Project 50 #43 Refreshing

Twice in my life I’ve have quit drinking Diet Pepsi. Both times I quit cold turkey, just stopped entirely from one day to the next. In fact, the last time I quit was 3 or 4 years ago and I have not gone back diet sodas since then.

Creative Commons License photo credit: jacreative

Why I Quit Drinking Diet Sodas

My reason for quitting is simple.  I came to believe that the chemicals composition of diet drinks was bad for my health.  I was having lunch with an old friend. I order lunch and a Diet Pepsi and she starting telling me about all the reports on aspartame side effects.  I gave up the drink I had ordered and went home and did some research on the topic.

She was right.  The overall consensus is that artificial sweeteners not only have no nutritional values, contain toxic chemicals (that means poisons folks) but they also play tricks on our body and may lead to weight gain instead of loss.  One study reports:

The present review updates the previous EEA opinions in the light of new reports on the consumption of aspartame in relation to the onset of brain tumours and seizures, headaches, allergies, and changes in behaviour and cognitive function

1. What is aspartame?

The thing that caught my attention was the reference to changes in cognitive function.  I think the thing I fear most about growing old is the possibility of  my mind failing before my body.  I have already experienced this to some degree.  As I entered my sixth decade I have found that I lose track of projects I have started.  I have to take more notes and I still forget where I put those notes.  The idea that my diet drinks may be adding to this aging process was enough to bring me to full stop.

Drinking Diet Soft Drinks Can Lead to Weight Gain

The second reason I was convinced to quit drinking artificially sweetened soft drinks was that they are said to lead people to crave sweets, eat more and therefore gain weight instead of losing weight.  Most folks drink diet drinks because they believe that by replacing their regular soft drink which contains about 200 calories with a zero calorie drink with will cut the total calorie intake and therefore lose weight.

Studies however show that drinking diet soda, makes the body crave more calories so we usually eating more and gaining weight instead.  One study completed by Sharon P. Fowler, MPH reported

For each can of diet soft drink consumed each day, a person’s risk of obesity went up 41%.

So why would anyone want to drink diet sodas then?

How to quit drinking diet soft drinks?

The best way to quit is to switch to the one calorie free drink that has not been shown to have adverse side affects: water.  Our bodies need water, lots of water, about a gallon a day.  Drinking sodas (with or without sugar or sweeteners) doesn’t provide us with the water our body needs I am told because they often act as a diuretic and dehydrate instead of hydrate our body.

Now I am not a great fan of drinking plain water but I also have an advertion to paying soda prices for a bottle of “flavored” water.  Besides who know what side affects they will discover those flavoring have.  So what I do to trick myself into getting enough water is to add an ounce or two of my favorite fruit juice to my water bottle.  This adds just enough sweetness to make it palatable but not enough to heap on the calories.  By using my eco-friendly and washable water bottle I also cut down on my landfill contribution so I am being kind to both my body and the environment.

On the occasion when I just have to have a Pepsi (there is no other soda in my book), I have the real thing, not diet.

If you haven’t figured it out for yourself yet, WATER is the best sugar free drink.  My version isn’t completely sugar free because I add a couple of ounzes of fruit juice but these contain natural fructose, no artificial sweeteners. Try it for yourself and let me know how it works for you?

Related Blogs

Tagged with: • • • •

Filed under: Healthy Eating

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!