Anyone experience major benefits from quitting diet soda

[viking22]

My lifestyle is relatively healthy. But I cannot seem to quit my diet soda addiction and have been averaging about a few cans a day for about a decade now.

Scientific studies are fairly inconclusive. Even WHO only classes it as a possible carcinogen. Some animal studies have suggested it can disrupt the gut microbiome. There are a lot of anecdotal reports of every symptom under the sun. And the scaremongers have a quite persuasive history of shoddy early studies, political gamesmanship that got it approved and then industry funded studies that demonstrated safety while independent studies tended to raise doubts.
And there is the suggestion that the free amino acids are neurotoxic while the methanol can accumulate and cause cellular damage and poisoning.
Not to mention there is something uncomfortable about being so addicted to something.

Any success stories of quitting and seeing major benefits?

 

[Gamisch]

I don't drink ANY form of "trad" soda. No cola seven-up or anything similar. Not too long ago I went through some hardship , stopped working out and ate badly including drinking soda...gained 5 kilo ( 10 ish pounds) in 4 weeks..

Drinks are a difficult beast to tame. Juice isn't necessarily as great as we think. Tea and coffee with sugar is also bad.

Syrup is what I mostly drink(in Europe we have syrup you can add water to) but it's not ideal. Coffee and tea with honey.

Best is the extremely boring water only route tho
..if it contains sugar your fecked, if it contains sugar AND bubbles you're double fecked.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

I drink water mainly, sometimes with some no calorie flavorings added.

 

[Bible_Belt]

There are a lot of anecdotal reports from people with various medical conditions who say that artificial sweeteners make their symptoms worse.

 

[Scaramouche]

Hi Gamisch,
When you are pushing your trolley in the Super Market,take a squizz at the Folk with Coke in their trolley...They are invariably Fat...I have an abundance of Lemons and Limes from my trees,aware of the need to hydrate myself in hot weather I squeeze a little into the glass,makes it more interesting...If you drink a lot of water don't forget to increase your salt intake.

 

[BeExcellent]

Aspartame is a derivative of a fixative used for enbalming. That alone should put you off. Studies on rodents in the 70s found it was highly carcinogenic (around 50% of the animals and from brain cancers.) It was shelved until saccaharine became implicated as carcinogenic in the early 80s. Then the FDA allowed it to be essentially approved with industry studies (with lots of confirmation bias). Very dirty process getting that as an industry substitute for sacchrine.

The only non toxic sugar alternative is stevia leaf but it is expensive & many don't like the taste.

My first husband's uncle was height/weight proportionate but drank 10-12 Diet Cokes with aspartame daily for years. Guess what killed him: Inoperable brain cancer. Anecdotal, yes. But I never let my children touch aspartame sweetened products (and I work in medical research) and I never buy them sodas at all. The food supply in Europe is much safer than in US because EU countries take additives and chemicals much more seriously than FDA who is heavily lobbied by big food conglomerates. Its quite scary. I'm a laisse fair capitalist and find it alarming.

 

[Borknagar]

My lifestyle is relatively healthy. But I cannot seem to quit my diet soda addiction and have been averaging about a few cans a day for about a decade now.

Scientific studies are fairly inconclusive. Even WHO only classes it as a possible carcinogen. Some animal studies have suggested it can disrupt the gut microbiome. There are a lot of anecdotal reports of every symptom under the sun. And the scaremongers have a quite persuasive history of shoddy early studies, political gamesmanship that got it approved and then industry funded studies that demonstrated safety while independent studies tended to raise doubts.
And there is the suggestion that the free amino acids are neurotoxic while the methanol can accumulate and cause cellular damage and poisoning.
Not to mention there is something uncomfortable about being so addicted to something.

Any success stories of quitting and seeing major benefits?

I used to drink a couple at least every day. Now maybe one a week. I don't see a difference at all.

 

[DROPTOP_GTA]

Carbonated sugary drinks lead to weight gain. Diet drinks are most likely toxic. The stevia based drinks are rather new. Some research indicates they cause metabolic disorders similar to diabetes. I don't understand how something so sweet tasting like Cove or Zevia could not induce a insulin\blood sugar response. (possibly from a psychotropic reaction...brain senses sweet, body responds to a "sugar" stimuli).

Coffee and water FTW in minimizing waistline.

 

[FlexpertHamilton]

I never drink soda, but I do drink my fair share of Celsius energy drinks, which don't have artificial colors, but do have artificial sweeteners. I know some artificial sweeteners are fine and others not so much, and I do suspect they are unfairly demonized on the whole, though by no means am I implying they're perfectly okay.

Are you drinking them for the caffeine or the flavor? If it's the former just stick with coffee or tea... if it's the later, just switch to something else. I opt to drink kombucha or carrot+turmeric juice (at least the ones I can find that are low in sugar) sometimes if I want to sip on something besides water.