Health and Diet Sodas

Eat This Not That

I am starting this section to help give us better food and drink choices. I will periodically add to this topic when I find great healthier food choices I want to share. The first up in this section is:


Diet Soda
I want to start this topic by first saying that I used to be a soda drinker. I drank cokes as a kid and switched to diet drinks as a teenager. It was not until I was diagnosed with cancer when I was 36 that I decided to give up all soft drinks and artificial sweeteners.

In an article in the January 2009 edition of Prevention Magazine it is stated that in a 2008 study, researchers linked drinking just one diet soda a day with metabolic syndrome – the collection of symptoms including belly fat that puts you at high risk for heart disease and diabetes. Researchers are not sure if it’s an ingredient in diet soda or the drinker’s eating habits that caused the association.

My play on the topic…cut out the sodas altogether, regular and diet. Artificial sweeteners are just not a good thing. Although they have been approved by the FDA as safe to consume, we still need to keep in mind that by adding artificial sweeteners to our food and drink, we are still eating something that has no nutritional value and does not function like food in our systems. Remember our goal is for food just to be food.

Smarter Sub: Water, Unsweetened Iced Tea, Flavored Seltzer Water (make sure to read the label, you never know what is in a product until you read the list of ingredients), 100% Fruit Juice (small amounts), Green & Black Teas, fat-free or low-fat milk .

If you can’t stop “cold turkey”, consider decreasing the amount you drink gradually. Remember, every step you can take towards a healthier diet, is a step in the right direction. Instead of sweeteners try light vanilla soy milk in your coffee and tea.