i'm not a nutritionist, but i will tell you that black coffee is better than soda as a delivery method for caffeine -- which, from your post, seems to be one purpose of your soda intake, even if it is only subtly acknowledged.

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Hilly Flats Racing

coffee will stain your teeth and give you caffeine

soda will destroy your teeth, make you fat, and give you caffeine

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

The high fructose syrup used in soda runs through the veins of Satan. That's stuff is pure evil.

My fiance is a nutritionist. Whenever she is asked what single food choice/change someone can make to improve their health, the answer is always the same..... stop drinking soda.

Coffee in large quantities isn't good for you, but a cup a day has some benefits. Drink coffee in moderation and it may actually do you some good whereas any amount of soda is bad for you.

Coffee is a lot better for you than soda.

Soda contains tons of sugar as well as high amounts of caffine, and is very acidic. (you can clean your bike chain with Coke)

Good coffee is an all natural product containing anti oxidents and much more mild levels of sugar and caffine. Studies have linked compounds in coffe to a decrease in Alsimers, early onset dimensia and can be on par with a glass of red wine for heart health.

If you're avoiding coffee on the grounds that it has caffine, reaching for a mtn dew is like smoking crack to avoid an occational glass of wine ;-)

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This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time. - Fight Club
Industry Brat.

How will stopping drinking soda improve their health?

jaretj
.

"mostly to avoid becoming a slave to the caffiene"

Your 60oz of Mtn Dew (2 x 24oz at lunch and one 12oz can in the morning) gives you 275mg of caffeine (55mg per 12oz).
12oz of generic Coffee gives you approx. 260mg of caffeine.

As others have said, the coffee brings other benefits with it as results of a recent study were announced only yesterday. The soda brings a lot of other crap with it!

Now Splenda, that is whole other topic!

Everybody has a vice.....I LOVE coffee. It's my fault if you can call it that.

Soda's are so full of sugar and shit.....blaaah. I have a Coke when we go out for a carb orgy/pizza fest, but that's it.

Mmmmmmmm coffffffeeeeeee

"Coffee is the life blood that fuels champions"

I don't know who said it but their spot on

....no where does that qoute mention soda

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Inside The Big Ring: Podcast & Coaching

X2

I saw this recently.

In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.

20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (There’s plenty of that at this particular moment)

40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.

45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.

>60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.

>60 Minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.

>60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.

http://www.nutritionresearchcenter.org/...nk-a-coke-right-now/

Coffee is only bad for you if you go get a venti double mocha-chino frappacino with extra whip. Plain black coffee, while it may stain your teeth, has some other alleged health benefits.

I drink 3 cans of diet coke a day, my doctor says I'm healthy.

jaretj

I drink 3 cans of diet coke a day, my doctor says I'm healthy.

Probably compared to the average person he sees. Dropping the diet soda will probably make you healthier.

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Don't hold back

Diet coke doesn't have sugar in it, but there is some debate as to whether aspartame will kill you.

Either way, I would think for most athletes on Slowtwitch drinking a Coke a day would be fine.

My personal favorite, Mexican Coke. It still has pure cane sugar instead of HFCS.

Is diet soda any better for you than regular soda or vice versa?

I am a Moutain Dew addict that stuff is like crack, its been 21 days since my last bottle.

ditch the splenda

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Those stats are great. So, 12oz coffee=260mg caffeine, 12 oz MtDew=55mg caffeine. I dodn't realize that the difference was that great. I'm definitely interested in reducing the HFCS and the better living by science chemicals in soda. Where is this study? Splenda?

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......

I'm 37 years old and just started drinking coffee in order to compensate my diet coke that im trying to quit. aspartames gives me headack

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Formely stef32

all this talk about aspartame being bad for you...is there any actual proof that it is? diabetics have been using the stuff for years, is there any research to show cancer clusters/higher prevalence of cancer/other bad things in diabetics from use of aspartame?

aren't the doses used in the tests on rats/mice etc extremely high?

Beer is caffeine and sugar free. Try that.

I dropped it for 6 months before my last IM...didn't notice a thing except I got to drink a lot of bad tasting water.

jaretj

Better listen to him, he's in pre-med.

I thought it was pre-law?

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

If he was he's a partner by now because that was 7 years ago.

Soda sometimes cause stomach pain for me during training

Like an idiot I grabbed coke at a 70.3 instead of sports drink or plain water, and ended up doubled over a few miles later. Walked probably 4 out of last 5 miles. I never drink soda.

