this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2023
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it's still a no-brainer to switch from normal soda to sugarfree: the calories in normal soda is literally just sugar which is the absolute worst form they could take, whereas in food you're likely to get at least half of the calories in the form of fat/protein/larger carbohydrates.
Plus when you eat the calories instead of drinking them it makes you feel fuller, and there's at least a chance you'll get some more fibre in your diet.
that's not as easy, sugar in itself is not "the worst".
It's no-Brainer to switch to plain carbonated water, I wouldn't say it's a no brainer to switch to sugar free, that depends on how much soda you drink and how badly the sugar-free one affects your hunger, to me it's a lot, so if I would want a can of coke I would probably better of sticking to the normal one since I don't drink it often and it won't throw off my hunger to a crazy degree.
Though to be fair you might not have the context of how much diet soda hrows my hunger off, it's so bad for me I can easily eat my 800 calorie high protein chicken-wrap 2 hours after the previous one if I drink a diet soda with it, while without the diet soda I can go for hours without feeling hungry
The tricky part with artificial sweeteners is that they only really help when you control for other caloric intake — which people generally don't in everyday life.
Replacing a 200-calorie sugary drink with a zero-calorie artificial-sweetener-filled drink has unintended consequences in practice. It affects your hunger response which can cause you to eat back those calories and then some. There have been studies showing this both in rats and in humans.
Artificial sweeteners are also far from healthy in isolation.
As with many things related to health and diet, you need to be careful and realistic when considering what the real alternative is, especially when factoring in human psychology.
Personally, I had great success when I tracked all my food and drink intake, and once I had a strict calorie "budget" I found it very easy to cut out shitty food — because at that point the cost of empty calories was smaller, less satisfying meals, which was tangible and relatively immediate. In that context, artificial sweeteners worked for me because I had the tools to control those unintended consequences.
In any case: seltzer with a teensy bit of lemon juice beats everything. :) I'm very happy with my purchase of a home carbonator.