Diet soda is fine, and other food truths it's time you believed

[computerwiz]

Just now, Qapla said:

 

Some of these very things I was told to avoid the same as things sweetened with "modern sugar products" because, regardless of the source, all these sugars can lead to diabetes when you are sitting near the fence.

Absolutely!  It depends on your situation.  So if you're diabetic or pre-diabetic, you look at sugar completely differently than "normal" people.  But if you are able to have sugar, whole fruit is the best choice.

[zoebarry]

1 hour ago, Qapla said:

 

Some of these very things I was told to avoid the same as things sweetened with "modern sugar products" because, regardless of the source, all these sugars can lead to diabetes when you are sitting near the fence.

But what most people don’t realize is, even if you don’t consume any fruit or table sugar, if you consume any grains(oats, wheat, rice,etc), potatoes, starches, breads, etc., THE BODY TURNS ALL THAT TO SUGAR. 
 

So if you have diabetes or insulin resistance, you should avoid ALL of those foods also to give your body time to heal. This could take months to years, it’s not impossible.

Edited October 28, 2022 by zoebarry

[computerwiz]

44 minutes ago, zoebarry said:

But what most people don’t realize is, even if you don’t consume any fruit or table sugar, if you consume any grains(oats, wheat, rice,etc), potatoes, starches, breads, etc., THE BODY TURNS ALL THAT TO SUGAR. 
 

So if you have diabetes or insulin resistance, you should avoid ALL of those foods also to give your body time to heal. This could take months to years, it’s not impossible.

[Tortuga]

26 minutes ago, computerwiz said:

Nice beard. When did you grow it?

 

[hatcheckgirl]

3 hours ago, zoebarry said:

But what most people don’t realize is, even if you don’t consume any fruit or table sugar, if you consume any grains(oats, wheat, rice,etc), potatoes, starches, breads, etc., THE BODY TURNS ALL THAT TO SUGAR. 
 

So if you have diabetes or insulin resistance, you should avoid ALL of those foods also to give your body time to heal. This could take months to years, it’s not impossible.

This is a general statement and is true, but, the body actually needs sugar, ie energy, to function.  As diabetics know, our pancreas is not making insulin, or our cells have become insulin resistant, so insulin is not being used by the body to control sugar levels after digestion.  With nowhere to "deposit" the glucose, the body stores it as fat, and sugar plaques stay in the arteries, which can lead to problems with stroke, etc.

 

So, a diet lower, but still having healthy Low GI carbs, is what is recommended by my dietician.  Exercise is the way to keep the body from storing that fat, so you need a multi-prong approach.  You must do this with the supervision of a health professional.  Some fad diets are harmful.  But if we are diligent, we can change our "lifestyles", ie diet and exercise, and reverse type 2 diabetes.  I've managed before to do it.  But menopause and stress has caused it to return.  But, we keep up the fight to stay as healthy as we can now while we endure.

[zoebarry]

2 hours ago, hatcheckgirl said:

This is a general statement and is true, but, the body actually needs sugar, ie energy, to function.  As diabetics know, our pancreas is not making insulin, or our cells have become insulin resistant, so insulin is not being used by the body to control sugar levels after digestion.  With nowhere to "deposit" the glucose, the body stores it as fat, and sugar plaques stay in the arteries, which can lead to problems with stroke, etc.

 

So, a diet lower, but still having healthy Low GI carbs, is what is recommended by my dietician.  Exercise is the way to keep the body from storing that fat, so you need a multi-prong approach.  You must do this with the supervision of a health professional.  Some fad diets are harmful.  But if we are diligent, we can change our "lifestyles", ie diet and exercise, and reverse type 2 diabetes.  I've managed before to do it.  But menopause and stress has caused it to return.  But, we keep up the fight to stay as healthy as we can now while we endure.

That is a common myth, that our bodies “need” sugar.. it DOES NOT…our bodies CAN MAKE whatever glucose it needs, if necessary.