6 years later and still not answered...

My doctor said drinking soda is worth 6 lbs of body weight. He also said if you must drink soda, drink clear soda. The coloring is bad for you. I also had a friend that was drinking the crap of Mt Dew and then he switched to Diet Coke. He use to keep a case of Mt Dew in his car at all times. Lol. After the same mass quantity of diet Coke, he went to his doctor as his vision was poor. Turns out- his doctor said stop drinking so much coke. His vision improved again.

Fact is- our bodies are designed to drink water, marketing bastards turned soft drinks into America's liquid of choice. I drink zero calorie ice tea I mix in water and 5 calorie lemonade instead of soda generally at home. Although, I am not a coffee drinker and I do drink soda. I try to stay with diet ... But, I do have regular soda too. I try to limit it to 2 cans a day. Today I had 1 20 oz can and I wish I didn't drink soda at all. It's hard to stop all together!

Coffee in moderation (i.e. a few cups a day, not a cup every 30mins) is not particularly detrimental. Soda on the other hand is just syrup with flavouring. There is not a chance in hell that soda is the wiser option. Soda is just a sugar delivery device. It's equivalent to eating energy gels as part of your normal diet with the added bonus that the carbonation increases tooth damage.

In the majority of medical studies it is statistically impossible to distinguish the health impacts of regular and diet soda with both being clearly bad for you. For example:

There was no difference in the health of girls who drank diet and regular soda but all soda drinkers were worse off in terms of BMI and overall nutrient than non-soda drinkers. More than that the more soda the girls consumed the worse their health (http://www.sciencedirect.com/...ii/S0022347605010929)

Daily consumption of diet soda is correlated with a 36% greater risk of metabolic disorder and 67% greater risk of type II diabetes than nondaily consumption. And these numbers are similar to what has been found for daily regular soda drinkers (http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/32/4/688.short)

And on the cancer front both regular and aspartame containing soda consumption appears to be correlated with an increased risk of some cancers. So don't assume drinking regular coke is better than diet coke either (http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/96/6/1419.short)

Everything I have listed is pretty solid in terms of where it was published, but there is a A LOT of BS research out their funded by the food and drink industry which conflicts such findings. As I am sure you can imagine the beverage industry has a lot at stake here so they have a vested interest in muddying the waters and making people believe certain drinks are bad while others are good.

years ago, as a highschool track runner, i did a training camp with one of canada's olympic team coaches. asked for his #1 piece of advice for young runners, he said, "don't drink soda."

all that crappy sugar's bad enough, but it's the phosphorous that he was especially worried about - stuff's awful for your bones.

i'm in the same boat in terms of not drinking coffee - fortunately i drink tea. best of both worlds, i think - it's got caffeine and maybe some antioxidants, but is otherwise nutritionally pretty inert (especially compared with soda or a double-mocha frappucino).

i think soda's useful in training/competition - there's times when a can of coke works miracles on a long ride or late in a marathon. but as daily habits go, it's a shitty one.

-mike

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____________________________________
https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

I drink both tea and coffee. While tea contains caffeine it is, I'm pretty sure, quite a bit less than coffee at normal drinking strength. I'm curious what other significant nutritional impact coffee has? I normally drink my coffee much the same way as my tea. i.e. sometimes black or sometimes with a small amount of milk. Sometimes a very little sugar and sometimes none. I don't worry about health impact nor do I think I need to. I'll occasionally have a cappuccino or latte, more calories but it's just some extra milk so no big deal. On the other hand if you're drinking coffee based concoctions laced with flavouring syrups and whatnot then you're half-way to sodas!

So if I don't drink beer how many Sodas can I have?

So what about soda water? La Croix is my crutch.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

I often wonder ... what is the process by which someone resurrects a 7 year old thread?

I figure it's the result of a search gone awry, but then the replies often don't suggest that the person was looking for info, but rather some place to just hang a comment.

Boredom at work?

Insomnia?

Personality disorder?

what is the process by which someone resurrects a 7 year old thread?

It's only six years.

Coffee is my recommendation. There is nothing worse for you, than soda. Nothing about it is good. Nothing.

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Emilio De Soto II
Maker of triathlon clothing, T1 Wetsuits, & Saddle Seat Pads and AXS since 1990
emilio@desotosport.com http://www.desotosport.com

If you're in dire need of hydration or simple carbohydrates it could come in handy. As part of a healthy balanced day to day diet, it has nothing going for it.

So yeah, I didn't realize that this thread was six years old, but now that I do, I am adding to it anyway.

