Diet coke and insulin response

Hi,

One of my vices is that I am really fond of Diet Coke and I drink quite a lot of it over the course of a day (+/- 1,5 l). I was wondering what the effect of drinking Diet coke is on my riding and more specifically through my metabolism on possible reduced weight loss.

When I picked up cycling again in june last year after a very long period of relative inactivity (about 9 years), I lost about 10kg excess body mass over the first 3 months. but after that my weight loss more or less stopped. Of course there will be a considerable part of my body mass that has been converted to muscle tissue but I still haven't succeeded getting to a flat stomach, even though I ride at least 350-400 km a week.

Any thoughts on the matter? I'm very interested in the metabolic effect of drinking diet beverages.

Niek

btw, I'm 30, 1,77m for 73 kg

 

You might find this interesting.

 

Quite interesting indeed... nice to know I'm not the only one

What interests me most is whether or not aspartame gives a similar insulin reaction as snacks/food containing a lot of sugar

Niek

 

Nope. Aspartame is the artificial combining of two naturally occurring amino acids -- phenylalanine and Aspartic acid. Aspartame is digested by the body in exactly the same way as protein foods.

One of the reasons for using aspartame is the quest to reduce calories and therefore lose or maintain body weight. However, there is some evidence, disputed by the manufacturers of course, that the sweet sensation provided by artificial sweeteners, including aspartame, can through a "neural/humoral" connection cause the pancreas to secrete insulin regardless of the blood sugar levels. Insulin is the storage hormone and inhibits fat mobilization, thus defeating the original goal to lose fat. With elevated insulin which does not combine with blood sugars, you get an increase in appetite and a craving for carbohydrates. This has been reported by several researchers and of course denied by the research of the manufacturing companies.

Click here for the full article.
There is so much information on aspartame on the net, that it is difficult to distinguish the good info from the bad.

 

An interesting article, through my own studies I have read work that shows that stimulation of the taste buds (with no ingestion) can change the hormanes and fatty acids/amino acids circulating in the blood.

Since becoming vegetarian I have noticed that the foods I eat are far less refined and greater in variety, I have had more energy/been more healthy. I am constantly trying to reduce the amount of processed foods that I consume.

I think that Neik should cut down on the coke anyway and drink more water. Keep exercising and eating a good diet, the rest of the weight will slowly come off.

 

Thx Vo2 and 2LAP for the info/suggestions.

I certainly will cut down on the coke, but I must say that I probably drink enough water anyway (at least 2,5l on top of my coke consumption)

So I'll improve my nutrition and let you know what the results are

Cheers,

Niek

PS:

 

nferyn;

There is no such thing as spot reduction...but you might want to add some crunches to your workout. A flabby gut doesn't look as bad if there is a little muscle structure behind it, also ab work strengthens the lower back, which can be stressed bent-over on long rides.

Limiting you cola consumption is a good idea. If you get down to one or two a week as a reward (and they might as well be the real thing) you may find the pounds drop. Unsweetened Iced Tea works for me (Orange Pekoe - Red Rose). If you drink a lot of coffee, tea or cola - make sure to increase the amount of magnesium in your diet a little, as cola/coffee/tea robs your body of magnesium.

-CG

 

I have noticed that my back can ache a little after rides of over 120 kms, especially when having to ride over cobblestones or a bad concrete road surface - very common in Belgium.
A problem I have with doing crunches is that it hurts my vertebrate badly. Should I rather use one of these 'ab crunch' type of things?

Apart from my cola, I don't really use much cafeinated drinks (the cola is already more than sufficient, i guess). Don't know how I will feel immediately after removing cola from my diet, though. Anyway I'll change my life starting on may 1. See what it gives

Niek

 

nferyn;

You can try Roman Chair Sit-ups, or seated knee tucks as well. You might find that after a few weeks of doing crunches (gradually increasing the volume) your back doesn't bother you as much. It isn't an uncommon complaint that cruches bother peoples lower backs, as crunches are stengthening lower back muscles that may not be used to the new work load. You might want to add stretching after doing the crunches (ab work), and see if that helps.

I drink iced tea for the taste myself, it gets a little boring drinking water all of the time. I just throw a few tea bags in a 3L water container in the fridge.

-CG

 

It's not really my muscles that cause me a problem - after all, if you're seriously into cycling, you should be able to stand a little pain , but rather the bony extension of my vertebrate...

As a non-native english speaker, 'm not really into the terminology of crunches, sit-up, etc. Could you point me to a reference on these workouts?

thx,

Niek

Niek

 

nferyn;

I can't think of any online references that has pictures off the top of my head. If you go to a book store and look in the health/sports section, you should be able to find a few books on strength/weight training with pictures and descriptions. The New Encyclodedia Of Modern Bodybuilding (By Schwartzenegger & Dobbins) seems to always be in every bookstore in that section, it has pictures and straight forward descriptions of a variety of abdominal exercises.

