Diet soda makes you fat???

S

_Simon_

Active Member
another article i came across, i'm not sure, are artificial sweeteners really as bad as this dude says?? i wasn't aware of that at all... i just assumed that diet drinks have less calories than their counterparts (not knowing the truth about artificial sweeteners), but what's the deal with artificial sweeteners??

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<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Does Diet Soda Make You Fat, or is it Really Good for Weight Loss?

by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer

We all know by now that soda (aka &quot;pop&quot; in some areas) is one of the most evil things you can put in your body... the nasty chemicals, the gut-fattening high fructose corn syrup, and a myriad of health problems caused by this carbonated cocktail worshipped by those that don't care about their health or body.

Since you're one of my subscribers, I know that you actually do care about your health and the appearance of your body.

Surprisingly, many people falsely believe that &quot;diet&quot; soda is in some way a good thing for losing body fat. In fact, I hear people all the time proudly state that they eat so healthy and only drink diet soda.

So let's set the record straight...

There is NOTHING even remotely healthy about drinking diet soda. In fact, I've even seen several studies that showed dedicated diet soda drinkers got even FATTER than their regular soda drinking counterparts.

Here's some findings from an 8-year University of Texas study that I had read...

An excerpt from the study author:

&quot;What didn't surprise us was that total soft drink use was linked to overweight and obesity,&quot; Fowler tells WebMD. &quot;What was surprising was when we looked at people only drinking diet soft drinks, their risk of obesity was even higher.&quot;

&quot;There was a 41 percent increase in risk of being overweight for every can or bottle of diet soft drink a person consumes each day,&quot; Fowler says.

Ok, as if we didn't already know how bad regular soda was for us, and now they're showing us studies that diet soda makes us even fatter than the already bad stuff!

There's a lot of complicating factors as to why this occurs...

One reason is that the artificial sweeteners in diet sodas create a negative hormonal response in the body that increases fat storing hormone production and increases cravings for more sweets and refined carbohydrates in the time period after consuming the diet drink.

Another reason is that people may subconsciously think that because they are drinking a diet soda, that gives them more leeway to eat more of everything else, hence consuming more calories overall.

I've said this all along, but the bottom line is that if you're serious about your health and body, soda of any kind (and artificial sweeteners in anything for that matter!) should be avoided at all times, except for very rare occasions when you can't avoid them.

Another article I did about artificial sweeteners explains more of the problems with them and good substitutes

So what is a good alternative to diet sodas?

The best alternatives are good old water with lemon or unsweetened iced teas... you have plenty of options with teas - green, white, black, oolong, red... be creative in making your iced teas and you'll enjoy it more. Plus you'll get a more diverse array of antioxidants.

I just add a little of the natural non-caloric sweetener stevia to my iced teas and I love them. I get my stevia here.</div>
 
Sorry, but this guy is a retard.

I've heard of people gaining weight on diet sodas simply because they use drinking diet as an excuse to pack in even more food. He mentions this, but this is the only reason that someone could get fat drinking diet soda.
If you control for other calories, then replacing sugared soda with diet soda will not result in getting fat. His crap about hormones is just dumb. We've seen tons of people lose weight successfully while drinking diet so... he's dumb. Unless the whole of society somehow collectively hallucinated all those people who lost weight while using artificial sweeteners.

This guy is probably one of those idiots who thinks you must be as miserable as possible when trying to lose weight, or else the weight lost somehow &quot;doesn't count&quot; which I guess is why he recommends drinking extremely bland drinks. You aren't hardcore otherwise.

Also, as a supporting anecdote - I drink a fair amount of sodas at work. I drink sugared sodas when bulking, and switch to diet when cutting. At home, I drink a lot of tea. When bulking, I sweeten with sugar. When cutting, I use splenda. I've never had any problems associated with this behavior. Well, except for a couple cavities when I was younger.
 
I concur. I've lost over 40 lbs of fat, all the while replacing my sugar in my coffee/tea with sucralose and aspartame, and drinking a fair share of sugar free soda/energy drinks.

On days where I have a deep caloric/carb cut, the red bulls keep me going.

I am open to the notion that artificial sweeteners are bad for you, but the idea that they are in some way a direct causal antecedent to weight gain in all-or a significant number-of individuals is retarded.

as Tot said, most people over eat in column A when they feel they've removed something bad (sugar) from column B.

None of that applies to us, IMO, weightlifting guys who bust there asses at the gym and have high levels of activity and engage in mathematically precise caloric monitoring.
 
Bunk. It only applies to those who eat extra sweets to &quot;make up&quot; for what their bodies don't get from their pop. This is baloney.