I haven't had any kind of soft drink in several years, but the last time I did (a few years after the time before) it left me doubled over with abdominal pain after about half a can. However, I have had several people tell me that Coke works wonders on the run of an IM. Is it worth training my body to handle it just for race day?

Except the taste ... it does taste pretty damn good I think most would agree. Otherwise it's a blackhole of bad

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

I had a pepsi max six months ago from a vending machine because the coffee bar was closed and I was in need of some caffeine.

I took 3 sips and deposited it in the trash can. cannot do.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

Was it as bad as hammer gel?

True, but at a late stage on the run I always go full soda if they have it at the aid stations. Nothing bridges a bad stretch of a race like cola....outside of red bull.

260mg for a 12oz coffee? That's a strong coffee! :) But I agree on your point..soda doesn't really have that much caffeine despite the misconception it does.

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Power Meter City
Your Power Meter Specialists

Fun fact, a double shot of espresso only has about 70-80mg of caffeine which means you can drink more of it without getting jittery. Home espresso can turn into an expensive hobby though (I speak from experience.)

I think it depends on the situation. In general, coffee might be better, but if you're in the middle of a workout, then soda is the way to go. I do a brick every Sunday, and I usually chug a mountain dew between the bike and the run, and my runs in recent weeks have been downright incredible.

That carbonation, though...

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

Nothing burping once or twice can't solve.

Drank 4 pint bottles of Diet Dr. Pepper when I was stuck in the airport all monday. Loved it, felt like a champ, got zero calories and suppressed appetite. Good times.

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Professional Athlete: http://jordancheyne.wordpress.com/ http://www.strava.com/athletes/145340

Coaching Services:http://www.peakformcoaching.com/

I've kept off soda for a couple of years now....a few years back, my old Suburban was having real battery/alternator issues...not being too handy with cars I took it to the local gas station, one of the few filling stations that has great, enthusiastic mechanics working on site. I explained the problem to the mechanic, who told me to buy her a Coke. I thought it was an odd means of payment, but this is a quirky place, so I didn't think twice. She proceeded to pour the Coke all over the battery contacts and I watched as the cola ate through the corrosion and gunk that had built up on the battery contacts. Ate it away like acid. That was pretty much it for me and soda....yeah, I'll occasionally have the odd Mexican coke after a really hard/hot run, but watching that Coke eat away battery corrosion and thinking of what it does to the stomach shifted me to water, iced tea, sports drinks.

As a dentist, I can comment there is substantial evidence that coffee can have anticariogenic properties. (It can prevent decay). Of course, that is without creamer or any sort of sweetener. There is absolutely no value in drinking pop, in my opinion.

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Not everything is as it seems -Mr. Miyagi

Looking for tips/assistance from those who stopped drinking soda. Trying to stop it completely - regular and diet. Ideas please?
Thanks, John

Unsweet tea. I started with lots of Splenda and then ramped down to just straight. It's refreshing, has a touch of caffeine, and tastes great with a shot of lemon.

Carbonated water. I still drink soda when I need the sugar (between workouts,) but the carbonation in the water is still very satisfying.

Suppressed appetite? Really?
I'm not sure how much evidence there is to support it, nor do I have a reference to hand, but there is a theory that sweet food or drink that doesn't actually contain the calories that it tastes like it should, will actually cause cravings to satisfy the calorie discrepancy.
Like I said I don't know how much data there is to support this but it seems credible to me.
Given that cravings, in the long term, are more powerful than will power, this would make "diet" drinks a very bad idea.

So I'll share some helpful stuff and then give the shameless plug.....


If caffeine is your concern when drinking coffee then you should be paying attention to the roast level of the coffee you are drinking.


Lighter roasted coffee has more caffeine
Darker roasted coffee has less caffeine

if you are a Starbucks fanatic... they pretty much blast everything they roast on the surface of the sun, so not a whole lot of caffeine there.

There is a huge misconception out there that the darker the coffee the more of a jolt you will feel but that is not true. The roasting process is essentially drawing water and other minerals out of the beans so it looses its potency the darker it is roasted.

Like many of you I stopped drinking soda all together and went to unsweet tea to cut out large amounts of sugar in my diet, which in the south makes you alien. I felt a lot better and it was much easier to cut weight I was holding over from my college days.

now the shameless plug..... if you want good coffee, check out TampaCoffeeClub.com

I'm so sick of "soda snobs". I drink diet sodas when I go out for lunch or dinner. I hate it when someone says "you know sodas bad for you". You know what, Just let me eat my damn dinner while you shove fat down your throat and drink your water.

