What would removing soda from your diet do for you?

[Patroklos]

I encountered a common myth/insult/joke in another thread that bothers me. Generic version of myth/insult/joke:

"OMG people think if you order a value meal #4 but get a diet coke everything is okay! What an idiot!"

I take issue with this because I know that the percentage of daily caloric intake due to sugary drinks in America is very high. Removing this source from your diet won't make a particular meal healthy, but it can easly cut 20% of your daily caloric intake and it is primarily done by removing sugar.

So, some numbers, a random McDonalds combo meal:

Bic Mac - 590cal
Medium Fry - 380 cal
Med Sweet Tea - 180 (I drink sweet tea primarily, so I am going to calcuate using that).

TOTAL = 1150cal

http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/getnutrition/nutritionfacts.pdf

That is certainly a gut buster, more than half a normal male's recommended intake. I try to limit myself to 1800 calories so even worse for my purposes.

But looking at the meal itself, and the impact drinking a 0 calorie diet soda in the place of sweet tea would have, I do not consider the results either myth/insult/joke.

Removing that sweet tea from the above reduces the total calories of that meal by 16%. That is significant for such an simple habit change.

Lets be real though, most people don't just drink the initial fill, they top that thing off two or three times (then again for the road!). So realistically we are talking two servings of a medium drink, or 360 calories. This means switching to diet yeilds a 27% decrease from total meal calories (1330)

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That was just an example. What I was really curious is about was the calories you could remove from your diet if you took sugary drinks out completely, all day.

For me, I generally drink three sodas a day. I had to do this when coffee started screwing with my stomach. I drink doctor peper, which is about 150 calories a can. This is at work (on the ship), as I said earlier at resturaunts I drink sweet tea with meals which isn't available at work. I probably do this at least once a day.

So for me, and I made this switch a while ago, replacing three sodas and a sweet tea with diet soda and unsweetened tea meahs I cut 630 calories from my day. Thats 35% of my daily intake goal, 31% of a normal 2000 calorie diet.

What does it work out for you?

 

[Mr. Dictator]

I drank several cokes a day until I was around 15 or 16.

I noticed a significant improvement in overall...well..."feeling" (as vague as that is)

 

[warpus]

Calories don't really affect me that much (I have a really good metabolism)

It's the sugar in pop (soda/coke/whatever you call it where you live) that is bad for me.

I've given up on pop in the past, and it's made me feel better overall, but I've never lost any weight. I am currently on a reduced pop diet, meaning I don't drink coke every day. I try to have it on a weekly basis or so.

 

[Cutlass]

I usually drink 3 sugared colas a day. And cutting that would probably help me lose weight. But I've found by trial and error that when I do cut it, I become more depressed and lethargic. It really does have a consistent impact on my daily mood. I've tried it on several occasions to switch to sugar free colas. So I'm not willing to cut it out.

However, I've read more recently that diet sodas, and other things with artificial sweeteners, do not help with weight loss. And the reason for this is that your body doesn't understand how to process artificial sweeteners. And so reacts in ways that have the same weight effect as sugar.

 

[GenMarshall]

I don't drink soda so it's a non issue for me (I drink soda on a very rare occasion). I mainly drink water or iced tea.

It's not that I don't like soda beverages, it just does not appeal to me.

 

[Synobun]

It is much too expensive for my mother to buy me things such as milk or juice, even water. Therefore I am restricted to a solely cheap soda diet whenever it comes to beverages. Removing soda from my diet and replacing it with a better beverage would likely cause me to lose quite a few pounds and a noticeable health gain.

 

[Patroklos]

Is your tap unfit for human consumption?

 

[GenMarshall]

It is much too expensive for my mother to buy me things such as milk or juice, even water. Therefore I am restricted to a solely cheap soda diet whenever it comes to beverages. Removing soda from my diet and replacing it with a better beverage would likely cause me to lose quite a few pounds and a noticeable health gain.

Wait, water? What happened to good old tap water (unless your water utility makes an "interesting" tasting water brew, then that would be understandable)

Is your tap unfit for human consumption?

Maybe the water company makes funny tasting water or he does not have a water filter. You never know.

