Diet Drinks Are NOT Your Dieting Friend

A lot of people think that diet soda is a healthy choice, but unfortunately, that’s just not true. Studies show that diet soda does not help with weight loss; instead, the intense sweetness of artificial sweeteners actually triggers the body’s craving for sugar and fools the brain into thinking you are about to eat something sweet. This can actually promote weight gain!

According to Dr. Mark Hyman, drinking diet soda with artificial sweeteners causes your body to produce insulin (the fat storage hormone), which increases your belly fat. He cites a study, saying, “The rats that consumed artificial sweeteners ate more, their metabolism slowed, and they put on 14 percent more body fat in just two weeks (even while eating fewer calories).”*

And that’s not all. Long-term studies have shown that diet sodas can cause migraines, stomach distress and dizziness; contribute to obesity and type 2 diabetes; and weaken bones and deplete calcium, among other side effects. Also alarming, artificial sweeteners make diet soda addictive.

And if all that doesn’t persuade you to give up diet soda, check out this testimonial from my clients – previous diet soda addicts:

“I used to have a Diet Coke every morning on my way to work. And almost every day I would have some sort of stomach distress – I thought I had Irritable Bowel Syndrome. But one summer, after I had a glass of Diet Coke and immediately got sick, my health coach pointed out the correlation to me. I quit that day – three years ago this summer – and my stomach symptoms improved probably 90 percent that same week! I can’t even believe I used to drink it!” — Lucy R.

Although I considered myself fit (triathlete) and healthy (vegetarian), I was suffering with a number of ailments: I had been doctor-diagnosed with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), and on more than one occasion landed in an ER with debilitating stomach pains. I also had allergies, migraines and had difficulty falling and staying asleep. During our initial session, my health coach was able to quickly focus in on the sources of my issues. One of the sources was the amount of Diet Coke I drank – which was basically three or four a day! Arlene helped me wean off of diet drinks, replacing them with lots of water and a morning cup of green tea, and after about three weeks I was FREE! We made several other changes but I know giving up Diet Coke has helped me eliminate a lot of symptoms. I am thrilled to report that my stomach pains, migraines and allergies are all gone, and without medication! And I now fall asleep on time and sleep solidly through the night. – Mike D.

* Source: www.drhyman.com and www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov: A role for sweet taste: calorie predictive relations in energy regulation by rats.

* Source: Dr. Furhman, citing Carbonated soft drink consumption and bone mineral density in adolescence: the Northern Ireland Young Hearts project; and Colas … are associated with low bone mineral density in older women: The Framingham Osteoporosis Study; and Diet Soft Drinks Deplete Urinary Calcium, MedPage Today.