I dont buy the fact that diet sodas are bad for you. Sure there's artificial sweeteners and dyes but you'll need to drink 1000 colas a day to kill the rat they tested it on.

As for the acidity......... you do know that your stomach acid has a pH of about 1-2. So when I drink my acidic diet cola it's actually buffering my stomach.

I do buy the fact that if you drink diet soda you will probably eat more than if you drank water. Just going to that sweet tasting soda makes you want go back for more fries or that second helping of nachos.

Soda snobs are on the same level as vegans in my book.

I didn't drink coffee until I was 30. I drank a shitload of diet soda though. I didn't drink diet soda because it was diet, but regular soda was too sweet for me. I started drinking coffee because I knew diet soda wasn't good for me. It took a while want a coffee instead of a diet soda, but I started sleeping better, I had some bladder issues that went away. Coffee doesn't make me poop quite like a diet soda in the AM, so race mornings I down one to get everything moving, but that's the only time. From time to time on a ride I'll grab a regular soda for the sugar and during IMs I drink soda when available. I also grab a diet coke from time to time and I can tell now crappy it makes me feel. I have to pee all the time when I drink it so I sleep like crap.

I drink my coffee black when I make it at home. Which is 98% of the time. If I go to to a coffee shop I drink a latte, usually a breve latte. I have a fear of bad coffee so I don't buy it from a gas station etc, those are the times I drink a diet coke or something if I really need it.

I used to drink two regular Cokes a day. I switched from regular to diet but not cold turkey. I just stopped buying regular Coke at the supermarket and only had diet at home. If I wanted a regular Coke I had to go out and get it. That dramatically cut back on my regular Coke consumption and gradually I lost the taste for it. Once you switch completely to diet you can start substituting iced tea. The flavored iced teas (I like Trader Joe's stuff) are pretty tasty and only have about half as many calories as juice.

No doubt!

Both coffee and tea contain antioxidants (and different antioxidants). As long as you don't flood them with sugar it's some of the best beverages you can have. I usually drink 2 cups of coffee, back tea, and green tea a day (but I do work night shift so I may over do it haha.

I drink 3 cans of diet coke a day, my doctor says I'm healthy.

Name 1 health benefit of diet coke and how it keeps you healthy?

As for the acidity......... you do know that your stomach acid has a pH of about 1-2. So when I drink my acidic diet cola it's actually buffering my stomach.

MmmKay, but the pH of your mouth is right around 7-7.5. Whereas the acid may not affect the stomach so much, it does bad things to your mouth (especially your teeth).

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

The acid on your teeth from soft drinks is overrated. Sodas are a little bit more acidic than coffee. The frequency of sugar is what's destroying teeth these days.

Agree. I don't get the "flat coke" thing. Nothing better than an extra, extra, extra cold coke after a workout. Carbonation never bothered me.

Although... I do think this thread is beginning to make me cut my soda intake by at least half. I had 1 diet soda with dinner tonight, after a run. Orange juice for breakfast and water the rest of the day.

Kinda like the vegetarians. They comment on my steak and potatoes, yet they can't do a damn ironman. So, who is healthy and fit?

True, frequency of refined sugar is a HUGE consideration with respect to dental health. But why?? It's my understanding that bacteria utilize the sugar, metabolize it, and the waste product is.....ACID.

Not to turn this into a dental seminar ( I'm actually attending one right now, yawn)...but everytime you eat or drink ANYTHING, there is a measurable drop in pH in the oral cavity...so frequency of eating can also be a factor in decay risk.

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Not everything is as it seems -Mr. Miyagi

It keeps me from drinking 3 beers a day
It keeps me from ingesting an extra 600 calories a day

Though I am still working I don't have enough retirement built up to live into my 90's. Coke Zero is my pleasurable path to shorten the time line to match my meager retirement savings. Maybe I should also add in a daily ration of bacon. mmmmm......bacon :-)

Not counting the substantial risk I take being on the road.

That's funny :)

I actually wouldn't mind if you turned this into a dental seminar. I'm still a few CEU short for 2016. I figure my Peter Dawson and Pikos courses this summer should ensure me enough CE for the year.However, I'm still going to drink my diet soda with lunch.

This problem was solved in 1984

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXnTbmPxv5g

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Ian

After seeing that I think I'm going to stop

As I'm sure you're aware, Gatorade and red bull are far more erosive then soda pop. I wouldn't let the pop haters worry you. As a matter of fact, I'm having a Coke right now.

