Read Part 1 here.
The health problems.
On average, one soda provides Americans with 12 teaspoons of sugar a day, while the U.S. Department of Argriculture only recommends 12 teaspoons for a 2,200 calorie diet. Most people are getting all of their recommend daily value from one soda alone! Just think of all the people who drink soda throughout the day (i.e: Myself freshman year) and you can only imagine how many of our recommended calories are filled up by the refined sugar in soda.
Obesity
Since the good calories and nutrients we’re supposed to eat are being replaced with refined sugar, heavy soda drinkers encounter more health problems than non-soda drinkers. Obesity, which has more than doubled since the 1970’s, can be attributed to poor diet and lack of exercise, but our increased soda consumption definitely plays a factor. Obesity causes diabetes, heat disease, stroke, cancer, depression, and truck load of other problems. “An analysis of USDA 1994-96 dietary-intake data found that obesity rates have reisen in tandem with soft drink consumption, and that heavy consumers of soda pop have higher calorie intakes,” says the “Liquid Candy” study.
Bone decay and osteoporosis.
Due to the rise in soda consumption, there has been a significant decline in calorie intake from milk and other dairy products. Calcium has been replaced with refine sugar which leads to increased risk in oeseoporosis, which is a disease that causes fragile bones.
Tooth Decay
What did your mommy always tell you? Eating all that sugar will cause your teeth to rot out! Good thing you listened, right? I can speak from personal experience on this subject, since I put holes in teeth with my excessive soda drinking. When I got my cavities filled, I gave up drinking more than one or two sodas per week and almost five years later have not had a new cavity. Experts recommend that if you are going to drink soda, have it with a meal and brush your teeth afterwards with fluoride toothpaste. The increase in preventive tooth care has actually declined the rates of tooth decay in the US, but that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook!
Conclusion
In conclusion, I know from my own experience why soda wasn’t good for me. If you’re an avid drinker, you may have a hard time giving it up so easily. Trust me on this, once you stop, you really can’t go back. Drinking more than a can of soda in a given period usually makes me ill. I’ve gotten into the habit of drinking so much water throughout the day that it doesn’t leave room for soda. Water doesn’t have taste, but the refreshing feeling you get from a nice cold glass of water is unparallel to the stinging you get in your throat and acidy feeling in your stomach that you get from soda. Treat a can of soda like a candy bar, a liquid candy bar if you will, and enjoy it with a meal maybe once a week. Hopefully, you can limit your intake substantially and begin replacing those bad, empty calories with something nutritional, or better yet, nothing at all!
Source: Liquid Candy (pdf)
December 3rd, 2007 at 11:04 am
You have obviously listened to your body and did your research regarding drinking soda. Your discussion of the problems that are directly or indirectly associated with “liquid candy” sounds similar to the numerous drinking problems people experience when they drink an excessive amount of alcohol. There is, however, at least one other similarity between drinking too much soda and too much alcohol: drinking both products is highly advertised, over-glamorized, and so easily accepted in our society. I find it ironic to think that both products are so accessible and so accepted in our society that it actually takes a conscious effort for a person to sit down and do some logical thinking about excessive drinking, whether soda or alcohol, and the negative consequences that usually follow.
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:15 am
Aside from the ill effects of sugar that you ingest from soda, some also contains caffeine like coke, pepsi and mountain dew. Sugar plus caffeine – that’s really bad – soda has no beneficial effect for our body.
May 19th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
- soda has no beneficial effect for our body.
its true!
July 17th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Several years ago I did this also and I have been very happy with my decision. I have tried to get my family to follow suit but with so much pressure from all over including advertising and just the mean presents of the stuff it is tough sometimes. i mean it is way easier to get a coke or pepsi than a glass of water right? We will keep fighting the battle…
August 14th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Yeah, I cut out soda around 2005 or so.
I still have it from time to time, but when I do it is usually a Root Beer or a Ginger Ale and it is RARE, RARE, RARE.
I really don’t even like the bubbles feeling any longer.
I am a big fan of Vitminwater and moreso Fruitwater. And I love those little tube additives for bottled waters that you speak of. Especially the green tea-flavoured ones.
I really do need a water filter for my apartment.
I just keep a gallon of water in my fridge.
Actually, Chicago has some of the best water ever, but my apartment building has crudy pipeage because I hate it and don’t use it for ANYTHING.
