Thursday, June 13, 2013

Regular or Diet Soda

Neither is best. However, sometimes you just need one! I have read a ridiculous amount of studies on the subject over the years. I have drank only regular, only diet, a combination of the two, sworn them off at times...everything you can think of. I love Wild Cherry Pepsi and Diet Dr Pepper. And I mean, I am pretty sure it is illegal to consume Mexican food without a Diet Coke. Like, it is a law or something.



Regular Soda is full of sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and other crap that isn't great for you. The sugar alone not only adds weight, but is bad for your teeth. Not to mention the amount of calories in a can! It also contains phosphates, which is shown to be bad for your bones.



Diet Soda, while calorie free, comes at a price as well. Studies are showing more and more that artificial sweeteners are not good for you. There are all kinds of reports on the adverse effects that it has to your health. While diet soda is easier on your teeth, what else is it doing? There have been many studies that show while diet soda has zero calories, it may have you craving sweets or think that it is OK to have sweets or a cookie since you are saving calories on your drink. There were also studies done that link diet soft drinks to cancer, coronary heart issues and more.

Which do you prefer if you are going to have one?

At the end of the day, it is always best to drink water. Everything is OK in moderation, so if you have a soda or diet soda every once in awhile and not daily or several a day...then you should be OK. I try to look at them as a treat, and only indulge at certain times. There have been times in my life where I have gone months without consuming them, and I would like to get back there again. 

Green teas and black teas are a great alternative, as long as you leave out the sweeteners. Teas have antioxidants which is great for your body. The antioxidants in tea have been know to fight off certain types of cancers, protect against degenerative and cardiovascular diseases, fight free radicals, lowers the risk of metabolic syndrome and much more!  Green tea has been known to help you burn fat in your body and improve bone mineral density and strength as well as help brain health. I used to have a goal to drink at least 3 cups of tea a day, and I need to work that back in to my diet. Why wouldn't you drink something that is so good for your body?



3 comments:

  1. I usually have diet soda, but there are some times when I just want a regular one. I know there are studies about soda being bad, but I also wonder why people drank sodas and ate "bad" foods for years, without anything happening to them.
    (It was probably the fact that more people went out and did things instead of playing around the Internet for 8 hours a day).
    Coke Zero and Vanilla Coke Zero are my favorite diet sodas.

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