About diet drinks...

[Nightwind]

I have one quick question.

Do diet drinks slow or stop the process of loosing weight on the atkins diet? My personal favorite is the diet (artificially flavored) koolaid. I need to know if I must find a new favorite 0 carb drink.

I can't seem to find a straight answer anywhere.

Thanks in advance.

-Nightwind

[HeyCE]

Nightwind, love your name.

I am not an expert at all as I've only been doing this a week (successfully!!). I quickly realized that my love of Diet Pepsi had to be tamed. Water is now my main drink (80 ozs. a day for me) and I treat my Diet Pepsi (and Vernor's and Fresca) as treats. All that water truly is important!! After about the third day, I had a huge flush out of ze old bod and know that all that water was essential.

I too will enjoy reading the expert answer! ;)

[Karen]

It depends on how you physically react to artificial sweeteners, but to be on the safe side, it's better to not be dependent upon artificial sweeteners.

We had a great discussion a couple of days ago on the subject. It's right here. (http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28231&perpage=15&pagenumber=2)

Karen

[Nightwind]

Thanks for the compliment ;)

Also, thanks for the info regarding diet drinks (I will attempt to get use to the quite foul tasting Indianapolis city water).

Thank you :)

-Nightwind

[Elihnig]

You could always buy some gallons of spring water at the store. I did this for over a year. I figured I was saving money because the gallon of water cost less than the gallon of soda. Now I've moved to a place with a well and good tasting water.


Elihnig

[ebeadss]

What is the latest info on Stevia (real stevia not the stuff in the grocery store with added ingredients)???

Also what about sucralose (Splenda) I have been told to count Splenda packet as 1 carb ... because it adds up during the day if you use it in ,say, 6 beverages.

[camaromom]

Thanks for the compliment ;)

Also, thanks for the info regarding diet drinks (I will attempt to get use to the quite foul tasting Indianapolis city water).

Thank you :)

-Nightwind

Well hello fellow Hoosier. Lafayette, Indiana neighbor here.
Barb

[tiredangel]

A water filter works wonders. My last city had the nastiest tasting water but a brita water filter took that out.

[Elizellen]

Also what about sucralose (Splenda) I have been told to count Splenda packet as 1 carb ... because it adds up during the day if you use it in ,say, 6 beverages.Pure sucralose podwer is very sweet and you would need to use an infinitesimal amount of it which is impossible to measure. The one I have says one serving=20 milligram which my scales can't measure, and one ounce of it is the equivalent of the sweetness of 35 pounds of sugar!

To make it possible to use in baking and sweetening drinks by customers the loose splenda has 99% maltodextrin with 1% sucralose, therefore you have to count the carbs of the maltodextrin which is about 1 carb per teaspoon in UK.

We don't get the packets retail so I don't know how many carbs for them.

Splenda does come as tablets in UK which are 44 carbs per 1,000 so for tablets to sweeten drinks that would be about 0.044 carbs per tablet.

[ebeadss]

Elizellen that is great info! Thank you so much. I think I am going to search online for sucralose tablets.
I can see by your stats that you have come a long way on Atkins WOW and CONGRATULATIONS!!! We started at the same high weight and I am just ceebrated my first month on Saturday (2 days ago) so I have a long journey. I am older , with health issues so any diet is slow going for me... but nice people like you are such an inspiration!

[Elizellen]

The splenda brand are on sale in most supermarkets in UK - maybe you can find out about stockists on their website for wherever you live?

I found this page about the tablets - they seem to be called 'minis' in USA
http://www.splenda.com/page.jhtml?id=splenda/products/flavor_minis.inc

[ebeadss]

Elizellen, thank you! I actually went to Ebay and searched for "liquid sucralose" and got a bottle ... I think the liquid has a better chance of having less "filler" and I like the control of just using a drop... I have a "thing"... packets annoy me *smile*. I am not able to drive much, so searching locally through all the stores is not my sport. I buy all my clothes on Ebay, too... especially when my size changes so much.. and I do not mind " gently used".. I never spend more than $5. for a top, etc. I work at home as a crafter so they all get paint etc. on them anyhow!

[corsair915]

On Protein Power, we avoid artificial sweeteners because of their potentially negative chemical reactions and the fact that they are, of course, inherently "unnatural".

But, there's another benefit to avoiding them, as well. Just like you have to teach your brain to use fat primarily for fuel, you also have to teach your mind to reject the sweet taste. When you continue to get enjoyment and gratification from the stimulation of the "sweet" tastebuds, you continue to send signals to the brain that reinforce the release of chemical transmitters in the brain that stimulate the pleasure centers. This makes you more vulnerable to carb cravings in the long run, and I think it puts you at higher risk for giving into those cravings.

Personally, I've found that anything that tastes sweet is now rather repulsive to me. Instead of being tempting, that dessert tray looks repulsive. Just (low carb) food for thought.

[ebeadss]

That's great for you Corsair! I Just can't be that strong. I just am a rebel, I guess. I am just not capable of getting going in the morning without my 2 cups of coffee and I just want a teensy bit of sweet in there. For me , the blessing of Atkins is that I do not have much of an appetite when I am on it so I am able to stay away from all things sweet as far as food goes. I don't even need the dessert type things that folks make. I just need my occasional beverage and I don't want to add a carb or two if I don't have to!

[corsair915]

Hey, I'm not stronger than anybody else. (It's the salty crap like potato chips that always calls to me at night.) You're doing awesome.

Just goes to show you that we all detox from sugar and don't feel the need for it when we start to overcome our addiction to it. Keep up the good work!

[eastbruce]

There's a lot of discussion and varying opinions about diet soda on this board and others. I drank nothing but water for the first 3 months and have to agree that its very important to weight loss.

But I wanted soda, so I did what I do with most new foods - I drank one, waited an hour and checked my blood sugar, waited another hour and checked again - no reaction at all. Which means my body did not recognize it as any form of glucose and it would not cause cravings.

I have lost 54 pounds with another 28 to go. Now am on IF with LC, but still have 2 sodas each day and am still losing.

From what I have seen, diet soda can have various affects on different people. You will be the one to decide if its okay for you or not. :)

[corsair915]

Eastbruce makes an excellent point. Thanks for the reminder that we all need to evaluate how we individually respond to specific foods.