 

It is completely possible to reverse diabetes type 2, without carbs, I’ve seen it done.

 

Intermittent fasting is a tremendous tool.

Edited October 29, 2022 by zoebarry

[hatcheckgirl]

Sorry, my bad. You’re right Zoe. Our bodies make glucose from the carbs we digest. That’s the energy our cells need to function. So fructose from fruit, diet sugars such as sorbitol etc, carbs from vegetables etc get stored as fat if you’re a diabetic. It is important not to do any diet without checking with a certified dietitian or Diabetes Educator. 
 

https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/10-diabetes-diet-myths

 

Edited October 29, 2022 by hatcheckgirl

[Amygdala]

I agree with all your comments. I have heard that myth, too, that people need sugar. Completely false.

But curious, what if a diabetic has severe low blood sugar? Becomes dizzy, slurs in speech and cannot properly function? What would help in such an emergency? 

[Amygdala]

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/coconut-sugar

 

Some interesting info about coconut sugar. If I bake, I refuse to bake sweets for my daughter with normal table sugar. Although pricey, I use coconut sugar instead. My daughter, though, is not pre-diabetic or diabetic as a disclaimer. 

[GeordieGirl]

3 hours ago, hatcheckgirl said:

Sorry, my bad. You’re right Zoe. Our bodies make glucose from the carbs we digest. That’s the energy our cells need to function. So fructose from fruit, diet sugars such as sorbitol etc, carbs from vegetables etc get stored as fat if you’re a diabetic. It is important not to do any diet without checking with a certified dietitian or Diabetes Educator. 
 

https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/10-diabetes-diet-myths

 

When you said our bodies need sugar, I thought you were referring to the fact that our own body converts carbs into the sugar (glucose) it requires, not that we need to eat sugar to sustain our body's need.

This shows me how easy it is to misunderstand the written word. Sometimes even differences in the same language spoken by people from different countries can cause confusion.

 

I am not diabetic or even pre-diabetic but I do have health problems that cause issues with sugar. I use Rice Malt Syrup in coffee and tea which is low GI and I don't ever use cane sugar.  I react very badly to any synthetic sweetner and even to some so called 'natural' sweetners, like Malitol, that companies sneak into foods unsuspectingly and unnecessarily. Like Brittany, I have used coconut sugar in baking which, like the rice malt syrup, is  low GI, or at least lower than cane sugar.

 

I'm sure that Jehovah gave us sugar cane for a reason and in the new world, we will use all of these things as He intended.

[Esined]

6 hours ago, Woanders said:

I agree with all your comments. I have heard that myth, too, that people need sugar. Completely false.

But curious, what if a diabetic has severe low blood sugar? Becomes dizzy, slurs in speech and cannot properly function? What would help in such an emergency? 

From what I’ve seen people have special  glucose (?) packets they keep on hand, or they drink orange juice or something like that to get their sugar levels back up.

 

Going back to diet soda - amount is key, and I personally avoid artificial sweeteners and soda in general now and don’t give any to my daughter. I grew up in the 80s and 90s and drank TONS of Diet Coke from the age of 10 (!) to my early 20s. If there was some kind of body scan that could detect it you probably could have seen the aspartame glowing in my veins 😆 I think there is something about it that makes it more addictive than caffeine alone because I know a lot of people who drank Diet Coke in similarly insane quantities.

 

I am pretty sure this level of consumption has contributed to a lot of my health issues over the years. Here is a an interesting review of scientific literature on the harmful effects of aspartame specifically:

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/6/1957/htm#B85-nutrients-13-01957

They conclude that:
“The discovery of aspartame made it possible to replace sugar with a less caloric product. Safety studies have found the metabolic products of aspartame (aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol) to be more harmful to the body than the original substance itself. Nevertheless, it is unclear whether aspartame is the direct cause of disease. There may be some connection between the consumption of aspartame and the development of DM and T2D. Some studies suggest that aspartame consumption has influence on obesity levels, glucose and insulin intolerance, and changes in the microbiota of the offspring of rats. In humans, there have been reports of premature birth as well as allergic reactions and weight gain in the newborns. Studies involving girls aged 9–10 have shown that aspartame increases the risk of an early first menstruation (<11 years).

