Goodbye, Nutrasweet

[derby378]

A few years ago, my wife asked me to please start drinking only diet sodas. She was worried about my weight (and rightly so) and thought they'd help keep the weight off as they seemed to do with her. Ginny looked at me with that special look and asked "For me?" and that was all that it took.

I heard a lot of negative things about aspartame over the years - some of it from quacks, which I summarily dismissed, but some of it started coming from legitimate medical studies. It started as a trickle, but it's been gradually increasing into a stream. The basic upshot is that zero calories does not equal zero consequences - and aspartame, according to some of the latest reputable studies I've run across, may actually increase blood sugar.

I'm still fat, my eating habits haven't improved, and here I am still drinking this diet swill. So that's it. Ginny, I love you, but I gotta do what's best for my body.

Sadly, this means I'm faced with a choice between aspartame or high-fructose corn syrup, neither of which is an acceptable choice. And water just doesn't cut it sometimes. So I may have to make a few more lifestyle adjustments. If it doesn't contain actual sugar, I don't drink it. The last few cans in my fridge will be the last.

We've had a long run, Nutrasweet, but you may be doing me more harm than good. Adieu, farewell, and piss off.

[Ian David]

1. That Truvia stuff isn't bad. n/t

[derby378]

5. So I hear, but it's not present in sodas yet (n/t)

[calimary]

12. There's Splenda too.

[UTUSN]

24. Splenda is half sugar. n/t

[sense]

36. that is particularly nasty...

unless you like formaldehyde....

[Sirveri]

67. no splenda is chlorinated sugar, so it's not digestable.

There is splenda for baking, which is half sugar, but all that is is a 1:1 blend of splenda (sucralose) and actual sugar (sucrose). Powdered splenda is actually slightly different since it's bonded to malto- dextrin to form a granulated powder so it's not pure sucralose. It's typically bonded in such a way that the sweetness is equivalent to a like quantity of sugar. HOWEVER, sugar packets are twice as sweet by volume as bag splenda. It's also possible to purchase liquid splenda, in its purest form, online. The level of sweetness of pure liquid splenda is impressive, one drop being the equivalent of 1.5 teaspoons of sugar. One ounce has the sweetness of 25 cups worth of sugar. Though that's typically only pursued by hardcore adherents to ketogenic diets (see Atkins).

[WolverineDG]

45. Splenda is just as bad as aspartame nt

[Manifestor_of_Light]

66. Splenda has chlorine in it.

[namahage]

76. So does table salt. n/t

[sense]

85. our bodies make formaldehyde from aspartame

http://www.drbriffa.com/2011/06/15/formaldehyde-offically-cancer-causing-and-the-common-foodstuff-that-increases-our-exposure-to-this-chemical/

http://healthimpactnews.com/2011/fda-approved-aspartame-in-diet-drinks-radically-increases-your-risk-of-cancer/

[WolverineDG]

105. but but but it's just one molecule from sugar

pardon me while I pull back on a tall cool glass of hydrogen peroxide....

;)

dg

[KittyWampus]

26. Yes, it is. But since I'm a quack- I'll refrain from making some suggestions.

[derby378]

35. What makes you a quack?

If you have some suggestions, please share.

[immoderate]

33. I switched to seltzer or club soda a few years ago.

I like the bubbles. I don't miss the flavoring.

--imm

[Alameda]

50. I got a seltzer maker and make my own.....and add flavor.

It's less impact on the environment, and I know what's in it.

[Shagbark Hickory]

55. What's the name of it. Where do I get one?

Edit: better yet, where do you get the co2?

[Melissa G]

57. Soda stream and CO2 doctor.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x87849

I just bought one.

