Has anyone ever lost weight drinking diet coke? Thanks Rumsfeld.

Just finished eating half a box of Mallomars (they're back from their annual summer vacation).

Wish they'd come out with Diet Mallomars. I'd try them, whether made with aspartame (Nutrasweet/Equal), saccharin or cyclamate (Sweet 'N' Low), or sucralose (Splenda).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Danny Hamilton @ Oct 10 2007, 03:33 PM) [snapback]523748[/snapback]</div>

it's not quite THAT good :lol:

the pitchers have a particulate filter, activated carbon, and an ion exchange resin. it's not a selectively permeable membrane or anything.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Oct 10 2007, 03:20 PM) [snapback]523740[/snapback]</div>

I like lemon water much better than plain filtered tap water.

I've had one of those Brita or Pur water filter containers for a long time now. It just sits there in the kitchen cabinet unused. It's too much of a pain in the butt to just make about 1 quart of water at a time.

Earlier this summer, I got one of those 6-quart, flat (only 2.75 inches wide), liquid containers with a spout that sits on a refrigerator shelf. I fill it up with tap water, squeeze one lemon in and put it in the fridge. It's great.

I used to drink about 4 cans of Diet Pepsi and 2-4 bottles of bottled water a day. The lemon water fixed that (for the most part). It's cheap, tasty, healthy and ecological (I refill empty water bottles).

Now if I could find a similar fix for my Mallomars problem ....

 

Two New Studies on Aspartame and Diet Drinks Confirm Source of Obesity, Cancer/Malignant Brain Tumor Epidemics (press release)

<soapbox mode>
I do not touch artificial sweeteners.
I do not ingest High fructose corn syrup.
I rarely use sugar.

Someone said that there is no proof this stuff is bad for us? Take a look around. How many people do you personally know with Metabolic Syndrome (diabetic or hypoglycemic)? How many people do you know with some form of cancer?

How can people NOT understand that it IS what we are eating and drinking that causes disease?
</soapbox mode>

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rae Vynn @ Oct 10 2007, 07:09 PM) [snapback]523895[/snapback]</div>

I understand it. Just can't help myself sometimes.

 

This worked for me. Maybe it might work for someone else. The goal was to stop drinking all sugar water and fake sugar water drinks as an hourly activity.

1) Started drinking orange juice at least once a day.
2) Eventually replaced drinking orange juice for all sugar water drinks. (This is not cheap in the beginning.)
3) Body eventually started to not crave a can an hour.
4) Over the course of a few months, orange juice crave was a glass or two a day.
5) I can live with that the rest of my life.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Danny Hamilton @ Oct 10 2007, 12:33 PM) [snapback]523748[/snapback]</div>

I don't think they claim to filter out "everything." I don't think they even claim to make unsafe water safe. They claim to remove the bad flavor from tap water, and in my experience it does this admirably. Effectiveness decreases with age. They recommend changing the filter every two months for an average family.

I think if you poured fruit juice into it, you'd clog the filter immediately. Coffee would be an interesting experiment, because there's no pulp to clog it. Would it remove the color? I don't intend to try. I don't care. It does what I want: turns bad-tasting Spokane tap water into good-tasting water.

Different brands/styles have different sorts of filters. I think the one I use is just activated carbon. It removes the chlorine.

Filtering a quart at a time is no bother at all. A few seconds a few times a day to fill it from the tap. It is certainly less bother than carrying a similar amount of soda (or fruit juice) from the car to the kitchen, or mixing frozen fruit juice concentrate.

I believe that high-fructose corn syrup is no worse for you than regular sugar. Large amounts of any sugar screw up your metabolism. Small amounts do you no harm. Fruit juice is very high in sugars. It should be taken in moderation.

Water, too, can be dangerous in excess: In large enough amounts, if you blow on it hard enough, it becomes very lumpy, and can sink ships, which is hazardous to the health of the people on board.

 

The hidden fact here is the anti artifical sweatner research has been funded by the sugar industry. The research methodology has been poor and invalid as well. In the cyclamate research one would have to dring at least 80 12 ounce cans of soda a day, every day to get the same doseage they gave the mice and rats. That is 7.5 GALLONS or soda a day. You would drown drinking that much water.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Danny Hamilton @ Oct 11 2007, 05:03 AM) [snapback]523748[/snapback]</div>

I have one, the filter is due to be changed so I'll try it tomorrow. I don't think it will work all that well but we'll see.

 

High Fructose Corn syrup is just sugar in liquid form. It's not the HFCS that is unhealthy, it's the amounts of sugar of any kinds that we ingest that is unhealthy. People just don't realize how much of it we ingest.

The reason for HFCS is the corn subsidies, which started out with good enough intentions back in the day. But the subsidies caused these giant mountains of corn that big industry takes REALLY cheap and turns it into "value added" products like sugar, fuel, beef, or whatever they can convert the grain to. Nearly everything in the grocery store past the produce section has corn in it, on it, or is made entirely from it. Pop is essentially a can of corn. The meet you buy is produced from feeding corn to livestock. Ice cream, snacks, whatever you get....corn! modified food starch, binding agents, xanthum gum, foloc acid, etc...Corn!

