If you’re over the age of five, then you have heard the same old and consistent bad rep that accompanies soda. Yes soda is bad for you, understandable, but soda with no sugar and no calories has to be a good thing, right? Welp my beef today is, in my opinion, the greatest lie approved by the FDA for labeling of soda products. That sham that irks me to the core is the labeling of calorie free soda as “Diet” soda.
They've been duped into thinking that they can reduce their calorie intake and weight by drinking "diet" products. It's not their fault that because they have been misinformed.
Unfortunately when individuals decide that they want to lose weight, they tend to start by going the “diet” route. Not knowing that diet products may be more harmful to the body in the long run due to the sweetener substitutes and their chemicals (i.e. Aspartame).
The Brutal Truth
If you drink diet soda in order to reduce calories, then you have been scammed by the half-truths of the soda industry. You have been fooled into believing that just because something has no calories, that it cannot hurt you or make you gain weight.But artificial sweeteners trigger insulin which causes your body to go into fat storage mode and actually lead to weight gain if proper exercise and clean diet is not accompanied.
Diet soda will not help you lose weight. Get it through your thick skulls people. You’re inevitably doing more harm than good.
The Research
Over the course of a decade, researchers over at the University of Texas conducted a study on diet soda. In their findings, diet soda drinkers had a 70% greater increase in waist circumference than that of non-drinkers. Participants who drank two or more sodas a day experienced a whopping 500% greater increase in waist circumference.Another study from the University of Minnesota found that drinking diet soda increased risk of metabolic syndromes and diabetes by 36%.
Metabolic syndromes include high blood pressure, increased cholesterol levels, large waist circumference, and high blood sugar levels. Making diet soda drinkers have a higher risk of diabetes, heart disease, and strokes.
There has even been a study done on diabetic prone rats that were fed a high fat diet with aspartame. These rats showed higher blood glucose levels then their counterparts. And excessive amounts of glucose in the blood stream that eventually route to the liver and converted into excess body fat.
That’s right, EXCESS BODY FAT.
Even with these studies, people still continue to drink diet soda all while the studies out there are literally screaming at individuals to stop soda and diet soda consumption.
Don’t Feed Into The Label Lies
Diet soda (and all soda in my opinion) provide zero nutritional benefit. I would even go as far as to say that diet soda provide negative nutritional benefit since it is accompanied with so many negative side effects.
Side effects of sweeteners found in diet sodas:
- Aspartame There is circumstantial evidence that suggests that this artificial sweetener may trigger headaches in some people.
- Increase in blood sugar levels.
- Increase in waist circumference.
- Increase in body fat.
- Increase in risk of type 2 diabetes Drinking one diet soda a day was associated with a 36% increased risk of metabolic syndromed and diabetes in a University of Minnesota study.
- Increase risk of Stroke, heart attack, or vascular death One diet soda a day could increase your risk according to researchers from the Columbia University and the University of Miami. Their study found that diet soda devotees were 43% more likely to have experienced a vascular event than those who drank none. Oddly enough regular soda drinkers did not appear to have an increased risk of vascular events.
Soda taste good. Don’t get me wrong. But you can live without it.
Replace it with juices, or if you’re going for no calories, then your best friend and favorite drink has now become agua (Water). If you like a little bubbly, then get some sparkling water.
And to be fair, I personally say that you should not drink any soda of any kind ever unless you’re willing to burn that fat off in the weight room. But if it’s too big of a change then just limit it to a 1 or 2 cans/cups a week until you ween yourself off. Once again, happy lifting! #theFittest.
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