Is diet REALLY better for you?

[kamikazi_tom]

Hello all,
I say the thread about caffine soda and such on here and I go to thinking. I do not drink regular soda, only diet. I do not drink caffinated soda. It isn't that I'm afriad for my health but I just dislike how they taste. Is caffine free and diet soda ACTULLY better for you? I've heard tons of people tell me that diet coke will giv eu cancer and alll that stuff; so I am rather confused. My favorite soda is "Diet Canada Dry Ginger Ale". This is caffine free. I'd say that I have at most 2 8 oz. cups a day.


Also, My family has a history of kidney stones. I drink Skim milk like it's my job =]. My father had his first (and only so far) stone at around 40, but he took calcium supplimpents instead of drinking milk. Do you think I'm still at high risk for kidney stones?


PS: Sorry for putting the Kidney Stone question in there, really didn't wanna start another post

Tom =]

[glc]

Best way to prevent kidney stones is drink cranberry juice - the real juice, not the cocktail with 10% juice. That, and drink plenty of plain old water.

There is some controversy about the various artificial sweeteners, that's what you are hearing.

[thefultonhow]

Two cups a day of ginger ale shouldn't really hurt you too badly, although in the long run it's hard to tell. That's not that much, relatively speaking.

[David M]

It seems we get studies that contradict each other all the time every ten years or so. Sometimes coffee is good and sometimes coffee is bad for example.

I think the way to go is to take everything in moderation. If you are drinking several cans of soda a day then that is probably bad. If you have one or two per day then there is probably little to no harm. Right now I am drinking this water with a slight flavoring and no carbonation. It's good stuff and probably does no harm....hopefully.

[kamikazi_tom]

I feel the same way. Moderation is the way to go =]

[AnotherMuggle]

I tend not to drink any kind of fizzy drinks, way too paranoid about what bad they are doing. It's shocking to think that 2 cans of Coke is more than your recommended daily sugar. I know people that drink the stuff all the time, basically as a replacement for water.

I normally drink water or cordial that has no added sugar, sometimes decaffinated coffee and fairly regular tea.

I may be wrong but I think Kidney Stones are more common in areas of hard water!?

[MaxRat]

if your family has a history of kidney stones then the best thing to do is talk to a doctor about you diet...

Some doctors will say you'll just get them for no reason...others say artificial sweetners add to the problem...

I am not sure myself...I did experience stones 2 years ago and I tell you it was pretty intence and I could have easily hurt someone from the pain alone...

I waited a little bit too long before I went to the emergency room but I finally went...

I drank lots of water but the day before I drank about 2 gallon of rasberry tea fron Crystal Light and the next day I was in terrible pain about an hour after waking...

I thought at first I pulled a muscle in my back and decided to take a hot shower...thats a BIG no no...that alone made me delerious...I went back to bed for a couple hours and slept and when I got back up I was hurting pretty bad..by then I knew it was more than a pulled muscle...

I walked alot as that seemed to help...then I made the wife drive me to the ER and they rushed me in and gave me some meds to help with the pain which did nothing...

The X-ray shown they were peppered in both kidneys...never passed them...I think they disolved from the shots I got in the kidneys?

anyhow...if you aint never had them...you dont want them...

[Lespaul20]

I thought at first I pulled a muscle in my back and decided to take a hot shower...thats a BIG no no...that alone made me delerious...I went back to bed for a couple hours and slept and when I got back up I was hurting pretty bad..by then I knew it was more than a pulled muscle...

I've heard several stories like this and watched my dad to that exact same thing.
We were in the middle of pouring my parents new drive way and he just went down in pain, though it was his back at first but ended up being stones.

On the diet thing, like said before I've heard/read arguments from both sides. One of the reasons I've heard Diet pop can be bad is the lack of real sugar/sweetener. I've been told that when you digest the artificial sweetener your body thinks it's real sugar and then you start to feel hungry because there isn't any sugar to digest. Thats why people who switch to lose weight lose a bunch at first because of the lack of calories but then stop losing or start gaining because they feel hungry.

I started drinking diet pop at the beginning of the year and with some exercise and less beer I've lost 15lbs. When I was working construction I never had any pop but since going back to school I've drank more than I ever had. I too believe that moderation is the key and applies to a lot of things.

[bd1886]

There was a study that came out last week or so that said there was significant evidence that drinking a soda a day caused a certain type of body chemical to be elevated by a seemingly steady 50 percent amongst all of the population within a study group. Apparently, this elevated reading was a known commonality in people with heart problems. However they did say that they didn't know how this elevated chemical affected the heart and more studies needed to be done.

Like you guy's have already said...Moderation. As a kid growing up, a pop a day, would have been considered unhealthy because the ethos of moderation was much more ingrained in society. Today it is felt, by many, to be something that is a challenge and deserving a fresh look?

That little news blurb checked me standing! I realized how far I'd drifted from that set of values in diet. Science? Nope...common sense.


Edit: There was no difference at all in the measurements between those who drank diet, regular or carbonated juice drinks.

[Force Flow]

soda is soda. Too much isn't very good for you regardless. All those chemicals, plus causing weight gain, isn't all that healthy.

At minimum, I usually only have one can every few days.

A number of years ago, there was a short span of time where I washaving a 12oz bottle of pepsi just about every day (I was hooked on the lemon flavor for a while). Let's just say after that, my stomach couldn't tolerate pepsi anymore (due to its corrosive nature, I think). Coke is fine, as long as I don't overdo it (more than 1 serving a day). Dr. Pepper or Dr. Bob I have no problem with. It seems that Dr. Pepper is the least corrosive soda of the bunch.

[AnotherMuggle]

Originally Posted by Force Flow t seems that Dr. Pepper is the least corrosive soda of the bunch.

I have a friend that can't go for more than a few hours without Dr. Pepper. He refers to it as "Liquid Crack" and claims he is actually addicted to the stuff. In fact, he's not the first person I've heard make this claim.

[thefultonhow]

I personally go for orange soda and some of the other Fanta flavors (especially Strawberry). I also like Sprite and cream soda. I can't really drink Coke or Pepsi anymore -- they just don't taste good to me now. I probably drink too much soda (I can go through a 2-liter every couple of days while at college) but it hasn't really had too many negative effects yet.

[tomster2300]

You do know cops use coca cola to burn the blood stains off the road after an accident, right...

I still drink a hearty amount of it though.

There was an article about diet coke in Newsweek awhile back which highlighted the numerous stars and corporate CEO's who substitute diet coke for full meals when on the go (which is daily for them).