Sarah Howard (nee Tackett) has dedicated her career to supporting the T1D community ever since she was diagnosed with T1D while in college in May 2013. Since then, she has worked for various diabetes organizations, focusing on research, advocacy, and community-building efforts for people with T1D and their loved ones. Sarah is currently the Senior Manager of Marketing at T1D Exchange.
First of all, I stopped all soda years ago, long before T1D diagnosis. I’m not a huge drinker (and it’s usually Coors Light) but because a vodka tonic has so many carbs, I searched for an alternative. I found recently that a little zero-sugar ginger ale with vodka is quite tasty! 🙂
LOL…..both my husband and I have been diet soda addicts for YEARS….orange and a store brand coke. Yes, what is the matter with WATER??? Nothing except that once you are “hooked” it’s difficult to swallow pills, for example. I’m sure artificial sweeteners are an issue for some people but after decades of using them I have absolutely zero effects that have come about.
I drink several diet cokes (typically a store brand) per day. Doesn’t impact my blood sugars. I am sure the artificial sweeteners aren’t good for you but I avoid so many foods/drinks because of the impact to my blood sugars that I figure I’m allowed one unhealthy addiction!! 🙂
I used to drink diet soda EVERY day — and I finally quit many years ago. Within a few months after quitting, my tastebuds finally realized it tastes like pure chemicals. Bleh. Now I can’t stand the taste of any fake chemical sugars.
I no longer drink diet sodas thought I used to love Dr Pepper! I just grew tired of them and started to prefer to drink water when I began hiking with a local group. Now I drink tons of water every day, though not from the tap since ours tastes yucky!
I can’t recall how long it’s been since I last drank soda … either ‘regular’ soda or ‘diet’ soda … but I’m thinking that it’s probably 25 years or more ago.
I used to enjoy diet Dr Pepper and cherry coke zero, but no longer tolerate artificial sweeteners. They make me nauseous. I enjoy unsweetened flavored sparkling water. La Croix lemoncello is my favorite!
My son, a fifth grader, diagnosed at 18mos. Twice, he has had root beer floats as a class party treat. On those days, I took in an artificially sweetened root beer. That’s it.
Back in the day, I drank TAB all the time. Then, I started drinking Diet Coke. That was at least 20 years ago though. Now, I can’t handle the caffeine, so I might have an occasional Sprite Zero or Light Lemonade – – or both combined – – just for something different.
I have never liked diet anything. It all tastes terrible to me. I did use to love soda though. Now I use it for low BG, about 4 oz. Sometimes I want to splurge, but the last time I actually did was probably 10 years ago.
I used to drink diet all the time but have been reducing the amount. I know it’s bad, formaldehyde, for me and the taste has been off. The sparkling waters have been tasting better lately.
My favorite is Mountain Dew, I call them fun flavors. There is Spark, Code Red, and Pitch Black. I do not drink them daily. I drink them when I need a caffeine pick up and no time to make tea.
I never drink any kind of soda, diet or regular. On occasion, if I am having leg or foot cramps at night I will have some diet tonic. It helps! This was recommended to me by my podiatrist.
Definitely not as often now as I did in the past. Beverage of choice is coffee with 1/2 & 1/2, but now am limited to 2 cups a day. Mainly drink seltzer that has a slight amount of fruit juice, 0 carbs, 0 potassium.
Artificial sweeteners destroy the microbiome.
Water and black coffee for my daily. Cocktail hour occasionally
HFCS has too much fructose, not good for the liver or later in life, brain function
I know everything that is “natural” is not safe, but I have been drinking stevia sodas for almost a decade with certain meals or sometimes carbonated beverages I make at home w/o any sweetener.
I still have diet soda with the regular ingredients occasionally when we eat out.