I drink a gallon of Crystal Lite everyday in order to stay hydrated. I've lost 10% of my total body weight using it.
 
yeah i thought so... cheers guys!

i never know what to read though anymore, i mean this guy is a Certified Nutrition Specialist, why would he lie? he's not trying to sell anything in the article itself, although there is a feedback from one of his customers about his Abs program at the bottom.

who the hell can i trust nowadays, i honestly do not know where to get legitimate knowledge from, can you understand my frustrations?

here's a question, why are artificial sweeteners so bad, and are they worse than sugar? (i personally don't see how sugar is so bad, only too much of it too frequently is bad.. ?)
 
It's not that he is lying, it's that he is wrong. People are wrong all the time, so it shouldn't be a big surprise. They aren't intentionally misinforming you, they genuinely believe they are correct.

Being a certified nutrition specialist doesn't really mean all that much to me when I don't know what the requirements are for that certification. Considering this guy's article, I somehow doubt the requirements are overly strict. Probably just a degree and passing a test.
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">here's a question, why are artificial sweeteners so bad, and are they worse than sugar? (i personally don't see how sugar is so bad, only too much of it too frequently is bad.. ?) </div>

Why is sugar bad? I don't think it is. Sugar is great. I love it. I think it has gotten demonized because people are idiots and will consume mass quantities of it, since it tastes so good. This results in those people becoming overweight. So... they blame the sugar, when really they should be blaming themselves for not being able to control their calorie intake.

Artificial sweeteners are bad because people are idiots and will be scared of anything with the word 'artificial' in the name. Sucralose has chlorine in it, so it must be bad. Chlorine is a poison, don't you know. Yeah, well... salt also has chlorine in it, and that is obviously not a poison, so I think people are idiots. There are similar arguments out there for aspartame.
 
I think often its just an issue of logic, inference, deduction, and causality...well meaning people, nutritionists, doctors,etc don't really understanding the difference between correlation and cause, the difference between raw data and 'proof,' the difference between a set of data and the myriad interpretations it can be given, a controlled experiment, isolation of variables, etc.

So moronic conclusions are drawn,and people get into a frenzy about aspartame 'causing' their fatness.

No study 'proves' anything at all, ever. The best we can get are possible indications, models that we test and become more likely...or one day fall apart.

Remembering that tends to leave no space for wild conclusions or arrogance, certifications or not!
 
As for post injestion cravings, neither I nor my wife get them from diet sodas. We both hit both sides of the drink equation, as Tot does, only I rarely drink any soda myself.
My favorite drink is a spritzer the wife makes consisting of 2/3 water, 2 oz. soda, 1/3 juice (apple, grape, peach or pineapple) They're light and easy to slug down quick. She sticks one in my lunchcooler every day.
 
If anything, drinking diet soda helps me feel full and makes me crave less. However, I've also read that liquid calories don't make people feel as full supposedly? I don't see how that can be, but... that might just be me.
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">It's not that he is lying, it's that he is wrong. People are wrong all the time, so it shouldn't be a big surprise. They aren't intentionally misinforming you, they genuinely believe they are correct.</div>

good point! haha

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Why is sugar bad? I don't think it is. Sugar is great. I love it. I think it has gotten demonized because people are idiots and will consume mass quantities of it, since it tastes so good. This results in those people becoming overweight. So... they blame the sugar, when really they should be blaming themselves for not being able to control their calorie intake.</div>

i totally agree, i think sugar's just gotten a bad rep from its relationship with diabetes, and the whole sugar not being good for your teeth.


I reckon liquid calories make people more full, even any liquid ingestion of any kind, especially water that fills me up like no other!
 
Here is another point that hasn't been brought up yet. People with weight trouble are more likely to drink diet soda to cut the calories out of their diet. This doesn't imply the reverse, which is what this guy is saying, that consumption of diet pop leads to obesity.
 
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(_Simon_ @ Jun. 24 2008,9:00)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">i totally agree, i think sugar's just gotten a bad rep from its relationship with diabetes, and the whole sugar not being good for your teeth.</div>
So the bad rep is deserved?
 
not really, i'm sure that sugar won't get its feelings hurt because of a bad rep anyways hehe jks

well, in terms of certain damage sugar can cause, bad rep it deserves. but to me, there's no reason why it itself is bad, depends on the context (frequency of ingestion, amount eaten, time taken (pre/post w/o) etc)
 
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(_Simon_ @ Jun. 25 2008,7:38)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">not really, i'm sure that sugar won't get its feelings hurt because of a bad rep anyways hehe jks

well, in terms of certain damage sugar can cause, bad rep it deserves. but to me, there's no reason why it itself is bad, depends on the context (frequency of ingestion, amount eaten, time taken (pre/post w/o) etc)</div>
Let's change your mind then:

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike....f-sugar
 
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