Slimming My Waistline One Diet Soda at a Time

Once again, there’s proof that low-calorie foods and beverages can help you lose weight. Food Navigator recently reported that a meta-analysis was conducted on 16 previously conducted aspartame studies. In all 16 of the studies, aspartame and its effect on caloric intake and body weight were measured. 15 of the 16 studies used caloric intake as the measurable. The average weight loss for the 16 studies was 0.4 pounds per week. I’ll take a weight loss of 0.4 pounds per week any day!

I’m a science dork so I always find myself really interested in new research, especially if it pertains to my love for diet soda. If you’re not all that into science then let me sum it up for you: A food or beverage with no calories in it will NOT, I repeat not, cause you to gain weight and can help you to lose weight. It follows logic that replacing a high-calorie snack with something with no calories would help you to lose weight but some critics believe low-calorie sweeteners such as aspartame might actually cause you to gain weight. I’m no scientist but this thought process is absolutely preposterous to me. This meta-analysis only further proves what science already demonstrates: Aspartame can help people cut calories without sacrificing on taste.

Anyways, another point for aspartame.

The Little Mysteries in Life

Okay folks, it's almost Friday! In light of the fact that it's almost the end of the week, I thought I'd take a break from diet soda today and fill your brain with some random questions* there seem to be no answers to. It's sort of like when a little kid is constantly asking why things are the way they are.

I would like to take this moment to thank one of my best friend's, Ryan. Ryan is a constant source of random, useless information so if you're ever in need of trivia partner - he's your man. He's the one who showed me this fascinating information.

Here are some things recently brought to my attention:

If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?

"I am" is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language.Could it be that "I do" is the longest sentence?

Ever wonder what the speed of lightning would be if it didn't zigzag?

Last night I played a blank tape at full blast. The mime next door wentnuts.

Why can't women put on mascara with their mouth closed?

Why is "abbreviated" such a long word?

Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"?

Why can't they make the whole plane out of the same substance that little indestructible black box is?

Why is it that noses run and feet smell?

Have you ever thought what life would be like if your name was Anonymous? You'd get credit for everything nobody wanted credit for?

If the weather man says "it's a 50% chance of rain" does that mean he has no idea if its going to rain or not?

If people say if you eat dessert before dinner it will ruin your appetite won’t eating dinner before dessert ruin your appetite for dessert?

*courtesy of www.barstoolracing.net

And All That Jazz?

This is from Drinks Business Review:

Pepsi-Cola North America is targeting the growing number of calorie counting consumers across the US with its new range of "zero-calorie colas" called Jazz.

The beverage company claims that a National Indulgences Survey, which it recently commissioned, found that adults in the US are choosing their figure over their taste buds, revealing that many people associate indulgence with sacrifice.

Pepsi argues that its new products offer consumers the opportunity to indulge without having to sacrifice their waistline.

The study found that about 140 million Americans consider a sweet treat an indulgence and around 101 million Americans find it difficult to indulge their sweet tooth without compromising their diet.

The Jazz range, which comes in black cherry, French vanilla and strawberries & cream flavors, will be made available across the US during July, 2006.

"We believe once people try Jazz they will start seeing diet colas in a new light," said Russell Weiner, vice president of colas at Pepsi-Cola North America.

"Jazz is a simple way to satisfy sweet cravings without the guilt. In this case, zero-calorie definitely does not mean zero taste," he added

*My friend Soul Searching has actually tried the strawberries and cream variety. Has anybody else? What did you think?

Phase Two: Cutting My Calories

Now that I’ve mastered the art of yoga (commence rolling of the eyes), I think I’m ready to start cutting my calories. Below are the changes I’m desperately hoping to make in the next couple of weeks. Mind you, I refuse to sacrifice on taste. Life is too short to eat nasty foods. Also, I’m not gonna go crazy and cut out everything because when I do that I tend to binge on chocolate for weeks afterward.


