Slim Pickins For Splenda-Sweetened Sodas

I get flooded with e-mails about Splenda-sweetened diet sodas

There is a lot of interest by people who are livin' la vida low-carb to find a diet soda that is sweetened with sucralose, commonly known as Splenda, instead of aspartame, aka Nutrasweet. Unfortunately, the options are few and far between and are getting smaller by the minute.

One of my readers wrote to me recently about how Diet 7-Up has changed from Splenda back to aspartame without even telling anyone. This happened about six months ago, but some people are only just now noticing the change.

Here's what she wrote in the e-mail:

My Mom and I are both diabetics and we bought some Diet 7-Up to drink knowing that it has Splenda, which is safe for us, instead of aspartame. There was nothing on the bottle about the change except in the ingredients label.

My poor Mother was in bad shape for an entire day because of the violent sudden diarrhea that aspartame causes in both of us. If you could warn your readers about this, I am sure many people would be thankful.

In my diabetic class, over 90% of us have some type of reaction to aspartame ranging from stomach problems to migraines. None of us ever had any problems from Splenda.

Because of this e-mail, I thought it would be best to share a list of the Splenda-sweetened diet sodas currently available on the market. It is certainly slim pickins, but well worth looking for when you want a diet soda.

Keep in mind these Splenda-sweetened sodas are mixed with another sweetener called acesulfame potassium, aka ACE-K, to enhance the sweetness:



CAFFEINATED SPLENDA-SWEETENED DIET SODAS
Diet Coke with Splenda (12-packs only)
Pepsi One (12-packs and 2-liter bottles)



SPLENDA-SWEETENED DIET SODAS WITH NO CAFFEINE
Diet Rite, all flavors (12-packs, 2-liter bottles, 20 oz bottles)
Diet Cheerwine (12-packs, 2-liter bottles, 20 oz bottles)
Waist Watcher (12-packs, 2-liter bottles, 20 oz bottles)

You can also find many store brands that are sweetened with Splenda and ACE-K, but most of them have caffeine in them. Just read the labels carefully to avoid the ones with aspartame.

It will be difficult, but try not to buy into the highly-marketed, hyped-up diet sodas like the new energy cola Diet Pepsi Max and even Diet Pepsi Jazz or the vitamin-infused Diet Coke Plus and the ever-growing line of Coke Zero products just because they taste good with the ACE-K blend. They all contain NASTY-tame (that's my word for aspartame!) and should be absolutely avoided since there are just too many good alternatives available with very real questions about aspartame's safety still left unanswered.

Incidentally, for people who don't like the thought of using ANY artificial sweeteners, you'll be pleased to know there's a new version of Diet Coke that is tentatively going to have the plant-based all-natural sweetener stevia in it that has many of us low-carbers thrilled. Hopefully it tastes as good as the NuNaturals brand of stevia.

Coke is currently going through the process of getting FDA approval for their name for stevia--rebiana--but The Coca-Cola Company has some corporate muscle to strongarm them into acceptance. If and when this comes out, it will become my new favorite diet soda. I'm assuming this one will also be an ACE-K blend.

The diet soda market is currently dominated by NASTY-tame offerings, but hopefully that will soon begin to change. If it's a cost issue, then I know I wouldn't mind paying a little more to get Splenda in Diet Cherry Coke or Diet Mountain Dew. I'd even like to taste Splenda in Diet Barq's root beer sometime.

Why not offer a few more choices?

For low-carbers like me who love drinking diet soda, that's all we're asking for. How about it soda manufacturers?

Diet Soda Gets The Low-Carb Thumbs Up

There are plenty of subjects that are considered controversial within the realm of livin' la vida low-carb. From the amount of carbs consumed to the use of artificial sweeteners, we as a community have a uniquely sadistic way of recklessly sabotaging what is by all intents and purposes the best nutritional approach known to mankind. I suppose there are some who just get bored with a plan that works.

That may explain why there are some who are so vehemently opposed to drinking diet soda while on a low-carb diet. I've never really understood this dynamic at all and simply kept smiling while the pounds melted off of me in 2004. As a former Coca-Cola addict which ballooned me up to 410 pounds, I knew I needed an alternative when I started the Atkins diet.

What I did was switch from regular Coke to diet sodas--primarily Diet Rite, Diet Coke with Splenda, Cheerwine, and Pepsi One. This was a monumental step for somebody like me who used to guzzle sugary sodas like they were nothing and NEVER drinking water.