[Alameda]

74. I got a Liss seltzer maker one liter stainless steel

It's fabulous, I love seltzer but was feeling guilty about the left over bottles. This is perfect.
This is the one I got
http://www.prairiemoon.biz/lisstainsods.html
Here are different co2 cartridges. I tried all of them to see what was best.
http://www.prairiemoon.biz/sosiseboch.html
I prefer this one, Mr. Fizz
http://www.prairiemoon.biz/selchar.html

I've made some killer fizzy drinks....pickled beet juice, plain yougurt or anything you think would be better with fizz, can be yours...lol

[Shagbark Hickory]

79. The thing with these machines is you need drinkable water from the get go. nm

[Alameda]

91. I use purified water from a water filter.

[Shagbark Hickory]

106. Yeah but when your source is also the same place that you dump your sewage, you kinda don't trust

filters too much.

[Alameda]

108. I do the best I can. What do you suggest, give up, do nothing?

[Shagbark Hickory]

56. So did I. I recommended in a seperate post that OP transition to lem lime seltzer

as it tastes like sprite but without all the sugar (and by sugar I mean high fructose corn poison.

[immoderate]

58. Somehow, I don't appreciate the flavored seltzers.

But I like to mix it with fruit juice.


--imm

[Shagbark Hickory]

59. San pellegrino is how I got started. Unflavored obviously.

[SoCalNative]

27. Actually it is

in a brand called Zevia. If you can't find it at a store near you, then you can order it online.

http://www.zevia.com/

[sense]

dupe. sorry.

[sense]

38. yes.

that's the only one I've found. Taste isn't great though.... :-(

[kestrel91316]

48. If you are talking about stevia, it sucks. BITTER aftertaste.

[Alameda]

49. Not real stevia....I grow my own and use the leaves.

[pitohui]

63. stevia is used in south america...and they are still a stocky folk

at the end of the day he has already invested who knows how much time in aspartame to find he's still fat and his wife is still sad

go to bolivia home of stevia and coca and tell me how slim the people are...they're not

he needs to give up these sweeteners entirely, apparently there's some science now that the fake taste of sweet is almost as damaging and likely to cause fat/diabetes as the real sugar

he needs to learn to drink water, maybe with a splash of lime or something but we were made to drink water

not aspartame, not corn syrup, not stevia, not coca tea, not coca cola...WATER!!!!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

109. Bitter duringtaste, too. Bleh. -nt

[w8liftinglady]

2. It's tough,ain't it?

I still get my diet coke fix...even though I know better....
It's like heroin,man.
Good luck!

[Drale]

3. I'll tell you something that I found

I stopped drinking pop altogether and I have lost about 10 pounds just from that.

[derby378]

8. For me, easier said than done

I usually down at least one liter of water during an 8-hour workday just on general principles - it's Texas, it's hot, and the human body needs a good system flush.

[aquamarina]

4. Try your favorite fruit juice in some sparkling water.

Delicious and sweet!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

80. Yes! That's what I drink instead of soft drinks!

Apple juice and white grape juice are especially good with sparkling water.

[valerief]

6. Stevia in iced tea is terrific, and stevia is all natural, not a bit synthetic.

It's used all over the world in non-artificial-sweetener-bought-and-paid-for countries. The problem with it is that it tastes yucky if you use too much.

Coke and Pepsi have come out with good-tasting stevia. Truvia and Purevia (I think). Give it a try. They may even have it in their soft drinks. I wouldn't know, because I don't drink that shit.

Good luck!

[sense]

40. Truvia and Purevia

made by Cargill. Makes me suspicious... but no proof...just suspicion.

[valerief]

102. Stevia has been used throughout the world as a sweetener for centuries. nt

[elocs]

62. "Natural" doesn't always mean good or better.

Poison ivy is certainly natural as well as snake venom but I wouldn't want either one of them.

Seems like everything is either bad for you, causes cancer in lab rats, or tastes like crap.

[valerief]

101. Stevia has been used throughout the world as a sweetener for centuries. nt

[Ozymanithrax]

7. I f you must drink sugar...

look up Sodafinder.com. They can sell you real soda with real sugar.

[derby378]

11. Fortunately...

I live in Texas, which has more real-sugar soda than most people realize thanks to its proximity to Mexico and that Dr. Pepper factory in Dublin, TX. (And yes, I've paid that factory a visit.)

