Lot of our subscribers enquire if consuming diet soda will make them fat. After all it is nothing but a bunch of hoopla. We help our clients navigate challenges related to soda & carbonated drinks through our personalised online coaching program. In this blog we are going to discuss everything you need to know about diet soda.
Does diet soda makes you fat? No it doesn’t. Diet soda contains low( or zero) calorie sugar substitutes such as :
- Acesulfame Potassium
- Advantame
- Aspartame
- Monk Fruit Extract
- Neotame
- Saccharin
- Sucralose
- Stevia
These artificial sweeteners are approved by the FDA for human consumption & are used in a lot of products/food items not just drinks. Inclusion of these sweeteners makes your food sweet without including any sugar at all. However, it does not mean that consuming foods containing these high intensity sweeteners will help you in weight loss. So next time you are buying diet soda/diet coke/zero coke, please do check label if it contains any of these artificial sweeteners.
Weight loss depends upon consuming fewer calories than you burn. So we assume consuming diet coke compared to regular coke can help you make weight loss work for you. If you are trying to lose weight & are fond of carbonated drinks & caffeine beverages, most of us assume consuming diet soda is ok. However, this approach is far fetched. Consuming diet soda as a safe option rest on the following points:
- Diet soda increases your craving for sugar
- Your body processes these sweeteners in the same way as it does for sugar.
- Artificial Sweeteners makes you sick.
We are going to discuss all these points in detail!
Most of the studies on sweeteners treat all these eight sweeteners as one. After consuming diet soda, your body reacts in a similar way as it would do when you consume sugar. So it slows down fat burning process. Since most diet sodas have next to zero calories, insulin response of these sweeteners do not play an important role in your weight loss journey.
Next point of discussion is does artificial sweeteners increases craving for sugar? If you consume more of sugary & sweet foods, your urge to consume more of sweet increases. It is often said that if you consume sugar foods during breakfast, you are more likely to eat sugar during lunch. These cravings makes a difficult to give away ice cream & packet of M&M. As such, there is a positive correlation between sweeteners & sugar cravings.
Diet sodas do not contain harmful substances which can lead to cancer or any other disease. However there is a limit to the number of diet sodas you can consume in a day. The number is 18 & that’s a lot of sodas to be consumed in a day. Having said this, Sodas is not the only food/drink which contain high intensity sweeteners. Many other food products utilize these sweeteners to cut back on sugar and calories. So keep an eye on protein bars, yogurts, baked goods for hidden high-intensity sweeteners.
Besides, diet soda also have caffeine which is ok when consumed in moderation. However consuming diet soda in excess can impact your sleep & also lead to anxiety.
Another issue with diet soda is it does not offer any nutrients. It is only sweet water with some odour & coloring. When you drink a cup of tea or coffee, it is beneficial in the sense it offer some sort of antioxidants which assists in reducing inflammation.
Last but not the least, consumption of diet soda can be linked to a number of health issues such as:
- Drinking diet soda is positively correlated to Obesity.
- It has been closely associated with Kidney disease due to its high phosphorus content
- Diet sodas are acidic & it can lead to erosion of tooth enamel.
