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Thread: Diet soda

  1. #1
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    Default Diet soda

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    Has anyone had good outcomes after quitting diet soda? I've thought a lot about this and it appears that me drinking lots of diet soda has helped me gain weight since the extra acid hastens my digestion and makes me hungrier sooner.

    Any idea on quitting's effect on strength training?

  2. #2
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    What outcomes are you referring to?

    Most people I work with have the opposite response to diet soda as you're describing, i.e. they eat "less" and the acid neither aids in digestion nor has any effect on hunger. People may have food reward issues with sweet beverages like diet sodas, perhaps leading to overeating. Dental caries are the most common side effect. There is no evidence for any effect directly of soda on strength training.

  3. #3
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    Are we allowed to weigh in on these posts here? Not sure if it's a community thing or a Jordan-only thing.

    Since OP is asking about diet soda, I thought I'd offer my two cents, as I've consumed grotesque amounts of diet soda in my lifetime, I've trained long enough to see what happens when I cut it out entirely, and when I drink varying amounts of it alongside my strength training.

    I think it depends a lot on the lifter and a given person's reaction to diet soda. For me, there's a sort of feedback loop with soda and certain foods. What I've found is that if I stick to my macros properly, diet soda has little effect on my strength gains, but it seems to have a negative effect on my attempts at weight loss. I don't know if it becomes an issue of proper hydration (I've drank diet soda to the extent that it's my sole source of hydration, with very little water), or if I'm cheating on my macros to a small extent that I don't recognize. I don't have anywhere near the level of education Jordan has, so maybe he should weigh in on this next statement - I've wondered if artificial sweeteners (at least consumed in large amounts, let's say 6 liters of diet coke in a day) don't stimulate an insulin or hunger response and cause the body to expect/crave sugars or carbs?

    I know when I personally over-consume diet soda in large amounts, it tends to make me hungrier, but I'd be more inclined to say it's a force of habit and wanting the salty-soda-salty-soda feedback loop, more than an actual biological response. At no time have large amounts of soda slowed my gains. I do allow it to occasionally undermine my discipline when it comes to macros, though, and I feel far less hydrated when I drink too much of it; I just feel better drinking strictly water.

    I'd recommend staying away from it if you have similar challenges.

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    I've wondered if artificial sweeteners (at least consumed in large amounts, let's say 6 liters of diet coke in a day) don't stimulate an insulin or hunger response and cause the body to expect/crave sugars or carbs?
    This is one of the working theories, as this phenomenon has been observed in certain populations.

  5. #5
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    I'm more ignorant regarding insulin responses than I'd like to be.

    For those populations that experience insulin/hunger response - is it just the sensation of hunger they can successfully ignore if they choose to, or is it an actual spike of insulin and resulting drop in blood sugar?

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    I doubt the acidity of the soda has any effect digestion for the same reason that the alkaline diet is bullshit: stomach acid is HCl, hydrochloric acid, and has a pH of around 2.5. There's very little you can do to influence that. The very mild carbonic acid in soda certainly won't effect it.

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    Quote Originally Posted by incongruouserudite View Post
    I'm more ignorant regarding insulin responses than I'd like to be.

    For those populations that experience insulin/hunger response - is it just the sensation of hunger they can successfully ignore if they choose to, or is it an actual spike of insulin and resulting drop in blood sugar?
    What do you mean about the "insulin/hunger" response, exactly?

    Quote Originally Posted by Claymore View Post
    I doubt the acidity of the soda has any effect digestion for the same reason that the alkaline diet is bullshit: stomach acid is HCl, hydrochloric acid, and has a pH of around 2.5. There's very little you can do to influence that. The very mild carbonic acid in soda certainly won't effect it.
    The stomach's pH varies between about 1.5-6 depending on the HCl production and presence of food, though it's concentration (HCl's that is) usually produces a pH of around 2. I agree that it shouldn't effect digestion in the purest sense, i.e. breakdown of food macromolecules into their absorbable constituents. It might effect the digestion process via hormonal signaling or microbiome changes- though I haven't seen convincing data here from a clinical standpoint.

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    I am one of those people who drinks 4-6liters of diet soda a day. I don't see any evidence of the increased sugar/carb cravings. I've never been into sweets or carbs, and I drank the same amount of diet soda when I was on ultra low carb diets. I'd it made it easier to comply, as at least I could still have something I enjoyed.

    I'm glad to see dental health mentioned, because that is something that I have definitely seen, but very few people seem to care about.

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    In an effort to stay brief I'm cutting too many corners - sorry!

    In the populations that display a reaction to diet soda that causes a hunger spike and a craving/desire for more carbs, does this reaction have metabolic consequences? In my own reading I haven't been able to find out.

    Is it the body actually producing more insulin, because it thinks you've consumed sugar, and if so does it cause a drop in blood sugar? I would assume that with an actual metabolic response like that (if that's the right lingo to use) that a person in that situation couldn't just ignore the desire to eat and would have to, or risk facing tangible negative consequences (i.e. low blood sugar, in this case, and possibly eventual insulin resistance?). Not sure I understand the whole mechanism very well.

    If there aren't any metabolic consequences, I would assume the person could just ignore the hunger sensation and stick to the macros with sufficient willpower - meaning that even though they felt hungry, that sensation of hunger would be the extent of negative consequences they'd experience if they chose to ignore it.

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    Quote Originally Posted by incongruouserudite View Post
    In an effort to stay brief I'm cutting too many corners - sorry!

    In the populations that display a reaction to diet soda that causes a hunger spike and a craving/desire for more carbs, does this reaction have metabolic consequences? In my own reading I haven't been able to find out.
    What do you mean by "metabolic consequences"?

    Is it the body actually producing more insulin, because it thinks you've consumed sugar, and if so does it cause a drop in blood sugar? I would assume that with an actual metabolic response like that (if that's the right lingo to use) that a person in that situation couldn't just ignore the desire to eat and would have to, or risk facing tangible negative consequences (i.e. low blood sugar, in this case, and possibly eventual insulin resistance?). Not sure I understand the whole mechanism very well.
    Every time you eat, think of eating, or smell food...insulin gets released (even if you don't eat carbs). If enough insulin gets released, blood sugar will go down a little bit but be stabilied by compensatory mechanisms, i.e. glycogenolysis in the liver.

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