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Zero Sugar or Diet Sodas? Are they viable?

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
I switched from coca cola to Sprite. Here, normal sprite has 2 grams of sugar per 100ml. That's 6 times less than Cola and no coffeine, color etc
 

Gargus

Banned
Zero sugar/diet sodas are worse for you because there’s no sugar. When you drink them, you’re “tricking” your body into thinking it’s going to get real sugar, and when it doesn’t get what it needs, it makes you end up eating more so it can convert that food into sugar.

Avoid em

Completely false.

It's not "tricking" anything. Where in the hell did you come up with such a stupid idea at? That's like saying "celery is bad because it tricks your body into thinking there is sugar in it when there isnt". Yes the celery doesn't contain sugar, and your body requires it but guess what? Your body will get it from other sources. I'm not claiming to be a anatomy and physiology professor but I was a registered nurse and I am a fan of science and I have common sense and all I can say is you're spreading stupid information because "it sounds good to you" with no real knowledge or facts.



I googled diet soda tricks your body and I did see some results saying what you said from websites like brobible and mindfoody.com and other idiotic backwater sites but I checked with Harvard university health dept and saw no mention of your unprovable idea https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/artificial-sweeteners-sugar-free-but-at-what-cost-201207165030
 

digital haze

Neo Member
Artificial sweeteners are metabolised the same way as sugar (aspartame can spike your insulin just as much as regular sugar) and wreak havoc with your gut microbiome increasing the risk of insulin resistance/diabetes and other issues. Not to mention the caramel colouring which create advanced glycation end-products (sticky proteins) that can lead to nerve damage.

Stick with carbonated water if you can. I recommend San Pellegrino, not only for the taste but also the mineral content.

[...]I checked with Harvard university health dept and saw no mention of your unprovable idea
Are you sure about that; There's a quote in that article that says essentially the same thing:
Artificial sweeteners may play another trick, too. Research suggests that they may prevent us from associating sweetness with caloric intake. As a result, we may crave more sweets, tend to choose sweet food over nutritious food, and gain weight.
While I don't specifically agree with scarletspider, there is an element of truth to it - the "trick" is not from a lack of sugar (as other sweeteners such as stevia or erythritol wouldn't have the same effect) but that aspartame makes the pancreas react as if you were consuming regular sugar.
I'm also not claiming to be particularly credible on the topic, merely echoing things that make sense based on my understanding of how the body reacts to and utilises food/chemicals/hormones.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
EviLore, you wanted me to ask this here:

How did you go about losing your weight? How much did you lose just by cutting out sugary drinks and how much by exercising? What kind of exercises do you recommend for someone just starting on the path to lose a lot of weight? Thanks. I really appreciate it.

My weight gain happened after I quit BJJ after a chronic neck injury and started working on GAF full time. Sedentary lifestyle, social isolation, and bad eating habits all caught up with me extremely quickly, and before I knew it I was around 325 lbs and barely mobile, since I had been skinny before that and my body hadn't adjusted to the added mass at all. GAF had taken off, too, so I was excited for the future and wanted to travel the world but was unable to take advantage of the freedom and opportunities. Anyway, the strain all of this put on my body really limited how much and what kind of exercise I could do.

I started with a stationary bike, putting it in front of my TV and hopping on that thing any time I was physically able to sit and pedal. I started with 15 minutes at a time and increased it from there, to one hour sessions, then eventually two hour sessions, then two hour sessions twice a day. The ass pain was real, but it can be overcome.

Nutrition wise, I cut out all caloric drinks and sugar substitute drinks, and all sugary snacks. Water or unsweetened green tea only. With that move plus the light exercise I started with, the first 20-30 lbs came off quickly.

After the first leg of the journey I got a power rack and olympic weight set and started powerlifting in addition to the exercise bike cardio. That helped with body recomposition significantly and made me better able to handle the remaining weight I had to lose without barely being able to walk around. Got way stronger as I lost weight, doing squats, deadlifts, overhead press, bench press, pullups (assisted and negatives for about 18 months until I could do full ones), dips.

In terms of overall nutrition and dieting, it was heavy caloric restriction. I'd often do 3-4 hours of cardio a day plus weightlifting on 1200-1500 calories. It was only sustainable by watching carbs, otherwise my body would scream at me too much and stay too hungry. I made all my own meals and was very strict, and stopped being picky and eating for pleasure, forcing myself to eat things that nauseated me until I was totally fine with just about everything. It was a mission to fix what was broken all around.

I told myself I'd be able to go back to training BJJ when I got to 240 lbs, and I did just that. The goal to get back to BJJ was a huge motivator.

After I got back down to a normal weight, I kept up the training and general activity levels and could eat and drink whatever I wanted within reason. The main thing that helped me keep it off, though, was always logging my weight so that I'd know on the spot if I'm letting myself go and can turn that discipline back on.


Weight loss transformation is not an easy path, but the result is absolutely priceless. If I hadn't lit a fire under my ass and gotten it done, I would've regretted it for the rest of my life and missed out on thousands of amazing experiences. Don't be that guy. Fight until it's done so that you can really live.
 

