Diet Soda: Good or bad for fat people?

[Homercles82]

$15 per week to eat on??

I don't know where you get a loaf of white bread for .80. The store brand loaf of bread is running $1.40 and if you go with a name brand it's $2.25.

A gallon of 1% milk(store brand) is $3.75, brand name is $5+.

You might get a package of chicken breast for $3.75 but your talking about three small breasts that won't make it five days.

Apples are about $1 a piece at least so $5 gets you an apple a day and then your left with $10 to buy everything else.

And you wonder why poor people buy Ramen noodles and potted meat (noodles .17 a pack and potted meat 4/$1) or pinto beans and cornbread with a $2 slab of fatback for seasoning?

Where the heck do you shop?

Giant regularly has white sandwich bread, which is a larger loaf, for $1 every week. Why buy a package of expensive chicken breasts when you can buy a whole bird for the same price? Or buy it already cooked for a few pennies more, or less if they are running them on sale? Milk is nice to have but doesn't need to be a staple in a diet. Apples are NOT a $1 a piece unless you are buying them by the pound and must have the biggest apples. I just bought a bag of USDA Grade A Fancy Gala apples at Giant for $3.49 regular price. There were 11 apples in the bag.

Beans and Cornbread are a reasonable meal if you don't go overboard on the cornbread. Beans and rice are a better choice because it constitutes a whole protein and is filling in small servings.

[Enter Apotheosis]

I ought to be able to read the paper through someone living off that because he be one bone thin son of a gun.

Yeah... that person isn't going to be living for very long.

[Homercles82]

I ought to be able to read the paper through someone living off that because he be one bone thin son of a gun.

You are kidding right?

---------- Post added March-28th-2011 at 01:49 PM ----------

Yeah... that person isn't going to be living for very long.

So buying ramen noodles and eating them 2 times a day and eating whatever for breakfast is a better option?

[Predicto]

Who has time to cook?

[Enter Apotheosis]

You are kidding right?

I'm not sure that you're even breaking 1000 calories a day on that food as your week-long supply.

So buying ramen noodles and eating them 2 times a day and eating whatever for breakfast is a better option?

Of course not. This whole discussion just illustrates that $15 a week is an absurdly low amount of money to spend on food in this country.

[Homercles82]

I'm not sure that you're even breaking 1000 calories a day on that food as your week-long supply.

Of course not. This whole discussion just illustrates that $15 a week is an absurdly low amount of money to spend on food in this country.

Of course it is a low amount to spend on food per week but when that is all you have you don't need to eat potted meat or ramen every day. You aren't hitting a 1,000 calories that way either, but you are only able to afford that much in food per week then it might as well be something that isn't miscellaneous meat bits and is mostly saturated fat right?

[PokerPacker]

Who has time to cook?

women :paranoid:

[Enter Apotheosis]

Of course it is a low amount to spend on food per week but when that is all you have you don't need to eat potted meat or ramen every day. You aren't hitting a 1,000 calories that way either, but you are only able to afford that much in food per week then it might as well be something that isn't miscellaneous meat bits and is mostly saturated fat right?

Unless you're only cutting back on a short-term basis, that low of an intake is probably more detrimental for most people than a diet high in saturated fats and mystery meat.

[DieselPwr44]

I'm not sure that you're even breaking 1000 calories a day on that food as your week-long supply.

And if you are living off that, there's no way you're a logger,dock worker or doing anything physically strenuous for a living for very long.

There's a reason why biscuits and gravy were created, same as mush and milk. Or fried bologna,treet or spam with eggs.

It may not be that healthy but folks didn't go around feeling they ate nothing.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

I'm not sure why we're focusing on the arbitrary $15 per week estimate made by Califan. I'm sure SOME people in this country might have to make that work, but the issue of eating well and obesity spans all income brackets, so using cost as a reason (or excuse) rings hollow to me. In most cases, if you want to eat better to be healthier and drop some weight, you can do so very easily and by spending roughly the same amount of money.

[Koolblue13]

Calfan, could you start a community garden in your neighborhood?

[DCSaints_fan]

Worst thing in diet sodas is probably the salt. Its not more acidic than OJ and I haven't seen any real evidence that the artificial sweeteners are harmful.

[asking]

Diet Coke has no salt (0 sodium).

The things to be more concerned about with Diet Coke:

1) the phosphoric acid wearing down the enamel of your teeth if you drink a lot of it for an extended period of time (anything high in acid will do this, like chugging orange juice constantly)

2) the caffeine - it's okay in moderation, but in excess causes irritability, twitches/muscle spasms - blepharospasm is common (that's a twitching of your eyelid), anxiety, insomnia... etc. Thankfully it's pretty damn hard to overdose on caffeine.

There's no truth to what was posted upthread about aspartame initiating an insulin response from the pancreas. Aspartame is two amino acids (which are the building blocks of all proteins), phenylalanine, which is why the label mentions it contains phenylalanine and those with phenylketonuria are aware of its presence (PKU - a genetic disorder where you're born without the enzyme to metabolize phenylalanine) and the other is aspartic acid.

As far as the diet part goes, I haven't seen any studies recently, but my somewhat-educated guess is that a lot of people don't just sit and drink a Diet Coke, they usually eat something with it. That's fine, unless they're eating not out of hunger but because they strongly associate eating and drinking a Diet Coke together.

The calories in/calories out thing is at its core the truth. If you want to lose weight, you do have to expend more calories than you consume. You can do this by eating less, or eating the same and engaging in more physical activity/exercise, or both eating less and exercising. There's no magic bullet, diet, or beverage that will give you the willpower to change and try to lead a healthier life... and if you are trying to lose weight and haven't done it successfully, or lost it and then gained it back, you need to think of it as a lifestyle change and not a temporary fix.

Also, just wanted to say I'm impressed with everyone upthread that has lost weight - I'm sure you feel better AND look better. Keep up the good work!

[Homercles82]

Diet Coke has no salt (0 sodium).

1) the phosphoric acid wearing down the enamel of your teeth if you drink a lot of it for an extended period of time (anything high in acid will do this, like chugging orange juice constantly)

I asked my Dentist if my cavities and enamel wear were a result of the previous soda addiction I had, and he said no. He said you would need to hold the soda in your mouth and not sip it down. He did recommend drinking through a straw to help avoid discoloration.

[Drew_Fl]

I go in cycles with soda. I go weeks to months with no coke, but the killer is when my supermarket puts the actual name brand Coke 2 liters on sale for 5 for $5. Then I'm drinking coke everyday for the next week and a half or so.

I definitely need to drink more water though.

[renaissance]

Diet soda has zero positive nutritional value and does not even taste good.

[JeffSchmeff]

Is it bad if I ate a whole avocado after work yesterday? I was craving guacamole so I made some ghetto guac with an avocado, one clove garlic, lime juice, and a little salt.