Day 24

/hihi
Well, no weight loss these past two days....not sure if its because of the food I'm eating, the fact that I havent had time to work out or walk much on the job because of rain, or because I had diet soda these past two days?


I found this article on http://www.thirdage.com/today/nutrition/does-diet-soda-make-you-fat
Not sure what to think...but I am going to try avoid them today and drink coffee and tea instead if I start to get tired mid-afternoon!


----- The Article:

Last weekend, a girlfriend that I’ve known since college was visiting. As we left the airport, we had to stop at the grocery for a case of diet soda. My friend drinks five or so cans a day. On our way to lunch now happy with her diet soda in hand my friend asked me “Do you think that drinking diet soda makes you fat?”

“Depends on whom you ask,” I said. Last year, researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio reported that adults who drink diet soda (we’re talking only one can or bottle a day) did not lose weight. They were actually more likely to become overweight than those adults who did not drink soda at all OR those that drink regular soda. In fact, the more diet soda consumed, the more likely someone would become overweight. To be specific, there was a 41% increase in the risk of being overweight for every can or bottle of diet soda consumed daily.

In this study, researcher Sharon Fowler followed over 600 normal weight adults ages 25-64 over a seven to eight year period of time. She has a number of theories as to why weight gain may be a result of drinking a zero-calorie beverage:

1. Artificial sweeteners may affect your body’s ability to judge how many calories you consume because you are getting something sweet without any calories. When no calories are consumed, the body may continue to crave what it expected and could lead to overeating or bingeing.
2. Some people give up regular sodas to justify their favorite dessert and still take in too many calories. A regular soda contains about 9-12 teaspoons of sugar (yes, you read that correctly) and about 150 calories while your dessert may be double that in calories easily.
3. For others who were gaining weight already, switching to diet soda wasn’t enough to stop the gain. You’ve heard this one before…you’re being good and order a diet soda along with your fast food burger and French fries but the calories are still quite high.

Since her first piece of research, Fowler has tracked another 2000 people with similar results. Do the faux sweet products induce people to want more sweets? Fowler suggests that perhaps it’s not the soft drinks themselves that cause weight gain but that there is some link between diet soda drinking and overweight/obesity.

I’ll be watching the research for more news on this debated topic. In the mean time, do any of you feel that drinking diet sodas makes you crave more sweets? What about using sugar substitutes? Just curious.

Dr. Susan

I found this too:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/04/earlyshow/contributors/emilysenay/main2330142.shtml
and this:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2779084/does_diet_soda_make_you_gain_weight.html?cat=5
"According to ABC's Good Morning America, a Purdue University study found that rats which were fed the artificial sweetener, saccharin, were actually more likely to gain weight than rats which were fed sugar. The reason artificial sweeteners are thought to lead to weight gain is because they may slow down your metabolism. Thus, by drinking diet soda, you may be making it harder for yourself to lose weight than if you were to drink sugary drinks like regular soda or fruit juices."


Slowing down metabolism makes sense to me.....I have a vitamin that is supposed to boost it (which Ive forgotten to take these past few days too lol!)


Anyway, back to business:


Breakfast:


1 pack of Nature's path Flax oatmeal= 210 calories+ some craisins=+ 10 more calories, + milk in unsweetened coffee = 100 calories of 2% milk


Lunch:

A local vegetarian organization does lunches here on campus for only $4 a plate with unlimited refills, so I decided to do that for a change (the thought of my Amy's meal in the freezer was just unappealing!) I had  Mixed Veggies and Tofu in a Sour Cream Sauce, Indonesian Coconut Rice, Blueberry Cheesecake and Karma Free Tea. I'd estimate the plate to be about 500-600 calories, they dont give very big servings at all.

Dinner:


I got a ton of blueberries the other day, so I blended a cup of them + a frozen banana + 1 cup of yogurt into a delicious purple smoothie for dinner!

Recipe:
Ingredients
1 cup of plain, low fat yogurt (or vanilla if you wish, but it contains a lot of sugar)
1 to 1 ½ cups frozen berries, any kind you wish
1 banana
1 teaspoon vanilla essences
A dash of grape or banana vodka


Then- BLEND :) Drink immediatley (if it sits too long it can get funky)


Snack:


Two chips, and a small piece of veggie protein after my work out!

Workout:


YAY! I did it!!! Day 7 of Jillian's 30 Day Shred, and I did it on Level Two, which was so much more challenging than level one, felt GREAT! I'm going to switch to Level 2 from now on :) I had a really busy evening, but I still squeezed the workout in right before bed!

 Calories for the day- about 1120-1220 I think. Gosh its hard to tell sometimes, somebody needs to invent a food 'scanner' that could analyse any meal on the go!