0 calories but are they still bad for you?

In my opinion, they are absolutely still bad for us. Don't get me wrong... I still drink them occasionally :)

They are loaded with added sodium, artificial sweetners, and chemicals that are bound to be bad for you in one way or another. And now recent research shows that sodas (diet or regular) can be responsible for leaching calcium from our bones.

I really, really try to drink my water. I used to have a rule that until I'd had 60 oz of water, I couldn't have anything else to drink. That really motivated me to drink my water, especially if I wanted to have an iced tea or soda with lunch or dinner. Fortunately I really like water and don't have to flavor it with anything to make it palatable, so that helps :)

they are worse than regular soda. not only does aspartame have to potential to screw up your brain chemistry, but it actually makes you crave more sugar and are more likely to gain weight.

if you crave sugar, drink regular soda! but it would be best to wean yourself onto healthier beverages, like water and tea.

There has been studies that have showen in a one year period, those that drank diet cola over regular cola ended up gaining an additional 10 lbs. As Cindy said, it makes you crave sugar which you will find in other sources. Best drink water and when you absolutly must drink a real coke. The taste of the real stuff is also so much more pleasing.

I actually saw the opposite study in Time Magazine this week (August 21, 2006 Issue - page 19).

It said that if you drink a can of "sugar-laden soda each day" you'll gain 15 lbs...not exactly good I'd say.

The second half of the study said Americans get 15.8% of their calories from added sugars - of this percentage, half of it comes from non-diet soft drinks.

Bearing these two studies in mind, I would suggest simply drinking water as it's the best for you. However if you are dying to have a soft-drink, I would suggest drinking a diet drink, but bear in mind that you'll also be consuming a lot of synthetic chemicals.

If you are tired of drinking water - why not drink iced tea, but without the added sugars. Might not taste good at first without all those added sugars, but you'll learn to love it.

I don't know- I've tried to cut soda out of my diet entirely but this was my philosophy before I quit drinking soda:

A bottle of soda (20oz) contains about 200 calories. 3500 calories is a pound of fat. So, roughly 18 bottles of soda is 1lb on your waist.. This isn't so bad because atleast you KNOW what you are drinking that does this to you.. High fructose corn syrup. It's not good for you but it doesn't have unknown side effects like artificial sweeteners. Is it easier to burn off that one pound of fat from 18 bottles of coke or to deal with unknown side effects like cancer, enlarged fat cells, etc?

In retrospec I wish I gave up soda a long time ago. I feel much healthier.

I have totally stopped having diet sodas or any sodas as a matter of fact. Just drink lots of water and juice. You will slowly get into the habit of not drinking them as much

If you're going to drink diet soda try to avoid anything containing Aspartame. Splenda (Sucrolose) is the safer of the mass market artifical sweetener. As a matter of fact, uber-popular Propel Fitness Water contains Sucrolose.

Generally artificial sweetner has shown no negative side effects in limited doses. If you're drinking 2L of Diet soda a day i'd be worried but it it's just a can of diet coke or coke zero every couple days I wouldn't stress.

I've eliminated soda- too much sugars and sodium in regular, and I couldn't get used to diet. Now I drink seltzer water with a lime wedge. It seems to be a good substitute for me.

it's the phosphates & carbonation that are bad for you!

kadi

In my experience I have found that drinking diet sodas makes me hungry! I think that the artificial sweetners cause me to feel like I'm not satisfied. Plus I look at it this way - for every can of diet soda I drink, I have to drink even more water (its already a challenge enough to get 64 oz a day!) to counterbalance the soda. Simply put - NOT WORTH IT!

There's going to be studies proving each side of the argument; good or bad. But put it this way: Are they natural? (This goes for any processed food, really). They are most definitely not. Therefore, avoid them whenever possible.

If you want a little flavor, you can also drink fresh iced tea. Iced green tea is even better.

I've found that diet colas--while once a favored beverage of mine--impair my own weight loss. I would have thought that the caffeine alone might have sped up the metabolism, but this appears to be counteracted by the increased sodium levels.

