I gave up diet soda for a week

a reply to: ChiefD



In just a few days your health has improved; for me and I suspect for you...feeling better is a great motivator to continue drinking water instead of soda.

originally posted by: ChiefD
a reply to: ketsuko

I just bought a real nice spice rack. I'm starting to collect recipes. My hubby cannot have salt, so substituting spices is good for that.

I can hardly wait to cook with them. I hear so many good things.

Look up the book "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon, et al.

Kombucha, home made (easy), is a wonderful, probiotic filled, beverage.

originally posted by: ChiefD
In looking for small ways to improve my health, I decided to do an experiment. I love my diet Pepsi, have been drinking it since I don't know when. It has aspartame, which more and more studies show is one of the worst things you can put in your body. Studies have linked it to migraines and many other bad things.

I also increased my water intake. I now drink 10-12 glasses of water a day. Where I work, I'm in a water club. I have to go up a flight of stairs to get my water. So on a typical day, I make 10-12 trips up and down the stairs.

I wanted to see if I felt any positive things from drinking only water. It's only been a week, but I feel like I have more energy. Also, my arthritis pain has gone down quite a bit. One of the most dramatic differences is in my complexion. I used to have dark circles under my eyes. Those are gone, and my complexion looks noticeably better.

I was concerned I would have withdrawl symptoms from going off aspartame cold turkey. I haven't had any problems so far. I haven't changed anything else, just drinking only water. I hope this will keep migraines away. I have had chronic migraines since I was 10 years old, and the most recent one lasted for four days.

Have any of you had similar experiences? I think aspartame is awful and should be banned.

I gave up all soda...well severely limited it...for the last 2 years I have limited myself to 1 soda per year. I do not willingly or knowingly eat preservatives and I have lowered my sugar intake as well.

What are my results? I feel better. I don't get as sick as often as I did before. I seem to have more energy. I still need to work on the sleep thing, as I typically average 4-6 hours nightly only. I'd love to find the time to squeeze in an extra 2 hours but life is hectic, work is early and I'm a night owl.

In drinking larger quantities of water I've noticed that it takes less food for me to feel "full." And I feel that it's a by-product of just living a bit more cleanly.

Don't know if this helps you or adds to the conversation at all...but yes I feel generally better overall.

If it tastes good don't eat or drink it. The only thing good for you now is dirt. One day they tell you something is good for you, 10 years later they tell you it's bad for you.

originally posted by: kaylaluv
a reply to: rickymouse

Rickymouse, have you done any research on erythritol? It's made through a fermentation process. It's a sugar alcohol, like sorbitol or malitol, but it seems to not cause nearly as much digestive problems as those two sugar alcohols can. Supposedly it passes through your body without affecting anything. I've been using a little of it in my tea, and in some baking, and it tastes pretty good to me (no bitter aftertaste or anything). It tastes pretty much like sugar to me.

authoritynutrition.com...

Regarding soft drinks - I never drink them. Only tea and water, with an occasional beer or glass of wine at dinner.

I just looked it up. I haven't got anything to say either way on this one, I only read two articles. I don't consume a lot of sugar anyway, I probably only eat about twenty pounds a year from all sources.

I might drink a six pack of soda a year. One teaspoon of sugar in my coffee is about fifteen to twenty calories. We need energy to live, a little bit of sugar won't hurt anyone unless they get themselves messed up somehow. I don't care what they put in Sodas, I think they all taste terrible most times. Being that I am hypoglycemic, I need to eat more proteins and avoid high sugar or I create too much insulin and then crash about an hour to hour and a half later. I don't miss eating cake or ice cream.

Sugar is not a demon. We just over consume it. Some people go out of their way to keep eating sweet tasting stuff. Now if you take a zinc supplement once a week, you might taste things better and not desire as much sugar.

a reply to: rickymouse

I do take vitamin and mineral supplements. And I do use pink Himalayan salt, which has trace minerals in it. I use a little salt when cooking. I just have to be careful since I'm on meds for high blood pressure.

I'm not a health nut, and I don't believe in fads. I'm settling in to drinking 8-10 glasses throughout the day. I think it will help my A1C levels too, which have sometimes been on the high side, when I was drinking a lot of diet soda. Sometimes when I think I'm hungry, I drink water and find out I was just thirsty.

I know I need to be careful - too much of a good thing. I'm just trying to balance out what I eat and drink. Now to work on cutting some carbs, which is nasty because I love pasta and potatoes, and will not give them up. I'd give up meat before I gave up my carbs, LOL. I have switched to whole wheat noodles with flaxseed, and they are delicious.

a reply to: skunkape23

Congrats and best of luck to you. Keep up the good work.

a reply to: FyreByrd

Thanks for the info. I'll look that up. I love trying different kinds of tea.

originally posted by: WeRpeons
If it tastes good don't eat or drink it. The only thing good for you now is dirt.

