Menopause and diet coke

[LeicesterIntheMorning]

I seem to have become addicted to a daily fix of caffeine free diet coke, so for months now I have been drinking one can a day, sometimes two. Even though it's diet, I wonder if it's contributing to me finding it impossible to lose weight. Has anyone found this, and how do you manage these cravings? Cold turkey?

Hi I find it addictive and this worries me. I've also noticed my teen son is a bit over fond of it as well. I don't see how it could prevent weight loss because it's zero calories but I have also heard that artificial sweetener can affect your endocrine system. Im going to try and get it out of my life.

There are issues with aspartame, the sweetener used in Diet Coke, but there are also lots of overhyped scare stories about it, so don't bother Googling.
There has been some research indicating that diet drinks in general (and not just Diet Coke) increase your appetite. I'm very sceptical about this, at least I don't find they have this effect on me and I'm not sure there are that many studies or that the causal link has been proven.
I also crave this and have it about once a day, but as addictions go, I don't think it's the worst and have decided to allow myself some simple pleasures in life.

I finally found a nutritionist break down the claims about diet coke and it seems the only one that's true is that fizzy drinks can damage your teeth, the rest of the claims are based on the fact that a study by the sugar industry in South Africa said that aspartame was worse for you than sugar, but that study was based on a very small sample and did not follow guidelines for scientific studies, so no blind trials and the people who took part were told what the study was for .

As I'm low carb, I'm interested in the science of this type of weight loss, and I looked in to the whole insulin response issue.

Diet coke will be making the weight loss harder yes because the sweetener in diet coke is not one of the sweeteners that doesn't provoke an insulin response. Double negatives there! let me try again, diet coke does still provoke an insulin response.

So even though you may not have eaten anything, the insulin is sending a message to your fat cells, store this energy! (ie, store fat).

I've gone off diet coke now. I drink litres of sparkling water now which is better I hope.

I totally understand the mentality of life's small pleasures though. So I didn't kick my diet coke habit easily. There's nothing like a cold diet coke from the back of the fridge and not promising i'll never have another!

I used to go through loads of it, I actually found it made me more thirsty! I started to have a pint of water every time I had a can and eventually weaned myself off it. Now if I have a craving for it I have the full fat and caffeine version and i never find myself wanting a second can and I only get that craving once a month or so when I’m particularly tired (hungover) so I figure one “proper” coke per month isn’t as bad as multiple cans of Diet Coke per day .

"So even though you may not have eaten anything, the insulin is sending a message to your fat cells, store this energy! (ie, store fat)."

But as you're low carb, you presumably believe all carbs are a problem, which we don't all believe (for non-diabetics).

I went cold turkey!

Really unsure what point you are making there @Gwenhwyfar.

Carbs do provoke a higher insulin response that fat/protein, but the relevant part of the OP's question is that the sweetener in diet coke is not one of the ones that would avoid an insulin response.

You understand that insulin signals fat cells to mop up blood glucose to be stored as fat.

If you have diabetes, do what your gp tells you, but is your gp telling you that it's fine to drink diet coke??

I went cold turkey and had a headache for days. The biggest change that I noticed was that the dark circles under my eyes cleared up. I was only having one can a day but I really craved that one can at the same time every day.

I’m fond of a Diet Coke but try to limit as I do t believe in sweeteners really. However I find the fizzy bite just right sometimes and a 330ml can isn’t much. I saw a programme where an Oxford Uni scientist boiled Coke and Diet Coke and nothing was left of the Diet Coke showing it was flavoured water.

Sparkling water does give me the fizzy bite I crave .

Can’t help with your cravings but really a can of caffeine-free Diet Coke a day - you could do far worse. I wouldn’t worry.

I came across this article tonight that clarifies the glucose effect (or lack of). This is the abstract.
The not losing weight is not the Diet Coke. As regards giving it up? If it brings a little joy into your day, stress not about it.

@BruiserWoods

Really unsure what point you are making there *@Gwenhwyfar*.

Carbs do provoke a higher insulin response that fat/protein, but the relevant part of the OP's question is that the sweetener in diet coke is not one of the ones that would avoid an insulin response.

You understand that insulin signals fat cells to mop up blood glucose to be stored as fat.

If you have diabetes, do what your gp tells you, but is your gp telling you that it's fine to drink diet coke??

My point was that you're going on about carbs and insulin whereas that's not a problem for many people who are neither diabetic nor avoiding carbs.

"As regards giving it up? If it brings a little joy into your day, stress not about it."

This is how I feel and I drink the caffeinated stuff. There's no way I could find the decaf type every day.

I drink about 2/3 Diet Cokes in a day, I get a really dry mouth and throat from medication and it's the only thing that helps. I did give it up for 6 weeks once but didn't notice any difference in weight/appetite/ appearance so started it again. I bloody love it.

I was addicted to Diet Pepsi. I would be in shavasna in yoga resting and all I could think about was going home and having a can or two. I've since stopped but it never had an effect on my appetite or weight.

The OP asked if it could inhibit weight loss and the answer is yes it potentially could. Not really relevant that not everyone subscribes to low carb as an appropriate way of eating.

@gwenhwyfar, i wasnt "going on about it"

I mentioned the body reacts to that sweetener as though it were (some) sugar.

This is relevant.

You had some sort of knee jerk reaction to the word low carb. 🧐

@Cocolapew

I drink about 2/3 Diet Cokes in a day, I get a really dry mouth and throat from medication and it's the only thing that helps. I did give it up for 6 weeks once but didn't notice any difference in weight/appetite/ appearance so started it again. I bloody love it.

Biotene mouthwash is far more effective for dry mouth than diet coke ever will be

Anyway, OP, diet coke (and all diet fizzy drinks) will hinder weight loss.

I used to love diet drinks! Drank so many of them.

I honestly can't remember what stopped me. It was possibly when my dcs were small and I couldn't drink them in front of them without being hounded for a sip! Now I don't drink them at all. Literally cannot remember the last time I had one.

Not sure it had much bearing on my weight tbh...but I don't feel as if they're very healthy, which is terribly scientific, I'm sure you'll agree

I do drink fizzy water. I'm taking a break from alcohol at the moment, so my treat drinks are usually Belvoir cordial and fizzy water or sometimes those fake gins and tonic.

How do diet soda drinks hinder weight loss?

It’s something to do with the brain’s reaction to sensing something sweet even though it’s artificial.