These Zero Calorie Drinks Promote Weight Gain Not Loss

I’m so happy to see that sales of Diet Coke and Pepsi keep plummeting… more people are wising up to the fact that these drinks are ridiculously horrible for the body and looking for healthier options. In their place, new zero-calorie drinks and flavored waters are flooding the market, and are now taking up some serious shelf space in major grocery stores. Some of these fruity waters and fizzy “sugar free” drinks are being promoted as health drinks – but are they really?

Unfortunately, many of them are filled with controversial additives that can be sabotaging your weight and your health – even if they have no calories, look like bottled water, or have really short ingredient lists! Let’s take a closer look at what’s in some of the most popular brands like Sparkling Ice and Cascade Ice. They sell these by the case at Costco, but are they truly any better than soda?

These drinks have “zero calories” because they are sweetened with Sucralose (an additive linked to cancer). The artificial colors in these drinks (Yellow 5, Red 40, and Blue 1) are derived from petroleum and linked to several health issues, including allergies, cancer, and hyperactivity in children. Europe requires any food containing dyes to carry the warning label, “May Have an Adverse Effect on Activity and Attention in Children”, but that’s not required here in the States. If that’s not bad enough, they’re also preserved with Potassium Benzoate, which can form the carcinogen Benzene when combined with vitamin C (which is present in some flavors). This is a toxic combo in a plastic bottle!

Don’t be fooled by “zero calorie” drinks and flavored waters with ingredients like these…

Perhaps they purposefully make the ingredients so hard to read on a bottle of Propel because they are so horrible!

Propel Flavored Water Black Cherry: Water, Citric Acid, Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Natural Flavor, Salt, Potassium Sorbate, Potassium Citrate, Sodium Citrate, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Sucralose, Acesulfame Potassium, Calcium Disodium EDTA, Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B5), Niacinamide (Vitamin B3), Vitamin E Acetate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6).

Artificial (low-calorie) sweeteners won’t help you lose weight…

Propel, Nestle Splash, Dasani Flavored Water, Diet Snapple, and PowerAde Zero contain artificial sweeteners like sucralose, acesulfame potassium or aspartame. Although these have no calories, artificial sweeteners have been shown to contribute to weight gain by encouraging sugar cravings. Research finds they stimulate your appetite, increase sugar cravings, and promote fat storage and weight gain. Researchers from the University of Texas discovered that drinks made with artificial sweeteners will expand your waist girth, which is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. When you drink something sweet – even when it has no calories – your brain is tricked into wanting more calories because your body is not getting enough energy (i.e. calories) to be satisfied. So you keep craving sweets, eating sweets, and gaining weight. This is why a lot of people never reach their full health potential or weight loss goals, because they are constantly being pushed around by these chemical artificial sweeteners that trick the brain and body.

They’re also loaded with health-wrecking preservatives…

Sodium Polyphosphate and Sodium Hexametaphosphate: These preservatives are full of phosphorous, which can create a mineral imbalance in the body. When you eat (or drink) phosphate additives like these often (which is really easy to do in our processed food world) it can put you at risk for kidney damage, increased mortality, heart disease, and accelerated aging.  

Calcium Disodium EDTA: This preservative is made from of formaldehyde, sodium cyanide, and ethylene diamine… yikes! Is this something you really want to drink every day? It has the ability to build up in the body, becoming more toxic if you drink it for several days in a row, which could possibly lead to health problems. It’s also known to lower your body’s ability to absorb vitamins (making all those B vitamins added to Propel pretty worthless).

Potassium Sorbate: This preservative has been shown to be genotoxic to white blood cells, which could lead to cancer. It has also been shown to induce DNA damage when combined with vitamin C (this combo is in Propel).

Citric Acid: Although this is naturally found in lemon and other fruits, the additive used in these drinks is typically derived from mold made with GMO corn (not from fruit). Frequent consumption is linked to an increase in tooth decay and also can irritate the gut.

Is Erythritol a safe sweetener?

Bai, Core, Hubert’s Diet Lemonade, Blossom Water, and Vitamin Water Zero are sweetened with the sugar alcohol erythritol. This sweetener can wreck havoc on healthy gut bacteria, which can lead to a whole host of diseases and if you’re trying to lose weight or stay slim, keeping your gut healthy is vital!

Erythritol is also known to cause diarrhea, stomach upset, headache when consumed in “normal amounts”, is a powerful insecticide, and can also increase appetite just like artificial sweeteners do so you’ll end up eating more food. Research by Cornell University shows that the body metabolizes erythritol and associates high levels of erythritol in the blood to weight gain, which has spawned more studies.

Although this is a naturally occurring sugar that is sometimes found in fruit, food manufacturers don’t actually use the natural stuff. Instead they usually start with GMO corn (unless organic or non-GMO verified) and then put it through a complex fermentation process to come up with chemically pure erythritol.

Some brands have versions that contain only two ingredients: water and natural flavors. 

These drinks are better than a Diet Coke – but are they really as clean as they seem? I try to avoid natural flavors, especially if it’s in something that I’d consume often and in large amounts – like a drink.

