Diet debate: Are diet drinks a no-go?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34924036 |
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Yep, I would agree, that's the big question. |
I have become quite fond of flavored seltzers, which don't have any kind of sweetener at all.
One of the things that makes me regard sweetness as more of a drug than a food is the way it deadens our taste with sweet; so we need more. Now that I'm away from, so many things taste sweet. |
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Correlation is not causation. If anything, it's the other way around: being fat when you'd rather not be makes you more likely to choose a diet drink over a sugary one. Some legit problems might be found in artificial sweeteners like maybe gut microbiome disruption and stuff, but if I want something sweet I'd take even aspartame (which I avoid) over real sugar because fake sweeteners might turn out to be a problem but I know for sure sugar is for me. I can down an entire liter of artificially sweetened sparkling water drink with no detectable reaction, but when I ate even one tiny clementine orange or slice of watermelon, my body immediately went, "That's real sugar! Where's the rest of the oranges/melon?!!!" And had to use willpower to make myself not take another piece instead of diving face-first into the fruit bowl. I was a bit surprised at how quickly/easily my body could detect the difference even though both taste sweet. Artificial sweeteners also helped me delay meals during intermittent fasting better than plain water so I lost more weight. Not suggesting they're healthy by any means, but since I can't safely have caloric sweets, even natural stuff like fruits/honey, I'd rather use fake stuff than never have something sweet again unless safety research on various products suggests otherwise. |
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I haven't stopped drinking my diet cola - but I have cut down. I no longer drink it between meals & only have one can with my lunch. And sometimes I skip it. Most "studies" about diet drinks seem to be about people drinking them all day long. I wonder if having no more than 1 a day & having it with a meal makes a difference.
And my diet cola has aspartame. Pepsi made a big mistake when they switched to another sweetener - it tastes bad. I don't worry about aspartame because Dr. B didn't (& as far as I know still has no problem with it). In his book he wrote: "Many Web sites falsely perpetuate the myth that aspartame is toxic because its metabolism produces the poison methanol. In reality, one 12-ounce can of an aspartame-sweetened soft drink generates only ½ as much methanol as does a glass of milk." And of course I wouldn't touch milk! :D |
I cannot consume aspartame. I suspect there are others. One dose of aspartame gives me an ocular migraine within 24 hours. For me, that's not right, and my assumption is that whatever the mechanism is that causes this, I don't want to mess with it. I've tried other sweeteners and when pepsi and coke used sucralose (Splenda) for a short period of time, I thought I had found a diet drink that I could drink occasionally. Over time, I decided, whether it comes with other health consequences or not, I needed to avoid anything sweet, as being a strict low carber eliminates any sweet cravings over time. Like others in this camp, I no longer have any desire for sweet stuff. When I first started low carb, I busied myself by finding safe substitutes for the sweet stuff I ate, but realized that my addiction to anything sweet could be managed and would fade over time. It did. This is obviously an N=1 experience and realizing that many do fine with AS and NS for when they want something sweet, the conclusion here is always based on a personal tolerance, never a general association.
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I know someone like you. While she hasn't tried every artificial sweetener, all she has tried give her migraines. She decided it wasn't worth it. Years ago I got migraines from regular sodas, so I quit drinking them. I stopped getting migraines with blessed menopause and found out a few years ago I could drink diet cola without any problems. |
I and a few others are doing some experiemnts. I've decided to drop all sweeteners for 3 months. I used liquid sucralose in coffee and drank sucralose and aspartame sodas and sports drinks, mainly while driving somewhere.
I've notice that I'm consuming much less coffee. I'm glad I don't/didn't use it in food because I'm pretty certain I would eat more of the chow if it was in there - extra calories or not. That is my current observation. Welcome to join over at : http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...8&goto=lastpost |
When I eat more to the ketogenic side of low carb--60-70 grams of protein, around 20 grams of carbs--I find I naturally lower my sweetener intake. Part of it's that a packet of splenda equals an ounce of low carb veggies for carbs, a poor trade. But diet pop starts tasting too sweet to me. Eat pretty much the same calories and carbs, but with a bit more protein, a bit less fat--and I'm more likely to want sweetener in my coffee, and more of it. Also I'll have to try to keep cheese and peanuts out of the house, for fear of binging on them. So even in just this one person, there's a varied response to sweeteners.
I guess this sort of biases me towards thinking that sweeteners are only conditionally bad. You can design a study to make them look harmless, you can design a study to make them look harmful. But maybe the question isn't whether sweeteners are harmful or helpful--but under what conditions they are harmful, and under what conditions helpful. Dr's. Westman, Bernstein, Atkins, etc., have helped a lot of people without banning sweeteners--but I don't discount those who report better results once they took them out of the diet, either. |
I don't see sweeteners as good bad or indifferent. I do see the use of them creating or the result of a mindstate that uses sweeteners. However, I do see a great benefit as the can keep my mind occupied without causing immediate harm. I see myself moving away from them as a natural part of my change of eating. None of my above observations are backed up by any data, just speculation. I would not be agreeable to banning them unless one or more is found to cause great harm - and I think that will be hard to prove.
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