4 Incredible Things That Happen To Your Body When You Give Up Diet Soda

Starting a new diet almost always involves cutting calories, and for many soda lovers, that means switching to diet.

You’ve probably already heard that diet soda is just as bad—if not worse—for your health as regular soda, but that may not be enough to convince you to give it up for good.

So, instead of lecturing you on what might happen to your body when you drink diet soda, Jordan Davidson over at Prevention came up with a few amazing things that usually occur once you finally give it up:

1. Your Headaches Will Decrease: You probably thought that giving up your favorite diet soda would give you major withdrawal headaches. But now that you’ve finally stopped drinking it, your mind likely feels sharper than it has in a long time. According to a review in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, that’s because the harsh chemicals and artificial sweeteners in diet soda, like aspartame, are no longer altering your brain chemicals, nerve signals, and the brain’s built-in rewards system. The researchers say those alterations are what may have caused you to experience severe headaches, anxiety, and insomnia.
2. You’ll Lose Weight: Though most people drink diet soda to help them lose weight, it tends to have the exact opposite effect. Not only will carbonated diet soda probably make you even hungrier than before, but several different studies have found that diet soda drinkers generally gain more belly fat over time.
3. Your Taste Buds Will Feel Sensitive: You may not have realized it before, but the artificial sweeteners in diet soda can really mess with your taste buds. Drenching your mouth in that much sweetness can alter your taste buds, so that they have a harder time detecting certain flavors. Once you quit the soda habit altogether, you may start feeling like most foods are more enjoyable than before. In fact, this subtle change can have a huge effect on your weight loss plan. Heather Bainbridge, RD, from Columbia University Medical Center Weight Control Center, told Prevention that diet soda drinkers generally find most of their favorite snacks overly sweet when they finally give up soda. "Rather than needing sugary treats or something really salty like pretzels and chips, they reach for an apple and a piece of cheese. And, when they try diet soda again, they find it intolerably sweet," she said.
4. You’ll Handle Alcohol Better: It’s no secret that diet soda simply gets you drunk faster. When you mix it with alcohol, your stomach empties out faster than it would if you were drinking regular soda. According to an Australian study in the American Journal of Medicine, this causes a major increase in blood alcohol concentrations, making you feel extra drunk in a super short period of time.

Has this convinced you to give up diet soda for good? Let us know in the comments!

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