Diet soda – will you gain or lose weight?
Is diet soda a healthy alternative? Sugar has taken a real pounding in the health media of late. More and more studies and articles are emphasising the danger that sugar poses to our health. The answer for many?
Pop open a can of diet soda!
Surely it can’t be that bad if it says ‘diet’ on the packaging? Plus, many of these sodas use artificial or – better yet – natural sweeteners. That must be okay then, right? Wrong.
Here’s the truth…
The truth, as proven by many scientific studies, is that chugging down a can of diet soda is not as harmless as you might think. In fact, people who drink diet soda on a regular basis face the following:
- Their chances of gaining weight increase by 200%.
- Drinking a minimum of two diet sodas a day will increase your waist circumference by 5 times.
- Their risk of developing pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome increase by 36%.
- Their risk of developing diabetes is increased by 67%.
- Some argue that is can lead to an increased risk of cancer.
Why does diet soda cause so many healthy risks?
Diet drinks contain no sugar so they are artificially sweetened. Artificial sweeteners directly affect the hormonal and neurological signals that control our appetite and tell our bodies that we have eaten enough. In short, these sweeteners wreak havoc with our metabolism.
Not only does your metabolism slow down, but you end up eating more calories and gaining more weight. Worse still, your body becomes addicted to these sweeteners and your palate is altered so that you no longer enjoy healthy whole foods, fruits, or vegetables.
Put down that diet soda and stay well away from all sweeteners!
Sure, the marketing might lead you to believe that some sweeteners are healthy. But they are as healthy as a diet soda has anything to actually do with weight loss – nothing. Eat a healthy balanced diet to control your cravings. If you do have a sweet tooth, the occasional treat is fine and, ironically, real sugar might just be better than the artificial stuff.