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Not everything is as it seems -Mr. Miyagi

I drink Quality Black coffee. No cream or sugar. I am hoping it is better than soda.

It is. Black coffee is the stuff of champs! It only took me about 2 cups without cream and sugar to actually like the taste of black coffee..I live on it now. It's good for you - research it :)

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Power Meter City
Your Power Meter Specialists

I used to drink regular coke up to about my mid-30s, then switched to diet coke. I'll be 59 this year and probably have about 4-5 cans a day. Since sodas are 99% WATER, I would say I am benefitting immensely staying hydrated in the Florida heat. Drink water you say? Unfortunately, that doesn't work. When I'm immensely thirsty, I can take in cold water, but only diet soda - due to far better taste - will allow me to pull in the amount of liquid necessary for proper hydration thus maintaining my ability to continue training. So there you go. As a decades long experiment of 1, I would argue that the bone density, weight, and teeth enamel arguments are pure B.S..

On a related note - can someone please explain why in Europe one has to settle for the much less pleasing Coke Light instead of Diet Coke - the nectar of the gods?!

It seems you're after caffeine. If you don't want lots of sugar, drink coffee or just a caffeine pill if you like. I recall hearing about studies on caffeine with mice and how it prevents neurological diseases like Alzheimers. It can also help performance (a stimulant) and releases fatty acids into the blood which can prolong glycogen stores. Yes caffeine has drawbacks like raising cortisol levels. I Say enjoy your latte, forgo the sugar.

Lots of benefits to caffeine actually! http://www.caffeineinformer.com/...eine-health-benefits.

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Power Meter City
Your Power Meter Specialists

Soft drinks in general are not 99% water. The non diet variety typically contain about 10% sugar so 90% water is probably as good as it gets and that's a hell of a lot of sugar.

If I may an observation about your claim on the need for Coke to stay hydrated - You say you can drink water when really thirsty but need coke to take in enough water due to the taste. Since you say you've been drinking 4-5 cans of coke a day for a considerable length of time (it's unclear if you always drank this much or if that a more recent development) I would suggest that you've simply become overly accustomed to the high sweetness and have caused the problem you claim to have solved. It's quite normal for people who indulge in large quantities of sweet, salty or spicy foods to re-calibrate their taste away from the norm. If you put sugar or some other sweetener on all your food, it'll start tasting wrong without it. Put lots of salt on everything and you'll feel the need to continue that too. I don't think you need coke because you can't drink water. I think you don't like water because you drink so much coke. Seems sad to me since a cold fresh water when your thirsty is about the most delicious thing there is (IMO of course).
I don't think your argument holds up to scrutiny.

As for availability of Diet coke in Europe - where in Europe do you mean? Perhaps there are countries where it's not available but it's certainly not a continent wide phenomenon.

 
Actually 99.8% according to the USDA

https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/...amp;qlookup=beverage

I don't believe coffee or (diet) soda is better or worse, in moderation of course.

I drink coffee in the morning and maybe once in a while a diet Coke. Not for hydration though.

But I don't put in sweetener in my coffee either. To me the excess sugar is the problem.

this thread is classic, it was an obvious troll six years ago, (whats better for me, putting 80 - 120 grams of sugar in my body or black coffee?, yeah what a controversy) and now its become the place where the last six people on earth who think soda isnt unhealthy, or even, as the above poster is saying, its actually almost healthy, since he apparently is so much against water that he'd rather be dehydrated than be forced to drink it, and that soda is what is saving his triathlon career, strange stuff, cant say ive ever met anyone in real life like this

If you're referring to me (because Sanuk did not write what is in bold) I don't remember saying that I drink diet coke for hydration instead of water. I remember saying that I drank a lot of bad tasting water when I was not drinking diet coke at all, but perhaps I'm mistaken.

In fact, I drink a lot of Gatorade while exercising as well as Infinit and Scratch labs stuff. I'm sure we can dig up bad things about those products too.

But seriously, while still being honest, now I'm really just trolling for the BS comments made without any evidence behind them.

