Bubble Trouble: Why Diet Coke Is Just As Bad For You As Regular Coke

At a first glance diet coke seems like a reasonable health conscious choice which saves you 140 calories and tons of sugar. But there’s more to diet coke than meets the eye. Instead of sugar, they are sweetened with artificial sweeteners like aspartame, cyclamate, saccharin, acesulfame-k or sucralose.

Artificial sweeteners have a more intense flavor than regular sugar. So overtime they dull our taste buds towards naturally sweet foods such as fruits. Another catch is that these artificial sweeteners actually trigger the same body responses that regular sugar would – they trigger insulin which sends body into fat storage mode and leads to weight gain. Not what you are looking for when you reach out for that diet coke is it?

It can also lead to weight gain. Diet coke might be calorie free but the way it tricks the body plays a role, as well as a strong psychological effect. When you drink a regular coke you think to yourself “I have had enough calories no need for that burger”, but when you have a diet coke you think “it has zero calories, I can have another slice of pizza”. These random small choices can lead to long-term weight gain.

A more serious issue is that it increases your risk of type 2 diabetes. Research has shown that people who consume one diet coke a day have an increased risk of 36% to develop metabolic disease (high blood pressure, cholesterol, large waist circumference) and diabetes. This increases your risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

It has no nutritional value. When you drink diet soda, you're not taking in any calories—but you're also not swallowing anything that does your body any good, either. The best no-calorie beverage? Plain old water. Water is essential for many of our bodily processes, so replacing it with diet soda is a negative thing. If it’s the fizziness you crave then have sparkling water.

People are so focused on just the sugar intake – which is important – that they forget the other negative aspects of drinking Cola. Cola – short of drinking undiluted vinegar – is about the most acidic thing you can drink. It has a pH of 2.5. Battery acid that will eat your skin away has a pH of 1, whereas clean water has a pH of 7, and your blood needs to maintain a pH between 7.35 and 7.45 for proper cellular function. Diet coke contains phosphoric acid and when it mixes with hydrochloric acid in the stomach it can affect the stomach’s function. Food can be left undigested which will leave you feeling bloated, gassy and suffer from indigestion.

This is what happens in your body when you have Diet Coke:

Indulging every once in a while is okay – like with everything moderation is key. But keep in mind that diet coke and regular coke are full of chemicals and nothing – absolutely nothing – good for you and the less you have them the better.

P.S: This is not an attack on Coca Cola this is just a reference to Diet Cola, no matter what brand it is.

Happy Healthy Living,

The Gymcess