The day I was dx’d in 1983 I was handed a list of things I pretty much couldn’t ever have for the rest of my life. We didn’t have carb-counting MDI back then–the insulins weren’t there, even glucometers weren’t a thing yet. The whole prospect was pretty depressing. “Hey, you can have diet sodas!” But I had always HATED diet sodas, hated pretty much diet-anything, and the idea that I was now launching into a new phase of existence featuring tons of that kind of stuff was just too depressing to countenance. I swore right then in the Dr’s office that I would rather just give up sodas and other sugary stuff rather than submit to the ersatz versions that symbolized this physical disorder I was suddenly going to be subject to forever. Beer in particular was hard to give up (I was 28) but fortunately the Doc pointed out that Scotch was ok, in moderation, and y’know, Scotch starts out as beer. So there was a light in the darkness….
I wish I could say zero, but I love the pick me up of a Diet Coke in the afternoon. I have tried no carb sparkling waters and they just aren’t the same. Working on decreasing slowly over time.
It is one thing I can indulge. Always have it with lots of ice. I drink caffeinated in the am, and decaf in the afternoon. I drink a lot, but what can a diabetic really indulge in?
Traditional “Diet” Soda actually raises my glucose. I can’t explain it – aspartame, sucralose, all of the artificial sweeteners.
However, sodas with with stevia or monk fruit (no sugar alcohols!) are fine! I drink those on occasion.
I drink a Stevia Soda a couple times a year. I never drink anything with Aspartame or Sucroules. I feel those artificial sweetners make me gain weight and really confuse my body.
I answered “Rarely” because, I use Diet Ginger Ale (Vernors) or Diet Ginger Beer as a mixer to low/no carb cranberry juice. I’ve really went away from drinking carbonated beverages as I’ve aged.
My wife is a big diet soda drinker. I drink water and almond milk. However, on a rare occasion, I drink a diet root beer, but not very often.
I’ve never been completely comfortable with artificial sweeteners. Coffee and tea are my favorite beverages.
I love Diet Coke. There are so many foods I stay away from because of how it affects my BG. And it’s my only vice!
First of all, I stopped all soda years ago, long before T1D diagnosis. I’m not a huge drinker (and it’s usually Coors Light) but because a vodka tonic has so many carbs, I searched for an alternative. I found recently that a little zero-sugar ginger ale with vodka is quite tasty! 🙂
The only time I drink soda is ginger ale and vodka too! It is indeed quite tasty.
LOL…..both my husband and I have been diet soda addicts for YEARS….orange and a store brand coke. Yes, what is the matter with WATER??? Nothing except that once you are “hooked” it’s difficult to swallow pills, for example. I’m sure artificial sweeteners are an issue for some people but after decades of using them I have absolutely zero effects that have come about.
I drink several diet cokes (typically a store brand) per day. Doesn’t impact my blood sugars. I am sure the artificial sweeteners aren’t good for you but I avoid so many foods/drinks because of the impact to my blood sugars that I figure I’m allowed one unhealthy addiction!! 🙂
I used to drink diet soda EVERY day — and I finally quit many years ago. Within a few months after quitting, my tastebuds finally realized it tastes like pure chemicals. Bleh. Now I can’t stand the taste of any fake chemical sugars.
I no longer drink diet sodas thought I used to love Dr Pepper! I just grew tired of them and started to prefer to drink water when I began hiking with a local group. Now I drink tons of water every day, though not from the tap since ours tastes yucky!
I can’t recall how long it’s been since I last drank soda … either ‘regular’ soda or ‘diet’ soda … but I’m thinking that it’s probably 25 years or more ago.
I drink a lot of various flavors of Sparkling Ice. No sugar and no artificial sweeteners; tiny amounts of fruit juice.
I used to enjoy diet Dr Pepper and cherry coke zero, but no longer tolerate artificial sweeteners. They make me nauseous. I enjoy unsweetened flavored sparkling water. La Croix lemoncello is my favorite!
My son, a fifth grader, diagnosed at 18mos. Twice, he has had root beer floats as a class party treat. On those days, I took in an artificially sweetened root beer. That’s it.
I drink diet soda rarely. Artificial sweeteners don’t agree with me. I am okay with seltzer water.