I drink good decaffeinated coffee (hard to find) because I'm hypersensitive to caffeine (withdraw gives me headaches) and because I like the taste and it has some health benefits. I also drink herbal tea because it has some taste compared to just drinking water.

 
this thread is classic, it was an obvious troll six years ago, (whats better for me, putting 80 - 120 grams of sugar in my body or black coffee?, yeah what a controversy) and now its become the place where the last six people on earth who think soda isnt unhealthy, or even, as the above poster is saying, its actually almost healthy, since he apparently is so much against water that he'd rather be dehydrated than be forced to drink it, and that soda is what is saving his triathlon career, strange stuff, cant say ive ever met anyone in real life like this[/quote]Wow. Someone is impressed with himself and so smarter than the rest evidently. And by the way what was your point? Oh, I get it just to assert (reassert?) your obvious superiority. Good job then.

You misread my post. I said non-diet.
The poster I responded to said 99.8% in soda without saying he meant the diet variety. Details matter. In this case A LOT. If you're not talking about typical carbonated soft drinks you need to say so. Others reading the thread may not have realised the error and come away with VERY inaccurate information.
So I just checked at the same site you referenced and my figures are pretty much spot on for non diet carbonated cola.
https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/...4228?manu=&fgcd=

Wow. Someone is impressed with himself and so smarter than the rest evidently. And by the way what was your point? Oh, I get it just to assert (reassert?) your obvious superiority. Good job then.[/quote]
lets see, the original poster said he drinks mountain due for breakfast, then has two 24 ounce cups of mountain due for lunch, then he states he wants to know if nutritionists think that could possibly be bad idea, you dont think thats a troll? but im also saying how hilarious it is that you persecuted, discriminated against soda drinkers have all showed up here to defend yourself from us water drinking elitists

Good lord, it's a simple question with an even easier answer. Which is better/worse for you, coffee or soda? The answer is unsweetened coffee is better if you are looking for a source of caffeine. Period.

No one thinks you are going to hell if you drink soda. It's just that consistent daily soda intake will be less healthy than consistent daily NON-SWEETENED black coffee.

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Not everything is as it seems -Mr. Miyagi

Coke Light is a different formulation of Diet Coke with a different taste. Countries I've travelled to in the last 10 years where I've only been able to find Coke Light instead of Diet Coke: Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria, England, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

Re water - I didn't say I can't drink it. I can and do, but I find it difficult to drink the amount I need to rehydrate. Try training in Tampa in the summer and see what I mean. And I don't just drink Diet Coke...throw in Gatorade, ICE drinks, lemonade, and God knows how many 100s of gallons of water over the years spiked with electrolytes like Gu Brew. But I have been drinking 4-5 cans of Diet Coke a day (some w caffeine, some without) for DECADES. Is it better than water? I'm not saying that. Did my taste buds re-calibrate 30 years ago - possibly. But I am saying that I don't see any ill effects. Am I making an argument for others to follow in my footsteps? Nope. Am I going to change...highly unlikely. What do I think of coffee...black sludge...and please don't breathe anywhere near me.

To each his own.

I'm in for two double espressos in the am. Less volume means less pee stops on the am training session.

I limit myself to one can of Pepsi/Coke per day, post workout. It's satisfying, and a great sugar-delivery method. Mmmmmmmm sugar. More than one can, and I would feel too bloated for drinking a few pints.

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no sponsors | no races | nothing to see here

Then I stand corrected.

So, do you think Gatorade, Powerade, etc, are "healthier" than Coke, Mtn Dew, etc??? My understanding is that a carb is a carb, regardless of whether it comes from high fructose corn syrup or glucose. Similarly, a calorie is a calorie. Everything i've read says that drinking too many sugary sodas can contribute to weight gain but, if you're burning 5000 cal/day in your average training day, you need some easy to ingest calories to avoid excessive weight loss:)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

So far...

Ad Muncher

Sounds like you got it figured out! Caffeine pre-ride...and the all important sugar post ride.

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Power Meter City
Your Power Meter Specialists

For 30 odd years I was addicted to Coke , drinking 3 , 4 or more cans per day , approximately 2 years ago I weened myself of it , to the point I drank no coke or any other soda for 18 months , You know what ? Didn't lose any weight , didn't feel any healthier , made no difference at all , zipp nada nothing.

I have relaxed a bit over the past 6 months and now actually enjoy a coke when I go out for dinner or after a hot hard ride or run .

As an aside I dont touch any alcohol and have never touched coffee in my life .

Soda , in particular Coke was my addiction and source of caffeine.

Im glad I cut back but as I said it made not one scrap of difference

Since you haven't said otherwise, I'm assuming you have not had your health thoroughly investigated before and after. As such, besides weight, you really don't have any hard evidence and this is purely a subjective assessment. Maybe your health wasn't effected, maybe it was. How would you know for sure?