Ditch the Diet Sodas

We were raised on TV commercials for Tab, Diet Pepsi and Sugar Free Dr. Pepper, that promised we could have our cake and eat it, too. All those calories we were saving, surely weight loss would follow!

So why aren’t we all skinny?

In one study, four groups of Danish men ate their normal diet for 6 months plus a liter of sugared soda per day, a liter of diet soda per day, a liter of milk per day or a liter of water per day. No surprise, the sugared soda group gained 22 pounds. The diet soda group gained 3.5 pounds. The milk group stayed the same. The water group lost 4.5 pounds. Now, 3.5 is better than 22 pounds, but they still gained weight even without the calories. And the milk has as many calories as the sugared soda, so why didn’t that group gain weight? It all has to do with insulin – meaning the diet sweetener still caused insulin release, while the lactose and fat in the milk didn’t. Plus the fat was satiating, so people ate less.
Metabolical: The Truth About Processed Food, Robert H. Lustig

Artificial sweeteners trick your metabolism into thinking that sugar is on its way. Your body will start pumping out insulin (the fat STORAGE hormone) and you’ll feel hungrier and crave more starchy and sugary carbs.⁣

⁣Typical sweeteners in diet soda are: aspartame, cyclamates, saccharin, acesulfame-k, or sucralose. With the detection of a foreign artificial chemical in the system (like those), your body also gets confused and will slow metabolism down.⁣
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Slow metabolism AND fat storage sounds like a recipe for disaster, not an aid to weight loss! ⁣
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Here are some other things to think about:⁣
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🥤 There is a 200% increased risk of obesity just from drinking diet sodas.⁣
🥤 Diet sodas increase the risk of diabetes MORE than sugar sweetened sodas.⁣
🥤 For women, one 12 ounce diet soda increased their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 33%. A 20 ounce diet soda bumped that up to 66%.⁣
🥤 Those who drank diet soda, drank twice as much as those drinking sugar sweetened sodas.⁣
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You could switch to sodas that are sweetened with stevia, which don’t have the same effect on the body as those sweeteners I listed above, and they would certainly be a better choice.⁣
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Getting rid of the dependency on that sweet taste would be an even better one. If you can kick the habit for even 11 days, you’ll find that your taste buds have changed, and you’ll likely stop craving it. You may even find it too sweet to drink.⁣
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You can also wean yourself off by adding sparkling or still mineral water to dilute your soda, and then cutting way back. ⁣