Diet Coke - help me settle this argument!

[GreenEyedBlonde]

I love Diet Coke I just absolutely love the stuff. I need to lose around one stone in weight and to do this I'm trying to chill out on the bread and pasta (ie carbs) because this is also a big love of mine.

My Dad is convinced Diet Coke is making me fat and that if I stop guzzling it I'll lose the weight, he thinks even though it says no sugar it is in fact loaded with sugar.

I say no way, they would be sued for millions on false advertising if it contained sugar or made you fat hence why supermodels drink it. Yes it contains substitutes / chemicals that they don't have to advertise and these aren't nutritional or beneficial in any way - but they do not make you fat or cause weight gain.

Who is right?

It's actually better to drink full fat coke as your brain registers that it's receiving sugar so your intake (in theory) is better regulated by your body, although coke is hugely addictive so I would stop drinking it entirely. Diet coke has aspartame in it which has been linked to cancer, we are the only species to consume it, even cockroaches won't ingest the stuff - avoid like the plague OP.

I think there is some research about it triggering insulin, because of the sweet taste, rather than because of the sugar content, and that possibly making obesity and diabetes more likely

I gave up Diet Coke after realising the artificial sweeteners were making me crave sugar even more not to mention every time I drank it I could almost feel my stomach lining burning off. On the odd occasion I do fancy it, I'll have one of those new slim cans of Coke – which bizarrely taste far less sweeter.

Right that's it. I'm giving it up for good this time