Diet Free Life

Imagine being told by your nutritionist or registered dietician to drink diet soda instead of water so weight loss is easier. In a new study, it is suggested that diet drinks might be more effective than water alone in helping dieters shed pounds. This study, published Tuesday in the journal Obesity, included about 300 overweight participants, all of whom were enrolled in a weight loss and exercise program. As part of the intervention, each participant was randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group was told to avoid all diet drinks and drink mostly water. The other group was told to consume a combination of zero-calorie drinks (for example, diet soda or artificially sweetened teas) and water. At the end of three months, the participants in the diet-drink group had lost about 13 pounds on average. That was 4 pounds more than the average of 9 pounds lost by those in the water group.