Who Knew Bubbles Could Be So Bad For You?
Soda is bad. No, really bad. Do you know how many calories are in that can of Coke? About as many as in a Milky War bar. You wouldn’t eat a Milky War bar every day if you were remotely serious about your health, would you? Yet for some reason, people assume that they gave give their daily soda a pass. Well, they can’t - it’s worse.
Calories are one thing, but what’s in those calories is another. High fructose corn syrup, which is used exclusively as the sweetener in soda, has been linked to diabetes, hyperactivity, hypertension and other problems. And even one can of soda will give you way more than your USDA Recommended Daily Allotment (RDA) of ten teaspoons of sugar. Finally, soda contains no vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein or anything else remotely nutritious for your body. Nada, zip, zilch. In other words, there’s nothing good in soda. Only bad things.
Well, fine, you think, I’ll just switch to diet sodas. That way, I’m really getting nothing out of it, not even the calories, so it’s fine. Nice theory, you soda addict, you - but no. True, you won’t have to worry about the calories, since most diet sodas have few calories - sometimes none.
However, preliminary studies have shown that regular consumption of diet soda often stimulates the body’s metabolism, which in turn increases the likelihood of weight gain and high blood sugar. Further, artificial sweeteners have been shown to increase a person’s cravings for sweets and thus their tendency to overeat.
So even diet soda is bad. What should you be drinking instead? The healthiest answer is, of course, water. Are you getting your three liters a day? After that is juice, which has a lot of the vitamins completely missing in soda. Juice is very good for you, but high on calories, so enjoy it, but watch your intake. If you still crave the fizz, try sparkling water or seltzer with lime. You can even add it to juice for the perfect mid-summer refreshment! And if it’s the caffeine that you miss, try green tea as a replacement.
***Picture by: Plan 59***
June 9th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
I gave up soda in 1987 on the advice of a this model who was married to my husband’s then-business partner. I’ve never looked back… although I do secretly miss the club soda from time to time.
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Nice Articles, thanks for this, I really liked your blog!
December 8th, 2009 at 10:28 am
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