Diet Drinks = Diet Killer

I used to be a diet cola junkie. This started in high school, and by the time I was in medical school I could easily drink a couple 2 liters a day while studying.

I have cut down a lot lately, mostly because it was affecting my sleep. Over this past weekend though, I noticed a phenomena which hadn't been obvious to me earlier.

My biggest hurdle with my diet has been cutting down on snacks after dinner. I had gotten into a good pattern, allowing myself veggies and fruit after dinner if still hungry, but no high calorie snacks.

My family visited my parents over the weekend, and my mother, being the good Southern host that she is, always keeps the fridge and pantry stocked. There was a bottle of Diet Coke which I helped myself to, encouraged by the summer heat. That evening after what should have been a satisfying dinner, I remained ravenously hungry and really blew my diet on chips, chocolate, cheese (the 3 Ch's!).  I simply could not get rid of the gnawing feeling of hunger.

The only thing I could attribute it to was the diet cola. The next day, I refrained from the cola but did have several cups of unsweetened coffee, and felt fine after dinner. So the caffeine was not to blame.

This fits with a recent Swedish study which showed that diet soda drinkers gained as much weight as reg soda drinkers, with a hypothesis that perhaps the sweetness without the calories caused the body  to crave more calories afterwards, as if it is "getting even" after being tricked.

All I know is the diet soda seems to be a diet killer for me and will be avoided in the future.

Now I don't mean to imply by my title that diet drinks can kill you, so all you Coke & Pepsi lawyers can back off. 

Breakfast - Coffee, banana

Lunch - Thai vegetable soup, 1 cup white rice

Dinner  - 1 slice pizza, huge green salad.