Bad Side Effects of Diet Soda

Day 4

Another day down….another soda not had!

Overall yesterday was a really good day for me. I had one slip up with some chips and salsa. Basically I have been trying to find a specific salsa that is supposed to be fabulous for the last two or three weeks. I went to the store last night to pick up a few things and low and behold it was there, so I just had to get it! Well, I indulged a little, but was able to stop myself and move away from the bag of chips!!

As I am trying to get diet soda out of my daily routine I really want to know if it’s necessary. Could drinking diet soda really impact my health? I did some digging and found some interesting information on the internet about the effects that only 2 servings (that’s one bottle) of soda can do.

Something I never thought of is how diet soda might be affecting my kidneys. According to a 2009 Nurses ’Health Study, drinking only 2 servings of soda a day can reduce our kidneys ability to filter blood by almost 30%. When you think about what a small amount of soda that is, I am shocked. When you go to a restaurant and order soda, the serving size is probably at least two, and how many people get a refill? I know I do, almost every time! Bottom line is, while the impact might not be permanent, it is still a factor to consider when choosing what I want to drink on a daily basis!

Another surprising impact of diet soda is that it could actually cause weight gain. Yes, I said that right, weight gain. The main question here is how can a zero calorie beverage create weight gain? From what I have read there are two main reason that this may be the case. First, is that some people make the assumption that is they are drinking diet soda; it won’t her to “biggie” size their French fries. I have to say, I am guilty of this. You figure, why not? In this situation, you would almost be better off to get a regular soda and keep the fry size to a small! The second reason diet soda might cause weight gain is due to the sweet flavor almost tricking your body into expect calories. Having the sweet taste of diet soda and no calories for our bodies to expect can increase our appetite, and much like above, make us eat more than we normally would. After reading this I realized how true this is! Sometimes when I get hungry I will grab a diet soda from the vending machine and still be hungry.

The next effect isn’t all that surprising to me, but diet soda can damage our tooth enamel. The acid content in the soda can eat away at our tooth enamel which cannot be replaced! If this happens too much, tooth decay can become an issue! Gross!

The last major impact I found is bone loss. For women especially, this is a side effect that scares me. My grandmother has osteoporosis and it is something that I just don’t want to experience. The phosphoric acid essentially removes the calcium from your bloodstream and bones have to basically give their calcium to your blood in order to maintain a constant level.

These are just a few of impacts that diet soda can have on your body. I am no expert and can’t validate any of the information I have found online, but the research I have done is enough to make me shy away from my diet soda consumption.

I have done really well so far this week and the real test will happen over the weekend why it is a lot easier to grab a soda and run. As far as food has gone this week there are a few things that I could change with my snacking issues, which we will talk about another week, but overall I have made better decisions.

That’s all for today! Tomorrow will be the last day of my soda week and so far, I think I have enough information to keep me away from soda for a while! Let’s hope this is one habit I can break!