[Bluenorthwest]

9. No need to go HFCS. You have options. First, you are in Texas!

So go to a Latin market and buy Coke made in Mexico, which uses sugar, not HFCS. It is easy to do in Texas I am sure. Just had one on Moday myself. Also, in regular markets, Sierra Mist Natural is now made with sugar, not HFCS, it is everywhere. Then you have the Hansen's, Blue Sky and other more 'natural' sodas, delicious, no HFCS. I've also been hitting the Blue Sky Zeros, made with stevia of some sort, and no cal. Love the cola....

[derby378]

13. Good thing you mentioned Sierra Mist

I'm glad that stuff is getting easier to find.

[Bluenorthwest]

30. Well all that talk about the Dr Pepper Museum got me going!

I want to go there.

[targetpractice]

15. Maybe not...

I did this for a while in TX, and then found imported coke in NYC... At some point during the last year I noticed that they changed the stick on labels to read "sugar and/or high fructose corn syrup"... Not always, but often enough for me to research... Then I read somewhere that upon testing Mexican Coke contains just about as much HFCS as domestic Coke. Oh, here... http://healthland.time.com/2010/10/28/study-hey-hipsters-mexican-coke-might-be-a-myth/

Since then I've been drinking Pepsi Throwback... I'm more certain of it's ingredients.

[derby378]

21. We also get kosher Coke at this one Tom Thumb every year during Passover

Turns out that HFCS is treife, while sucrose is perfectly kosher. Who knew? So I try to stock up on a few 2-liters every year (and share some with the local Quaker meeting) while making sure those who need it for religious reasons don't have to go without.

And I can usually taste the difference between sucrose and HFCS. Sucrose, among other things, simply tastes cleaner.

[KittyWampus]

28. Sugar is only marginally better than HFCS.

[targetpractice]

34. dupe

dupe

[geckosfeet]

10. Two words.

Low. Carb.

[sense]

14. Stevia is the way to go.

Not much luck finding it in soda, but you could make your own sodas.

[SoCalNative]

29. Zevia

available in stores or online

http://www.zevia.com/

[Frustratedlady]

16. I have seen friends lose many different health problems by kicking diet pop

to the curb.

One developed a horrible cough the drs couldn't pin down. This became so bad, he couldn't sleep. He was drinking a 12 pak of diet pop per day and had been for a couple years. Once he cut out the diet pop, his cough went away.

Another had attacks of arthritis so bad she couldn't walk without a cane. She quit drinking diet soda and is now able to exercise. I have several acquaintances that have done the same.

My grown daughters developed digestive problems and acid reflux. I asked them to give up their soda for a week and see what happened. Both had so much improvement, they were able to get off their prescriptions.

I can't stand the taste and never allow it in the house. I'd rather give up eating sweet things if I had to use fake sweeteners. I don't trust them.

[Warpy]

17. I have a Soda Stream setup and use their mixes

which are sweetened with Splenda. I alternate sodas with plain seltzer water and it's amazing how a few bubbles make plain water more palatable.

I'm sure there will be negative health consequences to consuming a lot of Splenda that come out some day, but for now it's working for me.

I was really annoyed when they banned cyclamate. That was the best sub so far.

[JHB]

98. I have one too, but don't use their flavors

Just a little lemon juice does the trick for me. A couple of drops per glassful.

Adds a bit of flavor without overpowering anything else.

[marions ghost]

18. Good

:fistbump:

Suggest make your own drinks and use less sugar (cane sugar). Gradually you can get used to it...try to cut your carbs from sweet drinks in half. Good luck.

[Fuddnik]

19. Have you tried the flavored seltzer waters?

My wife brought some home about a year ago. Polar has several flavors like black cherry and lemon-lime. No sweetener of any kind, just natural infusions. Zero calories.

I never drank much soda, diet or otherwise, but this stuff is pretty good. Comes in 12 oz cans or liter bottles.

[EFerrari]

20. I don't know what to think about this.

I know Nutrasweet came with problems but it never raised my blood sugar level and it did help me eat stuff I like without all those calories.

