I am not expert in any way, I try to keep aware of the current science and there are some studies that seem to indicate that we should try to take care of our gut microbes (our own microbiome seems to be quite important for many things.)
I haven't read a great deal on this area and I don't want to be a kill joy but personally I would avoid drinking lots of diet fizzy drinks.
Here is a quote from a
Nature paper
Quote:
Some studies showed benefits for Non-calorific Artificial Sweeteners consumption and little induction of a glycaemic response, whereas others demonstrated associations
between NAS consumption and weight gain, and increased type 2 diabetes risk
Here is an article from
an article from Scientific America about how these gut microbes may even instruct the host what to eat, weird.
It is all very complicated and difficult to know - my own personal poison is several (too many) cups of milky tea per day, this like just about all things consumed has some problems attached.
For Jaime and Matt I wish them well but I would steer clear of using prop bets that could have strong effects on health, it's unhealthy betting. Even if you win you may then feel you need this type of pressure to stay on a healthy path.
I think we are all subtly different in what constitutes a healthy long term diet, this probably changes as we age, but we are human and that gives us a great advantage over many other creatures - we are omnivores and can get sustenance from many sources. Don't fall for the gluten/milk/whatever intolerance, the presence of these intolerances can only be discovered by careful analysis and complicated medical tests not some blog, thread post or rip-off postal test. If avoiding some staple (Matt or Jaime) makes you feel better then do it but make sure you have a wide enough range to be healthy.