There is no doubting the consuming large amounts of soft drink is bad for you and make you gain weight! But what about diet soft drinks such as Pepsi Max or Coke Zero? Large companies have spent billions of dollars convincing us that diet or sugar free is the healthy, lighter choice if you want to lose weight.

In my experience they’re actually fooling us into believing we’re doing something good for our bodies when really we’re sabotaging our own results. Diet soft drinks may not have the sugar and calories of normal soft drink but they’re chock full of other harmful chemicals such as caffeine, artificial sweeteners, sodium and phosphoric acid.

No one can deny that diet soft drinks have fewer calories than regular soft drinks. If you drink a disproportionate amount of soft drink then switch to diet soft drinks you may lose weight, and I emphasize the word MAY. Because artificial sweeteners can actually cause you to gain more weight than drinking regular soft drink.

By giving our tastes buds something that seems sweet, we signal other parts of our body that glucose sugars are on the way, therefore we start to crave sugar without actually getting it. If you crave sugar long enough eventually you’ll give in. Consuming artificial sweeteners that seem real just might be setting us up to eat more calories later on.

Diet soft drinks also contain other harmful ingredients such as caffeine. Many of the diet drinks are cola-based which have caffeine added. Yes, it gives you a sugar-like “boost” but that caffeine buzz really isn’t giving your body anything it needs. Complications of caffeine consumption and addiction include fatigue, chronic anxiety, insomnia, and worsening symptoms of hormonal imbalance.

Additionally, caffeine is a diuretic, so while you may be thinking that a diet soft drink quenches your thirst and helps keep you hydrated, the opposite is true. Diet soft drink also contains sodium, which makes thirst worse, while the caffeine causes you to lose fluid. Therefore you’re more likely to drink more soft drink throughout the day.

All soft drinks also contain calcium-leaching phosphoric acid, and too much acid in your system is unhealthy. The body is always healthier when slightly alkaline. Too much acidity will sabotage the body’s own detox process. Try this experiment: Fill a glass with soft drink, diet or regular, and drop a nail into the glass. Watch it over the course of an hour or two. You’ll find that the soft drink eats away at the nail in a surprisingly short amount of time. Now think of what it can do to your stomach!

When is diet soft drink okay?
Only short-term consumption of diet soft drink is ok if someone is addicted to sugar and drinks too much regular soft drink. In the case of sugar addiction, weaning off of sugar with the help of diet soft drinks and other artificial sweeteners can actually help. This is a short-term solution and your ultimate goal should be to switch over to water and herbal teas as your beverages of choice