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This Is What Happens to Your Body When You Quit Soda For 100 Days

You might be surprised at the lasting effects, as one YouTuber can attest after his experiment.
FACT CHECKED BY Faye Brennan

While setting aside your love for diet soda might seem difficult, the benefits of doing just that might convince you to give it a go. That's exactly what YouTuber Joel Wood did when he quit diet soda for 100 days to see what effect it would have on his body. The results, quite frankly, are fascinating.

Wood shared in a YouTube video on Jan. 4 that he'd developed an unhealthy obsession with diet sodas, not necessarily because of their "health" factor but because he genuinely enjoyed the taste. "I've always grown up drinking diet drinks, and I now prefer the taste," he said in the video. "I'm not drinking diet because I think it's healthy, I'm drinking it because I enjoy it."

And while you may think drinking a diet soda is better than a regular soda because it doesn't have all that sugar, it does still have a ton of artificial sweetener. Wood also said he was sometimes drinking up to two liters a day, and that's definitely not a healthy move. (Especially when you consider this ranking of the 108 Most Popular Sodas Ranked By How Toxic They Are.)

Wood set out on a mission to give up diet soda to see what the result might be. Initially he said he could feel the lethargy of not having his usual caffeine boost, but it faded as the days went by. He went for a total of 109 days without diet soda, assuming that this break would reset his tastebuds and not only make him crave the drink less but also perhaps enjoy it a little less and not be so inclined toward sweet foods and drinks.

After the break from diet soda, Wood allowed himself to have a Pepsi Max, something he used to really, really enjoy. Alas, the diet soda no longer carried the satisfaction that it once did, and he admitted that it wasn't "actually as good as I thought it'd be." But what that does mean is that his experiment worked— his tastebuds became less accustomed to the artificial sweetener, and he said as a result he was eating fewer other sweet foods.

It just goes to show that making one small dietary change—like if you quit diet soda for 100 days—can have a much larger effect on your body and your health as a whole! Check out Wood's YouTube video above for his whole soda-free journey.

For more health news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter, and check out the 40 Side Effects of Drinking Too Much Soda.

Hedy Phillips
Hedy is a freelance writer with years of experience covering buzzy food trends, wellness, and weight loss. Read more about Hedy
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