With the growing awareness of the dangers of sugar, the culprit in many health-related conditions such as obesity cancer, and diabetes, many still continue to think that by consuming diet sodas and soft drinks, they are making healthier choices.

The strong marketing propaganda of food and soft drink manufacturers continues to be totally unregulated, and in fact, supported by governments with little or no control over the content, messaging, and emotional sales campaigns.

What you need to know!!

It’s not just about sugar. The key point of this article is to explain to you that it’s not just ‘sugar’ directly – it is ‘sweetness’.

Sweetness IS the culprit.

Many are drinking diet soft drinks daily thinking it’s healthier, safer and zero calories. The key is that the ‘sweetness’ is what triggers the brain response to think its sugar regardless of the source of sweetness. Therefore reacting the exact same way as it does to sugar.

Leading to increased blood sugar response, increased release of insulin, and turning your body into a very efficient fat storage machine. Further increasing the sweetness addition and ensuring your body craves the same sweetness for energy and fuel.

Take a can of diet coke. With 125 mg of aspartame, this kicks your sweet tooth and your body into overdrive. That is not a good thing!! More sweetness, more chemicals, more dangers, decreasing health, energy, sleep and positivity.

You really don’t want to know the incredible amount of chemicals manufacturers are putting in those drinks. Well, actually, yes you do! Check out this short video, which is a short, detailed, to the point overview explaining what you’re really consuming and how the body reacts within 60 minutes of consuming that diet soda:

The interesting part though, is that like alcohol, drinking chemical based sweet drinks will also turn you and your brain into making poor eating decisions. It’s designed to do exactly that. So when your blood sugar crashes, and you need a ‘fix’ you will be much more likely to reach for an unhealthy choice – one that gives you instant gratification, a fast ‘hit’ and probably high in calories, which won’t leave you feeling satisfied for long. And here comes the never ending cycle of emotional eating, and impulse snacking.

So that zero calorie soft drink is actually going to cost 400-600 calories in additional crappy food, snacks and junk leading to… you guessed it, more fat!

Do you start to see the cycle now? It’s a death cycle.

To back it up, researchers found that just like with regular soda, the consumption of artificially sweetened beverages like diet soda is also associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease. Drinking just one can of diet soda per day is “enough to significantly increase the risk for health problems”.

The report explains that diet soda and artificial sweeteners trick the body into thinking that it is consuming real food and sugar even though it isn’t, which could lead to metabolic confusion and overconsumption.

Here is what happens:

• Artificial sweeteners are hundreds to thousands of times sweeter than regular sugar, activating our genetically-programmed preference for sweet taste more than any other substance.
• Artificial sweeteners trick your metabolism into thinking sugar is on its way. This causes your body to pump out insulin, the fat-storage hormone, which lays down more belly fat.
• It also confuses and slows your metabolism down, so you burn fewer calories every day.
• It makes you more hungry, making you crave even more sugar and starchy carbs even when you don’t need them.
• In animal studies, the rats that consumed artificial sweeteners ate more, their metabolism slowed, and they put on 14 percent more body fat in just two weeks (even eating fewer calories).
• In population studies, there was a 200 percent increased risk of obesity in diet soda drinkers. FACT!

Now that’s scary. In addition, don’t think that drinks like Tonic Water are any better.

Bottom line, drink water, or if you want some bubbles, go for the best go-to source of soda water.

Rehydrate, replenish, refresh. Make smarter choices for better health, energy, performance, and longevity.

To your success!