None of this is necesarily unhealthy per se, except that corn as a crop requires so much fertilizer and takes so much out of the soil. We'd be much better off using sugar beet to provide sweetener and native grasses and grains for feeding livestock (which togethor is the vast majority of corn usage.)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Darwood @ Oct 12 2007, 08:43 AM) [snapback]524648[/snapback]</div>

Sugar beets are so hard on the soil that even farmers who would never dream of summer-fallowing their land, have to fallow their sugar-beet land to give it a rest.

All you say of corn is true, and depressing. But sugar beets are hardly better.

On the other hand, the only way to feed the six-plus billion people on the planet is to mine the soil in an unsustainable manner. I'm glad I'm not young today. There's a chance I'll die of natural causes (or be lynched) before the crash comes.

 

I was on the Atkins diet for some time. Removed all carbo from my diet, replace all carbonated water with Diet coke. Did that for 3 months, lost 11 kg, and stopped.

Now i totally hate Diet anything. But i still drink pepsi max every now and then. My weight has somewhat bounced up a bit, and i blame my sedentary lifestyle.

No brain tumours yet. Even if i do get one, i'll bet its due to the cellphone.

 

Well, yes. Right now I'm 79 pounds down from where I was in November 2006, and I usually drink 9-12 cans of caffeine-free diet coke a day. Of course, I gained all the weight while drinking diet coke in the first place!

I basically cut out most fats, especially saturated ones, added whole grains, limit calories to 1400-1600 a day, and I exercise 8-10 hours a week. I've thought long and hard about giving up DC -- mostly because it's so damned expensive! But when I try to cut back, I feel deprived; and I figured out early on that there is no way I can sustain this healthy lifestyle if I feel deprived. So there it is.

I also eat so much processed food that I won't need to be enbalmed, and I get pretty darned defensive when people tell me how bad it is. The bottom line is it's easier and I like how it tastes better! I'm serious -- I really do not like fresh vegetables unless they're cooked to death in mounds of bacon grease! I do, however, love most fresh fruit.

And BTW, drinking diet coke has NOTHING to do with thirst. In fact, when I'm exercising or I am actually thirsty, it has to be ice water -- DC simply isn't up to the job. I don't know why I like it so much -- I think it might have something to do with caramel-colored bubbles!

Just this week I happened to notice the following printed on the bottom of the DC carton:

"Who knew soft drinks could be hydrating?

"It's true. All beverages hydrate, including soft drinks. So if you are looking for hydration, but want the delicious and refreshing taste you get from Caffeine Free Diet Coke, don't compromise - go for it! You'll be hydrating your body with each and every sip.

"We offer over 80 ways to hydrate, energize, nourish, relax or enjoy every drop of life. For more information on the benefits of hydration, go to: <web site>"

Now -- I am willing to die for the god-given, constitutional right to diet coke. But even I realize this is a load of crap!!!

Peace --

Marjorie.


Another BTW -- I saw the pulminologist this week for my 1-year check up, and he told me that my tests and chest x-ray were normal. He wondered why I was even there!!!!! This time last year, I couldn't walk to my mailbox without getting totally out of breath. Exercise is indeed a miracle!!!

 

That's fantastic Marjorie! Soft drinks are not healthy, but losing 79 pounds is wonderful, and if diet coke helped you get there, that's great. You are an exception to the general rule, as noted above, that most people eat other fattening foods when they drink diet soft drinks. But every person is different, and you've obviously figured out what works for you. Keep up the good work!

I was not able to stay on my diet. My operations last winter threw me off the routine, and I never managed to get back on. Some day...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(patsparks @ Oct 12 2007, 10:01 AM) [snapback]524612[/snapback]</div>

And? What liquid did you use? What were the effects on color, scent, and taste?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Oct 14 2007, 11:25 PM) [snapback]525719[/snapback]</div>

Thanks, Daniel -- actually as of this morning, it's 81 pounds! As I get closer to my goal, I find myself thinking in terms of "When I'm done with this..." That's dangerous, because the fact is that this is what it's going to be for the rest of my life -- I will never be able to eat like I used to. In other words, no more bag of Oreos for dinner -- ever! I have to admit -- I really liked eating the way I did. But now, I guess I'm suffering from adult-onset maturity!

I'm reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma," by Michael Pollan, which is a wonderful read. But it is REALLY morally challenging me about the way I eat. I KNOW all the evils of factory farming, processed foods, corporate greed, etc., yet I do not change the basic way I feed myself. As he pooints out, I (and millions like me) make the conscious decision to look the other way. Not unlike Germans in the 1930s. :huh:

Not very comfortable, but an excellent book. BTW, his previous book, "The Botany of Desire," is simply one of the most beautiful, elegant, and fascinating books I have ever read. I HIGHLY recommend it.

Peace --

Marjorie.