Comments on: Can Diet Coke Make You Fat?

By: Emily

Emily — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:56:00 +0000

I am definitely not a fan of diet soda, for many reasons. Research studies pointing to dangerous side effects of aspartame are one.

I was tipped on to some serious issues with diet soda came from an awesome book by Jillian Micheals, Master Your Metabolism. Diet soda tricks our bodies (like so many other chemical-laden “foods” our there). Here’s what I mean. Our bodies are rigged to react a certain way when we consume (and consequently taste) sugar – our bodies kick into action at the cellular level and the sugar converts to glucose, etc. Our taste buds link with this process, so when we taste “sweet” diet soda, our bodies gear up for those sugary calories. But here’s the thing…no calories come, and our bodies are confused. Sweet doesn’t equate with calories anymore.

So, what happens when a diet coke addict breaks down and eats 3 fudge brownies? Sweet goes in, but the body doesn’t react the way it’s supposed to because it doesn’t think we’ve consumed any calories. We literally trick our bodies, which you can image leads to all kinds of whacked out consequences.

Enough said. Read Jillian’s book.

By: Erica

Erica — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:34:00 +0000

Dakao – I have been looking for an option to get more water into my system, without having to resort to plain water all the time. Right now I’m drinking diet drinks, but I feel horrible about all the artificial sweetners I take in everyday. I never thought about adding a little fruit juice to my water to give it some flavor. How simple a suggestion, but an amazing one. Thank you for posting!!

By: Zachary Aletheia

Zachary Aletheia — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 20:32:00 +0000

Further i see nothing necessarily wrong with a synthetic chemical.

By: Zachary Aletheia

Zachary Aletheia — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 20:30:00 +0000

Because you like the taste of it and all evidence points it it not being harmful (and its strong evidence).

By: Guest

Guest — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 06:01:00 +0000

Just my two cents, in my experience the further i stay away from overly processed anything the healthier I have been. As a psychologist I can tell you it is possible to almost get addicted to anything and that anything you are addicted to regardless of how harmless it seem is a bad idea.(Drinking even too much water can be bad for you) Not to sound too cliche but balance is key,do you really need it and how much do you really need?Addiction messes with our common sense in those situations. Also the link between chemicals like Aspartame and cancer is very fuzzy so here is my advice for what its worth. Water will always be better than processed products such as fizzy drinks. Maybe diet coke is the lesser of two evils and maybe aspartame does or does not cause cancer. Is it really worth it to find out?We definitely know its not good for you?Why waste your time drinking either until someone can prove that it really is bad for you as opposed to only being just not particularly good for you.The only reason i could think of drinking diet coke would be in a process to wean myself entirely off these products all together.

By: Lance

Lance — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:59:00 +0000

As a medical student few things drive me up the wall like “It’s full of chemicals, therefore it’s bad for you”. Everything is made of chemicals, our body circulates innumerable chemicals every day and without synthetic chemicals society would be utterly screwed. I’m not going to say Diet Coke is good for you in any way, I recognise it’s the lesser of two evils, but I did lose about 10kg just from switching my Coke addiction for a Diet Coke addiction.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 23:53:00 +0000

It has no calories because it is not food.

By: RDOwens

RDOwens — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 13:49:00 +0000

I’m reading the Paleo Solution. Discussing Cortisol Wolf wrote:
“Cortisol raises blood sugar levels, which can cause fat gain. Although many people don’t know this, cortisol release from stress and a lack of sleep factors prominently in body fat gain, leading to that pesky spare tire around the midsection.”

“The following increase cortisol levels: . . . caffeine . . .”

This is one of my issues. I used to drink Coke. I switched to Diet Coke thinking I was saving myself. But I didn’t; I am addicted to caffeine. I know it; I need to address it.

By: Maaike Quinn

Maaike Quinn — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 21:48:00 +0000

I lost quite a lot of weight about five years ago while drinking lots and lots of diet coke. I’m not saying it’s healthy, but it’s definitely possible to lose weight while drinking diet coke. However, I hardly drink it these days. I don’t doubt the FDA that much, but water just feels better. Better safe than sorry indeed!

By: Maaike Quinn

Maaike Quinn — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 21:48:00 +0000