So I gave up drinking soda after being a fat guy for 10 years...

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

If you ask enough people, everything is bad for you in some way. At least diet soda won't pack on the calories.

Really wasn't about the calories. I just wanted to cut down on the sugar and other crap I was putting into my body at an alarming rate (queue dick jokes). I've never liked the taste of diet soda, and I'm not huge on the idea of replacing the sugar with things like aspartame. Doesnt feel like a good compromise.

 

[Rusty]

I've basically been drinking at least a bottle of soda most days since junior high, when I started making money and had access to vending machines. But since I have a pretty decent desire to live past 35, I decided to cut it out of my diet, after more than 10 years of consuming probably a metric ton of sugar.

Holy shit. For the first three days I could not control my emotions. I didn't understand what was happening. I was totally fine one minute, then the next I wanted to murder the mail man for getting my package slightly damp in the POURING RAIN. Like, the things that set me off weren't even remotely logical, or things that I would normally be even vaguely upset about.

At first I thought maybe it was just some new form of anxiety, which I have had major issues with in the past, and have mostly dealt with in a healthy, productive way. Then I realized, I'm basically taking a major chemical - sugar - that I've been literally pouring into myself at a rate of at least a liter of soda per day, and completely cut it out of my system. I talked to my doctor this week about an unrelated issue, and mentioned it to him; he said I was lucky I didn't hurt myself altering my blood sugar that drastically. Kind of melodramatic, IMO, but it's nice to know I wasn't just crazy.

It's been two weeks now, and I'm more or less sane. The pros are that I have less trouble sleeping, can wake up and function almost immediately (instead of needing an hour to "wake up"), and I feel much healthier. My metabolism seems to be working better, I'm actually losing some significant weight in just two weeks. The blood pressure issues I was having are almost non-existent.

The cons are that I'm still REALLY tired about mid-day. If I wake up at 8AM, by about 2PM I'm ready to fall asleep. I try and drink a cup of coffee to stay away, but I think it's just going to take a few more weeks of being constantly exhausted to get my body used to having normal sugar levels.

SO....long story short, if you're like me and drink way too much soda/sugary beverages every day, I highly encourage cutting it out altogether. It's such a dumb reason to be slowly killing yourself.

Good on you, I completely agree.

I've never been a big guy but ever since I stopped drinking soft drinks on a daily basis I feel so much better, both mentally and physically. It's almost like an addiction, your body needs the sugar rush and temporary energy boost after a while. The only thing I really drink these days during the day is water and coffee (another addiction but one that makes you feel less shit, in my opinion).

Plus, soft drinks dehydrate you like fuck, and you end up drinking more. I used to work with a guy that would drink at least 1.5 litres of cola every shift, and I was disgusted.

If you're gonna kill yourself then at least look cool doing it, like smoking cigars or something.

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

Diet or regular is like choosing whether you want to die slowly or slightly less slowly.

I went with slightly less, but I have cut down on my Coca Cola intake a lot.

 

[Slyfox696]

Then restrict your questioning to people who have the slightest clue what the are talking about.

I thought it would be far better to ask the question to the person who was trying to make the decision.

Drinking diet soda for health reasons is not dissimilar to switching from crack to powder cocaine because you want to live longer. Technically an improvement, but one that rather misses the greater point.

The point was to cut out the massive intake of sugar into his body, simple sugars which are essentially empty calories. But it's obvious he enjoyed soda, so if he could generally wean himself off the 170 calorie cans of Mountain Dew, and substitute it with a calorie free soda, he could still get the taste (and apparently the caffeine) he wanted while cutting out a substance which was leading to a substantial increase in his daily caloric intake.

Obviously diet soda comes with its own share of problems (as does any substance we put in our body), but, as I said, since everything is already bad for you (if you ask enough people), if you can still get the same basic enjoyment you got from regular soda minus the calories which directly lead to weight gain, then it's a win.

It's also got the most chemicals in it....

Depends what you're comparing.

Really wasn't about the calories. I just wanted to cut down on the sugar and other crap I was putting into my body at an alarming rate (queue dick jokes). I've never liked the taste of diet soda, and I'm not huge on the idea of replacing the sugar with things like aspartame. Doesnt feel like a good compromise.

That's understandable. And there's certainly nothing wrong with cutting all soda from your diet. But you mention drinking coffee in the middle of the day to get a shot of caffeine, so my thinking would be to just drink a diet soda, if you do enjoy them. I've become a huge fan of Mello Yello Zero...so good.

Diet or regular is like choosing whether you want to die slowly or slightly less slowly.

Despite what too many people seem to think, there are a lot of factors which go into how long one lives.

 

[ABMorales787]

From my understanding, regular coffee is worse than diet soda.

 

[Alastor]

Plain water is the best. I usually avoid sodas unless eating fast food. I used to sub for green tea in the past and then I realize there was actually no difference for health reasons and McDonalds and the likes are charging more for that illusion.

The usual bottled/canned tea at fast food chains from those beverage companies are usually just another sweetener water. I drank a few non-sugar tea under the same brand and it tasted totally different.

 

[Rusty]

Personally, I think most diet soda's taste like crap. If you're gonna have soda you might as well go all the way. Or don't have it at all.

 

[Tastycles]

I gave up fizzy drinks at the start of the school year. For about 3 days I was sweating and shaking loads and had migraines from caffeine withdrawal, but since then it's been ok.

 

[Dirk]

Personally, I think most diet soda's taste like crap. If you're gonna have soda you might as well go all the way. Or don't have it at all.

Like raw-dogging it, amirite?

 

[Akhilleus]

I've been trying to cut down on the soda. I don't drink nearly as much because I don't buy it from the store anymore. Mostly powerade and water is all I drink.

When I'm at school though it gets tough. Usually I get pink lemonade but every now and then it quits on me and squirts out water. So I usually end up getting rootbeer in my cup instead because all they have available is pink lemonade, water, and a variety of soda.

Since I'm all CM Punk and don't drink alcohol, I kinda consider soda my alcohol. If it's Christmas or something, or I'm a party I'll usually drink a few glasses and have a good time.

I've cut down pretty good though in the last couple of years. I think I only drink about two or three glasses a week. And even then it's usually like Ginger Ale or something. I try to stay away from Mountain Dew, but sometimes I can't resist it when I see a bottle of code red. That shit's delicious.

 

[Rusty]

Like raw-dogging it, amirite?

Correct you are

 

[The Butcher]

Like raw-dogging it, amirite?

Raw dogging is the bomb. I do it every Monday night.

 

[ExplicitMoxViolence]

I've cut down. Cutting down, that's probably it for me.