[AndyTiedye]

22. There is Plenty of Soda Around With Real Sugar

Caffeine Food Group

Pepsi Throwback
Mountain Dew Throwback (my favorite)
Coke from Mexico (Costco sells it)
Doctor Pepper 125th Anniversary Edition

Craft sodas, various flavors

Thomas Kemper sodas (Root Beer, Cream, Orange)
Reed's Ginger Beer
Our local stores have quite a few brands of root beer and ginger beer with real sugar, most of which I haven't tried yet.

Henry Weinhardt and Vernors do NOT have real sugar.

[KittyWampus]

31. Real sugar is only marginally better for your body than HFCS. Marginally, at best.

[derby378]

37. Real sugar has problems of its own, true...

...but it's natural and doesn't promote juvenile diabetes in the same way that HFCS does.

[AndyTiedye]

46. It Sure Tastes Better

I get plenty of exercise and I'm not overweight.

Diet soda used to have a notice on it saying you shouldn't drink it
unless you had a medical need to reduce calories or sugar intake.
I haven't bought any in a while, does it still say that?

[joshcryer]

87. Real sugar is better for you than fake sugar that has no benefit.

[TorchTheWitch]

23. I've never been able to consume that stuff

By body hates it. I'd get sick to my stomach, dizzy, headache and generally feel like I was going to die only a quarter of the way through a bottle of diet soda. For the longest time I though it was just me. It isn't. A frightening amount of people get terrible symptoms from that stuff, and it should have never have made it past the FDA.

[sense]

88. it's poison see links

http://www.drbriffa.com/2011/06/15/formaldehyde-offical... /

http://healthimpactnews.com/2011/fda-approved-aspartame... /

[TorchTheWitch]

93. Gads!

That's damn scary.

[csziggy]

25. Make your own sodas! Soda Stream or an alternative

Each is a way to deliver that carbonation to flavored water.

I bought my husband a Soda Stream last winter, mostly to cut down on our recycling of plastics. The Soda Stream diet flavorings use Splenda to sweeten their sodas. They have flavors that imitate the most popular sodas on the market. http://www.sodastreamusa.com/default.aspx

Right now we're testing Prairie Moon flavor concentrates. They come in sugared, sugar free, or simply the flavoring which is what we bought. Hubby is testing different sweeteners to see which he likes better. The advantage of Prairie Moon, aside from using your choice of sweetener, is they have a much wider range of flavors. You can use theirs with the Soda Stream carbonator system of just get an old fashioned soda siphon and carbonate one glass at a time. http://www.prairiemoon.biz

Hubby does not like the flavor of the Splenda when he mixes it with the flavor concentrates - it seems to turn bitter after a couple of days. He's tried Truvia but it is ridiculously expensive. I've suggested that he dilute the flavor concentrate without a sweetener and add sweetener as he mixes each bottle of soda. If there is a chemical change while it sits, that would reduce the time for it to do it.

[aquart]

I put a fruit herbal teabag in selzer over ice.

It still feels sweet but isn't cloying and is MUCH more refreshing.

Try that. You seem to think you need the sweetener but you really don't.

[dhill926]

32. drink Guinness.........n/t

[Mosby]

39. Izze spritzers are 70 percent fruit juice

And only use cane sugar, I found them at starbucks (expensive) but many fresh and easy's sell them for 5 bucks for a 4 pack.

[Bonhomme Richard]

41. There are plenty of good sugar sodas out there and Pepsi...

has Throwback.

[Obamanaut]

42. What about water. That quenches the thirst nicely, will go with any meal.

And there's this: "...I'm still fat, my eating habits haven't improved, and here I am still drinking this diet swill. So that's it. Ginny, I love you, but I gotta do what's best for my body...."

Eat less, move more, drink more water.

[derby378]

53. Don't know if you caught this earlier...

...but I've been improving my water consumption. Doesn't work all the time, however, and I pee more.

[Obamanaut]

97. Don't know if you caught this, what you typed in the OP, pasted here again

"I'm still fat, my eating habits haven't improved, and here I am still drinking this diet swill. So that's it. Ginny, I love you, but I gotta do what's best for my body."

The following three

"...still fat...", "...eating habits haven't improved...", "...still drinking this diet swill..."

will do absolutely nothing toward

"...I gotta do what's best for my body..."

