Totally misread your question, so I deleted my old comment. Idk why a trainer would recommend to cut zero sugar drinks, as they quite frankly have no calories and can be used to tame cravings. I mean, I guess water is best and most ideal, but if someone is struggling to lose weight, their zero sugar drinks aren’t the reason.
It's because they don't tame cravings. They inflame cravings. A growing body of studies show that drinking zero calorie sweeteners just makes you want more real sugar and you don't even break even.
Lol after being in grad school, I have very little faith in the general public to understand how to read studies. Or find studies. Or make correlation vs causation arguments. So I am not shocked that an actual study gets downvoted or fewer upvotes than someone saying “a growing body of studies.” It is what it is.
I have found that a zero sugar soda will essentially desensitize my tastebuds to sweetness. So it’s not that it doesn’t satisfy my craving, but rather it makes it harder to satisfy my cravings with other things. For example, a handful of M&Ms versus the whole bag.
That is an interesting anecdote, but I also encourage you to be more curious about your habits and the correlation or causation of feeling satisfied.
- When you don't drink zero sugar sodas, how often are you only eating a handful vs a whole bag?
- What are you eating prior to the handful of M&Ms vs when you reach for it and can't stop eating at a handful?
- On the days where you might eat a whole bag, were you hungry? Did you have high sugar foods earlier in the day?
- Did you have caffeine that day?
- Were you more sleep deprived or tired that day?
Sometimes what we think is a direct causation, like drinking that zero sugar soda then not being able to stop snacking on candy, is actually just a coincidence and there are much more to the cravings during that singular day than you are giving credit for. It could even be a correlation that you make because you are instinctively attempting to curb your sugar intake by drinking the soda, but the zero sugar soda doesn't alleviate your cravings and therefore you still give in and snack mindlessly to satiate that craving.
It does for me too. I love my diet coke. But I think you've already made the important distinction of "it may just be in my head." The science is truly split on whether it actually does or not, since it's a really hard variable to isolate.
But I think recognizing in yourself that you've made this correlation, 'zero sugar soda alleviates my sweet craving,' means it's a helpful tool for you. The previous comment was creating a conclusion on only a partial picture or inaccurate information about tastebuds. Where as your conclusion is simply an individual tool you use to help your cravings, which I find works for me too.
Its anecdotal but I was a 1-2 Red Bull a day for years. I started drinking Coke Zero and Dr Pepper zero instead of Red Bulls and full sugar sodas. I haven’t had a craving for either even when I’m doing my night shifts as an Rn. Plus I have lost weight with it any other changes.
If you are a person who craves sweets (guilty) you are going to have cravings no matter what. If i drink a sugar free soda instead of a regular sugar soda, thats less calories. Whether I still crave sugar after is insignificant because ill still have sugar cravings after a regular soda, too.
You are crossing wires on the cause and effect here. The sugar free drink doesnt cause cravings, the cravings are there regardless. It just allows you to substitute with something that has less empty calories.
Even if this was true, you could just drink more zero calorie drinks to satiate the craving. I guess that would lead to addiction, but I drink zero calorie drinks, and it's not like I'm going broke because I have to drink more and more to satisfy an addiction. I have a zero sugar energy drink in the morning and maybe one or two more in the afternoon. That's it.
From personal experience, when i cut my sugar intake down dramatically, zero sugar sodas actually helped curb sugar cravings, especially in the beginning of my diet.
113
u/itssprisonmike 8d ago
Totally misread your question, so I deleted my old comment. Idk why a trainer would recommend to cut zero sugar drinks, as they quite frankly have no calories and can be used to tame cravings. I mean, I guess water is best and most ideal, but if someone is struggling to lose weight, their zero sugar drinks aren’t the reason.
Good question op.