It’s common knowledge that soda isn’t healthy, and while many of us will take the step to try and be healthy, many don’t have the willpower to abandon our favorite soft drinks altogether. However, we do have the willpower to switch to a “diet” version. We do so because it’s supposed to be more healthy with none of that sugar that makes regular soda so bad. Is diet soda any better though? The answer is not only a resounding “no”, but diet soda may actually be worse than regular soda.

The market of diet sodas originated in the late 1950s when soda companies introduced drinks that contained very little sugar. These drinks didn’t gain much prominence until the Coca-Cola company released Tab in 1963 to national and international success. Many other companies rushed to release their own lines of diet soda, and by the 1990s diet soda had become a staple in American beverages. Diet soda’s success was tied to it being a healthy alternative, but that success is built on a foundation of deception.

If you’re trying to lose weight, diet soda is not the right choice. According to a study published by the National Institute of Health, diet soda has been shown to increase obesity. This is because diet soda triggers hunger hormones and the intake of sugary foods. Another study published by the National Institute of Health found that drinking diet soda can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes by 8-13%, and a study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that after observing 64,850 diet soda drinking woman, they were found to have a 21% increase in diabetes. Not only is diet soda not doing the task it’s advertised to do, it’s actively working against that goal. Diet soda is not only bad for weight loss, but it’s also bad for your health in general.

So how hard is it to kick a bad diet soda habit? Of course, it depends on the person, but there are some common tricks that help. Slow, incremental changes to diet are the best way to have long term change from soda. Simply cutting it off all at once will do nothing but make you miserable. Other things that help break a diet soda habit are to eat protein in the mornings, because it’ll reduce cravings for sugary drinks. Two other ways to beat diet soda cravings are to convert back to regular soda or to just drink coffee; however, both of those pose their own health risk as well. Whatever works for you is best. Use it to break the chains of addiction to diet soda and reap the benefits of being clean.