Coke Zero

[bornagain]

I think you have to take a balanced view sometimes. If drinking coke zero makes all the difference to you sticking to Exante and losing weight to giving in and going back to bad eating habits then it's perhaps worth it. On balance there is probably more of a risk to one's health to be morbidly obese than there is to consume small amounts of aspartame. But I agree it's best to be moderate and for it not to form the majority of your liquid intake. I, for one, will probably continue to drink coke zero as long as I keep losing the weight.

 

[Princess_Ames]

I'm slurping the Sainsbury's Strawberry and Kiwi flavoured water... it's delish!

 

[bornagain]

Might have a look for that when I go to shops this weekend as a nice change Princess_Ames

 

[Jeep]

I found it really really hard to give up my diet coke on Lipotrim and find it an absolute blessing to be able to drink Coke Zero on Exante.

There is nothing a large glass of ice cold Coke (in what ever format) with tons of ice in it.

It will take more than just a few suspicions of possible effects to make me give it up - after all as someone has already said above if we listened to everything that we are told is bad for us we would not do anything at all, or eat anything or drink anything.

 

[wkdstepmum]

I suppose it's an addiction too, just like the food...still, I wouldn't drink it but to each their own.

 

[Bananadrama]

I'm still confused about the ketosis thing!?!?!? You don't HAVE to be in it on Exante so why they advise not to drink certain drinks I don't know!?!? They have told me that you'll still lose the same weight whether you're in it or not,it just suppresses your appetite. Personally, I think coke Zero is called that because it has ZERO flavour and I wouldn't drink it anyway....Aspartame or not!!!

 

[Starlight]

You dont have to but I don't know anyone doing TS (or on any other VLCD) who would choose not to be. We don't go into ketosis and hang onto it for the weight loss.

Ketosis stops you being hungry (mostly) stops your headaches restores your energy levels among other things.

If you look around here and other VLCD boards you'll see just how awful people feel without it. It's just not worth putting yourself through those first few days again
and again for something so un necessary as a fizzy drink

If you don't like coke zero try one of the other safe drinks or just accept that while you're on this it'll be water.

If you deliberately stay out of ketosis believe me you're making this a hell of a lot harder than necessary

 

[Bananadrama]

Well I've been doing it for 4 weeks now and had fizzy drink for the first week and none since and I've not been in ketosis once! lol And I feel fab! Lucky me I guess!!!

 

[Princess_Ames]

Well I've been doing it for 4 weeks now and had fizzy drink for the first week and none since and I've not been in ketosis once! lol And I feel fab! Lucky me I guess!!!

In fairness though BB you do have the odd bit of food so you aren't totally 100% so that could explain why you haven't had the awful side effects of not being in ketosis?

 

[Bananadrama]

I didn't for the first 2 weeks though so there was no reason for me not to be in it. It doesn't make a huge difference either way, as long as I'm losing and I'm not feeling ill, I'm not going to stress about it. It's working for me how it's working and it's good

 

[Starlight]

If you're sticking to TS what makes you think you're not in ketosis though. If you're sticking to packs and only having occasional protein and no fizzy drinks then you will most likely be in ketosis

 

[Bananadrama]

I've given up testing now but the first 2 weeks I used ketostix and they've not shown it at all. I did atkins a few months ago and lost a stone and was in ketosis prety much immediately so not really sure why it's not showing up now if I am. Also, the packs contain loads of carbs so getting into ketosis through this is down to minimal calories rather than lack of carbs...maybe that has something to do with it?? I don't know! Strange but I'm still losing as much as other people who claim to be in ketosis are so I'm not overly concerned.

Thinking about it, theres the possibility that I drink too much water before testing as the ketostix are at my Mums so by the time I test,I've had about 2 litres of water!!
Anyway, I don't know what's going on and as long as I'm losing weight I'm not really caring! lol

 

[Starlight]

I'd honestly lay money on you being in ketosis. Even with the carbs in the packs it's pretty much impossible not to be

Don't trust the ketostix. They're notoriously unreliable and often give false results.

I have to admit I never use them now at all.

 

[Bananadrama]

That's precisely why I've stopped using them. I found it sort of getting me a bit down when I saw I wasn't in it but turns out it doesn't really matter It's good to know there are others that don't depend on them too! lol

 

[Tatty03]

Oh dear I love it x

 

[bluefox2]

I just ordered some keto stix from the net,maybe shouldn't have bothered if they aren't very reliable?

BF

 

[Starlight]

I just ordered some keto stix from the net,maybe shouldn't have bothered if they aren't very reliable?

BF

I honestly wouldnt bother... people get too hung up on them. If you stick to the plan youll be in ketosis, simple as that

 

[Rebirth_Lozza]

I did a bit of searching on aspartame, for anyone curious, and found there has been quite a lot of interest on it dating back to the 80's! But I think the important thing to acknowledge here is that there hasn't been any large, concrete studies done yet to supply absolute proof about the positive/negative effects of aspartame. In addition, a lot of these studies have been performed on mice and not branched out to human test subjects. Nonetheless I did find that:

Aspartame can be protective against diseases of the bone as it helps increase bone density and prevents muscle wasting: Sign In
Journal of rheumatology, Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology, Submission on line

Aspartame may cause function impairment of the liver including liver cancer:
ScienceDirect - Food and Chemical Toxicology : Effect of long term intake of aspartame on antioxidant defense status in liver
Aspartame administered in feed, beginning prenatally through life span, induces cancers of the liver and lung in male Swiss mice - Soffritti - 2010 - American Journal of Industrial Medicine - Wiley Online Library

Aspartame may cause weight loss by suppressing appetite...
Cambridge Journals Online - Abstract
ScienceDirect - Appetite : Effects of stevia, aspartame, and sucrose on food intake, satiety, and postprandial glucose and insulin levels

...or weight gain!
Gain weight by

Aspartame may even act as a pain killer/anti-inflammatory drug!
Experimental evaluation of antipyretic and analgesic activity of aspartame Pradhan S, Shah UH, Mathur A, Sharma S - Indian J Pharmacol
Aspartame: Sweetener with anti-inflammatory potential? Pradhan S, Shah UH, Mathur AG, Sharma S - J Pharmacol Pharmacother

And a whole bunch on its effect on aging!

The conclusion? Until a larger, more reliable study is done and replicated to prove its validity then the information you may find is still just a theory. What does this mean for you? If coke zero works for you, have it. If it doesn't, don't!

 

[bluefox2]

Ok lots of useful info but not much of it founded by the look of things, I think if coke zero and dr pepper zero make the diet easier then go for it, is there any specific reason why these are the only 2 drinks you can have is it to do with the sweetners?

BF

 

[Bananadrama]

I just ordered some keto stix from the net,maybe shouldn't have bothered if they aren't very reliable?

BF

When Idid atkins a while ago,I used ketostix and they worked, I was in ketosis and I knew that when I'd eaten carbs, I wouldn't be and I wasn't! But on Exante, they're not showing as being in it so I haven't bothered with them. You really don't need to worry about ketosis as long as you're losing weight, all it does is suppress your appetite.