boshemia Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 Yeah... it's terrible but I did too... I said I quit drinking diet. Still haven't quit the stuff totally. Damn Code Red is like liquid crack... so I am only part hypocrite right?
josie54 Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 I've also heard that soda (diet and regular) is unhealthy not only because of what's in it, but also because it displaces other more healthy drinks, such as milk, fruit juices, or even things like red wine (in moderation). When you're drinking sodas, you're not taking in other important nutrients. As people have said above, all that carbonation can't be good on the throat and stomach over time. I gave up soda about 15 years ago (to lose weight--never could stand the taste of diet), and it was pretty easy, only because I only drank one or two a day. But even for those truly addicted, I think weaning off a bit would be a good thing!
Author allina Posted May 1, 2007 Author Posted May 1, 2007 i don't see anything wrong with diet soda. but you could save a lot of $$ by drinking more water. regular soda, thats another matter The large doses of the artificial sweetener is my main concern, as it isnt something that comes from regular, intended for human consumption food. I actually drink a lot of water, coffee and tea as well. I'm always drinking something I was a heavy diet soda drinker for years... about a six pack a day until I got sick. Everyone I knew was sending me articles on the dangers of aspartame poisoning... I didn't listen, because Snopes debunked it, and several other sites have done the same... No, I will admit that excessive stress played a role in my illness, but I've talked to quite a few other people with my symptoms on forums, and while we are all in diagnosis limbo... diet soda, and diet foods were a major part of our diets. The chronic fatigue and random joint pain had been present for a few years. They tested me for juvenile arthritis, thyroid, diabetes, everything you could imagine... nothing could be found. One day I went to work in the family store and by noon I couldn't walk without holding on to something. It felt like someone had just drained the energy out of my legs. It was hard for me to stand up without help, and I had to walk with a cane. Even with the cane, at my worst I could barely manage a shuffle. The mental symptoms were the most disturbing for me, normally I am a fairly articulate person, I have a decent vocabulary and excellent reading comprehension. Suddenly I couldn't read a menu in a restaurant... I would read it fine, not stumbling over the words, but seconds later I couldn't remember what I had just written. I kept "losing" words, simple words, like shoe, or foot, and I suddenly couldn't remember what I was trying to say or why I was trying to say it. I went to half a dozen doctors, and they seemed to agree it was multiple sclerosis. I was sent for a CAT scan last year, but they found no lesions on my brain. so the Doctor said we were "calling it" Fibromyalgia/Chronic Fatigue for now. They will keep retesting until they can confirm or exclude the diagnosis... and I'm just sort of waiting. The pain got worse, and I was unable to keep any food down for most of the summer. Everything came right back up... I quit drinking diet soda in April of last year... I'm still unable to work, and the pain comes and goes. Most of it is centered in my upper body now... my ribs constantly feel swollen, like I got kicked in the ribs by a mule... However... I haven't had to use a cane to walk since my Aunts wedding in June, the pain is letting up, my joints no longer ache constantly. I can keep food down, and I feel so much better than I did last year. I know they say that Aspartame has been ruled out as the cause of this mystery illness so many people are coming up with these days, but the tests that were done by the FDA were for a period of four months, I spent 10 years drinking diet soda before I got sick, and I've since met many, many people with similar unexplained symptoms and we all have one thing in common... excessive consumption of Aspartame. So I don't know if that will help you quit or not... but hopefully it helps. That's pretty major, I'm sorry to hear about your health? Have doctors confirmed that his illness was cased by the diet soda? Sounds a lot like lupus.
IpAncA Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 I stopped drinking pop all together once I heard about those people who died after drinking pop that was in the sun to long. Guess it turned into Methane or something. I don't drink anything where it's substance can change or makes me lose bone density. No thank you. I wouldn't stop cold turkey but like others said cut back.
sb129 Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 Soda's bad for women. It can lower your bone density. It's also bad for *everyone's* teeth. Not just the sugar in regular soda, but the acidity in both soda and diet sodas. Caffeine is a direutic (spelling--aww crap, it's the word that means "makes you pee") and can dehydrate you. And of course dehydration can lead to headaches and generally feeling of "blahness." Also, the caffeine can actually lead to you feeling more tired in general (after the initial rush). Everything in moderation. Try 2 a day and drink LOTS of water between (6-8 8 oz glasses of water). Also, as far as the teeth use a straw. I hate colas myself. Love gin though. We all have our vices. Good advice. As your resident dentist, I have to agree. The acid in diet drinks is really bad for your teeth. And I also worry about the bone density thing AND aspartame- that is some bad stuff. There is even a conspiracy theory about aspartame. Is a little far fetched, but still. this is going to sounds really geeky, but I try to limit how much artificial stuff I put into myself. I LOVE Coke (not diet) but it really is so bad for you, and has no nutritional value at all. Ho hum, I will probably get hit by a bus tomorrow...