If the last one were true, the eating habits would improve, the diet swill would be stopped, and there would be more movement (as in 'eat less, move more')

There is no magical health fairy.

[pitohui]

64. what obamanaut said

i don't get all the pushing of stevia, people who use stevia are not slim!!! get out of your house, travel and observe, and stop blaming yourself because you can't beat human biology

we were made to drink water

people who drink coffee, wine and water are slim --

people who drink stevia in their coca tea (native bolivians) are chubby, people who drink other forms of diet or non diet sodas are just frankly fat!

look to paris not to south america if you're looking to be skinny is my humble observation

sugar, stevia, coffee, coca, etc. they're all natural, so what, being natural doesn't mean it will make your wife stop crying because you're too fat for her

look at what SKINNY people drink, drink that

it ain't stevia!!! it ain't pepsi throwback! it's coffee, people, sheesh

[sense]

89. It's just not that simple.

We are extremely complex organisms. Your anecdotal observations are biased and meaningless.

Water is the best. That I will agree with.

[pnwmom]

43. Aspartame is also a cause of periodic limb movement disorder,

and restless leg syndrome, which was waking me up at night. Definitely not worth it, so I quit. If it does that, though, I wonder what else it does.

http://www.osahelp.com/#12

What can bring on RLS in RLS sufferers are things like Iron deficiency, elevated salt intake, elevated caffeine intake, elevated chocolate intake, and the worse cause to bring on RLS is artificial sweetners. Most soft drinks are sugar free or contain artificial sweeteners like Aspartame, Acesulfame K, Saccharin, Sucralose, Stevia, and Tagatose which can be up to 200 times sweeter than regular sugar.

[valerief]

103. Stevia is NOT an artificial sweetener. nt

[MyrnaLoy]

44. SodaStream

make your own at 35 calories. They are great! Lost 28 pounds when I made the SodaStream switch.

[Speck Tater]

47. Drink plain water. Cheaper, and better for you.

If that's too spartan, add a dash of lemon juice. Another alternative is to make Kool-Aid, but use 1/3 of the amount of sugar called for. You'd be surprised how quickly your taste buds will adjust to something less sweet.

[rhett o rick]

51. I add a splash of vodka. nm

[no_hypocrisy]

52. Get a juicer and make some great combinations.

Apple and carrot

Apple and grapefruit

Pomegranate and orange

Healthier for you and more filling than water.

[Shagbark Hickory]

54. I was able to kick my soda addiction with Seltzer. (read more)...

Lemon Lime seltzer that's made from natural flavors has zero sugar or sweetners and zero calories.
The brands that I like taste like sprite but without the sugar. They are very refreshing and after you completely transition to lemon lime seltzer, you will likely find soda to be too sugary tasting and not as refreshing as the seltzer.

If you buy the store brand, it's also a lot cheaper than cola.

[Hydra]

60. I don't drink soda except at resturants where I can't get anything better(concentrate juice...yuck!)

Water and fruit juice is my suggestion. The bubbles are expensive and not really that helpful. I suspect you're craving salt if the juice isn't helping. Try something from that angle too :p

[pitohui]

61. i don't understand why water just doesn't cut it ?

you will be just as fat and unattractive to your wife drinking sugared soft drinks as you will drinking the poisonously sweet tasting aspartame crap

what's wrong w. water? do you live in vegas or some place where the water tastes like shit???

i drink coffee or tea in the morning when i can use the caffeine and after that it's water or wine, mostly water for reasons of one doesn't wanna be silly all day, one has stuff to do...

and i am thin, not to brag, i'm just saying

i don't think you'll get a better result drinking crap like cola, it's crappy chemicals whether they dust some sugar on the other chemicals or not

[cali]

65. Me neither. I love water. Nothing tastes better to me and nothing quenches thirst for

me like water. I don't drinkg anything else most days except for a morning cup of coffee (or two). In the summer I like to make a big container of iced tea and I brew it with tons of mint. I don't like it sweeteed.

