One of the most difficult things for a person to do after being diagnosed with Diabetes is to radically change your diet and quite often your lifestyle. The older you are, the more challenging it is.
So we look for low carb foods, skip just about any food that is white, no sugar added foods (careful with this one as it can be misleading), and diet drinks/pops. For me, I need to have some diet pop occasionally (I use Coke Zero - tried Pepsi Zero but prefer the Coke version). Pepsi Max was removed from the market here in Canada and replaced with Pepsi Zero.
Years ago I used to drink a lot of regular Coca-Cola. Since switching to the less frequent Coke Zero I have not gained weight but lost it. Don't know if that was the main cause of weight loss as I also am on Jardiance for my T2D, and my overall diet and awareness of hi-carb dangers. The combination resulted in a 50 lb (about 3.5 stone) weight loss over about a year plus. My endo now tells me to stop losing weight LOL.
There is controversy over the use of Aspartame as a sweetener. One study says it is harmless unless massively consumed each day, while another says don't take anything with Aspartame.
One caveat is that diet pop (any pop) makes you thirsty so you have a tendency to drink more than you should.
Switched from single-use bottled water (cutting back on plastic waste) to buying a water cooler and refillable water jugs. The water is awesome as Chlorine is removed, reverse osmosis purification, ozone for stabilizing, ultraviolet disinfection, and carbon filtration. Cost is also less than single-use water bottles (in Canada cases of 24 single-use 1/2 litre disposable bottles can be as low as $1.50) and the refillable cooler bottles are less costly.
Liquids are critical as we need to stay hydrated without using hi-sodium drinks like Gatorade (even the no sugar versions), etc. Quite often "no sugar added" foods and beverages have an increased sodium content to compensate.