But when I switched from regular to diet soda overnight, I also started drinking water, water, and more water. While I was losing weight, it wasn't uncommon for me to get down two gallons of H2O daily along with my diet sodas. Yes, I'm one thirsty man, but I am thoroughly convinced this was an instrumental part of my success.

Soon thereafter, I become a BIG FAN of diet sodas and have never experienced any adverse effects on my weight and health as a result of drinking them. There has been nothing but positive benefits to diet soda from the day I started drinking them on my low-carb lifestyle.

Since I have been maintaining these past few years, I got the idea that perhaps I should try to cut out my diet soda consumption now in 2007. No, it wasn't because I started believing the preposterous studies like this one showing you can gain weight drinking diet soda, as if sugary soda is better for you than diet soda. ABSURD!

But after about a month of going cold turkey on diet sodas, I couldn't take it anymore. Snacking more, gaining a few pounds, and missing this calorie-free part of my low-carb life, I decided to end my self-imposed diet soda embargo recently and couldn't be happier about my decision.

After blogging about my experience with diet soda, I was pleasantly surprised by the outpouring of feedback I received from so many of my readers about this subject. It was heartening to learn so many of you find diet soda to be an integral part of your low-carb weight management plans as well. It certainly seems diet soda gets the low-carb thumbs up from many of you.

Here are just a few snippets from the e-mails I received:

"Diet sodas are a great treat. I miss the fizzy when I can't get it but I am trying to be a role model for the kids and only have it in the weekends."

"Well, you know that I'm FOR diet soda being that my blog is entitled, I Love Diet Soda. I read about that study that says diet soda makes you gain weight and that's complete rubbish. How can something with no calories make you gain weight? Impossible I say! I drink diet soda because I love its taste and the fact that I can sip on it all day without worrying about excess calories."

"I read your article and totally agree. I don't understand how drinking diet sodas could contribute to a weight gain problem as many articles seem to be saying. Unless people believe that drinking diet sodas allows them to eat more as a substitute for the sugar they are avoiding, I don't see how they can be a negative. If one drinks a certain amount of soda, daily anyway, diet soda can only reduce the overall calories if nothing else is added."

"My triglycerides were extremely high and the doctor put me on medication for this which I didn't like. Every time I stopped the medication, triglycerides would go back up. I decided to try drinking diet sodas only instead of the sugary ones I was drinking. To my surprise and my doctor's, my triglycerides dropped to the normal range without medication. I have stuck with diet sodas ever since."

"I read your article on diet soda and loved it! I have kept off a 70 lb weight-loss of over 5 years and have tried quiting diet soda cold turkey. I have to be honest,I was miserable! I hated not having something sweet to look forward to. Of course I get plenty of flack from some family members that comment about the amount of chemicals, etc. I am consuming, but like you said what is the alternative? I really just wanted to say thumbs up and I'm glad I'm not alone."

WOW, what a response that article received in both my e-mail as well as the whopping 24 comments to my blog post about diet soda. Anyone else have a thought about the subject of diet soda they would like to share? Especially if you are adamantly AGAINST them being a part of a healthy low-carb lifestyle, please share WHY with any evidence to back up what you are saying.

Until I am convinced otherwise, diet soda is here to STAY in my diet.

The Verdict Is In On Diet Coke With Splenda...

A few days ago I told you about the new Diet Coke with Splenda. Ever since then I have searched and searched for this product at every store I could think of.

I went to Ingles and Publix grocery stores on Thursday, but they didn't have it and nobody knew when they would get it. I went to Eckerds and Walgreens on Friday, but they didn't have it yet either and also didn't know when they would have it. I gave up my search yesterday frustrated that I couldn't find this product I've seen advertised prominently on television just a few days ago on "American Idol."

Finally, this morning on my way to church I stopped by the local corner convenience store to see if they had it in stock and I was in luck! I asked the sales clerk how long they've had it and he said they just put it out this morning. WOW! What great timing! I asked him if he had tasted it yet and he said he had not. I told him I would give him a full report about it after my taste test. At $1.69, this 20-ounce bottle had better be worth it!