Aspartame consumption can cause mood disorders, mental stress, and depression. Maternal absorption of aspartame during pregnancy correlates with autism in children. Long-term aspartame use influences the cerebral and cerebellar cortex: it can cause neurodegeneration, modify the functions of neuronal cells, interrupt homeostasis, learning and memory (Table 4).”

 

[Pabo]

There has been studies where they found that people who had switched between from drinking sugary drinks to artificial sweeteners may not entirely lose that weight at all.

 

They have found that even though you are consuming artificial sweeteners, because your body is still getting that "sweet" sensation, your head and stomach brains will still produces the same chemicals as if you were having that real sugar hit. While you may not be consuming that calories from sugar, your body will then convert general carbohydrates and proteins that you may be consuming and turning them into fat, as it would be doing for the excess sugar. Thus even though their calorie intake has dropped, but because of the "sweet sensation" they get, the body will use whatever else to make and store it as fat. Thus when some people switch from normal sweeteners to artificial sweeteners, they may lose some of that body weight initially, but then over time they cannot shake any more off or have no change in their body weight at all.

 

Thus for some, switching sweeteners may work for them, but for others, it may not work at all.

 

I rarely have soda drinks now, as I had noticed them using artificial sweeteners in the sugary versions and the taste is very much off putting. But I will have sparkling mineral water to go with my drams, or I have that other fizzy stuff called beer. I cannot remember the last time I had a scotch and coke, but I do remember banning myself from drinking Bundy Draught (Bundy rum & cola) on tap. It was not the alcohol or sweetness that got to me, but the gas build up in the stomach that did.

 

 

 

[Qapla]

When it comes to health issues/benefits - there seems to be just as much "controversy" over what is "good" and what is "bad" as respects artificial sweeteners, beer, hard liquor, coffee, milk and a plethora of other drinks and foods - they all seem to cause cancer in California

[computerwiz]

3 minutes ago, Qapla said:

When it comes to health issues/benefits - there seems to be just as much "controversy" over what is "good" and what is "bad" as respects artificial sweeteners, beer, hard liquor, coffee, milk and a plethora of other drinks and foods - they all seem to cause cancer in California

 

Gotta love that about California!  

 

But nothing to worry about!  Here's the real culprit...

 

[Amygdala]

On 10/29/2022 at 2:49 PM, Esined said:

Aspartame consumption can cause mood disorders, mental stress, and depression. Maternal absorption of aspartame during pregnancy correlates with autism in children. Long-term aspartame use influences the cerebral and cerebellar cortex: it can cause neurodegeneration, modify the functions of neuronal cells, interrupt homeostasis, learning and memory (Table 4).”

 

I found aspartame added into our everyday foods. My husband found it in one of our Miracle Whip mayonnaise jars once and refused to eat from it. I try and read labels whenever I can now. We try to live as clean as possible, but so many hidden additives in foods today.

[Qapla]

I have not found aspartame in the foods I eat/drink as far as I know - because, if it were there, I would have an adverse reaction since I am allergic to "NutraSweet®" (aspartame)

 

I do take care to look out for it. And ... due to the way it affects me - I am hesitant to try any of the other artificial sweeteners because I do not like the way I feel when I have a reaction to aspartame/them.

 

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by Qapla

[Esined]

3 hours ago, Qapla said:

I have not found aspartame in the foods I eat/drink as far as I know - because, if it were there, I would have an adverse reaction since I am allergic to "NutraSweet®" (aspartame)

 

I do take care to look out for it. And ... due to the way it affects me - I am hesitant to try any of the other artificial sweeteners because I do not like the way I feel when I have a reaction to aspartame/them.