alphamale Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 The large doses of the artificial sweetener is my main concern, as it isnt something that comes from regular, intended for human consumption food. If there were any major problems with artificial sweetners we would have discovered them by now and all the soft drink companies would have been paying out trillions in lawsuits. Everything in moderation ALLINA....if you're so concerned then reduce you diet soda consumption by 25%
Art_Critic Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 If there were any major problems with artificial sweetners we would have discovered them by now and all the soft drink companies would have been paying out trillions in lawsuits. Everything in moderation ALLINA....if you're so concerned then reduce you diet soda consumption by 25% Saccharin causes cancer and other health issues.. that is why there are warning labels on the products that contain them.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccharin
dropdeadlegs Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 Ho hum, I will probably get hit by a bus tomorrow... Guess I'm gonna live forever!
Author allina Posted May 1, 2007 Author Posted May 1, 2007 Saccharin causes cancer and other health issues.. that is why there are warning labels on the products that contain them.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccharin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola_Zero These are ingredients of Coke Zero in the chart, so it doesn't contain Saccharin?
alphamale Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 Saccharin causes cancer and other health issues.. that is why there are warning labels on the products that contain them.. Sacchairn was the 1st generation of sweetners developed long ago. You'd have to drink 10 gallons of saccharin-laced soda per day for decades before any tumors would start to grow. Jesus christ man if you drunk 10 gallons of fresh orange juice per day for 30 years you'd probably get cancer also.
Art_Critic Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola_Zero These are ingredients of Coke Zero in the chart, so it doesn't contain Saccharin? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame_controversy
hotgurl Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 I can't have any artifical sweetners esp aspartame because it causes me to get migraines. My neurologist said just stay away from the stuuf. He feels it should all be banned. Plus what people really need to do is cut down on thier sugary food nt eat as much sugar but just make it fake sugar. I stopped drinking soda about 3 years ago. I'll have a coke now and than but mostly I drink water, coffee & wine with dinner.
alphamale Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame_controversy well ART if I was going to recommend regular soda which has 130 calories per 8oz serving versus diet soda which has 0 calories then I would recommend the latter. People are already too obese and regular soda is part of it. I think that regular soda still outsells diet by 2 to 1 (?)
Art_Critic Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 well ART if I was going to recommend regular soda which has 130 calories per 8oz serving versus diet soda which has 0 calories then I would recommend the latter. People are already too obese and regular soda is part of it. I think that regular soda still outsells diet by 2 to 1 (?) Aspartame has some weight loss characteristics and does help with obesity.. But so does cutting out all soft drinks.. Saccharin was the wonder drug when it came out and we found out later it has horrible side effects..including cancer.. Aspartame is so new that enough isn't known and from what I've read about it it is something for me to stay away from.. I can see a parallel between Aspartame and Saccharin and all you have to do is goggle and you can find out enough bad about it..
alphamale Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 Aspartame has some weight loss characteristics and does help with obesity.. But so does cutting out all soft drinks.... I drink water most of the time. I always have a pitcher of ice cold H20 in the fridge. Sometimes i'll drink diet sunkist or diet coke or ice tea. I like to stay well-hydrated. What i need to cut out is all the taco hell and mcdonalds krap.
Art_Critic Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 I drink water most of the time. I always have a pitcher of ice cold H20 in the fridge. Sometimes i'll drink diet sunkist or diet coke or ice tea. I like to stay well-hydrated. What i need to cut out is all the taco hell and mcdonalds krap. hahaha.. Taco hell...( I had Mcdonalds for lunch today ) I happen to drink a lot of water myself.. 4-5 bottles a day.. at least I try to..
boshemia Posted May 2, 2007 Posted May 2, 2007 The large doses of the artificial sweetener is my main concern, as it isnt something that comes from regular, intended for human consumption food. I actually drink a lot of water, coffee and tea as well. I'm always drinking something That's pretty major, I'm sorry to hear about your health? Have doctors confirmed that his illness was cased by the diet soda? Sounds a lot like lupus. They can't confirm anything, tests, tests, and more tests... The only thing they did link to my diet soda consumption was a high level of nitrates in my blood a few years before I got sick. They called me into the office after an STD test... NICE! I was like wha? The nurse said the only thing they were concerned about was the nitrate level... and then she saw the Diet Dr. Pepper in my hand. She pointed to Aspartame on the ingredients ans said "That'll do it" Only problem is, they never told me why the nitrates were a concern. *frowns* I'm still not sure I know. I am getting better off the diet soda, I still have constant tremors, and some weakness in my muscles. I can't stand for longer than a few minutes without getting full tremors in my legs. I don't think it was ALL the soda, my diet sucked, and I was under a huge amount of stress... but out of all of the changes I've made Diet Soda seemed to make the biggest difference.