Well, the verdict is in on Diet Coke With Splenda...ME LIKE ME LIKE! As someone who used to regularly drink about 200 ounces of Coca-Cola per day before I started livin' la vida low-carb, I could not believe my taste buds when I took my first few swigs. It was just like the Coke I remembered drinking and not the nasty flavor of the aspartame-poisoned regular Diet Coke. In fact, there were a few times I felt guilty about how much I was enjoying the full flavor of this new version of Diet Coke. But it has ZERO CARBS and ZERO SUGAR and ZERO BAD SWEETENERS! Why in the world did Coca-Cola even mess with their idiotic experiment with C-2, bragging about it having half the carbs and half the sugar of a regular coke? This Diet Coke with Splenda tastes so much better!!!

The only knock I have on this new Diet Coke with Splenda is that it still has caffeine (something you try to avoid when you are on a low-carb lifestyle) and sodium (which if you are susceptible to high blood pressure can cause you some problems). Other than that, I would say this arguably the best-tasting diet soft drink on the shelves today. I'll still drink my Diet Rite and Diet Cheerwine, but I will occasionally drink Diet Coke with Splenda, too.

I hope it does well so they can expand it into their other flavors, such as cherry, vanilla and lime. AND hopefully they'll make a caffeine-free version, too.

But, as with anything on low-carb, don't overindulge on these. It's still best to drink water first and foremost. Let your diet soda be your treat after downing a gallon of water. Your body will thank you for it and you will feel absolutely fantastic!

After church, I went to BI-LO, but they didn't have it. Then I went to Wal-mart to see if they had Diet Coke With Splenda yet, but all I saw there were the 20-ounce bottles on sale for $.78. Where's the 12-pack of cans and the 2-liter bottles? Don't you hate it when companies advertise a new product but they don't get it to the stores until weeks afterwards?! I guess I'll have to be patient and wait for it to come in. I'm sure EVERYBODY will have it by the end of the month.

ENJOY and post your thoughts about Diet Coke With Splenda. I'd love to know what you think!

Coke, Pepsi Finally Get It...Maybe

Well it's about time! The Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc., two companies I have long complained about for using aspartame to sweeten their diet soft drinks, finally got on the Splenda bandwagon after using aspartame exclusively for years.

I was watching television last night and saw a commercial for Diet Coke and about fell out of my seat when I heard the quick promo at the end of the commercial that blared, "And look for new Diet Coke now sweetened with Splenda!" I couldn't believe it! In fact, it's funny because now I will have to rewrite part of my book where I ranted against the big soft drink companies for not realizing those of us who are livin' la vida low-carb want and need Splenda in our diet sodas. Oh well, that's a good thing I guess.



Of course, to keep their customers happy, Coke says it will not be changing the regular Diet Coke that is currently flavored with powdered paint thinner, or Aspartame (brand name of Nutrasweet). Have you noticed how every company who uses Splenda in their products proudly displays their symbol on their packaging, but you are seeing less and less of the Nutrasweet symbol? Me thinks there's a backlash against the latter because people are realizing how harmful it is to their health.



Diet Coke with Splenda will have a unique packaging with a yellow streak on it for consumers to distinguish it from the regular Diet Coke. As for Pepsi, they will add Splenda to their one calorie diet soda called Pepsi One. Regular Diet Pepsi, sweetened with aspartame, will not be offered with Splenda, though. Both of these products are expected to be widely available to consumers over the next month.

You know, I really hope Diet Coke with Splenda does well because maybe they'll branch off and put Splenda in my favorite flavors, including Diet Cherry Coke and the new Diet Coke with Lime, which I think is the most incredible-tasting diet soda on the market today. But I'm sure the demand will dictate whether they will begin putting Splenda in their other products or not.

The jury is still out on the taste of these new products for me. Plus they still have caffeine in them, which is also not very good for you while you are livin' la vida low-carb. I have gotten so used to and enjoy drinking Diet Rite (which also doesn't have any caffeine it it, by the way!) that changing brands may take some time. The taste will have to be a lot better than Diet Rite for me to switch.

(As a quick aside, though, what's up with Diet Rite changing from a 12-pack to a 15-pack recently. Besides the new packaging looking awkward and costing nearly a dollar more, it's just strange. Maybe they're trying to start a new trend in the soda industry. I buy a lot of Diet Rite anyway, but the packaging and pricing is just odd to me. If you have any thoughts on this, leave a comment below.)

Speaking of Diet Rite, have you registered to win a free year's supply at their web site. It takes less than a minute to enter and you could be well-stocked for the next 12 months on the best-tasting diet soft drink on the market today!

I'll probably buy Diet Coke with Splenda when it's on sale and at least once just to say I tried it. I'll let you know what I think in a future blog entry once it hits the shelves.