[pansypoo53219]

68. i never could stand artificial. butter only.

but coke ain't the same since they stopped using sugar. i gave up fizzy water last year. i found i could make grapefruite ade like i make lemonade in summer. buy fruit. cut into 8ths. squeeze 1 1/8. add sugar + water. cheaper.

[pansypoo53219]

69. i never could stand artificial. butter only.

but coke ain't the same since they stopped using sugar. i gave up fizzy water last year. i found i could make grapefruite ade like i make lemonade in summer. buy fruit. cut into 8ths. squeeze 1 1/8. add sugar + water. cheaper.

[ctaylors6]

70. I understand wanting something other than water ...

I had to stop using all artificial sweeteners for a little while last summer and managed to kick the habit completely. I've noticed I feel better and sleep better when I don't consume artificial sweeteners, and I think it was making it harder for me to keep weight off.

I'm supposed to drink about a gallon of water every day (medical condition). Most of the time I'm fine with cold water. I put a filter on my sink so I can get filtered tap water.

But sometimes I just can't face another cup of water. I like iced tea so I drink that somewhat often. I usually make decaf green tea and throw in a bag of a flavored tea. I don't usually add sugar to tea but find that if I do want the tea sweetened I use less sugar if I add the sugar to the hot water. I have soda every great once in a while, and when I do, I just get the sugar/HFCS sweetened ones. Since it's rare, it's no different to me than any other "treat" like ice cream or a cookie.

Sometimes I'll add about 1-2 ounces of gatorade to a cup of water. I agree with the seltzer recommendations. Sometimes I'll have a big cup of milk. Like I said, I try to stick with water like it sounds like you're doing. But I completely understand wanting something with a bubble or two, and some flavor. :)

[Sirveri]

71. In this instance, you can't have you cake and eat it too. Time to go for water.

You want to be serious about weight loss and your health. You need to dump all of the soda and switch to straight water. Treat everything else as a treat. And I do mean EVERYTHING. Tea, Coffee, sodas, you name it, they're now treats.

If you don't have the willpower for this, and want to seek a balance elsewhere, that's fine too, it's not for everyone, and it's not even for me. But when I got serious about weight loss and fitness, I dumped it all. Then I slowly added tea and coffee back in.

Diet sodas are very misleading though, since they can create food cravings and otherwise screw with you. So just stay away, and just drink water. If you want a treat, try and find something with real sugar or that otherwise exists in nature. I have found that when I drink sodas with real sugar as opposed to HFCS, I drank less, and had a greater desire to drink water, whereas I would previously drink 4-6 cans a day of stuff with HFCS, I would typically self limit to 1-3 cans if it was real sugar. But that's anecdotal and we all know what that's worth. Run your own personal experiments and see what works best for you.

And finally, don't do it because your wife or partner or whatever wants you to do it (this includes your doctor). Do it because YOU want to do it. If you don't want to, don't, let them know it's your life and you're not ready to change yet. If you're willing to trade the time for personal enjoyment, it's yours to trade. There's nothing worse than people trying to pressure you to do something you don't want to do, that you end up hating and resenting. You won't see progress, and it will build up discontent with whoever put you up to it. You have to have your own reasons and your own cost benefit analysis for what you choose to do with your life.

[sweetloukillbot]

72. True about creating additional cravings...

A friend of mine drank only diet sodas for 20 years and could not lose weight... He realized that because he wasn't getting his sugar fix from the soda, he was going to get it in other places - snacks, desserts, etc.

[Nye Bevan]

73. Try seltzer with just a dash of pure cranberry juice (nt)

[Odin2005]

75. Use Stevia, it's awesome!

[Lex]

78. Which sodas use stevia as a sweetner?

:shrug:

[Odin2005]

84. Oh, good point, DOH!

[Drew Richards]

77. I had resolved to stop posting here but,,,

I just wanted to tell you.

I was 203lbs about 30-40 lbs over weight for my size and dropped 30lbs in 6 months and have kept the weight off now for 2 years...how?