Instead of: Regular salad dressing Have: Reduced-fat dressing

Instead of: Potato Chips Have: Baked Chips

Instead of: Chocolate-Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Have: Vanilla Ice Cream

Instead of: Mayonnaise Have: Fat-free mayonnaise

We’re gonna take things really slow. I don’t want to rush anything and I refuse to cut out ice cream so I’m just gonna remove the chocolate chips from my ice cream. Wish me luck. Did you know that by cutting 150 calories a day you can lose up to 15 pounds over the course of a year?

Thank goodness I’m already cutting calories with my delicious and calorie-free diet soda. There’s a ton of new varieties available now so I never get bored!

Phase One: Learning to Love Exercise

As part of my ever-ongoing effort to live a healthier lifestyle I have decided to begin practicing yoga every morning before work. I’m really feeling a lot better physically and spiritually. Not to say that my morning routine is perfect but I think over time, I’m really going to enjoy exercise.

Morning Routine: Hit snooze after alarm blares at 5 AM. Drag self out of bed at 6 AM. Attempt to open eyes and change into yoga gear. Lay down on floor in semi-yoga position and close eyes, pretending to be concentrating on breathing and simplicity. Wake up to self, snoring and stumble to the shower 30 minutes later.

Okay, so I haven’t gotten my yoga routine down pat yet but I consider it a process. If I can just avoid shutting my eyes than I think I might really have something here. Stay tuned for Phase Two, which will involve drastic changes in my eating habits.

My Job is Making Me Fat

According to a recent survey from CareerBuilder.com, 46 percent of workers have gained weight since joining their jobs. One in five workers have gained 10 pounds while one in ten workers have reportedly gained 20 pounds. Yikes! Who knew working could actually make you fat?

It appears the jobs that are the most sedentary cause workers to gain weight such as government employees, IT workers and people in accounting. All three of these industries require a lot of desk time with few opportunities to get up and move around. I’m in public relations so while I do spend a fair amount of time at my desk, I’m still able to get up and burn some calories.

I’ve also been trying to cut down on sending emails to people in my office. If I can walk across the building to tell them then I try to go ahead and do that. I have come to notice that a lot of people simply prefer emails than face-to-face correspondence though. With emails you can deal with the question or situation whenever you feel like it but when I pop my head into your office, you’ve got to deal with it NOW! Or maybe I’m just annoying ;)

I have noticed that since joining the working field I’ve definitely put on some pounds. It’s hard for me to understand because in college I was guzzling beer, cramming late nights with pizza and Dr. Pepper, and sleeping every moment I got. Sigh…

Medication and Weight Gain Presents Serious Problems

On Monday, the Today Show had an interesting story: medication and weight gain. Many medications such as anti-depressants, anti-inflammatories and steroids cause people to experience a variety of unpleasant symptoms, and weight gain is often one of them. The medicine might slow down your metabolism or increase your appetite. Many times the medications don’t even have labels warning of the possible side effect.

As the weight appears, many people especially women, stop taking the medication to avoid gaining more weight. Obviously, this isn’t a good idea! General health comes first and then you worry about the weight.

Dietitian Madelyn Fernstrom even advised viewers to start drinking diet soda and using other low-calorie products to help cut calories and diminish the weight gain from the medication. She noted that low-calorie products such as diet soda will help consumers cut calories while allowing them to still enjoy their favorite foods and beverages.

Other tips she provided:

· Call your doctor and see if there’s a different medicine you can switch to.
· Be more active.
· Make small changes in your eating – cutting 100 calories a day can lead to a ten-pound weight loss over the course of a year.
· Keep healthy snacks on hand such as carrots, pretzels, rice cakes, low-calorie yogurt, and fruit.

I’ve never been on medicine that made me gain weight but I can understand it would really frustrate me to have no control over what was happening to my body. We all like to think we are in control of what happens to our bodies but many times such a thing is really out of our control. Has anybody ever taken medication that caused them to gain weight?