Diet Sodas (1 Viewer)

[Neil J]

Hey, as far as I can tell, most diet sodas have 0 calories. I'm just wondering what the catch is when drinking one, is it that the taste is not as good as the regular or is there some other downside to drinking diet instead of regular? I kinda like the diet Coke with lime.

 

[David Williams]

Bingo. The only diet drink I've ever tasted that tasted anything remotely like the original is Diet Dr. Pepper and I'm not one of those people who swears it tastes just like the original. Similar, but not not anywhere near exact.

I can drink Diet Coke with Lime, which is funny because I detest Diet Coke.

Most diet drinks fail the taste test with me simply because of the aftertaste of Nutrasweet or whatever synthetic sugarific they add. I can't stomach the bitterness (although I must say Splenda's not too bad in the right drink, like Ocean Spray's Cranraspberry).

 

[Scott L]

So the fake sugar is not as bad for you as real sugar? I know the real stuff will pump you up temporarily but will later slow you down, which is why people can get hooked. Do the diet drinks have this effect also?

 

[Jay H]

I've never liked the aftertaste of nutrasweet or any of the artificial sweeteners, which is why I've never liked the diet sodas. I'm not a big soda drinker anyway but do want to try some of the low-sugar ones like C2 or the Pepsi Edge stuff which I haven't yet.

I've tried Diet Snapple and thought it was horrible to me.

Jay

 

[Chris_Morris]

Mostly they are ok. You will find people that swear Nutrasweet (Equal) is bad for you, but the real science is on the fence. Saccarin(sp?) (or Sweet n Low) has been shown to cause cancer in lab rats, but the amount a human would need to ingest is extremely high and would have to be done everyday for several years. Splenda is actually made from sugar (a sugar alcohol) and shouldn't have any adverse affects, though it may not be truly calorie free.

The FDA rules on labeling something calorie free are a bit misleading, in that if something has less than 1 calorie per serving, it can be listed as calorie free. A good example is no calorie butter sprays. Each spray has less than 1 calorie, but a whole bottle has somewhere around 90 grams of fat and 810 calories (90 gram fat x 9 calories per gram), yet they are legally labled "No Calories".

As far as the pick up and let down, diet drinks will not cause that as it comes from the rush of insulin due to the sugar, which diet drinks don't have. The caffeine may cause a slightly similar effect, but nowhere near as pronounced as the insulin spike/drop. The caffeine is what gives people the biggest boost of energy (just like in coffee) and is what is addicting (caffeine withdrawal headaches are bad).

With diet drinks, the biggest thing to watch is the sodium content. Caffeine too, but science has gone back and forth over whether or not it is good for you.

Chris

 

[Chris_Morris]

Haven't tried C2 yet, but Pepsi Edge tasted like flat Pepsi to me and a few others I know, but YMMV.

Chris

 

[Julian Reville]

Try the Diet Vanilla Coke; not bad.

Of course, I thought the Diet Coke with Lime was gut-wrenchingly horrible, so tastes vary.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I've been avoiding diet drinks with higher sodium content, so that means not getting the diet orange sodas nowadays, or Minute Maid Lite Lemonade. I try to keep the sodium levels under 40mg/serving on the label.

 

[Sami Kallio]

It's much worse than real sugar (or actually corn syrup) but it has no calories. If you look at the sodas nowadays, they aren't made from sugar but from corn syrup. Find a soda made from cane sugar (some of the Dr.Peppers can be found this way) and taste it. Much better than the corn syrup soda.

 

[Philip_G]

Some diet colas aren't bad, I like;

diet mtn dew, if you like mtn dew this tastes almost just like it, but less sugary.

diet mug, root beer seems to mask the "fake sweetener" taste

diet dr pepper, even though I don't like dr pepper much, it's ok

sprite zero, nice and light

diet squirt, same

and those clear american drinks at walmart, those are good and cheap, but seem to dehydrate me.


