I am unreasonable with what I drink...

[Blondequeenie]

For the past few weeks, I have been pretty un-well, always have a very sore headache, around the eye and the nose and this is also impacted with my endometriosis.

My husband tells me that I am not helping myself by drinking so much sprite, Fanta or coke-zero per day. I used to drink Coke Zero but switched to sprite because of the no caffeine but my husband thinks I should not drink any of these drinks unless I am out for dinner. I need to be honest and say I consume around 2 litres per day of sprite, very little water apart from at night and I do not drink alcohol.

Could my husband have a point?

He says I should drink only water but that seems crazy to me as I always have a sprite with my dinner or lunch. What do you all drink?

Moderation is the key to everything.
Try reducing your intake to 1 litre per day, OP. That's 2 pints a day. Maybe you can dilute half a glass of sprite with water- my DH does this with his coke.

I really like sparkling water. You can try this with some freshly squeezed lemon or orange. Sometimes I add orange squash or cordial.

I used to drink as much as that when a lot younger, then couldn’t afford it and switched to sparkling water years ago instead...then just tap water..,still 2l generally. I also have around eight cups of tea a day, often more.
Do you have a good diet food wise? Much processed food? It could all build up I suppose, the artificial stuff.

I was going to say it can’t be doing much for your weight!! I would say dropping fizzy drinks from your diet will help (as Will exercise) but the biggest thing you can do is change what you eat.
Carbs (like white pasta) and processed things will negatively impact you (especially if eaten to excess) Protein will help you stay fuller for longer.
If you want to get your 5 a day you are better eating raw fruits than something like a smoothie.

You are definitely over consuming your sprite

Do you think that this drinking of sprite etc is impacting my weight?

2 litres of Sprite is 840 kcal. You can eat very little after that per day if you want to lose weight.

That amount of fizzy but the little amount of water you drink has got to be a part of the headaches- its really bad for you! Even the zero drinks are full of crap to make up for the zero sugar. Your body need good ole' water and fizzy drinks can dehydrate you which can cause headaches.

My DH and I always have bottles of sparkling water in the house. It gives you that nice "fizzy" drink but it is the exact same as still water in regards to the health benefits and hydration. Sometimes we will add a little squash to it and it seems like a sugary fizzy drink but much better for you. Maybe something you could consider?

I agree with another poster about the link to artificial sweetners and how it messes with the brain and insulin response. Is it diet sprite or "full fat"? The full fat will definatley be impacting on weight! Its not a normal amount of fizzy pop everyday.

The fizzy juice will definitely be impacting your weight! I think you will see a drastic difference when you cut it out! The weight will fall off you.

How on earth do you have any enamel left on your teeth? I stopped drinking fizzy drinks it my early teens as my dentist warned that if I continued then I would have no enamel on my teeth by adulthood. I didn’t even drink fizzy drinks that often!

I drink sugar free diluted juice. I would prefer to swap to water but have an indwelling catheter and need to consume a LOT of liquids and would struggle to consume the large quantities of water I need without the flavour of diluted juice.

I drink at least 1.5 litres of water a day (usually with elderflower or passion fruit cordial), 1 x 300ml can of coke and 1-2 glasses of white wine..

I believe there's now evidence that sweeteners trigger your insulin response like sugar does, so it can still affect your weight.

Nutribollox. Do you have any idea what insulin is and what it does?!?!?

I used to drink a fair bit of Diet Coke / Pepsi Max on the basis it has little to no sugar. Some of the rubbish in these drinks (chemicals to make it fizz, chemicals to colour it black, chemicals to sweeten it) means it's common sense to think they aren't great for you.
I pretty sure there's research somewhere relating to some of the sweeteners being addictive.

I suffer migraines regularly and found that switching almost exclusively to water helps in all sorts of ways - less headaches / migraines, better skin, more energy, better regulated appetite.

What works for me now is to have the odd fizzy drink as a treat - I have a can of Diet Coke in the fridge at home today which I can have as long as I've drunk 1.5ltr of water before then. I'll probably have it with my tea.

If I were you I would switch to water with the odd glass of sugar feee squash to change things. Go cold turkey on fizzy drinks for a week or so then introduce them back in but not every day / in large quantities.

Also - Don't listen to everything your DH says unless he is an expert - do some research, you'll be surprised by what you find!

I agree with another poster about the link to artificial sweetners and how it messes with the brain and insulin response.

