Do diet soft drinks make you gain weight?
Do diet soft drinks make you gain weight? As we approach Christmas and New Year, the consumption of sugary sweet drinks start to increase. Work end of year parties, family Christmas parties and get-to-gethers with friends often have tables filled with alcohol, soft drinks and juices. Should we cut our sugar intake down and reach for the “diet drinks”? Is this the right option for our health and weight?
Are diet soft drinks better?
Diet soft drink are not any better than regular soft drink because artificial sweeteners are sweeter than sugar. It can result in causing a whole host of medical conditions and also surprisingly weight gain. The acidity in carbonated diet drinks harms our immune system because it puts our good gut bacteria out of balance. The effects our gut microbiome. The caramel colouring in many sodas contains an artificial form of phosphorous that’s been shown to leach calcium from bones. Sounds like poison doesn’t it?
Are all diet soft drinks the same?
Lets compare Coke Zero and Diet Coke. Coke Zero was marketed for the male as Diet Coke was considered too“girly” for men. However, the key to Coke Zero’s meteoric rise, wasn’t men buying it, but its unique blend of aspartame and acesulfame potassium, that actually tasted like “real coke”. However, what it didn’t tell you was that it could make you gain weight like real coke. Even though diet drinks are calorie free, they still cause insulin to be released in your gut as they are still sweet like sugar. As the body’s primary fat storage hormone, insulin production will cause the body to hold onto fat.
Is Diet Coke this any better?
Is this any better? Unfortunately, despite tasting “less sweet”, diet coke is no better. It does have slightly less insulin production that coke zero but the results are similar.
What should we drink instead of diet soft drinks?
There is no doubts about the benefits of water. The Mayo Clinic recommends we drink about 8 glasses of water a day. Australians do not drink enough and one of the main causes of childgood obesity are overcomsumption of soft drinks, juices (females) and energy drinks (males). Water keeps us hydrated; it regulates our blood pressure; washes out toxins and keeps our kidneys functioning.
But what should we drink if we want that caffeine pick up. As well as having a multitude of anti-oxidenats, flavonoids, fluroids and is not calorie dense (actually has zero calories), a study in the journal of metabolism and nutrition showed that tea’s combination of caffeine and epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), help reduce fat cells by simultaneously boost lipolysis (the breakdown of fat) and block adipogenesis (the formation of fat cells). I have traded in my mid-morning coffee on a daily basis with a good old cup of tea and my fat cells are the benefitiories of that.
Get rid of the diet soft drinks
This Christmas, let’s trade away diet soft drinks, reduce our sugary drinks and make 2019 a year we increase our water and tea consumption.
Need some help with post christmas sugar, find us at Medical & Mind Weight Loss.