Back in the day, I drank TAB all the time. Then, I started drinking Diet Coke. That was at least 20 years ago though. Now, I can’t handle the caffeine, so I might have an occasional Sprite Zero or Light Lemonade – – or both combined – – just for something different.
Poison by any other name! Water and coffee are best for me
I have never liked diet anything. It all tastes terrible to me. I did use to love soda though. Now I use it for low BG, about 4 oz. Sometimes I want to splurge, but the last time I actually did was probably 10 years ago.
I have one diet ginger ale and an ounce of bourbon every night with ice. I admit it. Only one drink. Helps get me by….
Grew up on Tab before I had diabetes, Loved Diet RC, Switched to Diet Coke, can tolerate Diet Pepsi, after 65 years, I am doing great.,
49 years with T1D. I used to drink diet soda on a daily basis, now less than rarely/never. Times change.
I used to drink diet all the time but have been reducing the amount. I know it’s bad, formaldehyde, for me and the taste has been off. The sparkling waters have been tasting better lately.
My favorite is Mountain Dew, I call them fun flavors. There is Spark, Code Red, and Pitch Black. I do not drink them daily. I drink them when I need a caffeine pick up and no time to make tea.
I never drink any kind of soda, diet or regular. On occasion, if I am having leg or foot cramps at night I will have some diet tonic. It helps! This was recommended to me by my podiatrist.
That was recommended for my leg cramps at night, but unfortunately it did not help me.
Definitely not as often now as I did in the past. Beverage of choice is coffee with 1/2 & 1/2, but now am limited to 2 cups a day. Mainly drink seltzer that has a slight amount of fruit juice, 0 carbs, 0 potassium.
The only time I will drink diet soda is for my Gin and Tonic, I do drink diet tonic water.
Artificial sweeteners destroy the microbiome.
Water and black coffee for my daily. Cocktail hour occasionally
HFCS has too much fructose, not good for the liver or later in life, brain function
I know everything that is “natural” is not safe, but I have been drinking stevia sodas for almost a decade with certain meals or sometimes carbonated beverages I make at home w/o any sweetener.
I still have diet soda with the regular ingredients occasionally when we eat out.
The day I was dx’d in 1983 I was handed a list of things I pretty much couldn’t ever have for the rest of my life. We didn’t have carb-counting MDI back then–the insulins weren’t there, even glucometers weren’t a thing yet. The whole prospect was pretty depressing. “Hey, you can have diet sodas!” But I had always HATED diet sodas, hated pretty much diet-anything, and the idea that I was now launching into a new phase of existence featuring tons of that kind of stuff was just too depressing to countenance. I swore right then in the Dr’s office that I would rather just give up sodas and other sugary stuff rather than submit to the ersatz versions that symbolized this physical disorder I was suddenly going to be subject to forever. Beer in particular was hard to give up (I was 28) but fortunately the Doc pointed out that Scotch was ok, in moderation, and y’know, Scotch starts out as beer. So there was a light in the darkness….
I wish I could say zero, but I love the pick me up of a Diet Coke in the afternoon. I have tried no carb sparkling waters and they just aren’t the same. Working on decreasing slowly over time.
Years ago I drank several Diet Pepsi’s almost every day; now it’s just the sparkling water LaCroix or Polar Seltzer.
It is one thing I can indulge. Always have it with lots of ice. I drink caffeinated in the am, and decaf in the afternoon. I drink a lot, but what can a diabetic really indulge in?
I have not liked soda of any type since I was a child. So I don’t drink diet soda or regular soda or any soda.
Traditional “Diet” Soda actually raises my glucose. I can’t explain it – aspartame, sucralose, all of the artificial sweeteners.
However, sodas with with stevia or monk fruit (no sugar alcohols!) are fine! I drink those on occasion.
I drink a Stevia Soda a couple times a year. I never drink anything with Aspartame or Sucroules. I feel those artificial sweetners make me gain weight and really confuse my body.
I answered “Rarely” because, I use Diet Ginger Ale (Vernors) or Diet Ginger Beer as a mixer to low/no carb cranberry juice. I’ve really went away from drinking carbonated beverages as I’ve aged.