I've switched to water and unsweetened green tea whenever possible. That took some getting used to, but it works for me now!

Maan.

Dont know why all the hate for diet soda. I stocked up on diet lipton green tea + diet pepsi about a month ago. (Literally CRATES of the stuff)

I get cravings for food, drink instead. The stuff is magic. Since summer (Late August *edit* my bad, may ) I went from 192 to 156... so yeah.

Wait, Alvin, 40lbs in three months--are you living on Diet Pepsi alone? You're eating, too, right?!?

x.x yeah, i am eating. there was even a week when i splurged on eating nothing but candy bars, weight loss REALLY dropped, but it was still 3 pounds/week then.

besides that, going to the gym every single day + swimming every day really helps =p

The period when I gained the most weight was when I was drinking a few Diet Cokes a day. It was tough, but when I quit the Diet Coke, I ended up losing 60 pounds in about 6 months. Now I carry a water bottle around with me everywhere I go. I can't even sit through a meeting at work without a having a full water bottle in hand. I think when you start drinking something regularly, it's easy to make it a habit, whether it's soda, tea, water, etc.

Whether it's good for you or not, I'm trying to drink less of them. I do three bottled waters a day, THEN I can drink a diet soda. If I want another one, I make sure I drink a bottle of water first.

totally with you on the seltzer water. i used to be a soda fiend, and found that seltzer water (with a lime wedge!) was my perfect substitute.

Artificial sweetners may not contain any calories, however your brain still thinks you've ingested sugars thus telling your pancreas to release insulin, resulting in a drop in blood sugar. Low blood sugar will lead to hunger.

Some scientists use this technique to fatten lab rats.

I have found that switching from regular soda to diet soda really is just a step in the right direction.

Doing so means you are (ahem.. I am) trying to cut the excess cal's out of your diet. In my case, I worked in a very stressful office situation where I would find myself downing 4 cans in an 8 hour period. I noticed I was getting fat, and decided that as part of the process, I would switch to diet.

This was an incredible motivator, and I no longer felt like I would get fat from being at the office (candy bars and other snacks from the office break room were cut off too). At that point, it became easier to stop other nasty habits, like fast food, and driving (as opposed to walking or running) the mile and a half to the nearest Subway.

Drink water, its good for you, more info can be found here: http://trickstutorials.com/index.php?page=content/ wpotion

Wait... so is Propel bad for you?
I LOVE PROPEL!!!!! I only drink one a day after my morning cardio routine, but it's always my favorite beverage of the day because I get so thirsty from running.

Just so we are on the facts:
Snopes has an article on Aspartame, and it is not proven in any way to give you brain cancer or anything horrific like that.

Sure, it's a lot of chemicals, and it probably is at best neutral to your health, but it won't kill you :)

mm, thats good. you have no idea how much aspartame I have a day. x.x

As a computer geek we are renowned and proud of the vast quantities of Mt. Dew we consume in a day. I like many others have attempted to eliminate pop/soda/coke (or whatever you call it in your region) from my diet. I agree with the tea drinkers here, iced tea in the long run is much better for you. Check out Teas Tea for a variety of iced tea choices.

Wow, I guess I never thought Diet Soda could be so bad or even have contributed to my weight gain. Although having my second child has seriously contributed to that as well :) I started Weight Watchers last week and have decided to get back on the water track. I used to drink 3-4 liters of water per day, and got out of that habit after the baby was born. It was more fun to drink soda :) So, now I have told myself that I have to drink AT LEAST 3 liters of water per day. And since doing that, I don't crave the diet soda like I did AND, I feel less bloated as soda has ALOT of sodium! I actually now, have started to crave the water when I'm thirsty. It cuts the thirst way better than a diet coke.

@Chris Lewis - Thanks for sharing the aspartame web page, Chris. I had always wondered whether any scientific bases exist for all those nasty claims regarding the effects of aspartame.

Thanks for the 411 guys. It seems that diet sodas are not only bad, they are expensive as well. Think about how much $$$ I will save by just drinking water...