So, if I got a filter, I’m sure it would taste a lot better and not make my flowers die.
But, you know….I’m poor…so the filter’s gonna have to wait.
Great post btw
September 4th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
An eye opener! Well done. Soda is the most consumed liquid by the people around the world, and it is said to be the most dangerous drink of all times. Tasty, tempting yet dangerous. Why? Soda is basically a carbonated drink, nutritionally empty and has nothing but sugar or artificial sugar and water. Though many sodas are proclaiming to be DIET, studies link that they actually make you gain weight. Aside from caffeine and sugar soda have, most soda has phosphoric acid, an acid than can cause weaker bones and make it brittle, and it interfere with calcium absorption. With countless of women prone to osteoporosis, gulping soda will actually alleviates the risk.
Drink water instead of soda. Water is much better for your body.
September 19th, 2008 at 3:51 am
Great read, and there’s a lot more reasons to quit soda. As you mentioned, water is the best substitute for soda. If you prefer something that will leave a taste, try drinking tea or fresh fruit juice instead.
October 4th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
I used to drink a ton of soda in college and I never thought I would stop but one day I realized that soda was a big reason in why I was always fat. I slowly worked my way to diet soda and then off of it completely and I feel great, I lost a few pounds and didn’t feel as loafy as I did with all of that sugar in my body.
Now if I could just ween myself off of pizza too….
October 9th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Awesome article. So true…normal soda is simply empty calories and you are killing your diet and your chances of losing weight by drinking it. However there are a lot of people out there that think they can simply drink diet soda and all will be good. However they miss the fact that there is still a lot of terrible chemnicals, artificial sweetners within these diet soda drinks that not only still decay the crap out of your teeth, but they actually leave you feeling hungry. The articificial sweetners make you crave more sweet foods, and you end up going back and eatin a ton of sugar anyway. So I am in total aggreeance…stay away from sodas, get your body used to water and you won’t want to go back!
October 20th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
We had a teenager that drank nothing but soda on a very hot day and came home very very ill. It tooks time to convince him that it was the soda that had made him sick! So I think another danger with soda is kids actually thinking they can be used to re-hydrate on a very hot day, you need lots of water to go with that soda!
November 11th, 2008 at 2:07 am
I agree , I use to drink a lot of soda and watched my pants’ waistline get wider and wider , when I slowly lessened my intake and finally stopped drinking soda altogether I actually lost some inches of my waist.
It’s sad with todays fastfood culture , a lot of young kids get hooked on soda and become overweight on an early age and become diabetic later in their lives
December 9th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Congrats on all that have given up or limited their soda intake. From what I know the following statement is not quite correct:
“Experts recommend that if you are going to drink soda, have it with a meal and brush your teeth afterwards with fluoride toothpaste.”
I have been told that if you brush your teeth after eating or drinking sweet things, you can end up doing more harm than good. This is because you are brushing the sugar into your teeth and gums. If you left it for a few hours then brushed your teeth it would be much more beneficial and wouldn’t be like brushing your teeth with sugar.
December 9th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
my wife and i used to drink alot of soda, now we drink tons of vanilla seltser (no sugar)
January 13th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
Great article. And nicely presented too. I’m a huge fan of soda and after reading this I guess I have to quit ASAP. Maan I didn’t know soda was so bad for the body. Thanks for emphasizing the risks involved. Cheers
January 20th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
I have recently given up soda. I don’t miss it most of the time….but Dr. Pepper is sooooo good. It is not worth all the health problems. I wonder if one could figure out how much each can of soda will cost you in health costs?
January 23rd, 2009 at 7:10 pm
I gave up soda as well, actually I’ve given up soda multiple times but keep regressing back. I’ve decided on Jan 1 that I will no longer drink soda, and I’ve stuck by my word! It’s like an alcoholic, you can’t even have just one or you will start down the path again.
March 19th, 2009 at 10:55 am
It seems you cant win these days when it comes to what you drink. I used to drink alot of coke then i switched to just water everyday till i figured out that even water can hurt you even kill you if a large amount is consumed so i only drink 2 cokes a week and switch over to water but what i dont get is my mom has been drinking pepsi since the very first day it come out till this moment and nothing else and shes healthy as a horse i quess it just depends on the person.