How Diet Soda Actually Makes You Fat

Man, does this sound like a lot of crap. “emerging research”?? What is “emerging research”?? Research that isn’t complete yet? Research that hasn’t been verified by anyone?

Questions about Aspartame which is one of the most studied substances ever and we’re supposed to believe “emerging research”?

“Diet soda is 100 percent nutrition-free” So is water, which is his alternative. I wonder how much nutrition tea has, other than being one of the highest sources of caffeine.

People I know have reason to why they don’t drink pop with aspertame. My sister and my mom get headaches when they drink it, my friend doesn’t like it because he feels it leaves chemicals in the body that it cannot deal with (if that’s true or not… meh), but I don’t drink it because I think it tastes like ass.

Bunch of bullflop…. *takes a swig of her diet soda*

Tea has varying degrees of caffeine depending on the type of tea (white tea has very little). The reason it’s hailed for health benefits is its high levels of antioxidants which fight free radicals that speed aging, promote cancer, and a whole slew of other things.

A CNN article I read recently said that Diet Soda’s a bad idea because it’s not real sugar, so it doesn’t fix your body’s sugar cravings. In turn, you eat more and more to find your sugar fix. It makes sense and so does this little bit you posted. Too bad it doesn’t stop my family from guzzling down that ass soda.

Water is polluted, drink wine.

I suspect that the mechanism is as follows: with the first bite/sip of something that tastes like it has calories, the liver signals the pancreas to release a lot of insulin. This clears the glucose out of the blood stream and readies you for more nourishment. This mechanism is clearly understood. It’s why appetizers make you hungrier instead of full.

However, when you drink a diet soda, the same thing happens, then you get hungry because the insulin has worked.

That’s my guess, but I’d like to see some research on it.

For example, here’s some “expert” advice from 2007:

”’ While fighting obesity is complicated, Ludwig said, the first step is clear. “Giving up sugary soda for diet drinks, or water, will cause you to lose weight.” ”’

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/diet.fitness/09/18/kd.liquid.calories/i ndex.html

Even White Tea has a lot of caffeine:

http://www.stashtea.com/caffeine.htm

You can make a case that ANYTHING is bad for you, if you try hard enough. My guess is that the author of this article is being used by the bottled water or tea manufacturers.

It’s all taste association. I think if you drink diet colas by themselves and not eat anything for a couple or few hours (before and after), you’d probably not gain weight. But if you’re stuffing your face with food while chugging down diet dew, you’re gonna get flubby.

diet soda dose make you fat, it happens very slowly and when you try to loose weight it is impossible. i know it happened to me. i gave up the diet soda and i was able to loose weight.
i gave up diet soda about 3 yrs ago for 6 months. i was able to loose 20lbs i could not loose before with a 1000 calorie diet and 1 hour of exercise a day i could not loose 1 pound. after the 6 months of no diet coke, i went back to diet soda. and slowly the weight creep back on, like it did before.
i have proven it with my own body.
its been two years and my diet soda habit has caused me to gain the weight back.
for the record diet soda was not always like this, when they changed the formulas back in the mid to late 90s thats when this happened. diet coke also became less fizzy over this time. its the new sweetners from 96 forward that did it. probably the high fructose corn syrup and stuff like that.
if diet coke went back to the old formulas we would all be slimmer.

As soon as your body tastes something sweet it responds by releasing insulin to deal with the sugar it feels it has consumed. Once no sugar comes down to meet with the insulin the insulin stores itself as fat. So YES diet sodas DO make you gain fat. Scientific proof is everywhere.
Google “cephalic reflex” for more info on what I’ve already said.

Its seems that this article is very misleading, Its saying that diet soda will make you hungry for calorie dense things.

If you think a zero calorie beverage can be stored as fat , I urge you to back to your basic high school biology class.

I have lost 10 pounds drinking a LOT of diet soda every single day. Its also FAT weight not muscle or fluid weight.

Its simple Biology really , calories in verses calories out.

