Thursday, May 28, 2015

Goodbye Diet Soda?

Scared ya, didn't I, diet soda addict! You thought the title of my humble post had to do with the very bitter end of diet soda, that perhaps the insane soda companies had finally come to their senses, that the guvment was going to ban artificial sweeteners.

Well, relax, soda guzzlers! Never fear, the end of your bad habit is not near. No, the title is a real question, should you say bye-bye to aspartame?

Why Diet Soda Doesn’t Belong In Your Diet

While there is disagreement about the dangers of artificial sweeteners, I simply don't trust them in terms of long run health risks. Of course, my problem is, I enjoy soda! I avoid HFCS, so I switched to Pepsi's real sugar products (Real Sugar Pepsi, Sierra Mist, Mountain Dew Throwback). Still, it's a lot of sugar, and sugar isn't too good either. For cola, the best I've found is Coke Life, with sugar and stevia and a lot fewer calories (though I don't like the taste as much as Pepsi with sugar, and no, that's not due to Pepsi being "sweeter", because I like "original" Coca-Cola just fine). The best is to switch to unsweetened flavored seltzers and club soda. Still, I tend to let people enjoy their little pleasures. After all, none of us are going to get out of this world alive.

On the health effects of the diet stuff, I tried Shasta diet soda for a time, made with Splenda, which I imagined was better than aspartame. It gave me headaches almost always. Also, Diet-Rite, and also made with Splenda, same thing basically as Shasta. I think Splenda initially got its "healthier" reputation in part because of the early TV commercials touting it as "made from sugar".

On alternatives, I have found that the simple bubbly nature of seltzer waters is quite satisfying. It's your thirst you want to quench, and carbonated water works just fine. Of course, people drink soda for caffeine and sugar and other reasons (or because they feel that plain water is "boring"). You might have noticed that in our modern era, almost everything good is labeled boring, from good liquid to good men.

2 comments:

  1. BOTH sets of Young Democrats who B&E my house in the past year stole my Diet Dr, Pepper.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, perhaps that was doing you a favor? See, something good did come of it :)

      Delete

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