I have been banded for about 8 months, have great restriction, and have not had anything carbonated at all until about a week ago. I took a couple sips of diet coke and it was the best thing I have tasted ever!!! On a hot day, I'd forgotten how much I love it. I did not have any trouble with it at all. The next day I had a few sips too many and had a HUGE burp, but then was fine. Then today I had just a couple sips and was satisfied and pain free.

Do you think I'm damaging myself or my band by taking a couple sips now and again? It seems to me that if it doesn't hurt it should be okay. But I don't want to be stupid either, and I'm not planning on drinking a whole coke or doing it everyday. I guess I'm looking for someone to tell me it's okay. What do y'all think?

I still don't understand why we can't have it. And, I just don't think it would be the same by letting it sit overnight and lose its carbonation. Goodness, I miss diet coke. I used to drink it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and everything in between. I haven't had once since April 11th. Sigh. :cry

I drink one once in awhile...I usually sip it over an hour or more period of time, but I have had no trouble. I don't drink it every day, but several times a week.

Yeah, there has been a few threads on this with the same theme. Some do, some don't. Some docs say it doesn't matter, some do. Even at the Centre I had it done....there are 2 specialist docs there who perform the surgeries together and one says it is ok and the other says no.

I'm just listening to my own body signals. I can handle it no problem But I only have a few sips from my husband's. In total, I maybe have 2 cans a week....which is better than my pre-banding of about 4 cans a day (caffeine, free diet pepsi was my drug of choice).

Caffiene-free Diet Coke, here! I used to live on it. That was leftover from my Atkin's days! I've had the odd pop/soda/beer here and there, and I seem to be ok. I just take it slow. I had to retire my belt as Champion Beer Guzzler. LOL

Yeah, I dunno, it doesn't really make sense to me either. Perhaps I should ask Dr. C and see what HE says?

Thought I'd search before I asked... and someone already asked him. He replied, saying :

I think that it's fine for band patients to have some (note: some, not gallons) of DIET carbonated soda, as long as it's not super-fizzy. The business about pouch stretching from soda I think was made up by some guy back in the dark ages who just wanted to torture weight loss surgery patients.

Dr. C

Cincinnati, Ohio

www.TheBandDoctor.com 877.442.BAND

DISCLAIMER: I am not your surgeon, any comments made by me are not meant to be taken as medical advice, just general guidelines. Contact your surgeon about your specific problem!

But, that doesn't really help me. WHY? Why not super fizzy?

My Dr. Doesn't say we cant have it because the carbonation. What he says is banded patients who continue to drink soda's don't lose weight, Or at least not as much as a patient who does not drink sodas.

I too will have a soda if I crave one but not often and even when I do the carbonation stops me cold in my tracks...I have to wait til ts not bubbly or add icecream lol

My Dr always talks about high calorie intake stuff so I think he is saying stay away from soda because its just not good for you

I made the mistake of going minutemaid lemonade...I recently read in a magizine its better to drink tea than lemonade because of the calories...Then I looked at my bottle and freaked out!

minutemaid lemonade

1 20 oz bottle

250 calories

0 fat

87.5 sodium

70 carbs

and no protein

I can't drink anything with even the slightest bit of carbonation or I will be in MAJOR pain -- groaning, rolling on the floor pain -- from the gas. Really, it's that bad.

So some of us do have problems with carbonation. I've found that the only thing I miss is that some of my favorite alcoholic drinks have Coke in them and I can't have them anymore. Since alcohol isn't exactly conducive to weight loss, that's probably not a bad thing.

Otherwise I don't miss it at all -- there are plenty of other yummy things to drink. Lots of flavors of Crystal Lite.

So if you're a bandster who hasn't tried carbonation since banding, proceed with caution.

I would think that most of us are in the habit of drinking diet sodas anyways... maybe it's just easier to say don't drink it at all.

It's weird how some people aren't bothered by the carbonation at all... then people like you, Molly, have major problems with it... hmmm...

Could also be that I have the worst resriction EVER!!! maybe?

I can see why it causes some people pain, that I can understand but personally I reckon the whole pouch stretching theory is bollocks.

I dont personally like very fizzy drinks, I just dont like the sensation of drinking it. But I do love champagne!

I asked my surgeon about carbonated drinks (I specifically asked about Water, but I really had diet coke in mind:)). He shook his head, but said that I could try it if I liked. However, he was pretty sure it wouldn't go down. I said I was concerned about stretching the pouch if I drank fizzy water, and his answer was that I'd have to drink the whole big bottle of Perrier to even begin to worry about stretching the pouch.

The other day I made the mistake of drinking down a rather big pill with some carbonated water. Ouch! This pill always goes down very well with still water, so I won't be doing it again with the bubbles. The other thing I've found is that drinking bubbly water makes me have a whole lot of little tiny burps (fine if I'm at home, but not so great if I'm out to dinner!)

I haven't tried diet coke yet (only 10 days out of surgery, with a 1 cc fill in a 4 cc band), but I'm dying to. It used to be a habit to have one big ice cold glass of the stuff every evening before dinner to fill me up. I think I'm going to have to master the art of sipping slowly before I try it though!

Deana.

The ONLY reason folks wouldn't lose weight as fast if they drank pop is it is wan't diet!!!! It doesn't have a special ingredient in it that slows down weight loss other than calories...and 0 calories has no effect!!!

I'm not saying pop is good for you but DIET pop will not slow weight loss. Regular pop...YES>.....due to the sugar and caloric content.

Just wanted to clarify.

That's what I was getting at too.

There is diet minute maid lemonade, which I think is pretty yummy. I think it has about 5 calories.

Hi everyone, I used to drink the minutemaid diet lemonade but it was too acidy (is that a word?). So now I use Wyler's light pink lemonade with 5 calories per 8 ounces.

But I did drink a diet coke one day before I realized what I had done and it went down fine for me. Yeah!!!!!!!!!! But I am still sticking to the lemonade.

Myra

Cokes have never been my weakness, so I just leave them out all together. I am just to afraid that if I do drink a coke, then my band slips, I would mad at myself and blame myself for the slipage. I want to take no chances on lossing my band. If I do lose my band down the road I can honestly say it wasn't my fault. (not banded for another 4 days but thats my moto)