What the FDA Doesn’t Want You To Know About Soda
The many names of soda
There are over 450 different types of soda sold in the United States. In the past 20 years, consumption of sugar by Americans has risen nearly 30% – with 1/3 of that sugar attributed to carbonated soft drinks. Soft drinks are essentially a cold drink without any alcohol content and are known by many different names: soda, pop, tonic, soda pop, cool drink, fizzy, fizzy water, fizzy drink, and the list goes on! For this article I will refer to it as soda.
Sugar versus high-fructose corn syrup
Historically speaking, soda is a very sugary drink. In most parts of the world it still contains sugar as the sweetener. However, these days the sweetener used in most sodas is high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). In a 12oz can of soda, there are around 13 teaspoons of HFCS. In a nutshell, HFCS is made from (almost certainly) genetically modified corn, processed with genetically modified enzymes (that are reused until ineffective) and the corn starch is processed and processed until it becomes corn syrup that is higher in fructose than glucose. One teaspoon of sucrose (sugar) tastes exactly the same and sweetens exactly the same as HFCS. Interestingly, sucrose is much easier and quicker to manufacture, but HFCS is cheaper. So HFCS is used in soft drinks today in America!
Does it make me gain weight?
Put it this way – if you want to be a statistic and join the 64%+ of Americans over 20 that are overweight – drink a can or tow of soda every day. If you want to join the 30%+ that are obese, drink a 36 pack a week. Or two. Heck yes does soda make you gain weight. Not only is it full of sugar/HFCS, this high sugar content means its incredibly high in calories. Also, the more soda a body consumes, the more food a body craves. So the more you drink, the more you’ll want to eat. Catalyst for disaster! Time to ditch the soda my friends and turn to a healthier option!
Cancer-causing Cola
Not only does soda cause you to pack on the pounds, it can also cause cancer. The fancy name for these chemicals is ‘carcinogens’. There are two main carcinogens present in soda: benzene and quinine. In recent years the amount of benzene has been reduced but it is still present in soda! Benzene is dangerous because it can damage bone marrow and cause anemia – to name just a few of the dangers! Just think on this: benzene levels in soda is only informally regulated. Quinine is a bittering agent added to soda to give a clean bitter taste, not a lingering one. However if it is subjected to sunlight, it can degrade into a carcinogen. This is dangerous because quinine can be an abortifacient and can cause birth defects, and heart defects to name just two bad side effects. So if you really have to drink soda, take care to store it out of sunlight and avoid drinking it if pregnant!
Should I switch to diet?
There are many schools of thought about ‘diet’ drinks. Yes, diet soda contains a lot less HFCS, but it contains artificial sweeteners which are even worse for the body. More information on artificial sweeteners is coming soon!
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Drinking soft drink: A Sure Fire Way To Never Lose Weight
We tend to ignore the news and research related to our favorite soft drinks. More often than not the most harmful things we consume in the western world is not the food, but the liquid. Coke, Pepsi, Fanta, pick your poison, if you are drinking these kind of drinks on a regular basis you can never expect to get rid of that flab you’re carrying.
Stay clear of the sugary drinks
Have you ever wondered why Coke comes with a smile? It’s because it gets you high. They took the cocaine out almost a hundred years ago. You know why? It was redundant.
Source: http://www.healthbolt.net/2006/12/08/what-happens-to-your-body-if-you-drink-a-coke-right-now/
I know you don’t like me telling you to stop drinking these extremely tasty beverages, but I highly recommend you read this article as it outlines the process your body has to go through when drinking a recommending serving size of Coke (bear in mind that you could put most sugary soft drinks into the same basket as coke).
At the risk of repeating myself I need to remind all readers out there. These drinks are damaging to your health, and are one of the main reasons so many people can’t get that layer of flab to leave them.
Avoid too much caffeine
Of course another problem with Coke is that it contains caffeine which is a stimulant that boosts your adrenaline levels. Because adrenaline is dangerous for long periods of time, your body will automatically produce suppressants to balance out the adrenaline levels and bring it back to normal. The problem is that the more caffeine you consume, the more your body produces these suppressants and it can get to the point that you need caffeine just to feel normal.
A little is not going to kill you
Nor will it ruin your fitness goals. You can afford to consume drinks like this but you have to make it a treat, not part of your diet. Less than once a week is a good ball park figure but it depends on your own body. It is possible that once a month, or even once every 2 months is what you need to be aiming for.
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