To stop my daughter drinking Coke Zero

[MumsForPresident]

Hi all so I just need some advice. My DD who's 14 (in my opinion) drinks way too much Coke Zero. She spends about a £1.15 every day (sometimes gets 2 bottles) on a 500ml bottle of coke. I personally think this is far too much and she needs to stop because of all the negative impacts and the potential risk of type 2 Diabetes.

She disagrees with me and says it's only 500ml (sometimes 1l) of coke a day but I still think it's too much as she doesn't drink water until the weekend and even then she is still drinking coke. We have stopped buying it but she still brings into the house. To be fair, she does have a pretty healthy diet, it's just the coke that worries me

Am I being unreasonable to think that she needs to change her choice of drink and become more healthy?

YANBU-so bad for you, plus the plastic bottle waste. Maybe show what happens if you leave some dirty coins in Coke overnight… and tell her that’s what she’s putting in her body

she doesn't drink water until the weekend

Is she just having 500-1l of Diet Coke a day and nothing else in the week?!

You can't control them at 14 ... just be thankful it's not cider in the park, or worse.

Tell her your worries, but ultimately it's up to her. You can't keep tabs on her 24/7.

I think you need to let go of this one. She’s 14 not 4 and has the means to buy her own drinks, not to mention the bodily autonomy to decide what she drinks.

Doesn’t sound great to me op but I’m not keen on fizzy drinks often anyway

The dc have water most of the time, they’re fine with it

A 14 year old who won’t listen to her parent…… hmm, how unusual 🤣. Seriously @MumsForPresident you need to pick your battles.

Another diet coke (fizzy drinks generally tbh) addict here - what worked for me in cutting down was slowly reducing the size I bought, so I used to be full guns blazing with a 1.25l bottle a day, and over time went to 500ml, 330ml etc and now I try to only buy the 250ml cans when possible. The tiny mini 150ml ones are a bit too small for me, but 250ml once a day is now ok. Can you start by explaining that you don't want to stop her completely but a reduction in volume over the next few weeks would make you more comfortable?

A low calorie fizzy drink isn't the hill I'd choose to die on.

A bottle of coke a day is hardly going to give a healthy teenager kidney failure, JFC. Did no one else grow up amongst vending machines of coke at school, queuing to use the kettle for your Pot Noodle, and then sneaking to the bushes to smoke?

She probably quite enjoys her daily treat, it feels nice as a teen mooching to the shop with your mates and all getting your own stuff. Get her a nice water bottle to have as well, and let her be.

I drink copious amounts of Diet Coke/Coke Zero. There are many people who will suggest that the artificial sweetener is “bad “ for you but in my opinion the main impact is it is very corrosive to tooth enamel. I once gave it up for 6 months but the dentist said she couldn’t see any difference so I went back on it. At my peak I was probably drinking 1.5 litres a day (I know!) I now have around 2 cans a day so just over 0.5 litres but it does vary. If she likes a sweet taste could you get her to drink cordial - at least there would be a high water content in that. But realistically at 14 how much longer do you think you can control what she eats and drinks? Say your piece and step back is my advice (and thank your lucky stars it’s just cola)

Coke Zero won’t cause type 2 diabetes. At that age she will just drink it and hide it from you. Maybe buy some flavoured waters to encourage more water

Give her the budget for 1 per day and then let her know if she saves it, she'll have £20(+?) per month to spend on whatever she likes?

We bought a soda stream which is handy. DS is a fizzy drink obsessive and has fizzy water in an air up bottle with cola flavour pod and likes that (expensive though 🙄).

Yeah it's not great, but it's not going to ruin her health. It's still water-based (granted drinking plain water is better for you). But it's not smoking, or drinking alcohol, or taking drugs, or even sugar-packed junk food. If that's her only vice (and it's the vice of many an adult, me included), then I would let it slide. Keep not buying it but don't comment on her having it; that takes the glamour out of it. As a side note I was brought up only have fizzy drinks at Christmsa and on my birthday, and still have multiple fillings thanks to having weak teeth. I now buy Pepsi Max and Diet coke for myself, drink it every day (along with lots of sparkling water), and have not had to have a filling for years due to extreme care brushing and flossing. Diet drinks aren't going to rot her teeth.

I thought Coke Zero had no sugar or caffeine, unlike diet Coke which has caffeine in it. It's not great to have fizzy drinks all the time, but other than that I wouldn't have thought Coke Zero would do any damage.

The gold cans don't have caffeine but the other versions do. 1 litre of Coke Zero has roughly the same amount of caffeine as a mug of coffee (and way less than energy drinks).

Honestly I don't think this is a big deal, at least it's coke zero and not full fat. Not ideal but I don't think it's as unhealthy as you think.

I still don’t listen to my parents and I’m 53 😀

Seriously get over it. Saying ‘she doesn’t listen’ makes you sound like an ogre. She’s 14 not 4 and what she eats and deinks should be her choice.

The artificial sweeteners aren't good for you. I cut out diet fizzy drinks a couple of years ago, and did feel physically better for it. Nowadays I have them very occasionally when I'm out but I don't keep them in the house.

Having said that, it's far from the worst thing your DD could be consuming. Perhaps encourage her to look into the health effects of artificial sweeteners for herself, and then leave her to make an informed decision.

I was addicted to diet coke for years and the sweetener 'aspartame' in it made me extremely ill - I honestly think sugar is preferable to this. Unfortunately, they put it in everything, even non-diet drinks, and it's difficult to find drinks that don't contain it these days. It's possible to find fizzy diet drinks with more natural sweeteners, but whether your daughter would want to drink those instead is another matter of course.

Watered down fruit juice twice a year 😂 fucking hell

Not a battle worth fighting imo. Very few 14yo care about long-term health impacts. As 50 is "soooo old", they really don't care about how healthy they'll be by that age! The immediate considerations (eg if her teeth were off colour or it made her smell) are much more impactful.

More importantly, you and DH really do need to come to a compromise over what boundaries and freedom she is allowed. You sound overly controlling (at 14 she should be allowed to choose what perfectly legal food and drink to consume or spend her pocket money on) but your DH on the permissive side (would he stop her pocket money if she started buying alcohol, for instance, or vaping? Or does is being liked by DD more important?). Between the two of you, you should be able to come up with a middle ground which is reasonable.

Pure fruit juice significantly diluted with sparkling water is not a bad substitute - I do about 1/4 fruit juice to water to keep the sugar down.

OP can you say what you think the problem with Coke Zero is, other than the artificial sweetener? There's no sugar and not that much caffeine so....?

The bad influence boyfriend would be a far far far bigger concern to be honest. Please make sure she has contraception sorted.

But diet or zero drinks are still acidic and erode tooth enamel.