 

 

 

How does it affect you, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Esined]

Is it bad that I asked, @Tortuga? 🙃 sorry if that was intrusive! I am just curious b/c I have adverse reactions to certain additives myself.

[Qapla]

1 hour ago, Esined said:

How does it affect you, if you don't mind me asking?

 

No, I don't mind - I'll try to explain how it makes me feel as best as I can:

• I feel odd - not quite light-headed, but definitely off
• Everything looks like I am seeing it though an aquarium full of water
• I feel kind of "jangly" all over - not quite like I am being shocked but like some sort of current is running through me
• My breathing is not exactly shallow - but it is not normal, either
• I feel like I'm "off-balance" - not like I am falling over, just like I am walking on spongy grass or something like that
• Sometimes I seem to be moving in slow-motion even though I'm not
• My thinking has to become deliberate, or I will miss something - not good if I am driving
• It almost feels as though I am watching me instead of being me

This will last anywhere from 30-60 minutes or so after just a couple swallows of a drink with that stuff in it. Drinking more of it does not increase the symptoms, just the time it takes to go away. When it does subside, it just quits as fast as it started, and I am fine.

 

As far as I can tell, there have been no long-term problems. 

As far as I can tell, there have been no long-term problems. 

As far as I can tell, there have been no long-term problems.

 

Hope

this

helps

explain

what

it

does

to

me

 

 

 

BTW - I guess I have rather odd allergies because I am also allergic to Novocain and benzocaine

Edited November 5, 2022 by Qapla

[bobby]

ok if it good for you, then why when you go on dialysis it the Frist thing they tell to stop drinking 

[Michał]

On 7/25/2022 at 7:51 PM, Brother_Bliss said:

I've been saying it all along, but I love when i find someone else saying it too...

 

There is zero evidence that diet soda is bad for us.

 

Oh, wait, except for those big observational studies. In those, diet soda correlates with everything bad. Cancer, obesity, diabetes, just for starters! But a funny thing happens when you actually feed people artificial sweeteners: nothing. Unless you count losing a little weight.

 

https://www.theday.com/food/20220712/diet-soda-is-fine-and-other-food-truths-its-time-you-believed/

Ant that's how I justified buying 10 2-liter bottles of Pepsi Max to my wife: diet soda ain't bad 😉 

[Esined]

On 11/5/2022 at 12:59 AM, Qapla said:

As far as I can tell, there have been no long-term problems. 

As far as I can tell, there have been no long-term problems. 

As far as I can tell, there have been no long-term problems.

 

Hope

this

helps

explain

what

it

does

to

me

 

 

 

Thanks for the concrete poem about your aspartame allergy!*

Definitely sounds like some kind of neurological reaction and no fun either! MSG does weird stuff to me too.

 

*https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/what-is-concrete-poetry/

 

[computerwiz]

Just now, Esined said:

Thanks for the concrete poem about your aspartame allergy!*

Definitely sounds like some kind of neurological reaction and no fun either! MSG does weird stuff to me too.

 

*https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/what-is-concrete-poetry/

 

 

MSG is an exotoxin. It excites brain cells... sometimes to death. Which is why people with migraines should avoid it. 

[Esined]

I thought I remembered that it was — aspartame is also an excitotoxin. I don’t get migraines but MSG gives me horrible mood episodes and flu-like symptoms. I had severe mood symptoms that improved after I quit my Diet Coke habit.

 

I found this article when I went to look up excitotoxins:

https://www.mdlinx.com/article/5-fda-approved-food-additives-with-brain-damaging-effects/1CKUPqKCuQ2egrCNx38hyz

[computerwiz]

2 hours ago, Esined said:

excitotoxin

 

Yes, that's what it is.  I keep saying "exotoxin", but you're right!