The FastDay Forum

I don't know if this has been raised before, but I hadn't realised until my pharmacist daughter mentioned it, that artificial sweeteners make you produce insulin. This might be OK if you have a diet drink with a meal, but perhaps it is not a good idea to drink artificially sweetened drinks during a fast? I have decided to stop having camomile tea with a sweetener, and I am going to allow myself sugar in my bedtime fast day cocoa - 16 kcal for a teaspoon isn't that much.

I found this video made me realise diet drinks were not good for me on a fast day as they can affect your metabolic rate. Nice visual explanation if you have time to watch.

Why diet soda makes you fat

I really have to work on my diet drink consumption. There seems to be more and more evidence that they are really bad but I'm properly addicted to them.

Although some clinical trials show some insulin response to drinking an artificially sweetened drink I don't think any conclude that the quantity is sufficient to cause any disturbance in blood glucose levels etc.

There will of course be an effect from a teaspoon of sugar.

Water is my primary drink of choice on fast days. I can't abide tea or coffee without too much creamer/sweetener to make it reasonable on fast days. But by 2:00 in the afternoon on fast days, I'm in desperate need of caffiene. I drink a diet soda at that time. One soda. It's no better or worse for me than other things I enjoy in moderation, and I truly believe it makes my fast days dramatically easier. For me, it does not make me hungrier - it does the opposite, dampens my "munchies" craving that happens about that time of day.

In the end, I think we all have to pick our vice and our crutch!

I am trying to cut down on Coke Zero. I'm down to one a day, which is good for me. Instead, I try to drink plain water, or if I'm craving fizz, fizzy water with a twist of lime or lemon. I also drink a bit of coffee and tea, but sweeten both of those with Splenda. I bought some Stevia while in the US. That's a natural sweetener, so perhaps safer than artificial ones. (From the little research I've done, alot of what is said about the safety of artificial sweeteners is overblown, but I'm trying to cut down on processed food in general...)

Thanks for your replies everyone. I think I had a knee-jerk reaction to what my daughter said. Having browsed a few journal articles it seems there is not much evidence in support. There is evidence, however, to support a link between high intake of diet drinks and increase in waist measurement.

I don't have a high intake of artificial sweeteners or sugar but as a serial dieter I tend to opt for the diet versions of fizzy drinks and squashes when I do have them. I find 'fat' fizzy drinks far too sweet. I have also been using sweeteners in tea and cocoa for years but I rarely drink tea and at the moment only have cocoa on fast days.

I put 4 g of sugar in my cocoa last night. It tasted so much better than usual. It was lovely, and if anything a little too sweet for me. I was surprised at this because I usually have to put 2 or 3 sweeteners in it to make it sweet enough. This makes me think that I may be less sensitive to the taste of sweeteners.

Anyway, what I have decided is that on fast days I'm going to have a diet drink but have sugar in my cocoa at bedtime, and on other days I am going to use a little sugar in hot drinks that I like sweetened. I'm not sure I want to go on drinking diet coke on nights out when I'm driving so I'll have to find something else that isn't too sweet and is not water. Any suggestions?