If your plan to lose weight is by drinking diet soda, you better think again. Although you may believe that diet soda is your answer to reverse fat gain, you really should know the truth. Diet soda, although the apparent panacea to losing weight, turns out to actually cause you to gain weight!
According to a study done under the direction of Sharon P. Fowler, MPH with the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, the chances of becoming overweight or obese when drinking diet soda are huge. According to this study, there is a 41% increase in risk of being overweight for every can or bottle of diet soft drink a person consumes each day. Here are 3 possible explanation as to why weight gain happens when you drink diet soda :
- Diet Mentality – if drinking diet soda is your secret weight loss plan, you know what I am referring to. It is believed that when people start gaining weight, they switch to diet drinks. Your diet drink is not a diet. If it is, you need to immediately look at what you are eating, not only what you are drinking. Think about the paradox of showing up at the drive-up window, ordering a Big Mac, large order of fries and a DIET COKE.
- Taste Behavior – we have pampered ourselves into the inclination towards sweetness in your food and drink. You might say, “OK so what.” The thing is that when you give taste and no calories to your body, it is very possible that your body is not so easily fooled and will retaliate by craving the calories promised. Some diet soda studies have concluded that diet soda actually stimulates hunger.
- Body Chemistry - from the excellent video below, when you drink diet soda, your body becomes acidic and removes iodine that you body needs to lose weight. Further, according to this additionally excellent article, your thyroid gland needs iodine to aid in metabolism of stored fat (aka belly fat, love handles and chin meat).
What To Do
- Drink Water – although you may dislike drinking water, water is the essential fluid for proper body functioning and in your particular case….to burn body fat. Find out here why you won’t lose weight without sufficient water in your body.
- Drink Herbal Tea – If you hate water, try drinking unsweetened herbal teas.
By choosing not to drink diet soda, you will be giving your body more favorable conditions for losing weight. You will also save a lot of money.For example, if you buy a single 2 liter bottle of Diet Coke per day at $1.95 per bottle, you will $ 711.75 for that habit.
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- Don’t Drink Water and You Will Get Fatter! OK, I won’t bore you and tell you again that...
- Here’s Why You Don’t Want To Skip Breakfast Well-intentioned or not, skipping breakfast actually packs on the pounds....
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May 11th, 2010 on 08:09
Why diet soda will actually make you fatter http://bit.ly/biw70z
Thanks @frankdobner
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May 12th, 2010 on 03:38
Sorry Scott–Not every post can please every person. Hope you come back for more.
This comment was originally posted on Get Fit Slowly
May 12th, 2010 on 08:38
I gave up diet soda about 3 months ago cold turkey and I haven’t looked back. Had to do it for my health, so it was actually surprisingly pretty easy. But I do miss the fizz…
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May 12th, 2010 on 12:14
Boooo. I love me some Diet Coke. Now you’re making me think twice.
fit36.com´s last blog ..Buying a Foam Roller
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May 12th, 2010 on 12:25
I use water to clean mine. Should I stop drinking water?
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May 12th, 2010 on 12:27
I hope you and Frank won’t mind if I share this on my blog – very interesting stuff!
Did you know that cola products are often used to clean toilets that have embedded material issues?
That said, I drink may be three of the 7.5 oz cans of coke zero a week. The rest of the time it’s water, with tea in the AM.
Sayre´s last blog ..Gingerly, Back in the Saddle
This comment was originally posted on Get Fit Slowly
May 12th, 2010 on 20:33
While I won’t argue with you that diet sodas are not healthy I’m not sure I agree with the diet soda leads to iodine deficiency which leads to hypothyroidism which leads to weight gain argument. In theory that may work, but in real life it falls short. All those western foods you mentioned that we all consume with our diet soda also contain an extreme amount of salt, which for the most part has been iodized. Most Americans have an excess of iodine consumption, making iodine deficiency extremely rare. Not too many people walking around with goiters these days. There may be some part of this that I’m not seeing or understanding, but people are routinely screened for hypothyroidism and only a small portion of middle aged obese people have it.
May 12th, 2010 on 21:51
Brent,
Thanks for the comment. My understanding is that there is a distinction between organic and inorganic iodine. Iodized salt in a lot of our food contains inorganic iodine. I do agree with you that hypothyroidism is not very prevalent and is not a leading issue in weight gain with diet soda. I have actually an issue with a test that is circulating on the web called the “iodine patch test” that is purported to be accurate. I questioned one of these doctors that had this on their website and found out that she is not a doctor at all but in fact a veterinarian.
I appreciate the comment.
Frank
May 13th, 2010 on 13:57
This is one of those things that I struggle with. I know I need to cut them out entirely, and while I’ve cut WAY back, they aren’t 100% gone. I’m down to about a 2-liter a week, which is better than I’ve done in the past.
I’ve heard that some pig farmers feed their pigs saccharine to help fatten them up. That visual image alone should be enough to help me kick the habit. Well, should be but isn’t.