what not to do when you are trying to get pregnant

Right about mid-afternoon who doesn’t want the pick-me-up of a soda? Or maybe you’re not the coffee drinking type and prefer to get your caffeine hit through a nice cold can of pop. And who wouldn’t want to get their soda fix without the sugar induced spread of our hips? Diet sodas are the perfect answer, right?

Well, maybe not so right, especially if you are trying to get pregnant.

Scientists disagree about the general safety of consuming artificial sweeteners , such as those in diet sodas, but the US Food and Drug Administration has approved their use and has ruled out a risk of cancer. It should be noted that the studies the FDA relied on used far smaller amounts of diet soda than the 24 ounces a day consumed by many people who drink diet soda, and we really don’t know what effect large amounts of these chemicals will have over many years.

But outside of the general impact of diet sodas on your health, if you are trying to get pregnant there are several very good reasons why you should avoid diet sodas.

4 Reasons You Should Not Drink Diet Sodas if You are Trying to Conceive

  1. Artificial sweeteners, such as those used in diet sodas, has been shown to decrease your fertility.
  2. Daily intake of artificially sweetened soft drinks may increase the risk of premature birth when consumed by pregnant women, so you may as well stop while you are trying to get pregnant.
  3. People who drink diet sodas are more likely to gain weight, and research has shown that overweight women are less fertile. One study found that people who drank several diet sodas every day were twice as likely to become overweight or obese as people who didn’t drink diet soda.
  4. Artificial sweeteners alter the way we taste food and can make healthy, filling, and highly nutritious foods less appealing, and women trying to get pregnant need to be eating healthy foods.

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Image Credit: Barry Badcock