Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Individual results may vary

Lately, there has been a lot of hype about diet drinks (or artificial sweeteners found in them) causing weigh gain. I was a little concerned when I heard about this because I use diet drinks and don't want to gain weight as a result! I couldn't figure out how something with no (or minimal) calories could cause weight GAIN. Then I realized that I LOST the majority of my weight while consuming them!

So I did a little research. As it turns out, the artificial sweeteners supposedly trigger cravings and thus increase other eating which results in weight gain. A friend of mine is taking a nutrition class. Her professor told her that these drinks can increase cravings for sweets by as much as 10x! My take on the whole thing? ~ "individual results may vary"! Diet drinks are literally what got me through my "diet". When I had a craving for sweets, I poured a glass of crystal light and the craving was gone (plus I got an extra glass of fluid!).

I wonder of part of this can be attributed to calorie tracking. When I was drinking the diet drinks, I was very closely monitoring my caloric intake. There wasn't the temptation to grab an extra snack (okay, maybe there was a temptation, but I knew it would take me over my daily points if I gave in).

I guess what I am saying is don't listen to all the fads and crazes. Do what works best for YOUR body!

1 comment:

Angie said...

I totally agree with you that its different with everyone. I love love love these and drink them all the time. I find them to be a treat and haven't really had cravings with them. If anything it takes away the munchies to drink one. Its good to know though so I can make sure to watch for that.