I hate to say this, but I like Diet Pepsi. Oddly enough, the ONLY people I see slurping down diet beverages are fatties. All the thin people drink the sugar infused stuff. What gives? Am I seeing causality the wrong way, or is this just coincidence.

And no, I'm not terribly overweight (maybe about 15lbs @ my current 2 Benjamins).

~String

Yeah most people who drink diet beverages have weight issues or body image issues [which is why they drink these beverages]. The beverages provide them the latitude to indulge in other ways - they feel reassured by the beverage and typically under estimate how much they eat of other things [or sacrifice activity for it]. They also typically overestimate the benefits of said beverages.

I hate to say this, but I like Diet Pepsi.

Diet Pepsi is clearly the best of the diet sodas, at least in my limited experience. I also hear good things about Diet Dr. Pepper.



Oddly enough, the ONLY people I see slurping down diet beverages are fatties.

Back in my days working in fast food, the only people who ordered diet sodas were the fat people who ordered super-sized meals (this was back when those were still standard). People that ordered regular-sized fries and drinks typically went with the corn syrup versions.

So partially it's fatties trying to reduce calories without reducing quantity. Also I think there is a certain segment of the population that drinks very large quantities of soda throughout the day (hence the huge cup sizes available at fast food and mini-mart outlets), largely for the caffeine. They also tend to have sedentary jobs, and so eventually start buying diet soda to cut out all the extra calories and sugar, lest they get fat/diabetes.

Diet Pepsi is clearly the best of the diet sodas, at least in my limited experience. I also hear good things about Diet Dr. Pepper.

I'm almost embarrased to admit it, but it's the first thing I go for when I get up. I avoided caffeine for most of my life. But as I've moved up in my company, I've struggled more with alertness in the AM. Though, that single Diet Pepsi is the ONLY time I drink any carbonated beverages. It's usually right when I wake up and am sitting here reviewing posts at the forum or checking my bank account.

The rest of the day I'm a water man.


Back in my days working in fast food, the only people who ordered diet sodas were the fat people who ordered super-sized meals (this was back when those were still standard). People that ordered regular-sized fries and drinks typically went with the corn syrup versions.

So partially it's fatties trying to reduce calories without reducing quantity. Also I think there is a certain segment of the population that drinks very large quantities of soda throughout the day (hence the huge cup sizes available at fast food and mini-mart outlets), largely for the caffeine. They also tend to have sedentary jobs, and so eventually start buying diet soda to cut out all the extra calories and sugar, lest they get fat/diabetes.

That seems reasonable.

~String

I love Pepsi Max, better than regular Pepsi. Im not overweight, but I do have problems with high sugar foods.

I love Pepsi Max, better than regular Pepsi. Im not overweight, but I do have problems with high sugar foods.

I also LOVE Pepsi Max, but I worry about all that caffeine at once.

~String

I hate diet sodas they taste terrible. I drink a whole lot of carbonated sugar filled drinks all of the time with every meal and snack except breakfast. But I do usually see overweight people ordering diet sodas. I know my aunt started her diet soda kick when she tried to lose weight.

Screw that stuff. I always drink the proper Red Bull with all the sugar in it, lol. I have to have at least one in the morning or I am a zombie.

Screw that stuff. I always drink the proper Red Bull with all the sugar in it, lol. I have to have at least one in the morning or I am a zombie.

Ahhhh. . . Red Bull. I love the stuff.

LOVE. THE. STUFF.

It's reminiscent of my. . . ah. . . more adventurous days filled with controlled substances.

Every now and then I'll get myself a Red Bull and sip it with joy.

~String

Ahhhh. . . Red Bull. I love the stuff.

LOVE. THE. STUFF.

It's reminiscent of my. . . ah. . . more adventurous days filled with controlled substances.

Every now and then I'll get myself a Red Bull and sip it with joy.

~String

Yay *high five*

I hate to say this, but I like Diet Pepsi. Oddly enough, the ONLY people I see slurping down diet beverages are fatties. All the thin people drink the sugar infused stuff. What gives? Am I seeing causality the wrong way, or is this just coincidence.

And no, I'm not terribly overweight (maybe about 15lbs @ my current 2 Benjamins).

~String

well after they buy that supersized double quarterpounder with cheses and frys they want the diet pop they dont want there cal. intake to be too hich come on string u know that

Ahhhh. . . Red Bull. I love the stuff.

LOVE. THE. STUFF.

It's reminiscent of my. . . ah. . . more adventurous days filled with controlled substances.

Every now and then I'll get myself a Red Bull and sip it with joy.

~String

I've never had a Red Bull, do they taste good or do you just drink them for the high?

I've never had a Red Bull, do they taste good or do you just drink them for the high?

If I could find a caffeine/stimulant fee one, with the same flavor, I'd drink it all day long.

~String

Not to be the downer at a party, ah, nevermind yah I am, but by drinking any of those carbonated beverages you're indirectly advocating slavery, destruction of rainforests and wholesale torture and slaughter of all our barnyard friends. This may seem like a gross exaggeration but the truth in this instance happens to be beyond most people's wildest dreams. Watch the movie "Food Inc." if you don't believe me.