-BLITZ-

Member
I was a Coca-Cola drinker, because it was helping me with my slow food digestion process in my stomach even so I have a minor form of gastritis, another reason that I couldn't drink Sprite or Fanta because of their "lemon" additive addition. I never drank either flavors of Coca-Cola, Fanta or Pepsi. Mountain Dew or 7up and I don't even want to know how their taste are. I don't trust them, because of what I read about their ingredients on their labels.
If I wasn't taking Coca-Cola after a meal or between meals, my stomach was giving me annoying digestive mood all the time, but in the recent years, drinking a little too much coke, day after day, it started to give me a negative impact to my gastric mucous and gastritis, rather then helping me out like it used to, probably the motive it is already concluded. I was too hungry immediately with a small discomfort pain after only a glass of coke.

I was very conscious about my situation and I couldn't find a way to solve this issue, however I found the perfect alternative from soft drinks to nectar juice, which is a bit more expensive and lighter in quantity with 90% - 75% or 50% quality nectar, depending on the product, but now what I can tell is that I fell more healthier since then. It is like I had purged something from my system, a bad thing, and in return I feel that my body, organs, energy flow, state of mind breathes, runs, completely differently, better, with my stomach more immune than ever. My digestion improved really fast too. I also wonder if the slow digestion was another side effect cause from Coca-Cola.

Because of that I took the definitive decision to end drinking any soft soda or even beer for the rest of my life. Right now, near me I have a cup of tea with two slices of orange, mint and a lot of less sugar. I haven't touch a glass of soft soda since September last year.

You should try my method as well.
 

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
"Essence flavored" sparkling waters are a good substitute. Give them a try. They have zero calories, zero sugar, zero additives. They're flavored with essence, which I think essentially means it's in the carbonation and it triggers taste receptors in your brain through scent consumed in the carbonation... or something. So it tastes like they have flavor, but they really have zero sugar or calories or additives.

If your body is really used to sugar, it'll be an acquired taste. It'll taste watered down because your body is used to that syrupy sugary crap. But once you adjust, you might even prefer it. It quenches your thirst better and you cut out all the BS. Stuff like this and Perierre.

GUEST_b5bafcad-ccfd-4947-9a6e-5b5ed5c50620


Also, some people like Spindrift, which is another thing to try.
 
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Tesseract

Banned
I switched from coca cola to Sprite. Here, normal sprite has 2 grams of sugar per 100ml. That's 6 times less than Cola and no coffeine, color etc

dude sprite is fucking terrible for you

my dudes and dudettes, just stop drinking soda right now

you guys are breaking my damn heart

let it go

 

Belmonte

Member
Soda was my favorite drink. I was only one step from making coffee with soda instead of water. It has been 5-6 years since I stop drinking it.

Here is what I did: I was too much addict to soda to switch to water so abruptly so I switch to juice. It is almost as bad as soda, some says it is even worse, but the idea wasn't to get healthy in one day. The idea was destroying the habit of drinking soda. Juice has a lot of sugar but it isn't as addicting to me. Perhaps because it doesn't have the memories of good times with my friends and family, I don't know. Many comforting memories of my infancy has soda in it.

After some months drinking juice, I switch to water. And now this is what I drink everyday.
 

TTOOLL

Member
Water, dude.

Let me elaborate a little bit, life is all about habits. It can be very difficult to start a new habit, as well as stopping an old one. However, it also tells you that you're not bound forever to sugary drinks or anything. If you really want you can stop right now and suffer for the next two weeks, maybe.

After a while, you'll be able to enjoy some soda here and there if you wish. I personally have no desire to do so and I never buy any of it. This is key, too. If you don't buy x you can't eat/drink x. Try it. Start at the grocery store.
 
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Riven326

Banned
I stopped soda cold turkey several years ago. It was hard for the first few days. Now I don't miss it at all.
 

foxGlove

Neo Member
If you want to lose weight, train yourself to Just drink water, and for sugar craving, snack on some fruits. If you can find some watermelon, it’s perfect. its sweet and you can eat a lot as it’s mostly water.
For a quick and easy snack, Apple and pear also work just great. I will avoid bananas and mangoes though, idk why but I’m advised not to eat them by my doctor.

I personally despise sodas, They hurt my nose every time i drink them. And man, When i choked on one, they hurt as hell.
But if you want to scratch the Itch here’s some recipe for you:
1. just make some ginger syrup (no sugar, use honey) and mix it with sparkly water.
For the ginger syrup:
-4 ounces of fresh ginger roots ( slice it thin and rough chop em to bits)
- 4 C of water
- 1/2 C of honey
Place all ingredients in a saucepan. Heat to a boil, then reduce the heat to a steady simmer, and cook for 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how thick you like it. At 30 minutes, it should have reduced to around 2 cups for a not-as-sweet-and-spicy syrup, further cooking will thicken and intensify the flavor. Allow to cool and strain. Store in the refrigerator in a bottle for two weeks.

2. Or if you need them quick, use this combo: sparkly water with basil+lemon+honey

good luck man!👍
 

MaestroMike

Gold Member
if yall stop drinking soda make sure yall buy bags of lemons and put that ish in ur drinks or water beverages or whatever. lemons have a lot of vitamin c and a ton of citric acid thatll create that sour taste that most ppl naturally love. i consume like 3 whole lemons most days of the week in my veggie smoothies. lemons are probably my favorite fruit makes all the beans and vegetation i eat way easier to digest. Lemons are the GOAT fruit. ull never miss soda again if u got lemons. don't sleep on it.
 
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