When we lead a sedentary lifestyle and an unhealthy diet, we insist on making small changes to try to improve. It is common for obese or overweight people to have soda in some of their meals. When it comes to going on a diet to lose weight, many substitute regular sodas for those that are sugar-free. We will tell you below if they are really a good option or if they make us gain weight in the same way.
Drinking sweetened beverages is linked to obesity
According to this research , it does not matter too much if the soft drinks are with sugar, light or without sugar. The problem is that the consumption of sweetened beverages favors the appearance of obesity and overweight.
These types of drinks contain a high amount of artificial sweeteners used as a perfect substitute for sugar, but at no time has it been proven that they provide better benefits to take care of our weight or regulate blood glucose. And, of course, we should not substitute drinking water for sodas to hydrate ourselves.
But if they have no calories, why do we gain weight?
There are several reasons to stop consuming sugar-free sodas, even though they have no calories.
- Digestive problems It has been shown that the high amount of sweeteners can increase the absorption of sugar in the intestine. As if that were not enough, changes occur in the bacteria in our intestines and make them grow less healthy.
- They favor an increase in appetite . Although they do not contain sugar, they can create insulin secretion in the same way. This causes our blood sugar to drop and we feel hungry.
- We settle for compensating . Surely you have also seen someone who has ordered a fast food menu, but with soda without sugar. We enter into a delusion towards ourselves, in which we try to compensate the calories that we do not ingest in the drink with those that we do take in the food.
- We tend to take in more calories . By thinking that we do not ingest calories with the drink, we indulge ourselves more with the thought that we have "saved" a few before. It is not only that we consume more calories, but we are not aware of the harmful effects on the intestine and the body.