Oh and they make you fat and bipolar.

Oh and they make you fat and bipolar.

Nonsense, they keep my body thin and my mind awake. :cool: But I'll admit they have done a number on my teeth.

If I could find a caffeine/stimulant fee one, with the same flavor, I'd drink it all day long.

~String

Well, it's the best tatsting of the energy drinks but just too damn sweet for me, not to mention lock jaw tart.

I think diet sodas are addictive as hell for some reason, worse than regular. Before I didnt like them, and a friend said once youre hooked, youre hooked (diet coke specifically)
I'll be damned if he wasn't right.

Oh and I'm probably underweight if anything.

I'm drinking a diet Dr. Pepper right now! I try not to consume much sugar. The caffiene does get to me, but I'm trying to build up my tolerance again after abstaining for a year or so.

I'm drinking a diet Dr. Pepper right now! I try not to consume much sugar. The caffiene does get to me, but I'm trying to build up my tolerance again after abstaining for a year or so.

Do you scoff at the notion that a diet drink can taste as good as a regular drink (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6VqpE5_nRM)?

~String

No, I think they taste better.

I drank soda only when I was a kid. After you take a break from it for a few months, you never want to go back. It gives your teeth a unpleasant texture until you brush again and the syrupy taste grosses you out.

The only thing I truly liked about soda was the carbonation. Therefore, I keep many, many 2L bottles of Seltzer in the fridge.

Nonsense, they keep my body thin and my mind awake. :cool: But I'll admit they have done a number on my teeth.

Skinny fat exists too - not saying you have it, just saying it exists. Oh yah and it rots the shit out of your teeth.

I drink diet because I really can't tell the difference between regular and diet, so I figure why consume 200 extra calories for nothing? You might be interested to know that my son did a study for the science fair and we found that most people could correctly identify a cola as diet or regular less thand half the time.

I drink diet because I really can't tell the difference between regular and diet, so I figure why consume 200 extra calories for nothing? You might be interested to know that my son did a study for the science fair and we found that most people could correctly identify a cola as diet or regular less thand half the time.

Really, I can both taste and smell the difference. My boyfriend tries to do that to me at fast food places all of the time. I always know when he didn't bring me what I asked for because I can smell it. Now if we were talking wine, I can't taste the difference or smell the difference all types and flavors all taste and smell exactly the same to me.

If diet beverages work, how come most of the people who buy them are fat?

Really, I can both taste and smell the difference. My boyfriend tries to do that to me at fast food places all of the time. I always know when he didn't bring me what I asked for because I can smell it. Now if we were talking wine, I can't taste the difference or smell the difference all types and flavors all taste and smell exactly the same to me.

Me too, I can taste aspertame in just about everything that contains it. This additive has been the subject of controversy for many years.

Meh, wiki and the government says it's ok. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame_controversy

I still think it may have addictive properties, though. I don't even like the taste but I crave it like a drug. I've since cut way down on the diet soda and go with decaffinated tea sweetened with stevia extract.

If diet beverages work, how come most of the people who buy them are fat?

Becasue it doesnt work if at the same time you stuff your face with fries and burgers.

That's true.
If I had a penny for every time a person said:
"I'll have a Big Mac with fries and a diet coke", I'd be a very rich man.
It's as though people believed that diet coke absorbs calories.
Or perhaps they think that people watching will think:

"How is that person so overweight?" "He/She's as abstemious as a monk"

Reinforcing self delusion is a big profit maker.

I hate to say this, but I like Diet Pepsi. Oddly enough, the ONLY people I see slurping down diet beverages are fatties. All the thin people drink the sugar infused stuff. What gives? Am I seeing causality the wrong way, or is this just coincidence.

And no, I'm not terribly overweight (maybe about 15lbs @ my current 2 Benjamins).

~String

I drink diet everything. I consume 18 cans of Caf Free Diet Pepsi each week(love that stuff). I'm not lean-n-mean cuz I suck down sugar filled everything. Sugar is pure crap, and I probably use (raw) about a tablespoon full, if any, each week.

The only soda I drink is diet root beer added to water and lots of ice for flavor. Otherwise it's Penta, Absopure, or Fiji-type water.

How does Fiji type water differ from ordinary water?
It can't be that effective. 62% of Fijiians are obese.

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=131608

ha! I like this one..



...and lots of ice for flavor.

Huh? Just the way I read it, I guess.

Becasue it doesnt work if at the same time you stuff your face with fries and burgers.

Well technically it does work right? I mean you are consuming less calories than you would be consuming if you had a regular soda. Diet sodas are not weight loss programs.

Really, I can both taste and smell the difference. My boyfriend tries to do that to me at fast food places all of the time. I always know when he didn't bring me what I asked for because I can smell it. Now if we were talking wine, I can't taste the difference or smell the difference all types and flavors all taste and smell exactly the same to me.
My son's science project involved 10 subjects. They were given cups labeled a thru f and asked to identify whether each cup contained:


diet
regular
pepsi
coke
generic

Only one person correctly identified each beverage. People correctly identified a beverage as diet 40% of the time. When it came to telling Pepsi versus Coke or Name brand versus Generic, they did even worse.

