Kelly: Why does diet soda cause you to gain weight if it only has 0 calories?
Theo: One possible reason is that the artificial sweeteners in diet sodas create a negative hormonal response in the body that increases fat storing hormone production and increases cravings for more sweets and refined carbohydrates in the time period after consuming the diet drink.
Lately I've been reading more & more studies lately on the effects of artificial sweeteners and one thing that appears clear is that it's not a good idea to try to "fool" your body. Essentially you "fool" your body by drinking something very sweet (sweetened with artificial sweeteners), but you don't actually ingest the sugar calories your body expects. Your body has a hard time knowing how to deal with that.
With artificial sweeteners, your taste buds "sense" that you ingested something very sweet, and even though you might not have ingested sugar, your body follows with an insulin response. As you know, higher insulin levels can increase cravings as well as triggering your body to deposit body fat. This is not to say it's any better to drink a sugar-sweetened soda which has it’s own host of problems.
What I feel is the most common reason for weight gain in people who drink diet soda is that people may subconsciously think that because they are drinking a diet soda, that gives them more leeway to eat more of everything else, hence consuming more calories overall.
The actual cause for weight gain from diet drinks may more likely be some combination of both of those explanations above plus some more factors that have not even been studied yet.
I've said it all along to my clients and my blog followers, and I will continue to say it. The bottom line is that if you're serious about your health and body, soda of any kind (and artificial sweeteners in anything for that matter!) should be avoided at all times, except for very rare occasions when you can't avoid them.
So you may be thinking “what is a good alternative to diet sodas?”
The best alternatives are good old water with lemon, or possibly lime and even mint or unsweetened iced teas... teas offer plenty of options - green, white, black, oolong, red... be creative in making your iced teas and you'll enjoy it more. Plus you'll get a more diverse array of antioxidants.
Try it without any sweetener first or just add a little of the natural non-caloric sweetener stevia like I do to my iced teas and coffees, I love them.
Please share this page with your friends and family to help them kick the diet soda habit.
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Who’s looking out for your health & wellness?
Theo
Theo Tilton NASM CPT, JGSI
Founder, Principal Fitness Coach
“Morristown NJ’s Premier Outdoor 28-Minute Fat Burning Workout!”
Ripped & Sexy Bootcamp® (RSBC)-TLT Mind & Body, LLC - Morristown, NJ 07960
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