BEHOLD! THE ULTIMATE WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT:

burn more calories than you take in.

AKA: calories burned > calories in.

Heres a quote for you all (Long so brace yourself): ‘Diet Coke, regardless of how many calories it has, wreaks havoc on your fat loss efforts and will ultimately cause you to gain weight. There are two main reasons for the Diet Coke fallacy. First, the sweet taste from Diet Coke elicits an insulin spike, which blocks your ability to burn fat. Second, artificial sweeteners found in Diet Coke disrupt satiety, the feeling of being full. When it comes to losing fat, it is more about how much sugar (or sugar substitute) you consume rather than calories or dietary fat intake. Hence, the goal is to consume as little sugar or sugar substitute as possible (including fruits and their juices). Why? The sweet flavor elicits the release of insulin from the pancreas to enhance the uptake of sugar by the cells so that it doesn’t linger in the bloodstream. Once insulin is released it inhibits your fat burning hormone called HSL (hormone sensitive lipase). This hormone is responsible for releasing fat into the bloodstream to be utilized as fuel. If inhibited, your body is unable to burn fat and will then begin utilizing amino acids (from muscle) and carbohydrates as fuel. This will leave you feeling tired, grumpy, and sloth-like toward the end of the day. Not to mention, you will become abnormally hungry. Those with large amounts of HSL burn fat all day and look thin and slim. Those who inhibit it by eating or drinking the wrong substances grow fat throughout their adult years. When we consume artificial sweeteners we disrupt the body’s ability to count calories based on sweetness. Not able to use mouth feel to count calories, those who drink diet coke will overeat without conscious awareness. In other words, you think you’re not eating like a pig, but in reality you are. Diet Coke is a joke. Stay away from it and other sugar sources if you’re serious about losing fat and keeping it off forever. Regardless of your diet and/or training efforts, the aforementioned ill effects of sugar alternatives and sugar will greatly hinder them.’

Thankyou. (:

Completely agree with this. Stopped drinking my usual big diet coke at lunch for a New Year’s Resolution and my afternoon sugar cravings have completely been reduced.

Wow… lot’s of good responses here and lot’s of vitriol!!!! The harshest of these comments seem to be steeped in falacy that ‘calories’ make you gain fat. If I add 200 calories of fat or 200 calories of starch to my meal, which meal causes me to gain more ‘fat’ or ‘weight’? According to all of you that assume Diet Coke cannot possibly make you gain weight because it has no calories, both of my meal choices should end with the same net result, right? Wrong. Weight gain and adiposity are dependent upon INSULIN, not calorie balance. Back to diet coke: when the body ‘tastes’ something sweet, regardless of whether or not it has sugars or any caloric density whatsoever, there is a cephalic phase insulin response and insulin is secreted, causing the food you are eating to be stored as fat or if you are drinking the soda alone, for much of your blood glucose to be scavenged and stored as fat. With that drop in BG, you get HUNGRY fast and your body is screaming for carbs.

Diet coke most certainly makes you fat. As does Stevia, as does Blue Agave Nectar, as does ANYTHING that adds an overtly sweet tasted to what you eat. You want sweet? eat an apple and some almonds. Slow gastric emptying from the almonds fat, nice fiber to slow down the process as well, and just what nature intended for you to eat. Or you could just eat that near formaldehyde crap in diet coke and stay fat. You make the call.

I know by trial and error, when I stop drinking diet soda I lose bloat after the first week. Whatever the reason, I also find I don’t crave sweets or carbs as much. The truth is in the pudding.

The thing that so many people are ignorant to the fact that diet soda actually does NOT help you lose weight, is pure stupidity… It’s been proven now, and on many Doctor related tv shows, and even my own doctor has said so. It’s not about willpower, which obese people don’t have much of btw, but it’s about your bodies needs and what it will crave due to your body becoming confused.

I’m not going to post anything, but it would do some of you good to listen to what has already been proven as fact. It’s the people that are ignorant to the facts that will remain fat the rest of their lives. So have fun.