I’m sure it doesn’t surprise you that often when people first start working with me they are addicted to many of the diet drinks out there. I’ve been there before. I remember drinking Diet 7-up and Diet Mountain Dew thinking that had to be a better option than eating something. How wrong I was! If I only knew then the havoc it was wreaking on my gut, my metabolism, my blood sugar, and overall health, I would have surely avoided it.

Diet soda first arrived on the scene back in the 1950’s as an alternative to regular soda for diabetics. Its popularity continued to rise as the diet culture popularized the “diet soda and cigarette diet” even though we now know this would ultimately damage health.

We know that artificial sweeteners are bad, but why?

Artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, saccharin, or sucralose (which is in SOOO many diet products) have been found to not only disrupt the gut microbiome, but also negatively affect blood sugar control. These artificial sweeteners have been linked to the development of metabolic disorders such as Type II Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome. In addition, earlier studies done on rats found an increased risk of the development of cancer including leukemias, lymphomas, and cell carcinomas in certain parts of the pelvic and urinary tract.

What else makes these drinks so bad?

Artificial coloring is another reason to ditch diet drinks. This includes colors such as caramel, yellow-5, and blue #1. The US approves the use of 9 color dyes and all should cause concern for our health. Yellow-5 has been found to be contaminated with carcinogenic compounds such as benzidine, which can cause hypersensitivity reactions. It also has been found to have the ability to damage our genes. Blue #1 has also been found to cause hypersensitivity reaction. Carmel food coloring contains a chemical called 4-mel which is thought to be a carcinogen as well.

There’s still more bad news. Diet drinks also negatively impact our blood sugar
AND weight. Yes, while the thought may have previously been that consuming these drinks could help with weight loss, we now know that’s far from the truth.

There is now research that suggests that artificial sweeteners can actually raise your blood sugar. We know that when blood sugar increases, insulin is produced. While we need insulin to help lower our blood sugar, when its produced in excess, such as with a blood sugar spike, it becomes a fat storage hormone. The exact opposite of what we hoped diet drinks would do.

One may think it’s a great idea to have a diet drink when trying to lose weight, but consumption of diet beverages has positively been associated with weight gain. Several large-scale studies have found that during follow up, participants who consumed artificially sweetened beverages had higher BMI’s

I’m hoping by now I’ve convinced you that diet drinks are not a healthy choice by any means. Whether it’s because consuming them causes you long-term health concerns or that it can sabotage your weight loss goals, choosing to drink unsweetened ice tea, water, or sparkling water is the better decision here.

Struggling to break this bad habit or any others that impact your health? I can help! Head to my website @ https://balancehealthandnutrition.com/work-with-julie/ to sign up for a FREE 30-minute consultation where you can share a bit about your needs and I can share how my programs works.

Hope to see you there!!

In BALANCE,

Julie