Ai_1 wrote:
HuffNPuff wrote:
Sanuk wrote:
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?
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?!
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.
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.