Crunches - Are where you lie on the floor with your back on the ground and your ankles on a stool/bench (or against a wall), so that your knees are roughly 90 degrees from your waist. With your hands behind your head curl your head and trunk upwards towards your knees. Don't lift your entire back off the floor, but rather crunch the rib cage towards the pelvis. You can probably pick up an inexpensive exercise matt to make it more comfortable for you.

Roman Chairs - Sit on a bench or stool with your toes under a ledge for support. For the range of movement - lean back to about a 70 degree angle, but not so your torso is parallel to the floor; then raise and curl your body to an upright position. The rib cage and pelvis crunch together.

Knee tucks - Sit on the edge of a bench or a sturdy stool, and grip the front edge on either side of your hips with your hands for support. Hold your torso at a 45 degree angle, simultaneously; curl your torso toward your pelvis (rounding your back), and bring your knees to your head. The rib cage and pelvis crunch together. Then lower the knees and torso to the starting position. Takes a few times to co-ordinate and get the feel of what you are trying to accomplish.

With any of the above exercises, you want to use a slow movement, concentrating on keeping the abdominals under constant tension throughout the excercise. Don't wildly swing your torso/legs through the range of movement, and try to keep the range of movement within a set of exercises so that you have constant tension on your abdominals.

As far as the volume of exercise; you might want to try 3 sets of 20 reps to start out with, or go to failure (until you can't do anymore) for each set. Abdominals recover quickly, so you can do abdominal exercises almost daily without an issues. Don't be too aggressive when you start, no need to tear any muscles. If you ride at night, I would do the abdominal exercises in the morning to allow recovery. You don't want to do abdominal exercises immediately before cycling, as it will tire out your abdominals/lower-back, and perhaps lead to discomfort on your ride. Likewise doing the exercises immediately after your ride may over-stress your tired lower-back. If your experience muscular lower back pain, reduce the amount (volume and frequency) of abdominal exercises, and make sure to stretch your lower back (carefully).

Hope it helps,

-CG

 

I formerly worked in an environmental analysis laboratory and we found that all of the "soft drinks" that we tested for radiation contained huge amounts of salt. Salt induces dehydration. A 12 ounce serving of soft drinks per day is one thing but 1.5 L is debilitating. Avoid that huge amount and drink water and fresh squeezed fruit juice.

 

"Neither sweetener affected peak insulin levels in subjects with or without diabetes"
"We conclude that ingestion of aspartame- or saccharin-sweetened beverages by fasting subjects, with or without diabetes, did not affect blood glucose homeostasis."
-- see research abstract below from Diabetes Journals.
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/11/3/230.abstract
Response to single dose of aspartame or saccharin by NIDDM patients.



Twelve normal subjects and 10 subjects with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus were given, in random order at intervals of greater than or equal to 1 wk, three drinks of the same beverage: one unsweetened, one sweetened with 400 mg aspartame, and one sweetened with 135 mg saccharin.

The amount of sweetener approximated that in 1 L of sugar-free soft drink. Plasma glucose, insulin, and glucagon were measured for 3 h after ingestion of the test beverage.

Plasma glucose declined slightly throughout the test period, probably due to fasting, with no differences between the three treatments. Neither sweetener affected peak insulin levels in subjects with or without diabetes. Analysis of area under the curve showed that mean insulin levels were statistically significantly higher after aspartame than after saccharin or unsweetened beverage in normal subjects only, but the magnitude of the difference was small and unlikely to be of physiological importance in the absence of differences in glucose levels.

Furthermore, the differences could largely be accounted for by a decrease in insulin values after both unsweetened beverage and saccharin, with no change from baseline after aspartame. Glucagon levels showed time-to-time variation but no overall differences. We conclude that ingestion of aspartame- or saccharin-sweetened beverages by fasting subjects, with or without diabetes, did not affect blood glucose homeostasis.

 

Neik,

This website should be helpful to you: Exercise & Muscle Directory

Enjoy!

 

I understand the Diet Coke addiction. High insulin levels cause the body to store fat. Any type of diet works by lowering carbohydrates thus lowering insulin levels thus allowing the body to lose weight. Gary Taubes writes about weight loss and carbs. His books have made a huge difference to me.

 

Diet coke is crammed with artificial sweeteners that have been found to cause cancer. Coke play no role in optimizing athletic performance. It lacks carbohydrates and contains some quantity of caffeine, which is not a good ratio to deliver a performance.

 

Where is the proof that these sweeteners cause cancer? The answer is nowhere. There is no conclusive evidence that said sweeteners cause cancer.

 

There have been laboratory testings of rats directly injected with sugar substitutes such as saccharine, aspartame, and cyclamate. The main conclusion brought by these testings was the cancer developed in the rats.

However, the validity of these testings are iffy at best. For one, the use of injecting pure sweeteners into the rats undoubtedly caused trauma and was possibly the cause of the development of the cancer. Second, the amount they injected into the rats were not proportional to the amount a human would ingest. They injected far too much concentrations of the substance into the rats--which they failed to acknowledge in their conclusion.

So that was were the rumor of artificial sweeteners began. With all our current non-biased facts about artificial sweeteners, we can say that there is no connection between it and cancer. I hope that answers your question.