Why you should avoid drinking “Natural Flavors”…

{Picture of natural flavors on display at the IFT Expo}

• Each natural flavor may contain up to 100 ingredients, including synthetic chemicals such as the solvent propylene glycol, the preservative BHA, and GMO-derived ingredients (unless organic or Non-GMO Project verified).
• The ingredients in natural flavors are considered proprietary and not disclosed either on the label or to a customer who inquires – so you have no clue what is in them.
• Natural flavors can be derived from anything in nature, including animal parts. The only difference between natural and artificial flavors, is that natural flavors are derived from things found in nature (such as beaver glands).
• They can also legally contain naturally occurring “glutamate” by-products that act like MSG, which is an excitotoxin. Excitotoxins make food irresistible to eat but can cause stroke, Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, obesity, migraines, fatigue, and depression.
• Flavors are designed to have addictive qualities and increase food cravings, contributing to what David Kessler (former head of the FDA) calls a “food carnival” in your mouth. They trick your mind into wanting more and more. The Big Food Companies are hijacking your taste buds one by one, and lining their corporate pockets at the same time as we buy more products with these addicting synthesized flavors in them. If you are having increased food cravings while guzzling down drinks full of natural flavors, you may want to take a closer look at what you are drinking.

The Hint Flavored Water lawsuit is exposing natural flavors for what they really are…

Although the ingredient label on Hint Flavored Water just states purified water and natural flavors, Hint has been sued because their drinks contain propylene glycol – a synthetic ingredient. Propylene glycol is one of the hidden ingredients that was (and may still be) used in their natural flavors and doesn’t need to be listed on the label. This goes back to my point that whenever you are drinking something with natural flavors, it is not necessarily natural and you don’t know what’s really in the bottle.

{Excerpt from complaint filed in the court case: Lisa Kim Madrigal, et al v. Hint Inc.}

{Excerpt of test results showing propylene glycol in Hint flavored water}

LaCroix states their flavors contain no artificial ingredients, but they also are not under any obligation to disclose exactly what’s in them, so we just have to take their word for it.

“There is no legal requirement to disclose what’s in the natural flavor. So customers have no choice but to believe companies when they say they don’t use artificial additives in their flavors.” ~ The Mysterious Allure of LaCroix’s ‘Natural Flavor’ – WIRED, December 15, 2016

I don’t consider it safe to drink out of cans often because of the BPA that is usually present in them. This is what LaCroix says about the presence of BPA in their cans, which I don’t find reassuring, especially since I know how inefficient the FDA is at setting “guidelines” for the chemicals in our food…

“All LaCroix products meet the guidelines set by the FDA and are completely safe to drink. Recently, media reports have raised questions about the use of bisphenol A (BPA) by can and bottle manufacturers. While can linings may contain trace amounts of BPA to prevent spoilage and protect food and beverages from direct contact with the can, these trace amounts are virtually eliminated during the curing process.” ~ Source: http://ift.tt/1Gm4O9c

I personally prefer the taste of a real squeeze of lemon or fruit juice in my water over anything that is found in these drinks – they just taste artificial to me and I like to know exactly what I’m drinking.

I feel like if something tastes like lemon, then it should actually contain lemon! And it honestly just takes two seconds to  squeeze some fresh lemon juice (or grapefruit or whatever fruit you’d like) into sparkling water and know exactly what you’re drinking. That’s not to mention all the nutrients that you are getting from the lemon juice as well…because natural flavors may have zero calories, but they also have zero nutrition and provide zero health benefits.

What you are drinking is as important as what you are eating every day.

My main go-to drink is plain filtered water. I filter my own water at home and always carry a stainless steel or glass container of filtered water around with me – to the gym, in the car, to meetings, and even to some restaurants! Drinking toxin-free water makes a major difference in the way I feel and I consider it a vital part of my everyday life. But, it can be boring to just drink water all the time! These are some other healthy drinks I personally enjoy:

• Organic Raw Kombucha – My favorite local organic brand is Lenny Boy. 
• Sparkling or Soda Water + Lime Juice + Organic Cranberry Juice (with no added sugar)
• Filtered Water + Fresh Cucumbers + Fresh or Frozen Strawberries
• Sparkling or Soda Water + Fresh Lemon or Lime Juice + Grated Ginger. Consider adding melon, cucumbers, or berries for different flavors!
• 100% Raw Coconut Water
• Organic Unsweetened Green and Herbal Tea (iced or hot). Peppermint and ginger teas are great for satisfying cravings for something sweet!
• Fresh Pressed Green Juice

Here is a delicious recipe for flavored water from the Food Babe Drinking For Health Guide that you can mix up and keep in the fridge… 

Food Babe's Nutrient-Rich Flavored Water

 

Author: Food Babe

Serves: 8 cups

Ingredients

• 8 cups filtered water
• 8 slices lemon
• 8 slices lime
• 8 slices orange
• 16 slices cucumber

Instructions

1. Place all of the fruit and vegetable slices in a glass pitcher and fill with filtered water (plain or sparkling).
2. Let sit for 5-10 minutes. If not drinking immediately, store in the refrigerator.

Notes

**Please choose all organic ingredients if possible.**

3.4.3177

 

For more healthy and refreshing drink recipes, consider joining my meal plan program here – you’ll get a new set of recipes each month. If you know anyone who is drinking processed zero-calorie drinks by the caseload, please share this post with them. I hope these tips help you hydrate your body with the healthiest drinks and kiss the chemical-filled drinks goodbye!

Xo, 

Vani

 

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