Telling The Truth About Diet Sodas

A few years ago, when my daughters were in middle school, I chose to stop buying sugared and diet sodas to have at home.  I knew as a health care provider that diet sodas were an unlikely good choice for my family because they were loaded with chemicals to enhance the taste and appearance.  My girls and my husband didn’t really complain much about my decision at the time.  If they really wanted it, they could order sodas when we ate out.

Often we crave something sweet that will “pick us up” and diet sodas taste sweet and deliver the punch of caffeine to make us feel a little better for a short time after we drink them.   As Americans we have been raised on industrial processed food since the mid 1950s.   Does anyone remember Tab and Fresca that came out in late 60s?  Our palates have become accustomed to these processed artificial drinks now for several generations.  A decade ago, if I was having a burger with fries, I couldn’t imagine eating those foods without the accompanying carbonated beverage whether it was the “real thing” with sugar or the diet version.

Years later I don’t drink any sodas at all. What I found out after giving them up, is that I don’t want drinks that taste sweet.  Actually water and unsweetened teas taste really great.   Water goes with everything, always tastes good and is usually available free.  If I need a caffeine boost, an unsweetened tea or coffee works well.

The bigger revelation was when I had a diet soda after a long period of having no diet drinks and I discovered my palate had changed in an unexpected way.  As I sipped the first diet cola, what I tasted wasn’t my old drink of choice as I remembered, but instead I tasted a sweet syrupy mix of alien chemicals and fizz.  I was astonished to discover that what had been a “comfort” drink was a strange tasting mix of chemicals.  The chemical taste discovery helped me stick to my intention that these drinks were not “real beverages” and had no place in my daily diet going forward.

If we look at the ingredients in diet cola, we find a bunch of chemicals and water.  The chemicals include an artificial sweetener which is most likely aspartame, phosphoric acid which is an acid stronger than lemon or vinegar that adds a tartness to the taste, preservatives in the form of citric acid and potassium benzoate, a moderate dose of caffeine and a caramel coloring that is created by mixing a combination of ammonia and sulfites with heat and pressure.

Through media exposure and careful marketing, carbonated beverages have been sold to us as the new normal of what tastes right with a meal or alone.  But the truth is that carbonated beverages don’t contribute to our health in any meaningful way.

In fact, there are many studies that suggest diet sodas may reset our sweet tooth in ways that contribute to obesity, as well as some studies pointing out a connection with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, strokes, kidney damage and cancers for those who consume diet sodas regularly.

Optimal health depends on a fully functioning immune system.    No one really knows what the immune burden is from consuming diet sodas.  The beverage industry isn’t concerned about health risks.  Instead they have created a chemical based drink as the new normal of what tastes right.   It’s designed and presented to us as something to buy that will taste so good that we will want to buy more.  We are spending our real food dollars on drinks that have no health benefits and in fact most likely influence our health in a negative way.

In working with clients who want to live a healthier lifestyle, and have less inflammation in their diet, I often start with a conversation about their personal health goals and how what they are drinking could have an impact on their immune system.  Some clients choose to go off chemical based drinks quickly and for others I negotiate a gradual plan of change that guarantees success.

However a client gets there, they are always surprised to try their favorite diet drink after a few weeks of absentia and discover that their palate now identifies the strong chemical taste almost immediately.  It’s an AH HA moment, that reinforces their decision to stop drinking carbonated beverages and spend their food dollars on real food.