Soda..should It Be Eliminated?

[looking4help]

I am sitting here this evening trying to continue my journey in figuring out my new diet. So many have already helped me on a lot of it and I really appreciate it!

What about soda? Besides the sugar, calories, caffeine etc is it bad as well? Dr. Pepper in specific.

THANKS!

[sunnybabi1986]

Dr Pepper is gluten free, if that's what you're asking. As far as being healthy, not so much, obviously. But it sure makes for a great treat!

[psawyer]

I know of no soda sold in Canada or the US that has a gluten issue. Caramel color is a celiac myth--it is safe, at least in North America.

You have indentified in your post most of the other potential issues regarding sodas.

I drink diet Coke and have not had any issues in ten years as a celiac and over twenty as a diabetic.

[Monklady123]

My immediate thought when I read "soda, should it be eliminated?" was "I HOPE NOT!" Like someone else said, not at all healthy but it sure tastes good on a hot summer day.

[GlutenFreeManna]

I LOVE Dr Pepper. It's one of the few sodas I indulge in. Since I tried the Heritage Dr. Pepper (Real Sugar instead of HFCS), though it's not the same drinking the regular stuff. The only reason to be careful of soda is if you have blood sugar issues. I had to avoid sugary foods and soda for the first few months just because they made my blood sugar spike and then crash. Now I can have one as long I have eaten well (lots of protein and veggies, no junk food) that day.

[sb2178]

The other issues are fructose malabsorption (appears in some celiacs) and general concern about calcium absoprtion/retention and bone density. Sodas don't help at all with that... so regular consumption should be cut if you're concerned about bone density.

[i-geek]

I have the same problems with blood sugar spike and crash, as well as indigestion from the carbonation, but I still drink it as an occasional treat with no gluten-related problems.

[looking4help]

Ok, I posted this question last night and then ended up going to bed before reading any responses. So, therefore I tentatively logged on this morning saying a few please oh please oh pleases in my head as I did so. Then a huge feeling of relief washed over me as I read all the responses.

YEA! I can keep my occasional treat of an ice cold DP! I live in Texas, USA and it's almost a religion around here. LOL

I will say that I stopped having my vanilla DP from Sonic because I am unsure of the flavoring aspect of the vanilla. So, I am oh so very happy to hear I can have my DP!

Thanks for all the responses!

[MTG]

I have never posted here but I just had to give a fair warning. Sodas still require you to read the labels. Some sodas are made with malt and those are definitely no safe. Learned that the hard way when a soda brand changed the recipe to include malt.

[Janelee63]

I live in Texas also. I found out from a friend that the sodas in the Heritage bottle as mentioned above are free of HFCS. Love that! I also found some "natural" sodas by Hansen...the are with pure cane sugar or the diet with splenda. No sodium either. We got the mandrian lime, root beer and vanilla cherry. So far I have tried the root beer and it is yum-O.

[GODSCHILD]

can you drink ginerale soda on a gultin free diet? if not what soda can I drink after a meal. thank you.

[kareng]

can you drink ginerale soda on a gultin free diet? if not what soda can I drink after a meal. thank you.

 

 

You can drink ginger ale.  Most all sodas are gluten-free - Coke, Diet coke, Pepsi, Sprite, etc.  Read the ingredients - barley malt or malt might be the only thing they could possibly have - but I haven't seen it in any mainstream sodas.

[cap6]

I don't know of any mainstream sodas that have gluten.  To avoid some of the nasty stuff in soda you might want to try something organic.  I lo0ve an organic root beer now and then. 

[psawyer]

Sodas are almost always gluten-free, but do read the ingredients.

Other reasons to wonder about them are caffeine, which is in colas and some other sodas, and phosphoric acid (colas and some root beer). Both of those can be stomach irritants and may be problematic if your gut is still healing.

Some people have trouble with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which replaced real sugar in most North American sodas about thirty years ago (think "New Coke").

[Serielda]

Sodas are the devil to put down. I've in the past quit smoking cold turkey for 5 yrs  easier than giving up that demonic lovely fizzy treat, and have not picked sodas back up at all. Even in the past going out for girls night out I'd ask for juices in  my drinks over that stuff. However due to bad nerves the smoking resumed during a hurricane that fell on the same date as katrina and mixed with anxiety and PTSD well....Granted I am working on quiting again using an ecig, that the vendor showed me the  chemicals so I could ask a buddy of mine who is a chemist if these had gluten in them and was informed no they had no gluten in them. My drop dead date with the ecig hopefully is shortly after New Years.