I stopped drinking all sodas for 6 months...just water, ice tea with a little sugar, coffee with half a sugar...that was my liquids...I didn't change my eating habits at all with the exception that I would not forage a late night/after dinner snack instead I would have a cup of coffee.

I now am healthier than I have been in a long time and still hold a fluctuating weight between 173-182 still eat what I want, and have a regular coke now and then but don't chug multiple sodas a day...( maybe 3-5 coffees though :) )

Really it doesn't matter diet or regular soda they are both bad for you and mess with your body fat storage chemistry.

I swear you will drop 2-5 pounds within 3 weeks of stopping all sodas.

Give it a try...still eat what you want just skip the sodas.

[SoCalDem]

81. Start a love-affair with iced tea.. brewed iced tea

slip in a little sprig of mint or a wedge of lemon & that's all you need:)

[lumberjack_jeff]

82. Coffee. Black, no sugar.

I'm down to one soda a day.

[applegrove]

83. I'm going to have to join you.

[joshcryer]

86. I'm 175 lbs and I drink a cup of sugar a day.

In the form of 1/2 cup of sugar for a gallon of iced tea.

I always get headaches from aspartame and the shit is toxic as fuck at the level of liquid consumption I have.

[sense]

94. Toxic at any level:

http://www.drbriffa.com/2011/06/15/formaldehyde-offical ... /

http://healthimpactnews.com/2011/fda-approved-aspartame ... /

[Zoeisright]

90. Drink sparkling water. That's how I got off Pepsi.

Keep it in the fridge so it's really cold. The bubbles in the water stimulate the trigeminal nerve in your tongue.

http://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/6/639.full

Your choice isn't between aspartame and HFCS - drink fizzy water!

[backscatter712]

92. Mexican Coke, Pepsi & Mountain Dew Throwback, or get sodas from a health-food store.

In other words, go for real sugar rather than HFCS or aspartame.

[cliffordu]

95. Why drink sweet drinks, anyway???

Who really needs 'em??

[kornovol]

96. Tip

Just squeeze some lemon in your water & you have instant lemonade dude

[Change Happens]

99. Truvia and Splenda are your best options.

[valerief]

104. Splenda is artificial. Stevia is not. nt

[sofa king]

100. Here's a thing I noticed.

I've had a life-long problem with sleeping that nothing could solve until I began a regimen of pretty ruthless exercise 3-4 times a week (every other day). Even that didn't work for the first eighteen months and I mainly stuck with it because I live in poverty and used the exercise to keep warm in the winter.

All of a sudden, about the time I reached an Alexander Fu Sheng level of fitness, my tastes changed on their own. I didn't want soda anymore, but water and orange juice (which is for rich people, so I drink fake Tang).

It appears that the human body has a limited but useful ability to tell one what it wants and doesn't want, but I have a suspicion that soda in general and aspartame in particular (which notoriously passes the blood-brain barrier and Donald Rumsfeld doesn't like it when people study that) may interfere with that mechanism.

I also think that many people have an innate aversion to water by itself. Water was poison for most of human history, so that makes perfect sense to me. But combining it with a little bit of what it does want--citric acid seems to work best--seems to be good at training the body to keep asking for that instead of soda or (in my case) unlimited quantities of booze.

So yeah, another vote for a squish of lemon or lime in water, along with your age in push-ups every other day.

[Hissyspit]

107. As I have mentioned previously here, derby

I lost 65 pounds last year. One of the things I did was to give up, almost completely, sodas. I drink coffee with no sugar (stevia), health or regular teas, and SoBe calorie-free drinks (sorbitol). I hardly add sugar to anything ever.

But I didn't just lose weight, my acid reflux went away and my chronic high blood pressure went away. I think sodas are really bad to you.

I would definitely give them up or just have them on special occasions. That's my advice.

[Dreamer Tatum]

110. Ever heard of this substance called water?

Try it sometime. It's good.

[yawnmaster]

111. Without changing other habits, normally cutting softdrinks won't reduce weight (there are a few...

exceptions). Would your present weight have been higher if you had been drinking sweetened sodas all this time?
I think perhaps yes, but we can't tell (unless you have an identical twin that didn't give up sugar sodas).