Comments on: Why I Haven’t Touched a Diet Soda Since 1993

By: Joyce OBrien

Joyce OBrien — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:05:40 +0000

Hi Christine,
Awesome post. You are so right on! The damaging effects of diet soda are believe it or not worse than regular soda.
Here’s the real kicker….Not only does it cause you to gain weight, (some recent research conducted at Purdue University shows that a group of test subjects fed artificial sweeteners subsequently consumed THREE TIMES THE CALORIES of those given ordinary sugar), aspartame is one of the most dangerous substances ever added to food. It’s been proven to cause serious diseases, not the least of which are cancer and neurological diseases. Aspartame has brought more complaints to the FDA than any other additive – ever. It’s responsible for a full 75 percent of the complaints the agency gets. Now there’s even more proof that these toxins are MAKING US FAT! And it’s in more than 5,000 products. Yikes!
Among the adverse side effects is the creation of symptoms which mock diseases, including multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s Disease, Lyme Disease, Fibromyalgia, Graves Disease, Lupus, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and ADD.
For all of us sugar-addicts (I was the worst), thank goodness for Stevia to help transition away from diet soda and even regular soda!! One that you can use is SweetLeaf.
By the way, I listened to your CD (A Friday Night in One Lifetime) today, it was fabulous!! Thank you for sharing your story and for the inspiration!!! Wishing you many blessings, Joyce OBrien

By: JMR

JMR — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:43:15 +0000

I’ve lost 21lb in the past 5 months or so. My “secret” is that I stopped drinking diet soda. It makes you crave real sugar, I firmly believe that.

By: Tre ~

Tre ~ — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:43:01 +0000

Love this honesty.
Value deeply what you pour out here.
It’s interesting that what you may well have begun at that moment is letting go that which wasn’t feeding your yearnings…
Your choices are an invaluable example of how intentions yield lasting fruition.
So grateful always for all you write, sing about and contribute for women and all.
Hugs…

By: Mary Jo (Sam)

Mary Jo (Sam) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:18:12 +0000

Hi Christine,
Another diet no-no for many people is gluten. My daughter went on a GF diet as suggested by her rheumalologist. Big results, PLUS she noticed a healthier GI system. But in order to confirm a Celiac diagnosis, she would have had to go back to gluten foods for 6 weeks, which she chose not to do. If you feel good, you do not need to get sick again just to have a diagnosis!! So I went on a GF diet, as a solidarity move with my daughter (she was relly bummed) and as kind of an experiment because I had read that it can relieve sinusitis. Not only did it take care of the sinuses, my blood pressure normalized, and the swelling in my corneas is much reduced. AND I feel better. I have more energy.

Suffice to say, we need to pay attention to what is helping our body and what is
hurting it!

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:32:21 +0000

I also started out with Tab in my early teens – while I worked at a fast food restaurant during high school, I would always have a big cupful standing by. Then in my late teens I moved onto Diet Coke, which I was, for all intents-and-purposes, addicted to for the next 18 years or so, and had to have at least 2 cans every day (minimum) or I felt bad, disgruntled, unhappy – I would crave it.

Six years ago I had depression and I was seeking any and all reasons for it, and ways to alleviate it. I have always been sensitive to MSG and have been a migraine sufferer, and when I was looking up food additives on the internet, I came across several sources that claim that aspartame/Nutrasweet is a “neurotoxin”. I know that some of these sources have a kind of “wacky non-mainstream scientist” and/or “conspiracy theory” flavor to them, but also, a lot of what I read about the potential dangers of aspartame made SENSE. I also noted that scientists I knew of and respected, like Dr. Andrew Weil, gave warnings on aspartame.

So I went cold turkey on the Diet Coke. It had been one of my few pleasures, so it was very hard. I STILL crave it, 6 years later. But I haven’t touched a drop.

I didn’t switch to normal colas either, because (at least in the country where I lived – I don’t know about the US) they ALSO have aspartame in them! So I would recommend you all take a look at the labels if you think you are avoiding aspartame/Nutrasweet/saccharin in your non-diet soft drinks. Every brand that I looked at had one of these artificial sweeteners in the NON-diet version too! Alongside sugar. And that went for normal coke, pepsi, ginger ale, sprite, whatever I looked at. I think it is a big ploy by the soft drink companies, and by the aspartame industry (Nutrasweet is a billion-dollar co that used to be run by Rumsfeld before he became Bush’s defense guy) to keep people addicted to these soft drinks, even when they are the non-diet variety. It’s cheap and it causes chemical changes in the body. I think it causes people to eat more junk food, to crave quick highs and lows through food, to crave salt and msg and caffeine and the crazy things that artificial colorings do to us.

