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?

Acid in fizzy drinks damages the enamel.

OP there is a really delicious cola drink from planet organic that tastes very similar. It’s natural and has some sugar but nothing artificial. I drank that when pregnant and wanted a ‘coke’ with no caffeine. Maybe she could have one of those a day as a weaning substitute?

Why aren’t you worried about sweeteners?

https://superfood-market.com/products/calqd-whole-earth-cola-organic-1x-330ml?variant=42518311600289&gclid=Cj0KCQjwyLGjBhDKARIsAFRNgW87lVu3_-NFz_1rRBKSoWuJiB5_rikZBdbnA-cZw9nhAeFyvqDvlIEaAj3KEALw_wcB

this is the one!

Pick your battles

Air up bottles do a coke 'flavour' so you could try that as a compromise.

The sugar content is only part of the problem. Fizzy drinks are acidic and erode your teeth. Even fizzy water can damage your teeth.

I'm not a precious parent! They probably have far too much junk food and beige food for others! They have both just been given water from babies and stuck with it.

Kids don't really need flavoured drinks, like they don't need junk food to be honest.

Its very addictive. I have at least 1 litre diet coke a day, and have for probably 25-30 years. My DH tells me how bad it is on a very regular basis but it's a hard habit to break

And less caffeine than diet coke.

Have reported. There is no evidence that Coke causes birth defects (there are issues with excessive caffeine in pregnancy but this is different) and that could be extremely difficult to read for someone who has had adverse outcome in pregnancy. Totally irresponsible.

OP I’m afraid you are past the age with your dd where you can control these kind of purchases. Don’t have it at home if you don’t like it obviously but I feel there are bigger things to worry about. Incidentally I have a Diet Coke habit (post children and needing the caffeine!) and am
otherwise very healthy, normal weight and minimal sugar in diet.

That drink contains 9.6g of sugar per 100ml. That’s 32g of sugar in one can!

That’s the equivalent of 8 teaspoons full of sugar.

Threads like these explain why we have an obesity and health crisis in this country. People seem totally incapable of making healthy decisions based on the information readily at hand.

It's the caffeine.

If you drink coffee you probably would drink less coke of any type.

Did you listen to your mum at 14.

My mother definitely lost this battle with me!

In the kindest way, you need to get a grip.

It's a bottle of sugar-free coke. That's it.

Your DD is only 14. There will be plenty more things she "doesn't listen" about before she becomes a reasonable adult. I had the same problem with my youngest (also a DD) at a similar age. It will pass, and there's not an awful lot you can do about it meanwhile, beyond reminding her that huge quantities of artificial sweetener are not good for you. Not that she will listen or care.

Jesus Christ. You need to stop.

@OhhhhhhhhBiscuits

That's a really good strategy, it's good parenting. Bizarrely it back fired with me as I was made to drink water throughout childhood, and I now cannot drink water except to save my life lol.
I only drink sugar free pop - diet coke etc, coffee and sugar free energy drinks.
Trying to do the right thing as a parent must hard lol 😂

It's because sweeteners are "unnatural" and "chemicals" compared to sugar.
🙄

(Sorry I can't help it but lots of people automatically think that salt and sugar are natural and aren't chemicals. )

Thank you for all the posts about tooth enamel 😁. I don’t drink fizzy drinks so hadnt really thought about it in any depth.

I'm just confused how she is buying it. I couldn't afford that every day on drinks myself. £50 a month? Maybe reduce her allowance by that amount?

Don't know how I missed the "bad influence" boyfriend bit, but I'd be a whole lot more concerned about that than about Coke Zero.

And it will still strip her tooth enamel...