Diet Coke is Proof We Can't Have Nice Things

Listen, I love a crispy Diet Coke. When I hit that 3pm slump (side note: WTF is the deal with the  3 pm slump and why does it just knock me off my feet every single day!?!?), it’s literally the only thing my body wants. Cracking open that can, pouring it over some ice, maybe adding a squeeze of lime if I’m feeling ~extra~. OMG, it’s just the best.

Girlhood is loving a daily DC. We can all agree with that, right? There’s just something life-giving and…maybe slightly addictive about it. 

Social media has arguably made it worse. I rarely log on to an app without seeing some type of Diet Coke content. Sometimes it’s a clip of another woman talking about how much she loves her soda…but sometimes it’s about how Diet Coke is going to kill us.

Some days, I see the latter and think “yeah, and you know what else is going to kill us? Life. So we might as well drink up and enjoy what we have”. Other times, I find myself really taking the risks associated with drinking diet soda seriously.

And those risks? They are, unfortunately, well-documented. There is, according to one research paper, “mounting evidence” that artificially sweetened beverages have been associated with a whole slew of health consequences, from dental issues to rheumatoid arthritis to accelerated cell aging, among others. In another study, daily diet soda consumption was linked to an increased risk of incident metabolic syndrome (which refers to a cluster of conditions, according to Mayo Clinic) and type 2 diabetes. Yet another links daily consumption of artificially sweetened drinks to increased dementia risk.

So...yeah. The risks do seem pretty real. 

Listen, moderation is a thing, and an occasional diet soda is probably not the same as a daily drink. But that’s what is so hard here: Diet Coke is something that feels so habitual. You grab a case of it, then crack one open whenever you need a little pick-me-up, and it’s that perfect boost of refreshment and caffeine. 

I guess that’s the root of the problem here: Diet soda is so easy to grab every day, and it’s such an incredibly hard habit to break. Clearly, I'm not the only one who feels this way. On social media, people even refer to cans of Diet Coke as "fridge cigs".

Somehow, it seems especially addictive to women, perhaps because it's such a part of the social fabric of womanhood to drink Diet Coke (the ultimate girl lunch is a salad, fries, and a Diet Coke, after all. I don’t make the rules!).

But in the name of our long-term health, we should probably pull back a bit. I know. I hate it too.