 

[_random_]

I drink quite a bit of pop. I'd probably have to start liking coffee if I wanted to not die.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

I only drink coffee, water, tea, and beer. Cutting soda out of my diet would only remove the random root beer I grab once a month or so.

 

[downtown]

I used to drink a ton of pop in college, but I've weened a lot of it out of my diet....I might have 2-3 serving a week, tops...and once football season is over, I may drop to 3 a month.

I'm not somebody who is worried about calories...I'm active enough that I still burn quite a few...but the huge amounts of sugar mess me up. I'm a pretty active runner, and drinking lots of pop was hurting my performance.

I think I lost around 5-7 pounds when I started to cut sprite out of my diet. I still eat pretty unhealthily, but ditching sugar beverages is an easy lifestyle choice to drastically reduce the crap you're putting in your body.

 

[Mise]

I don't drink drinks with sugar in them. I cut them out entirely during the course of 2008 and I've never looked back. There is literally no reason to drink sugary drinks, and no excuse for not cutting them out. It's literally the easiest thing you can do for your health. At work I use sweetener in my teas and coffees. At restaurants I order Pepsi Max/Coke Zero/Diet Coke (in that order of preference), or water. At home I drink Pepsi Max or water.

As for caloretic intake more generally, I need about 2200 calories per day (averaged over a typical week). Right now I probably average 1800-2000. I've been losing weight consistently for the past 2 months and I aim to reach a weight of about 56-58 kg at some point. I figure that's about the level of body fat I need for a visible 6 pack. (I'm 61kg now.)

I'm not religious about my diet. The primary reason I go to the gym is so that I can eat a crapload of chicken. Cutting out sugary drinks simply allows me to eat more chocolate biscuits.


Alcohol is as bad as sugary drinks, btw. Stop drinking for 2 months and see how much weight you lose. You know how people get fat when they go off to university? It's cos they drink a lot of beer.

 

[timtofly]

Is there a correlation to a certain amount of "fat" in ones system and the repulsion of water? Or is it just a "taste" factor involved? I cannot drink water plain. It is revolting to me!

In fact, it has to have a "sweet" flavor, not even unsweet tea helps.

I am down to one 32 oz. of Dr. Pepper a day, M-F. Sometimes none or little on the weekends.

I drink several flavored (artificial sugar) 16 oz bottles (of "water") a day and milk.

Having gone from a great metabolism 140 lbs. to sluggish 215 lbs. in the last 12 years has changed my taste for water. I used to drink it all the time, without any problem, and I hardly drank pop at all.

If I could get back to a healthy weight, I would give soda up.

 

[Synobun]

Wait, water? What happened to good old tap water (unless your water utility makes an "interesting" tasting water brew, then that would be understandable)

It is unhealthy. My county's tap water in general is pretty terrible, and at one point I believe there was a study done that proved the tap water increased aggression if drank daily. If my tap had a proper filter on it I would gladly drink it, but unfortunately a good filter is a tad expensive and something my mother does not wish to do.

 

[downtown]

A brita filter is like, 25 bucks.

 

[Synobun]

A brita filter is like, 25 bucks.

Is it? For 25 bucks around here, all I'd get is a sub-par device that claims to be a filter. Downside of living in a terrible economic location, I guess.

 

[jtb1127]

Would you rather spend the money or drink crap for the rest of your life?

 

[Synobun]

Would you rather spend the money or drink crap for the rest of your life?

This would imply that I have money and that I have a choice.

 

[jtb1127]

You'll save more money drinking water than soda. Take all the money you spend on sodas and throw it in a piggy bank, drink tap water for a week, than buy a filter and watch your life improve.

 

[NetGear]

i stopped drinking regular soda just over yr ago. I lost a quite a bit of weight for doing nothing. i eat fast food maybe twice a month, so its easier to avoid soda, but when I do, I stick to diet now.

You'll save more money drinking water than soda. Take all the money you spend on sodas and throw it in a piggy bank, drink tap water for a week, than buy a filter and watch your life improve.

If hes lazy he doesn't even need to do that. Switch his money spent on coke to dasani. Coca-cola wouldn't mind.