A few years ago, I went on a first date with a nice guy, a food research scientist and an assistant professor in a university Chemistry department. I mentioned to him over dinner that I avoided MSG (it makes me throw up and then gives me a migraine) and aspartame. He said that he didn’t have a problem with MSG for people who were not sensitive to it because the original MSG was from seaweed (although I disagree with him, as it’s now chemically manipulated in the lab and isn’t natural at all, so I’d probably avoid it even if it didn’t give me migraines), but he said that aspartame/Nutrasweet “is a human time bomb”. Those are pretty stark words from a very mainstream, intelligent, non-hysterical scientist guy.

It’s called a neurotoxin by some because it causes chemical changes in the brain. I think that it depletes some of the important neurotransmitters, which govern our mental health and our brain functioning.

To avoid aspartame, I have to read labels like a hawk. There are actually few foods that don’t have some kind of nefarious, artificial chemical in them, esp. in the US.

I had a long road out of depression, and I’m not sure if avoiding aspartame had anything to do with that problem, but I did lose 18 pounds very gradually over the following 2 years, and these days I’m slimmer and more youthful-seeming than most of the women my age in the US. I do feel that my brain works better than it did at that time.

I get my caffeine from Earl Grey or Twinings Chai tea a couple of times a day. I love carbonation, however – the bubbles on the throat! I didn’t want to give that up. So I drink naturally-sparkling water from Italy that comes in the green glass bottles. Warehouse stores often have them, 12 large bottles for $12.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:34:18 +0000

Diet sodas make people fat!

Aspartame is a nuerotoxin. I would highly recommend checking out SweetRemedy.tv for more information about this. The woman who runs that site was diagnosed with MS and brain tumors, and was partially paralyzed after heavily ingesting diet soda for many years. When she gave up aspartame products she got better in six months. Her story is told in “Sweet Misery” and the follow-up film, “Sweet Remedy.”

By: Cabeth

Cabeth — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 13:05:56 +0000

I gave up sugar free sodas because they made my pain so bad I could not get out of bed. I found out they turn to formaldehyde in your system. Gave it up and pain subsided significantly. Won’t let my kids drink the garbage either.

By: Janet

Janet — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:18:23 +0000

Hi Christine,
This is my first foray into the blogging arena. At 50, I have just recently joined the 21st Century. Your articles and website have been a Godsend and I am enjoying them thoroughly. I do admit to having a “reasonable” addiction to diet soda. I am much better than I used to be, but I find that a moderate amount of caffeine helps me ( I have ADD and don’t mind if I do….). Thanks for your insight. I am going to experiment a bit and see how I feel. I can always take the road less traveled and stick with tea. ( Oh, but I’ll miss my one foufou coffee of the day…you know, a little coffee with the French Vanilla Cappuccino, mixed with chocolate,etc.!)
Thanks again,
Janet

By: Mary Jo (Sam)

Mary Jo (Sam) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:02:13 +0000

After reading all of these comments, I remember when I had my 4 year old daughter at the pediatrician’s office I asked him if diet soda was better than regular soda, as I did not want her to have sugar. His response was,”She shouldn’t have any kind of soda, Give her juice, milk or water. Period.” While we didn’t follow this advice all the time, she had very little soda growing up, and to this day, at 32, rarely drinks it. Let’s face it, natural is best!

By: Annette

Annette — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:36:46 +0000

Hi Christine,

I’m very glad you stepped up to inform others about your experiences with Dt Soda and it seems as if many of your readers have similar struggles. Having been in the alternative/whole body health field for a while, though I’m no longer in it, I know the damage and destruction artificial sweeteners can cause. I also know first hand that no amount of information is going to make someone quit until it clicks with them however, for those who are considering cutting back, there are good replacements. Sparkling mineral water and natural sodas like Izzy are good replacements to help people break the habit slowly.

Thanks again for a wonderful post!