I was under the impression that coke/pepsi/whatever made in/for other markets was usually made with sugar in place of high fructose corn syrup, but I can't remember the reasoning, something regulatory I think

 

[Mike Wilk]

I think all the Diet-Rite brands use Splenda instead of Nutrasweet or saccarin. I am especially fond of their White Grape.

YMMV

 

[Kenneth]

The caffeine energy burst is nice but it is its ability to suppress the chemical that makes you sleepy where you get the benefit (and the crash when the caffeine wears off). Interestingly caffeine is not physically addicting (in the way we normally think of addiction). It doesn't affect the addiction centers of the brain (although you can develop a tolerance for caffeine requiring higher doses to get the affects). The caffeine headaches come from the changes in your blood vessels. Caffeine causes blood vessels to contract so when you go off a heavy caffeine dosage your blood vessels in the brain return to their normal state (expand) which causes the headache while your body readjusts (that's why caffeine withdrawal runs it's course in a couple of days since it is just a stabilization thing).

As far as diet sodas go I am partial to Diet Coke with Lemon. I find it has a smoother taste. Your milage may vary though.

Kenneth

 

[John Alvarez]

Splenda is the best thing...Who remembers Tab?

 

[Eric Peterson]

I've never been a big fan of diet colas. They taste absolutely horrible, and I'd rather drink a glass of water nine times out of ten. I have been bigger on diet flavored drinks though.



I really like the Diet Riet flavored sodas. Around here, I can buy a 24 pack variety that comes with 6 Orange, 6 Rasberry, 6 White Grape, & 6 Kiwi-Strawberry. I like all of them and although I have to pay considerably more for these, I buy them regularly. If you're looking for a diet soda that tastes good, you should check them out. They are also supposedly sodium free.

 

[MikeSerrano]

It's simply a matter of cost. In the United States, corn syrup is cheaper than cane sugar (due to many factors related to agriculture regulation).

This is nicely summed up within a page at snopes that debunks several of the myths surrounding New Coke:

"Corn syrup was cheaper than cane sugar; that's what it came down to. In 1980, five years before the introduction of New Coke, half the cane sugar in Coca-Cola had been replaced with high fructose corn syrup. By six months prior to New Coke's knocking the original Coca-Cola off the shelves, there was no cane sugar in American Coca-Cola. Whether they knew it or not, what consumers were drinking then was 100% sweetened by high fructose corn syrup."

-Mike

 

[Chuck Mullen]

It is worth noting that almost all of the drinks mentioned here are horrible for your teeth. That having been said, my wife and I chug cases of diet coke. I eagerly check my newspapers Sunday ads to see who has the best price every week.:frowning:

 

[Elinor]

>"So the fake sugar is not as bad for you as real sugar?"

Many of the "-itol" sweeteners cause gastrointestinal distress in folks who are susceptible.

What's wrong with sugar? Other than it being "empty calories"? Doesn't bother me, I can use all the calories I can get.

According to Dr. Weil, my health guru:

"I think it’s wise to consume moderate amounts of sugar rather than any artificial sweeteners. Sugar is safe when used in moderation, and relatively low in calories (about 15 per teaspoon)."

http://www.drweil.com/u/QA/QA106654/

 

[MarkHastings]

Sugar is ok, but as long as it's pure sugar. High Fructose Corn Syrup is the worst kind of sugar you can injest. It immediately goes into your blood stream at a high rate and your body produces insulin to counter act the sugar in your blood. The insulin immediately traps the sugar and turns it directly into fat (so your body doesn't have a chance to burn it as energy).

Then, once your body is free of the sugar, the over dose of insulin makes you crave MORE sugar.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Philip_G]

Have you looked at the carb count on a can of coke? it's like 55g and it's all sugar, just as Mark says, not good.

We're eating several times more sugar than we did say 100 years ago... I learned this from frontier house

 

[Elinor]

39g on the one I just finished.

You're not one of /those/ people are you ... the carb haters?