Diet Soda

Goodness, I cannot seem to get enough of my diet rootbeer! OMG!
The way I figure it, I quit smoking in 2005 and have stayed away for more than 6 years! I don't drink and haven't for a very long time. I watch what I eat and I exercise 5 days a week to keep in shape. Why shouldn't I indulge?

Well, there are so many different ideas on that, isn't there?
Splenda is very bad for you despite being around in Europe for many years. Sucralose is a synthetic compound which is basically sugar modified by adding chlorine atoms, which in large quantities is ill advisable. The ones that contain aspartame claim it is as dangerous as drinking formaldehyde because aspartame at room temperature breaks down into a formaldehyde compound. Then, of course, you have the saccharin that causes cancer in rats in a lab.

Another theory holds that the substance that gives soda its caramel color promotes resistance to insulin, which is needed to process calories. The coloring has also been associated with inflammation in animal experiments.

With all of this important information at my fingertips, I still find it difficult to give it up entirely. But I'm working on it. Maybe someday soon. What I don't understand is if all of this is "bad" for us, why are these items being used in products that are consumed in quantities of millions a year? It's really a shame that the lobbyists keep getting products passed on to consumers that are unhealthy, we are the only ones who lose.

It's still a work in progress...