These Magical Things Happen When You Finally Quit Diet Soda
You keep hearing that diet soda isn't good for you, but nothing has convinced you to stop drinking it. Maybe the following reasons will help you to decide it's time to cut it out of your diet and daily routine. Your health will improve in many ways. Try cooling down this summer by drinking unsweetened iced tea instead of diet soda. Your body will benefit in several ways.
Your mind seems sharper and migraines go away.
You have heard that diet soda withdrawal can cause migraines. Cutting out diet soda will cut down on the headaches and you will think much more clearly. The chemicals found in artificial sweetener alter the brain chemicals, the brain's reward system, and nerve signals. According to a review in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, these chemical alterations lead to headaches, anxiety and insomnia. An animal study on rats found that drinking diet soda also damaged cells and nerve endings in the brain that are responsible for motor skills.
Food tastes better.
The artificial sweeteners in diet soda give your taste buds an overwhelming amount of sweetness each time you drink one. Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than table sugar, and Splenda is 600 times sweeter. Brain scans have shown that these sweeteners confuse the sweet receptors in the brain actually prolonging your sugar cravings.
It helps with weight-loss.
You probably started drinking diet soda to cut down on calories and facilitate weight-loss. By quitting you may see your weight go down. A nine-year study found that older adults who drank diet soda kept packing on belly fat. A piggyback study found that having a daily diet soda increases your chance of obesity by 65% during the next 10 years. That study published in Diabetes Care also found an increase in metabolic syndrome, which is obesity, high blood-pressure, and high triglycerides, leading to diabetes and heart disease.
Bones become stronger.
Giving up soda is a great way to reduce your risk of bone fracture and increase your bone strength. A study in 2014 found that cola drinking post-menopausal women had lower bone mineral density in their hips. Science has yet to do more research on this subject, but for now a soda habit proves to weaken your bones.
Risk for diabetes and fat storage goes down.
Hormone imbalances help to explain why gaining weight often accompanies a switch to diet soda. A study in Diabetes Care found that drinking diet soda before a meal primed the pancreas to release a lot of insulin, which is the fat-storing hormone in your blood. When your pancreas is overworked from making insulin in the attempt to control blood-sugar levels, diabetes is developed. A supporting study in Japan concluded that middle-aged men who had at least one daily diet soda were at a much higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes over a 7-year period.
Your kidneys function better.
Your kidneys have been working extra hard trying to make sense of the ingredients in diet soda. Stopping that habit will allow your kidneys to concentrate on clearing toxins, stabilizing blood pressure, and absorbing minerals. Results from an 11-year study found that women who drank at least two servings of diet soda per day doubled their risk of developing kidney function problems.
Convinced yet to drop your diet soda habit? Stop tricking yourself into thinking it is a healthy soda alternative and reap the health benefits of getting it out of your diet.
Used under Creative Commons Licensing courtesy of Tony Webster