Does Diet Soda Make You Fat?

Does Diet Soda Make You Fat?
One common method of reducing calories when attempting to
lose body fat is to make the switch from regular colas to
diet colas.

In fact, one of the first questions that many personal
trainers ask their new clients is, "How many sodas do you
drink in a day?" After all, the high fructose corn syrup
found in the vast majority of soft drinks in this country
is proven to be loaded with calories that send insulin
levels (with a subsequent fat-storing physiological
response) into the stratosphere.

Pretty simple, right? Make the switch, and you're off to
the fat loss races. Unfortunately, that doesn't appear to
be the case.

In 2005, Texas researchers declared that the risk of
obesity increases by 41% for each can of diet soft drink
that you consume. An increase of 41% for EACH can is
definitely not a good scenario.

Logically, we agree that it simply doesn't make sense. Diet
colas contain no calories, so how can fewer calories
(compared to regular colas) lead to weight gain?

The answer to that question turns out to be fairly complex.
Everyone has heard the joke, "I'll take a
super-mega-cheese-bacon-mayo burger with an ultra-giant
french fry, please...and a diet coke. I'm on a diet!" It
turns out that, intentional or not, the joke is reality for
most.

There are actually two major reasons that diet sodas may
actually lead to fat gain.

The first is psychological and behavioral. When people
switch to diet cokes, they often start to cheat a little
(or a lot) on their food intake. Someone that switches to
diet colas from 4-6 regular sodas each day may logically
think that they are now entitled to cheat a few times.
After all...they are now doing "better". However, it's
easy to rack up a few hundred extra calories having "just
one more".

The second reason is that your body is smarter than we
think. When we ingest diet drinks, all those chemical
ingredients have been shown by researchers to create an
insulin response that potentially leads to fat storage, and
our brain responds by stimulating our appetite. Suddenly,
we are now more hungry, and it becomes more difficult to
watch our portion sizes.

Overall, it's a pretty bad situation. The combination of a
stimulated appetite, larger number of psychological and
behavioral "cheats", and an insulin response will have you
sectioning off yet another area of your closet for clothing
that no longer fits.

Finally, all research aside, the real world experience of
many personal trainers and fitness professionals show that
the majority of their clients lose fat faster when the diet
sodas are kept at bay.

The solution is clear (pun intended): many successful
dieters have experienced substantial weight loss after
making the switch from diet colas to plain water. Without
the chemically-induced insulin response, water will help to
satiate our appetite, especially when dieting. In
addition, repeated research has shown that an increase in
water intake correlates very well with a subsequent
decrease in fat deposits.

And wasn't reduced body fat the original goal, anyway?

Make your fat loss journey simpler. Kick the soda habit
and grab water for quicker weight loss.

----------------------------------------------------
Jeremy Nelms and his wife, Alissa Nelms, are known as "The
World's Happiest Fitness Couple!" You can visit their
website and read more articles, as well as follow their
personal training journals and fitness adventures at
http://www.TheFitCouple.com .