Soft Drinks Are The Perfect Prescription For Obesity
No one should doubt the link between obesity in the U.S.,and the incredible consumption of soft drinks. We just can’t seem to get enough of the stuff. The words Soda, Coke and Pepsi have become part of our everyday vocabulary, used by adults and kids alike. Many people have come to consider drinking soft drinks as normal as drinking water! According to the National Soft Drink Association (NSDA), consumption of soft drinks is now over 600 12-ounce servings per person per year. Young males are the biggest consumers. Get this-young males age 12-29 drink over 160 GALLONS per year! That’s almost 2 quarts per day!!! According to the Center For Science In The Public Interest, carbonated soft drinks are the single biggest source of calories in the American diet, providing about 7 percent of all calories. Soft drinks provide huge amounts of sugar to the diet. All of this sugar if not properly metabolized will be
stored as fat leading to obesity.
You might be thinking-what’s so bad about soft drinks? I would answer, “EVERYTHING.” Hey, don’t even get me talking about babies and small kids throwing back a bottle or can of soda. You don’t want to hear me YELL REAL LOUD!!!!!!!! Soft drinks have been called liquid candy, cancer in a can, diabetes in a can, and osteoporosis in a can for good reason. The sugar and other ingredients in soft drinks have been linked to a number of health problems besides obesity. It’s sad to think that kids now suck down more soft drinks than something good like milk. This just ain’t right. Several scientific studies have indicated that soft drinks are directly related to weight gain which is a prime risk factor for type 2 diabetes. As people get older this excess weight also contributes to heart attacks, strokes, and cancer. Heavy soft drink consumption is also associated with lower intake of numerous
fat fighting vitamins and minerals.
Here are just a few of the other health problems caused by drinking soft drinks: • The sugar in soft drinks will make your skin age quicker and wrinkle more easily Need I say more?
But Zo, I only drink diet sodas. These are ok ‘cause they don’t have a lot of calories, right? WRONG! In their new book “You Staying Young,” Drs. Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz, talk about a recent study of almost all fifty-year old men and women in Farmington, Massachusetts who drank soft drinks. The study found that having more than one soft drink, whether sugared or diet, increased the risk of metabolic syndrome (often a precursor to diabetes) by a whopping 44% over a 4-year period. It’s believed that increased sweetness of drinks makes people crave more and more sweets. It’s also believed that ingredients in soft drinks can lead to insulin resistance or inflammation. So………diet sodas don’t let you off the hook. Adults as they have with smoking are cutting back on soft drinks so the soda companies are going after kids something fierce. They spend billions of dollars in the attempt to get their products in your kids’ hands. I hate seeing all of the new sugar drinks masquerading as “sports” drinks. Another example of targeting young people. So, like they say in the movies, “you’ve been warned.” For reducing body fat and for better health, soft drinks should not be a part of your diet. Soft drinks' “empty” calories, sweetners and other harmful ingredients can not only seriously harm your health but could lead you down the road to obesity if you choose to make them a part of your diet.
“The common denominator of success lies in forming the habit of doing things that failures don’t like to do.”
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