Really? Please cite the evidence - Pubmed articles only please.

God id feel awful drinking that much fizzy stuff. I only drink water but I love it (only thing that truly quenches my thirst!)

@OwlBeThere

My DH does have the odd coffee but usually he just drinks water if I am honest! With meals he never complains if there is no juice in the house.

@Toooldtocareanymore

So it depends on the price in the supermarket. For example, sometimes the Sprite Zero cans are on sale and I get that but other times when thats full price, I get the sprite full fat and drink that. Most times over the last 6 months I have drank a lot of full-fat Fanta and sprite but before last August, I drank mostly coke-zero.

thats an awful lot of sugar!

I drink tea or water, weekend I’ll have a Prosecco or 2. I’ve never drank fizzy drinks though even as a teenager I hated how gassy they are. I couldn’t imagine drinking that much, your teeth must be a state being constantly exposed to such acidic drinks?

FranklySonImTheGaffer

Thank you for your detailed response, I am going to do what you suggested with the cold turkey!

My husband actually has a degree in food bioscience so he learned all of this in uni and always complains to me about what I eat and drink! Lol.

I drink about 5+ glasses of water throughout the day. And 1-2 cups of coffee.

On weekends I might have wine or beer.

I don't like drink sweet drinks at all. When people have accidentally put sugar in my coffee I always get a shock and spit it out. I like sweet food but can't stomach the concentrated sugar in drinks for some reason.

Have you tried putting ice in water to help make it more interesting to drink?

It's also your teeth you have to consider. The fizzy drinks aren't great for enamel, even the zero ones!

Even lime cordial has a lot of sugar in it and I've never seen a sugar free version (although it may well exist). Just stick to water. We have a soda stream for making fizzy water which is a cheap way of doing it as well.

Mostly water, with maybe 3 cans of classic coke a week. I don't drink tea or coffee (don't like either) and I find squash causes migraines.
I would imagine you would need cut down on the fizzy drinks gradually rather than cutting them out in one go. Maybe have a Google as to how best to do it.

All that fizz will be horrendous for your teeth whether diet versions or not.

I hate to be the one to say it, but you should go to the chemist and ask them to test you for T2 diabetes. Headaches were the symptom that finally made me go and get checked out (I was drinking lots and that’s a sign too).

It’s only a tiny finger prick, so it would pay to know or rule it out.

I have 1-2 lattes/cortados a day, the occasional cup of tea (no more than 20 in a year I’d say). I have never really drunk soft drinks, only occasionally as mixers. When I was a child I sometimes had ribenna, but it was so weak everyone else thought it was disgusting 🤣 Juice - I don’t really drink it because it has too much sugar in it and none of the fibre that fruit has. Occasionally I will have a glass of juice, I’d say less than 10x a year. I do drink alcohol, the quantity varies 🤣

I drink water because I like it, but it has to be really really cold, I’m mega fussy about it. I drink probably 3 litre a day. It should be more for my height and weight.

Drinking water is good for weight loss.

If you want to knock the pop habit and lose some weight, get yourself on BIWI’s Bootcamp, the next one starts on the 13th but there’s a current between thread & plenty of posters around.

Sugar is awful for you and sweetness aren’t any better. Ditch the pop! 🌷

I drink water or green tea.
I'm sure I read somewhere that carbonated drinks can deplete calcium in your body.

Regardless, 2 litres a week seems an awful lot.
Even a can (330ml) a day seems a lot - that adds up to 2.3 litres a week and you're having 2 litres a day !
I let my son have 1 can of coke a week (cruel mother alert)

I drink pretty much nothing but Dr Pepper....I know its bad for me but I struggle with still drinks/water

Hi OP. The Sprite - 2 litres - has over 800 calories so that will be contributing to any weight issues. A good way to cut back would be to move to cans and start to cut down, with a view to getting down to maybe one a day or something. I'd experiment with making iced teas. I got myself a T2 Tea Maker and have been making my own. For context, I'm a recovering alcoholic though and when I first got sober I was drinking A LOT of soda/fizzy drinks - easily more than you are. My body was still craving the sugar I think. For a long time I thought, "who cares -at least it's not vodka!" but then I gradually cut down. I still drink a lot of coffee and loads of tea now. I wouldn't worry about it too much - just make a cunning plan now to cut down your Sprite consumption gradually. You'll find you lose weight slowly as you do each month and I bet your headaches might start to clear, especially if you up for water consumption at the same time.