Clearly, it was too small of a study to draw any broad conclusions, but it was striking how poorly everyone did. It was really funny how many people claimed to have a strong preference for a particular beverage, yet couldn't identify even that particular drink.

How does Fiji type water differ from ordinary water?
It can't be that effective. 62% of Fijiians are obese.

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=131608

:D I dunno. It just tastes good like the other two. It's not metallic or tasting like chemicals. I drink a lot more water when it's good.

I hate to say this, but I like Diet Pepsi. Oddly enough, the ONLY people I see slurping down diet beverages are fatties. All the thin people drink the sugar infused stuff. What gives? Am I seeing causality the wrong way, or is this just coincidence.

And no, I'm not terribly overweight (maybe about 15lbs @ my current 2 Benjamins).

~String
I warmly suggest you watch the documentary Sweet Misery about aspartame the sweetener in diet pepsi. I would lay heavy odds you will stop drinking diet pepsi after watching the program. One of the most horrifying interviews is with a chemist who drank rather large amounts - and has all sorts of health problems now - who found out much later what aspartame breaks down and travels around the body as.

There is an odd political facet to the story since Rumsfeld - our dear ex Bush admin fella - ran the company that made the stuff and he fought tooth and nail against good science and won - how familiar - with the FDA.

I've never had a Red Bull, do they taste good or do you just drink them for the high?

Oh they taste lovely. Think sugar plus caramel and this odd little metallic streak. I can't get enough. I want one even if I'm hyperactive already.

My son's science project involved 10 subjects. They were given cups labeled a thru f and asked to identify whether each cup contained:


diet
regular
pepsi
coke
generic

Only one person correctly identified each beverage. People correctly identified a beverage as diet 40% of the time. When it came to telling Pepsi versus Coke or Name brand versus Generic, they did even worse.

Clearly, it was too small of a study to draw any broad conclusions, but it was striking how poorly everyone did. It was really funny how many people claimed to have a strong preference for a particular beverage, yet couldn't identify even that particular drink.

Generic would trip me up, I could tell you whether they are imitating Coke or Pepsi but I don't think I could tell if the difference between generic and name brand. I'm always astounded by how people can't simply smell the difference. Even coca cola and pepsi smell totally different (not to mention that drinking coke is like drinking hard liquor and Pepsi is quite weak). I guess this is one my useless talents :D.

I have been drinking diet soda for at least 30 years and I'm not overweight. (6'0"/183cm 190lb/86kg) It's just that I discovered that drinks containing sugar don't satisfy my thirst. If it's a really hot day (I used to live in hilly Los Angeles and ride a bicycle 10mi/16km back and forth to work), drinking a soft drink with sugar would almost make me faint.

I don't even put sugar in my tea, I use aspartame (or Splenda if Mrs. Fraggle makes it).

But I'm not that way with my food. I eat lots of candy and pastry. In my family dessert is four of the most important meals of the day.

Oh, and my favorite soda is Diet-Rite. If I want the caffeine I'll drink Diet Dr. Pepper. I'd prefer Diet RC (the caffeinated version of Diet-Rite, formerly "Royal Crown") but they don't seem to make it any more. I don't dislike Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, with or without caffeine, and if it's all there is I won't complain, but I like the taste of Diet Rite/RC and Dr. Pepper a little better.

But the generic store brand colas, they don't do anything for me. If that's all there is I'd probably take the time to brew some iced tea.

I can drink up to about 100ml of coke (a couple of spoons of sugar) on an empty stomach before it gives me a migraine. If I've just eaten, I can tolerate about 300ml ( about a girl's handful of sugar).

I used to like it, but once I cut out most sugar in the rest of my diet I can't handle it any more. It actually feels like it's burning my mouth, though maybe that's psychosomatic.

A couple of years ago I ran into a study which seemed to suggest - it wasn't solid enough - that people who drank sweet stuff with no calories might be having an effect on their body's handling of calories in general - that the body stored fat when it expected starvation was looming, and teaching it that fewer calories were coming in the presence of a given level of sweet meant that it would adjust to store a higher percentage of actual calories ingested as fat rather than burning them.

That is, that the body apparently partly calibrated its fat storage vs metabolism boost handling of calories from the taste in the mouth compared with the energy extracted soon afterwards. So diet sweets could be calibrating the body to lower metabolism of a given tasted intake and store a higher percentage of ingested sugars as fat.

Again, a vague memory - can't find the link.

Personally, I like cane sugar best and miss it from childhood in soda ( a real treat when I was a kid, once a month or so) - one of the benefits of Mexican influx is the occasional availability of Mexican Coke, which is sugar rather than corn syrup and tastes more like my memory. I can taste aspartame, and don't like it much - that other stuff (sevia?) is a little better, but why bother? Honey depends on use and source - the last couple of years all the buckwheat honey around here has been weird smelling, but normally it's my favorite.

I've never liked soda, even as a child. I always thought they were sickly and gasy. If i had a preference though it would be 7up