One day they tell you something is good for you, 10 years later they tell you it's bad for you.

So true. I remember back when they said don't drink coffee, it's so bad for you. Now they are saying, go ahead and drink 5-6 cups of coffee a day. Eggs used to be bad, now they're good, in a few years, they'll be bad again. Ugh.

We're all gonna die anyway. I just want the quality of my life as I age to stay good.

Here in the states, Diet Coke has a new product called Diet Coke Life or something like that.

It's sweetened with a combination of stevia and natural sugar, 35% less calories. It comes either in small bottles or green cans. Has anyone tried that? I'm curious, but don't want to buy a whole six pack and hate it. Naw, I'd just make my hubby drink it, LOL!

a reply to: ChiefD
Way to go! Keep on!
Aspartame = toxic

Symptoms?
- after a meal always use to chew gum, then would get strange cramps soon after
- took years to figure out it was the aspartame in the gum making my stomach cramp up
- used to chew sugarless gum... now try finding any gum without aspartame

- have found some in a Greek store, and apparently the gum called Thrills doesn't contain aspartame
- chewing any gum without aspartame, no cramps

Anyone else discover this?

a reply to: ChiefD

lay off the artificial sweeteners they are bad...if you can get a hold of Rapadura sugar you will be way better off,here in Australia there is a company called santos who sell it i am not sure where u find it where u are.....

Country of Origin: Brazil Rapadura sugar is the dried natural juice of the sugar cane. It is not separated from its molasses content and thus retains many vitamins and minerals. It is naturally processed and free of chemicals.

santostrading.com.au...

a reply to: rickymouse

Great Thread !
I haven't had diet soda for over 20 years !
No restless leg syndrome , no general feeling like crap , no dehydration , no stomach problems ,
no headaches.
About the water consumption , my Uncle drank so much water that he flushed all of his testosterone from his system and completely lost his sex drive.
There are so many bad things out there , so many other countries ban things that the U.S. does not. We're a money driven society and they just don't care.
Keep up the good work !

Yuck, aspartame. Diet sodas = liquid insta-migraines for me. Saccharin is just as bad an offender at triggering horrible migraines for me, I do my damnedest to avoid things with them in it. I have a weakness for energy drinks, though. Pop a couple of aspirin & tylenol before drinking one seems to ward that off for me (the caffeine in the drink plus the A & T = excedrin) Yeah, I know, my liver probably hates me To my credit, I've been cutting back on that intake anyway, it's a pricy habit.

Like someone from an Adam Sandler movie who can't tie his shoes because the twists are too complicated, I drank and was totally addicted to Pepsi-Cola for probably 35 years, and that's estimating I started at age four (no memory of when I actually started). Madam Pepsi was often left aside for the many faces of sugar-water: Dr. Pepper (ole doc, he sure does rate), Root beer (love real A&W, poured from the real mixings), and other things like Kayo and Hawaiian Punch. Never without them. Water was around I guess, I don't remember it. Then, amongst a few other tuning-the-gadgets events that same year (going vegetarian, etc.) I gave up soda. Gave it up cold-turkey (about the same time I gave up cold-turkey).

Been drinking water and almost nothing else (orange and pineapple juice when the mood hits) ever since. I can testify that I've never regretted giving up soda. Not for a moment. It's not a factor, you just don't think about it. If someone reading this does wants to give up soda, know that there's a good chance you will never regret it. Because, what, being hydrated? With water? Not having to play with that carbonated sugar chemical mix surging through every organ, your blood system, and your best friends - your cells? Instead, put naturally flowing water into all of your organs - literally share it with your cells. There will be a good chance that your body will bask in the effects of hydration from that time forward. It will be much too busy basking in it for the rest of your life to miss anything to do with something as silly as soda.

originally posted by: FyreByrd

originally posted by: ChiefD
a reply to: ketsuko

I just bought a real nice spice rack. I'm starting to collect recipes. My hubby cannot have salt, so substituting spices is good for that.

I can hardly wait to cook with them. I hear so many good things.

Look up the book "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon, et al.

Kombucha, home made (easy), is a wonderful, probiotic filled, beverage.

That's that fermented tea stuff that looks (and kinda smells) like a bottle of bile, isn't it? No thanks, I'll pass. A friend tried getting me to drink some once, I about gagged.

Aspartame is bad mkay.

a reply to: ujustneverknow

No restless leg syndrome

Interesting . While i dont drink diet anything , it is what it tastes like , crap . I do however drink coke , not very often , but then again i dont get restless leg syndrome that often either . I will take one for the team and have a coke tomorrow and see if i get restless leg .

a reply to: LOSTinAMERICA

Very interesting video, informative and alarming. Thanks for posting it.

a reply to: hutch622

coke is bad too man.....you may as well just ingest straight bleached sugar

www.trueactivist.com...