Hard Sell To Drop Soft Drinks

Soda/pop/soft drinks, whatever you choose to call them, are bad for you!

Food colorings, preservatives, empty calories, obesity, yellow teeth, decreased bone density, spikes in blood sugar and increased cancer risk are some negative effects of drinking soda. Why continue to drink this toxic substance on a daily basis?

How does drinking soft drinks affect your health? Food and drink are fuel and a way of keeping your body healthy. Think twice before indulging yourself in ’empty calories’ and drinks loaded with sugar.

Why is it such a hard sell to drop soft drinks?

A recent study completed in Atlanta, GA found participants consumed an average of 21.4 teaspoons of added sugars a day – more than 320 calories a day. Many health professionals have noted the negative health effects of sugar, from excessive weight gain to diabetes.

It’s good to be informed and consider the health risks. Diet soft drinks are no better and potentially worse loaded with aspartame.

Ingredients

• High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS): Cheap food/beverage sweetener from corn; increases appetite, body fat and cholesterol

• Aspartame: Found in diet sodas and countless foods; breaks down into fomaldehyde (carcinogen), increases appetite and causes weight gain. Diet sodas contain aspartame, a neurotoxin, and recently proven to increase your risk of developing cancer (lymphoma, leukemia and multiple myeloma). A 2012 study found “a positive association between diet soda and total aspartame intake and risks of NHL (non-Hodgkins Lymphoma), multiple myeloma in men and leukemia in both men and women” (Schernhammer, et al., 2012). A similar correlation was also found with non-diet/regular sodas, NHL and multiple myeloma.

• Potassium benzoate: Preservative that can become carcinogenic

• Caramel color: Man-made chemical that is carcinogenic, used for coloring. Linked to thyroid, lung, and liver cancers in laboratory animals.

• Sodium: High amounts in diet soda; speculated to increase stroke risk

• Phosphoric acid: Depletes calcium and magnesium; lowers immunity and increases bone loss

• Caffeine: In excess, can cause an increase in heart rate, anxiety, nervousness, etc.

• Flavor additives/artificial ingredients: Addictive and increase cravings

Serious side effects

Too much sugar will not only add to your body weight, it will specifically raise cholesterol levels, and will overall impact your health negatively. The chemicals in sugar effect the balance of neurotransmitters in your brain – even create a chemical dependency! – which are vital to your physio-emotional well-being.

Asthma: Some people had chronic reactions (rashes, asthma, eczema); the sodium benzoate preservative in soft drinks may be to blame. Approximately 11 people (in the U.S.) die every day due to asthma; $18 billion dollars annually are spent on asthma in our healthcare system.

Kidney: High phosphoric acid can contribute to kidney stones. Renal stones are more common in white, overweight males.

Sugar: Blood sugar spikes after 20 minutes; creating an insulin rush, liver turns sugar into fat; blood pressure rises, causes liver to put more sugar into the bloodstream after 40 minutes. 45 minutes post-ingestion, dopamine production increases, stimulating the pleasure center of your brain (“physically the same way heroin works”).

Tooth enamel: Sugar/acid wear away tooth enamel; causing tooth death, decay or abscesses.

Heart disease: HFCS increases risk of developing metabolic syndrome (high blood pressure, insulin resistance, belly fat, high cholesterol) and therefore, cardiovascular disease.

Reproductive problems: Soda cans contain BPA, a carcinogen that can cause reproductive issues and endocrine problems.

Osteoporosis: Cola/diet cola drinkers have lower bone mineral density and increased risk of fractures. “Soft drinks contain phosphoric acid; a high phosphate diet has been associated with bone breakdown and an increased risk of osteoporosis. When phosphorus is excreted in the urine, it takes calcium with it, depriving the bones and the rest of the body this important mineral.”

Obesity: Risk estimated to increase by 1.6 times for each soda you drink; empty calories cause weight gain. 70 percent of cardiovascular disease is linked to obesity and 42 percent of breast and colon cancers are also associated with obesity.

Diabetes: 80 percent increased risk of developing Type II diabetes.

Studies are beginning to determine that consuming lots of sugar or HFCS leads to cancer. Anaerobic cancer cells do thrive on sugar. They depend on fermenting glucose (sugar) for their energy because they’ve lost the ability to metabolize with oxygen.

Natural fructose in fruit is okay. But high added sugar/HFCS consumption will only encourage cancer cells and cause the other health issues mentioned in this article.

Stick to water

Soda is similar to cigarettes; both are expensive, addictive, contain toxic chemicals, provide no nutritional benefits and harm our bodies in more ways than one. Yet, both are sold to the public, purchased and consumed on a daily basis by the majority of our population. Soda wreaks havoc on our bodies in multiple ways and can cause serious, long-term, deadly effects. There is no benefit, nutritional or otherwise, to drinking it.

All-natural soda is available at health food stores that contain minimal, safe, ingredients if you must get your soda “fix,” but water is best. If you know something causes cancer, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, bone loss, metabolic syndrome, etc., and in no way benefits you, why would you continue to spend your money on it, ingest it, and provide it for your children to consume? Breaking the habit of drinking soda can take some will-power, but it can be done. It’s not so hard to drop the soft drinks, now that you know the ingredients, it is? Maybe as a treat, once in awhile, but not everyday.

Natural Choice

Izze is all natural with nothing artificial. It’s simply 70% pure fruit juice and a splash of sparkling water. Free of refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup, caffeine, preservatives and artificial flavors.