Put down the diet soda and back away very slowly.....

I think, in fact, I really believe, I may be addicted to diet soda.  I tend to use way too many artificial sweeteners anyway.  Lemme count them up:

Coffee in am - 1-2 splendas
Coffee at work - 3 blue packets
Possible diet coke from sonic (route 44, of course!)
About 2 diet gingerales every evening
Evening coffee - 1-2 splendas

Man!!!  That's alot of artificial stuff!  I'm trying to eat healthier.  I've eaten vegetables that I NEVER thought I would eat and avoid processed food.  But look what I'm putting in my body!!!  I can't tell you how I CRAVE diet soda.  I can't stand regular soda, but I feel like sometimes I just HAVE to have a diet one.

Today, I came across this regarding a new study on diet sodas.   This is one part that really got my attention:

"Researchers at the Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio tracked 474 people, all 65 to 74 years old, for nearly a decade, measuring the subjects' height, weight, waist circumference, and diet soft drink intake every 3.6 years. The waists of those who drank diet soft drinks grew 70 percent more than those who avoided the artificially sweetened stuff; people who drank two or more servings a day had waist-circumference increases that were five times larger than non-diet-soda consumers."

I've noticed over the last few years that my waist has grown.  Now, I'm almost 45 so I know that some of this is a normal part of aging.  But now I'm thinking that some of that waist thickening may actually be attributed to my overuse of sweetener.  What's really interesting is that our bodies often treat sweeteners and sugar the same way....the sweet taste triggers the release of insulin which inhibits our ability to burn fat.  (source) 

If you read the article above, it even states that people who drink diet soda have a 41% increase in their chance of being overweight with every can of diet soda they drink.  Now, my first response is, "How can that be?  The calories aren't there."  After thinking about it, I think what happens is we either "treat" ourselves to other goodies because we've been so "good" with our diet drinks.  I've also noticed in myself that I eat more when I drink diet drinks.  I often feel like I don't even want a hamburger if I can't have a diet soda with it.  Diet soda seems to increase my appetite as opposed to when I drink water with a meal.  I mean, pizza and WATER!?  What fun is that?  But as I'm swigging my diet drink, I can almost eat double of what I eat when I drink water. 

Alright, so now I have this information; what do I do with it?