Assuming Diet coke is bad: if its cals in vs cal out, why should it matter?

[seifelbadrawy]

The New England Journal of Medicine did a study. And the conclusion was that it doesn't matter what you eat. As long as its calories in vs. calories out. Dieticians adjust macros to control one's hunger and prevent binging. Obviously if you want to maintain muscle you need an optimal amount of protein (but thats beside the point).

I've been doing studying about Diet coke being bad. I am not a Diet Coke addict, but i have one a day at work to help me concentrate. I am cutting and I am the type that needs sugar in my system or I will go insane and get really aggressive and anxious.

So during my study, I learned that diet coke tricks the body into thinking that you just ate something sweet. This increases insulin levels, and your body in return stores glucose from previous food.

But if its calories in vs. calories out, then you'll burn more than you store. Your body is always storing things, thats what it does, right?? Its up to you to burn more than you store, right?

I really need an explanation to how Diet coke biologically caauses weight gain. Besides the fact that it gives you sugar cravings and can make you binge? someone please answer,, because i am sick of bro science that tells you something with caffeine and 0 calories, will slow your metabolism? You store food, but if your on a calorie deficit, you'll end up burning it. Where else will your body get the energy from.. oxygen??

I need some input... thanks..

and please nobody talk about water weight.. The difference between a six pack and a normal stomach, is never water weight. You can go in the sauna and stop drinking diet coke for two days to get rid of that "water weight"..

[Heatmiser]

No.. diet coke is fine. For 30 years guys have been getting ripped to the bone while drinking diet cokes.

I am losing 2-3 lbs per week on my current cut drinking 6 or more diets cokes a day. Diet coke is not going to cause you to gain weight. It provides no energy to your cells. Consume only 50 diet cokes a day and you will not gain any weight The whole aspartame insulin spike thing has not been prove conclusively and mere conjecture. There is research to show that real glucose is needed to release meaningful amounts of insulin. People who drink diet cokes may assume they can eat more regular food to "make up for" the lack of calories. You will often see fat people drink diet coke, but they are not fat because of the diet coke - its the pizza and burgers and fries and chips and cake and everything else they are eating.

Regular coke is a whole another thing. High fructose corn syrup = bad bad bad. Water is healthiest of course, but the evils of diet soda drinks has been way overhyped IMO.

[PBateman2]

Anything in moderation is fine. Diet soda though has many chemicals and artificial ingredients that basically dont have any nutritional value. Much better choices available.

Once you get your physique really fine tuned and start to approach a decent BF%, youre not going to want drink diet soda anyway - IMO. You'll focus on putting things into your body that have the most nutritional value. At least that's my take on it.

[randyrock]

I never understood people bagging on diet drinks when it's in relation to losing fat. I have seen nothing to prove it will be detrimental.

As well as that, this thing about 'tricking the body' into thinking it has eaten something sweet and raising insulin levels...

I have never seen anything to back this up. And I don't understand the premise - how does the body get tricked into thinking something is sweet? Surely the only part of the body which knows whether something is sweet is the mind - and it isn't the mind which digests food and passes them around the body, so I never quite understood the theory behind this. Insulin levels are raised through chemical processes in the body, not the mere taste of something right? - so a sweetener's chemical make-up being different than sugar makes me confused how the body is tricked.

If anyone could expand, I'd appreciate.

[Dominikm]

It has not influenced my losses each weak but if I drink 2 or 3 in a day what I do notice is a pain similar to the growing pains we went through as kids and a very drained foggy head feeling and even headaches.

The headaches are something i've heard others comment on.

But for cals, it work stop fat loss.

[mcspam]

I never understood people bagging on diet drinks when it's in relation to losing fat. I have seen nothing to prove it will be detrimental.

As well as that, this thing about 'tricking the body' into thinking it has eaten something sweet and raising insulin levels...

I have never seen anything to back this up. And I don't understand the premise - how does the body get tricked into thinking something is sweet? Surely the only part of the body which knows whether something is sweet is the mind - and it isn't the mind which digests food and passes them around the body, so I never quite understood the theory behind this. Insulin levels are raised through chemical processes in the body, not the mere taste of something right? - so a sweetener's chemical make-up being different than sugar makes me confused how the body is tricked.

If anyone could expand, I'd appreciate.

I'm no expert here, but I wanna say I remember in my nutrition class that alot of artificial sweetners like splenda when looked at from a molecular level look similiar to the molecules of sugar(upon looking it up, three hydroxyl groups are replaced by 3 chlorine atoms) and the body thinks it is sugar hence sending insulin out, but it is not sugar so it does not bind to it, hence why your body would crave sugary foods after this.

[randyrock]

I'm no expert here, but I wanna say I remember in my nutrition class that alot of artificial sweetners like splenda when looked at from a molecular level look similiar to the molecules of sugar(upon looking it up, three hydroxyl groups are replaced by 3 chlorine atoms) and the body thinks it is sugar hence sending insulin out, but it is not sugar so it does not bind to it, hence why your body would crave sugary foods after this.

Interesting, thanks