I disagree with your view on diet soda here. I drink diet soda mostly because it is not as sweet as regular soda. I don't feel like I am slurping down syrup. I prefer the taste of diet coke and would take it over regular. I am low carb and do not crave sweets, but I really like fizzy drinks, and by drinking diet, I am not sabotaging myself. Diet soda gets a bad reputation cause a lot of fatties drink it, thinking it will make up for their otherwise awful diet. The whole trope of someone ordering a supersized meal and a diet coke is pretty common, and unhelpful. I am not saying that diet soda is good for you, but it is far, far better than regular soda. The talk about how diet soda (in quantities normally consumed) makes you fatter, or causes cancer, is not backed by science. The FUD surrounding it ends up discouraging people from switching, which in my opinion, is a bad thing. Someone with a 4 can a day habit would cut 600 calories just by switching to diet. That is a significant benefit, far outweighing any conceivable downside that diet soda may have. Yes, switching to tea or water is arguably better than drinking diet, but not by as much as diet is better than regular soda.