Diet Soda

[bigtraps]

I can not believe no one has asked this yet.
Is diet soda OK? With or with out caffiene?
Can i use diet soda as part of my water intake? I like to drink a lot of diet soda cause it helps me feel full. (carbonation)

[bravo11p]

Diet soda is OK in moderation as with just about anything else these days. I too drink a lot of diet coke but try to limit my intake due to the sodium. (water retention) If your worried about water retention then eliminate it as much as possible.

[TNT]

Obviousy, if you have go have a soda fix, you're better off with diet soda than you are with regular soda - one need only look at the sugar numbers in the "leaded" kind to see the difference.

Keep in mind that canned/bottled diet sodas are sweetened with aspartame (NutraSweet), which is controversial in some circles. (Let's not go there.) Fountain diet sodas, on the other hand, are often flavored with saccahrin.

The good news is that the sodium content of almost all diet sodas has been reduced over the past few years, so that you rarely find a can of diet soda that has more than 70 mg. (It used to be a lot more.) Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi, etc.,. have reduced their sodium content to 35 mg. per serving. There are also some diet sodas (DietRite comes to mind) that are both sodium and caffeine free.

As far as the caffeine, that's a matte of personal preference. As you may remember, high-caffeine sodas like Jolt were introduced a few years ago, but they never took off in terms of major sales. The major brands (Coke, Pepsi, etc.) will give you an option.

When I was into losing weight, I totally dropped all sodas - and it worked. Even though there may not be much nutritional value to diet soda, my own take is that carbonated liquids will tend to bloat you more than good ol' water. And I'm sure we've all heard the stories about how Coke is used to remove grease marks and baked-on crap from cars, etc.

On the other hand, a cheeseburger with a glass of milk doesn't quite cut it, which is why I continue to be an avid Diet Dr. Pepper fan. (Except when I'm in the South, when I wonder why the fine folks at Mr. Pibb never came out with a diet version.)

[primodonna]

Counting diet soda as part of your water intake = no

[Gonna Be HUGE]

Bro, I have read a couple places (I will try and find the articles if you want) that carbonation can slow the digestive system down some. I have a slow enough metabolism as it is, so after reading that article, I completely dropped soda and it seems to have made a little difference. Also, I always get that bloated feeling after drinking it and my stomach never feels right afterwards (I feel it gurgling from all the carbonation). JMO