josie54 Posted May 2, 2007 Posted May 2, 2007 When Splenda came out, I thought it was the greatest thing. Tastes like sugar, and no calories! I drank drinks with Splenda, put it in my oatmeal, etc. It tasted so good. Then one day after a particularly heavy Splenda binge (I think I used five or six packets of the stuff in a day, a lot even for me), I woke up in the morning and tried to get out of bed. I say "tried" because the whole room was spinning and I fell to the floor. I thought I'd simply gotten up too fast, so I waited about a minute and then tried to get up again. Fell to the floor. I actually had to scoot down the stairs on my bottom (I couldn't stand up because I was still so dizzy), so I could grab a piece of bread or something and just try to stabilize. It took a good 30 minutes of lying on the couch for things to stop spinning. However, that time I didn't make the connection to the Splenda. I thought it was just some really strange, temporary sickness. However, the NEXT time I had a day when I used a bunch of the stuff (more than three packets), the exact same thing happened the next morning. Then I made the connection between the two incidents, and I haven't touched the stuff since. And because of "guilt by association" I try not to use artificial sweeteners at all. If I want something sweet, I just stick to sugar. Ideally, I just go without. As far as I'm concerned, there's a lot we don't know about artificial sweeteners and other similar chemicals. I learned enough from my experience with Splenda to cut sweeteners out of my diet. That scared the heck out of me.
ShoeGirl Posted May 3, 2007 Posted May 3, 2007 I work with a professor who studies organic and biological chemistry, so I have done a bit of research on this topic, and I am sure that I know too much for my own good I have heard from a dietician that the phosphoric acid in colas, whether containing sugar or not, is what is bad for you. that may account for the bone density loss that has been spoken of. phosphoric acid likes to bond to calcium, so if you drink sodas that contain it the calcium that is in your diet will bind to the phosphoric acid and not be absorbed into your system, it will just pass through your digestive system as if it wasn't there to begin with, this only happens to the point where it becomes a problem if you drink several sodas per day. One of the main things that scientists are worried about with artificial sweeteners (saccharin, aspartame, etc.), according to the majority of the studies that I have read, is that they contain benzene rings, benzene is hard to break apart under any conditions, but especially in the human body. Natural sugars (sucrose, glucose, fructose, etc) don't have a benzene ring and are easy for your body to break down. What they haven't figure out for sure is what your body does with the benzene rings that it can't break down. Some studies have linked heavy consumption in rats to cancer, but the amounts that have caused cancer are nearly impossible to achieve in humans unless you use artificial sweeteners on everything all day long. One major concern right now is that there may be serious long term effects from using these sweeteners regularly, but they haven't been around long enough to tell for sure.
Pyro Posted May 3, 2007 Posted May 3, 2007 I work with a professor who studies organic and biological chemistry, so I have done a bit of research on this topic, and I am sure that I know too much for my own good phosphoric acid likes to bond to calcium, so if you drink sodas that contain it the calcium that is in your diet will bind to the phosphoric acid and not be absorbed into your system, it will just pass through your digestive system as if it wasn't there to begin with, this only happens to the point where it becomes a problem if you drink several sodas per day. One of the main things that scientists are worried about with artificial sweeteners (saccharin, aspartame, etc.), according to the majority of the studies that I have read, is that they contain benzene rings, benzene is hard to break apart under any conditions, but especially in the human body. Natural sugars (sucrose, glucose, fructose, etc) don't have a benzene ring and are easy for your body to break down. What they haven't figure out for sure is what your body does with the benzene rings that it can't break down. Some studies have linked heavy consumption in rats to cancer, but the amounts that have caused cancer are nearly impossible to achieve in humans unless you use artificial sweeteners on everything all day long. One major concern right now is that there may be serious long term effects from using these sweeteners regularly, but they haven't been around long enough to tell for sure. Thanks professor.
dropdeadlegs Posted May 3, 2007 Posted May 3, 2007 I thank you, too, Shoegirl. I have some calcium problems already due to lactose intolerance. It's good to know that taking supplements while drinking sodas with phosphoric acid could negate the benefit of the supplements. I had never been told that, but it's pretty clear now.
Author allina Posted May 3, 2007 Author Posted May 3, 2007 I caved! Last night me, bf and a few of his friends were coming home from a show really late at night. After a night of pretty heavy rocking out we were all starving and tired. Decided to go to Taco Hell, I got one of those octagonal things and a huge diet coke, oh my it was so cold, refreshing and delicious. Though I'm going to make it a point to not drink 5 a day I'm so off the wagon
PWSX3 Posted May 3, 2007 Posted May 3, 2007 Decided to go to Taco Hell, I got one of those octagonal things and a huge diet coke, oh my it was so cold, refreshing and delicious. They have water at Toxic Hell and its also cold, refreshing & delicious, its all in how you look at it....;)
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