Diet Soda?

[Sagacious Lu]

I try to drink a lot of water; especially since it's been so hot lately, but I've got to admit sometimes it's nice to sip on something tasty. Everyone I've talked to has seemed to think that diet soda is a bad idea, but at 0 or 1 calories a serving I don't see much harm. I know that aspartame may or may not be linked to alzheimers disease long term but I haven't heard any other concrete reasons to avoid diet sodas otherwise. Any thoughts?

[darkrelevance]

eat some cold fruits, or make your own juice with them. imo its way better than diet soda.

[Sagacious Lu]

eat some cold fruits, or make your own juice with them. imo its way better than diet soda.

I do eat fruit, and I do have a small glass of orange juice in the morning but fruit and fruit juice have calories and thus work against my goal of losing weight. Why do you think diet soda is bad?

[eXcessiveForce]

Diet soda or regular soda for that matter,


carbonation has been linked to esophogeal cancer

Artifical sweeteners have been shown to spike insulin much like sugar, and lead to more weight gain than sugared sodas

Nutra sweet slows reaction time

How about lemonade or limeade,

Grapefruit juice

Or just diluted fruit juice like apple, grape, pomagranite etc.

[Sagacious Lu]

Thanks, this is the kind of thing I was looking for. Do you know which artificial sweetners cause insulin spikes? I'm wondering how that works because I usually have 2-3 diet sodas each day. I could easily switch to water or unsweetened iced tea if I thought it would help me out but I do enjoy them.

[treelizard]

I think all sweeteners (artificial or not) cause insulin spikes.

[eXcessiveForce]

I also believe it is all sweeteners, as they trick the brain into releasing the insulin.

[treelizard]

Fruit juice, too. But you can balance it out...blend milk and protein powder with your fruit smoothies. YUM!

[EmptyneSs]

hmm, would givig youself a nice insulin spike be a good idea before you hit some weights? would it aid you in anyway?

[eXcessiveForce]

the problem with insulin is it helps to covert sugar. If there is no sugar then any calories it can get will be coverted to fat. Thus the problem with artifical sweeteners.

and no insulin won't help in lifting. It would probably make you sluggish after a few minutes

[Sagacious Lu]

the problem with insulin is it helps to covert sugar. If there is no sugar then any calories it can get will be coverted to fat. Thus the problem with artifical sweeteners.

How does this work? How much of an impact is this likely to have? Would the the insulin spike from a diet soda that you drank with a lunch of, say, grilled chicken and a salad cause the lean protein to be matabolized into fat

[treelizard]

If you balance it with chicken or any other protein it's not nearly as bad. That's why I always eat a bunch of meat before binging on chocolate.

Try balancing your protein, carbs and fat for a few days and then you'll get a sense of what it feels like to not have insulin surges, and your cravings will probably subside. I used to be a soda junkie (one to two Dr. Pepper's or Cherry Pepsi's a day) but now I don't want it at all anymore because of how I feel afterwards. (Ice cream on the other hand...heh)

[lei_kung]

Actually, insulin plays a huge part in lifting...just not the actual act of lifting. If you want to improve your muscle gains directly after a work out (a weight training one that is) you should consume simple sugars along with protein. By taking in simple sugars you can cause an insulin reaction (a.k.a. insulin spike). Because of the nature of insulin, the energy it stores only goes to fat if it isn't needed else where. And after a work out your muscles are craving energy in order to rebuild, thus they gobble up what is available. If you don't take in those simple sugars, the body will convert the protein you take in for energy to rebuild with.

In other words, if you want to get the most out of post work out nutrition you need to eat simple sugars and protein: sugar for the energy to rebuild and the protein for the amino acids to rebuild with. Also here you want to spike your insulin because that is by far the most efficient way to get all the sugar you ate working for you.

Lei Kung

[eXcessiveForce]

that is after the work out, if you eat a candy bar right before you start your workout, you are going to have a small energy burst and then begin to fade quickly. The Insulin will mess up your metabolism for awhile and keep you from transforming your other energy stores into usable energy.

After workout sugar is used to avoid catabolism where muscle would be broken down to fix other damaged muscles.

So insulin will not help you lift.

[treelizard]

After workout sugar is used to avoid catabolism where muscle would be broken down to fix other damaged muscles.

So you eat sugar after you lift?

Are natural sugars (fruit, etc.) okay?