The natural cola flavor (supposed to be like Mexican Coke) isn't bad. My wife and I bought a sodastream this January and love it. We've replaced most of our soda drinking with either the natural cola mix or shrubs (fruit/sugar/vinegar syrup) that we've been making. I think we end up drinking less than we would with a bottle/can of coke. Maybe we aren't, but I feel better about drinking a soda that i made myself, knowing all of the ingredients that went into it. If anyone has had the drinking vinegars at Pok Pok, that's essentially what we've been making.
Calories aren't everything. I'd rather drink a regular coke (cane sugar version) than a diet any day. Of course, if the sugar/calories were the biggest risk to me (diabetic, overweight, etc), that'd be different, but as a relatively healthy person I'll always opt for regular soda.
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/diet-sodas-and-weight-gain-not-so-fast Diet Sodas Cause Weight Gain? Not so Fast Popkin cites research, including his own, showing that people who drink artificially sweetened sodas as part of a calorie-restricted diet lose weight. So does Maureen Storey, PhD, who is senior vice president of science policy for the American Beverage Association. “The current body of available science shows that low-calorie sweeteners -- such as those used in diet soft drinks -- can help reduce calories and aid in maintaining a healthy weight,” Storey tells WebMD. She points out that the American Diabetes Association and the American Dietetic Association support the use of no-calorie sweeteners to restrict calories and sugar intake. “Drinking diet beverages alone, however, is not enough to counter overeating -- the only way to maintain a healthy weight is by balancing calories consumed with calories burned.”
I think either way you get no nutrition other than the calories. The calories can't help since they're empty. At 140 calories for a can of soda, you get actual nutrition from a 140 calorie cup of orange juice.
I was a huge diet coke drinker for many years. Read a few times how diet soda is also bad, so I slowed way down. Used to have a garage full of cans for a decade. Now I add a bag about every 3-4 months. I switched to iced tea and flavored sparkling waters. I try to drink plain old water as much as possible, but always seem to be looking for something else to drink.
I think you've posted that before, but weight gain isn't the only health concern. Of course for diabetics, sugar free options is the best choice, but I don't think it is for relatively healthy person. That'd be like saying a gluten free diet is the best option for all people because some are sensitive to gluten. Or Atkins is the best since some people are helped by cutting out all carbs.
I quit soda about 2 years ago as part of my losing weight (25 lbs) and being healthier regime. I loved drinking it, but now I don't have the desire anymore. On occasion I'll have one every 4 months or so, but its so overwhelmingly sweet tasting that I cant even finish 1/2 of a can. Good luck.
I noticed the same thing. Unless it's watered down a ton, I can't stomach a can of pop or even diet pop since I quit.
Having Costco sell it has hampered our attempt to quit soda. Mexican Fanta is also tasty. I bought a normal Fanta a few months back and it was horrible. Way worse than what you get in Europe or the Mexican version.
lol yeah the 18 pack or whatever from Costco. That has been the standard house warming gift in our family for a few years now. and re Fanta... yeah I havent had one of those since I was last in Mexico and had it from a Sandwich bag with a straw lol. (Fanta here is AWFUL)
Nice work HCP! My rule - I dont drink pop unless there is whiskey in it. Pop is a waste... makes ya fat. At least ya get drunk when you get fat drinking beer!
Hey Wookee, I gave up smoking the first of the year, so understand I am a hypocrite who smoked well beyond the point of knowing how bad it was for me. I am a research assistant up at OHSU and about 3 years ago much of my research started targeting the inflammasome and related pathways, a key cog in the inflammatory process. Very recently, over the past few months our research has taken us towards how smoking affects the inflammatory process. Although a reduction in smoking may reduce cancer rates, the research is showing that the decrease does not seem to greatly affect the systemic inflammation caused by smoking. What I mean is, if you smoke 2 packs a day or 2 cigarettes a day, the inflammation in your lungs and throughout your body will be similar (just a slight increase inflammation with increased smoking), and that it takes about two weeks of zero smoking to start to see a nice reduction in inflammation. And it really takes about 5 years for the body to return to never-smoker levels of systemic inflammation. I'm just letting you know this because if you can cut down to a pack every couple weeks, the next step of becoming a total non-smoker really isn't that hard. I just did it. And the systemic inflammation may prove to have all sorts of effects from lethargy and soreness to higher likelihood of septic shock.
It's not hard for me not to drink it, the only carbonated drink I can stand is Sprite. I think Coke, Dr. Pepper, and any other dark sodas just taste disgusting. Haven't had one in at least 5 years. What's wrong with water, people?
Yeah, water very easily fills any void of needing something to drink for me. I keep a 32oz. nalgene type bottle around, and go through 3 or 4 a day. Keeps me drinking that enough that I don't feel the need to look for a coke. Also agree about sprite. Not a big fan of the others any more.
The problem is that people tend to drink 2-3 sodas a day, and that's 20% of the RDA for calories. That just can't be healthy. I have a regular soda once in a blue moon. Maybe 2-3 times a year even.
Yeah, that isn't healthy. But I'd say 2-3 diet sodas isn't healthy either. Its just less measurable on the ill effects. Seeing that 3 cans is 450 calories or 120 grams of sugar is easy, but the effects of aspartame and everything else in diet coke is hard to see. Neither is probably all that bad in moderation, but then again, moderation isn't something that Americans do very well.
