I was the biggest Diet Coke addict in the world. My mother packed TAB in my lunch box when I was in grade school. To this day it sickens me when I see parents ordering soft drinks for their toddlers or worse putting it in baby bottles! To be fair, in the 70's, especially overseas, it was easier to find diet soft drinks than it was bottled water sometimes but it certainly hasn't been like that for a long time now. I really believe that part of our childhood obesity epidemic is directly related to soft drink consumption. Have you ever looked up the calories in regular soft drinks? Check out these soda pop facts since super -sizing has come on the scene:
One 12oz. can = 11 teaspoons of sugar & 140-150 calories
One 20 oz bottle = 18 teaspoons of sugar & 250 calories
And what about those self-serve Big, Bigger, Biggest Cups???
One 32oz. "BIG GULP" size cup (no ice) = 29 teaspoons of sugar and & 400 calories
One 44oz. size cup =40 teaspoons of sugar & 550 calories
One 64oz. "DOUBLE BIG GULP" size cup = 59 teaspoons sugar & 800 calories
I am ashamed to admit that for at least 10 years of my life, maybe more, I NEVER drank anything but Diet Coke. No water, no milk, no nothing. I carried one with me everywhere. I took a six pack of 16 oz bottles with me to work (on the bus sometimes) and drank them all during the course of my shift. I realized not to long ago that I haven't been in a convenience store since moving to Alaska over a year ago. I realize this is because I only purchased two things from them, fountain diet cokes and candy.
My surgeon said I had to give it up forever. I have read many books on weight loss surgery (I review many of them here )and most say to give them up for good as they actually stimulate hunger, dehydrate you, and deplete calcium. I also have heard the carbonation (any carbonation) is bad for the pouch. My husband and I both have had to start watching out for gulping air when we eat and drink, it makes both of us very sick, so I am sure the carbonation would feel pretty bad. I know that my addiction was so severe that I can't trust myself to try to even a Diet coke that has lost its fizziness because I would be hooked all over again. Do I miss them? I miss the ease of going through a drive thru and getting one on a hot day but I think of it this way, I shouldn't be in any drive thru's now anyway! Besides, I tried for years to get this surgery and I don't want to do one thing that might mess it up!
New findings are adding to the research suggesting that more than ever before, what and how much we drink may increase calorie intake and weight without our noticing.
The problem of increasing waistlines and obesity in the United States has escalated in the last 30 years. During this time, calorie consumption increased an average of 150 to 300 calories per day, with about half that increase coming from beverages. The variety of calorie-dense beverages and number of soft-drink servings per day both grew. Average soft drink portion size increased more than 50 percent from about 13 ounces to almost 20 ounces.
Several studies peg calories from beverages as one of the causes of increased numbers of overweight and obese people in the United States. Studies suggest that when people consume more calories from beverages, they don’t compensate by eating or drinking less.
One new study, for example, served 33 men and women the same lunch once a week for six weeks with only the beverage type or amount changing each week. Regardless of the type of beverage, people drank more when served 18 ounces than when served 12 ounces. When the amount of calorie-containing cola increased, women’s beverage calories increased by 10 percent and the men’s by 26 percent.
Participants ate the same amount of food independent of the higher amount of calories they drank, leading to an increase in the meal’s total calories. Yet after a higher-calorie meal containing sweetened soft drinks, participants reported no difference in hunger or satisfaction.
Short-term studies — generally one to three days — in which people decrease high-calorie soft drink consumption usually show a decreased total daily calorie consumption. Longer term studies ranging from six months to four years have found an association between drinking less calorie-containing soft drinks and weight loss.
Scientists offer several explanations as to why we may not notice calories from some beverages. A drink’s rapid passage through the mouth provides less time for signals to trigger the brain that you are eating. Compared to beverages, solid food seems to provide more of a feeling of fullness, which signals the brain to stop eating. Thick liquids (like smoothies and shakes) provide considerably more fullness signals than thin liquids, such as soft drinks, fruit drinks and sweetened tea and coffee.
As portion sizes of calorie-dense beverages increase, it is easier to gulp down larger amounts than to eat larger portions of solid foods. Finally, some researchers suggest that there may be a psychological component, too. Many of us consider beverages a separate category that does not “count” in the same way as solid food.
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