients it may contain, usually has no calories; regular soda has calories. So if you’re counting calories, would you rather consume a bunch of them via your soda, or have a few extra fries instead?
Honey, gimme the fries any day!
And, as the OP said, even if you’re NOT counting calories, why does it matter?
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### Author:  [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981/12 "2004-08-02T17:18:17Z")
[QUOTE=vunderbob]
Diet soda and a non-diet meal makes wonderful sense for someone trying to deal with a blood sugar problem. Most non-diabetics fail miserably trying to grasp the concept, however.
[QUOTE]
But given the number of diabetics in society, there is really no excuse…does anyone not know someone who is diabetic?
My FIRST thought when someone that is not a skinny nineteen year old orders a diet pop is “blood sugar.”
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### Author:  [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981/13 "2004-08-02T17:39:50Z")
I’ve been drinking diet sodas since I was 21, and I’m 39 now. I can’t stand sugary drinks. My sister, who is four years younger than I, has been drinking sugary sodas all her life. Guess who still has all her teeth and guess who doesn’t? Granted, my sister has had some terrible problems with her teeth, but I think the disadvantages of sugary sodas (and even juices, which contain a lot of sugar!) are clear.
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### Author:  [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981/14 "2004-08-02T17:51:38Z")
I like fountain diet coke much better than fountain coke (but I don’t like cans or bottles of either 😕 ). But I like regular pepsi better than diet pepsi which I pretty much don’t like at all. I often wonder if people make sly comments to each other when I get an extra double cheeseburger and a diet. I just like the taste, not for health reasons.
Drinks I order, in preference of taste:
1. Dr Pepper
2. Diet Coke
3. Pepsi
4. Root Beer
I don’t know what Massachusetts has against Dr Pepper but it pisses me off and Pibb is just no comparison (even though it is a decent enough soft drink).
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981/15 "2004-08-02T17:58:05Z")
I too am overweight and I too drink diet cola. Mostly I started drinking it to control calories. But now I prefer it.
But also, I pretty much don’t give a rat’s ass what others think.
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### Author:  [@aurelian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurelian)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981/16 "2004-08-02T18:07:10Z")
My first job was working in a ‘deli’ in a hotel (in quotes because most everything was premade, loaded with fat - burgers, sandwiches on croissants, soft-serve ice cream, nachos - with the scary bioluminescent orange glow). We did have to make the burgers on the grill, which gave me a lovely assortment of grease burns…
Anyway, there were lots of people who would order nachos, a double cheeseburger…and a Diet Coke. I would never say anything rude in front of a customer unless they really earned it (like the guy, upon seeing me kneeling to write the special on the board, said, ‘Good to see you on your knees where you should be!’) but the mega-fattening meal + diet soda was a common bitch/vent among the employees.
Was I judgmental? Most likely. I was 15, and had no sense…well, about much of anything. I weighed about 135 pounds (at 6’) and was convinced I was fat. :rolleyes: ( I wasn’t anorexic or anything, just had a really screwed-up self-image)
The combination of fatty foods and a diet soda just seems out-of-place to me. The diet soda just seems anomalous; it would catch my attention at the deli because it was unusual (in my experience working there). Yes, that’s only my opinion, and if I felt the need to share it with a stranger verbally or non-verbally, I’d be a bitch.
Thank gawd I don’t work food service anymore. I’m still making poverty wages, but at least I don’t have to deal with those damn steam blisters and burns.
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### Author:  [@OleOneEye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OleOneEye)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981/17 "2004-08-02T18:27:47Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#):
>
> I will gladly drink WATER, which is (2) better for me anyway because it’s not full of chemicals
'cept for the dread [dihydrogen monoxide](http://www.snopes.com/toxins/dhmo.htm) .
😛
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### Author:  [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981/18 "2004-08-02T18:31:14Z")
> [@Biggirl](#):
>
> I was ordering White Castles for my family (there are 4 of us). I ordered 4 White Castles and 15 White Castles with cheese. The person behind me tells the person next to him, “Now watch her get a diet soda!” Loud enough for me to hear but not loud enough to be talking to me.
Had a friend order 6 (or was it 8?) double cheeseburgers, 2 large fries, a large onion rings,… and a diet 7 up at WC. The guy behind the counter just cracked. Mike took it ok, said he just preferred the taste of diet 7 up. (and yes, he is quite fat, and they were all for him - 3 or 4 usual value meals worth.)
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### Author:  [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981/19 "2004-08-02T18:34:13Z")
I’m a thin guy who drinks about two gallons of Diet Coke a week, and I occasionally get flak for one of two things:
1. Diet Coke tastes “disgusting”
2. Diet Coke is a “girl’s drink”
I just tell people that if I drink six cokes in a day it’s 900 calories of sugar that I don’t want, and that I’m used to the taste. If they tell me I shouldn’t be drinking six sodas a day, I will agree with them while I get up from the table to get my 2nd refill.
I wonder what % of Diet Coke by volume is consumed by men vs women.
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### Author:  [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2004, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-im-drinking-a-diet-coke/257981/20 "2004-08-02T18:35:15Z")
> [@auntie em](#):
>
> Well, to me, it’s simple math; diet soda, however many bad-for-you ingredients it may contain, usually has no calories; regular soda has calories. So if you’re counting calories, would you rather consume a bunch of them via your soda, or have a few extra fries instead?
>
> Honey, gimme the fries any day!
>
> And, as the OP said, even if you’re NOT counting calories, why does it matter?
Oh, I wasn’t asking - I know why she does it. She’d rather have more bites of whatever yummy food we’re eating than waste calories on soda. Me, I’d rather eat a couple less bites and have a regular soda because I can’t stand aspartame in most stuff. I realized I just commented on her choice, but I was doing it in a positive way - I wasn’t criticizing her for it.
And yeah, I’m a fry-a-holic. If the potatoes didn’t make my blood sugar go nuts and the grease didn’t stick to my ass, I’d eat fries for every meal!
Ava
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