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> But a teaspoon of sugar is approx 20 calories. It's a rounding error in most people's calorie intake. I agree with everything except for this in the context

> But a teaspoon of sugar is approx 20 calories. It's a rounding error in most people's calorie intake. I agree with everything except for this in the context of this article. A can of coke is about 8 teaspoons, which is closer to 150 calories. That number is higher for other sodas like Mountain Dew or larger bottle of soda. Depending on your habits this may be a rounding error in a given week/month or a significant part of your calorie consumption.

throwaway22032 3y ago
Agree. I guess I was thinking of tea/coffee. I don't really think of soda as being a serious component of someone's diet. I mean, it's totally optional, just drink water lol. The main issue with sweeteners it seems is that people use them to justify eating/drinking non-foods. I wonder if the same effect comes up when people have like, roast chicken with a sweetened sauce rather than honey or equivalent.
- hendersoon 3y ago
  Sugar is in lots of processed foods, not just Dr. Pepper. When the latest diet fad encouraged cutting fat, the brands turned to sugar. It's not just in food you think of as sweet-- check labels on yogurt, for example. It's often in bread, and BBQ sauce, ketchup, etc.
- Kirby64 3y ago
  I think you vastly underestimate soda consumption. There's some folks who legitimately almost don't drink water, and only drink soda instead. Switching to diet soda can easily be 300-800 calories gained back. It's the same thing with beer, which is roughly the same calorie count as a soda of equivalent size. Folks switching from a 'regular' beer to light beer or (even better) liquor can easily drop weight due to the difference in calories between the two. A pound of fat is ~3500 calories, so gaining 1 pound only requires you to eat (or, rather drink) ~24 sodas or beers over your maintenance rate of energy consumption.
  - throwaway22032 3y ago
    I'm fully with you. When I mean that it's not a serious component of someone's diet, I don't mean that it's not significant. I mean that if you're drinking soda anything more than occasionally, you're probably not actually trying to lose weight, you're just enjoying life.
    - Kirby64 3y ago
      Ah, you mean diet in the 'weight loss diet' sense. Yeah, I'd agree that generally if you're actively trying to diet full sugar soda is likely not going to be a main component. Although, I will say that many MANY people have extremely poor education in terms of dieting... so there may not be the knowledge there.
      - throwaway22032 3y ago
        I kind of just mean in general. Because weight loss for most people isn't about a diet that you do for a month or something. It's about what you eat forever. You might be able to get away with drinking a ton of Coke if you're bulking and lifting in the gym or you're an avid cyclist, but for your average office jockey trying to get 2000-2500 calories in, if you get 500+ from soda you're really limiting what you can eat to meet your protein, fat, micronutrient needs.

throwaway22032 3y ago

Agree. I guess I was thinking of tea/coffee. I don't really think of soda as being a serious component of someone's diet. I mean, it's totally optional, just drink water lol. The main issue with sweeteners it seems is that people use them to justify eating/drinking non-foods. I wonder if the same effect comes up when people have like, roast chicken with a sweetened sauce rather than honey or equivalent.

hendersoon 3y ago
Sugar is in lots of processed foods, not just Dr. Pepper. When the latest diet fad encouraged cutting fat, the brands turned to sugar. It's not just in food you think of as sweet-- check labels on yogurt, for example. It's often in bread, and BBQ sauce, ketchup, etc.
Kirby64 3y ago
I think you vastly underestimate soda consumption. There's some folks who legitimately almost don't drink water, and only drink soda instead. Switching to diet soda can easily be 300-800 calories gained back. It's the same thing with beer, which is roughly the same calorie count as a soda of equivalent size. Folks switching from a 'regular' beer to light beer or (even better) liquor can easily drop weight due to the difference in calories between the two. A pound of fat is ~3500 calories, so gaining 1 pound only requires you to eat (or, rather drink) ~24 sodas or beers over your maintenance rate of energy consumption.
- throwaway22032 3y ago
  I'm fully with you. When I mean that it's not a serious component of someone's diet, I don't mean that it's not significant. I mean that if you're drinking soda anything more than occasionally, you're probably not actually trying to lose weight, you're just enjoying life.
  - Kirby64 3y ago
    Ah, you mean diet in the 'weight loss diet' sense. Yeah, I'd agree that generally if you're actively trying to diet full sugar soda is likely not going to be a main component. Although, I will say that many MANY people have extremely poor education in terms of dieting... so there may not be the knowledge there.
    - throwaway22032 3y ago
      I kind of just mean in general. Because weight loss for most people isn't about a diet that you do for a month or something. It's about what you eat forever. You might be able to get away with drinking a ton of Coke if you're bulking and lifting in the gym or you're an avid cyclist, but for your average office jockey trying to get 2000-2500 calories in, if you get 500+ from soda you're really limiting what you can eat to meet your protein, fat, micronutrient needs.