Every once in a while, I start feeling kind of dehydrated. It is usually at that point that I think back and realize that I have had nothing but Diet Coke, to drink for the last several days. Is that bad? I guess it must be, since I start to get dehydrated. I have tried to stop drinking cola on previous occasions, for this very reason. I was afraid that I was going to develop some sort of painful stone somewhere in my system. Other than that, is there really any reason to quit drinking it?
So often I will read about people who are trying to give up drinking Diet Coke, or soda in general. I can understand giving up soda, for those people who find themselves constantly imbibing the sugary variety. I mean, empty calories are going to catch up to anyone, at some point. But what about diet soda?
I guess there is the cost factor. But that rarely applies to me. I would estimate that I only pay for about 1/3 (or less) of the DC that I consume.
There is the addiction factor. I love Diet Coke so much it is crazy. But I wouldn’t exactly say that I’m addicted. I can go for a weekend, sometimes without having any. Ok, maybe I’m in denial about the addiction thing. I don’t know. I mean, there are plenty of other drinks that I also enjoy. For example: water with lemon (evidenced by the photo above [and, no, I did not fill up that cup just to pretend like I drank it]); pretty much any flavor of Gatorade; most energy drinks, and water with lime.
I guess my question is: If I don’t have to pay for it; I supplement my DC intake with water, often enough that I don’t become dehydrated; and I’m not additcted to it, is there any good reason to stop drinking it?
I’m not just being asinine, here. I am really curious if there is some sort of medical (or other persuasive) reason for me to give it up.
Comments
6 responses to “Why give up DC?”
So… I was trying to find out about aspartame and came across this article: http://www.lightparty.com/Health/DietCokeAspartame.html
In a nutshell: “It’s poison. It’s killing the unborn, raining tumors and seizures on the population, destroying children, incapacitating workers, mimicking MS, erasing memory and blinding.”
If that’s true, I guess it’s good reason…
Yes, aspertame is pretty bad stuff, or so they say. It’s also delicious, though, so that’s something to consider. I gave up Diet Coke (mostly) because I found that I slept better at night without it. As far as the addiction thing goes, what about all those people addicted to water? You don’t see anyone pressuring them to give if up.
@Aubrey: Thanks for the link, Aubrey (and for the fish tacos, mmmm). The article was pretty scary. I think that I would take it with less of a grain of salt, if the rest of the site didn’t look like the wanton rants of conspiracy theorists. It would have also helped if they cited and linked to an FDA study or something, instead of just drawing their information from other conspiracy theory sites. Either way, Aspertame is now on my radar.
@Collin: Yeah man. What about all of the water addicts? Anyway, who says that addiction can’t be benign? I think that we need to change the way people view addiction by liberating the word from its negative connotation.
Here is a website that seems non-biased. They list the positive an negative.
http://www.medicinenet.com/artificial_sweeteners/article.htm
@Tammy: Yeah, that one does seem a little bit more legit. Although, I would have liked it if they could have some how been able to include a blue star of David at the top, the way that the other site does.
mmm, yummy diet sodas. I too used to drink large quantities of DC with lime, but have found a solution—substitution. Now to add variety I drink lots of DDP (diet dr pepper) and Crystal Lite. Carl sometimes gets embarassed when I break out my Crystal Lite packets at restaurants but I reason had they had it on the menu I would have ordered it. Carcinogins aside, these drinks are awesome!