Drop the Pop and Stop Sipping that Soda
I’m not sure why people have such an aversion to plain old water, but it seems that everyone is trying to find the next best drink. Have you ever participated in a Coke versus Pepsi conversation? Have you watched a co-worker frantically digging though their purse for “just one more nickel” for the vending machine? Is real sugar better?
I think a better question might be why are so many people drinking this junk anyway? A huge number of people are now drinking more soda during the day than water. Yet we seem baffled by why so many people are suffering with degenerative diseases. What we drink is as important as what we eat.
The Mind-Bending Miracle of Marketing
Brilliant marketing is one of the reasons why so many people drink soda. According to the Fair Trade Commission, the carbonated beverage industry spent over three billion dollars on marketing in 2008, and that number continues to climb. This incredible marketing budget is available to beverage producers due the regular purchases of their loyal customers.
I would imagine that three billion dollars buys a lot of brainpower and marketing genius. “Big Tobacco” has proven that companies can sell anything with a brilliant enough advertising campaign. Soda is no better for you than cigarettes. And despite what the marketers tell you, none of these liquid life-suckers has ever actually made anyone smarter, taller, or better looking.
Is it Just a Habit?
If the marketing is totally misleading, then why do people continue to drink a product that has absolutely no nutritional value, and will not improve their life in anyway? It appears that this can be explained by addiction.
Dr. Lawrence Wilson explains that, “Soda pop is an interesting addictive substance. Not only does it contain caffeine and up to 10 teaspoons of sugar per can, but it also contains phosphoric acid. This highly toxic chemical is added, in part, to reduce the sweetness of the product. However, it also binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in the intestines and removes them from the body. This may temporarily increases the metabolic rate, making one feel better for a while. The sugar also does this, of course, on a very temporary basis, however. Unfortunately, it also always leads to mineral deficiencies, which are aggravated by the sugar content of the beverage. Thus, sodas are one of the worst foods on the planet.” It’s addictive and removes nutrients from your body. This is not a health food folks.
Maybe It’s Worse than Useless
I never put much thought into the subject of soda until I found myself immersed in an office full of soda drinkers. During the monthly lunch meetings every designated host had to ensure there was enough soda for all the pop drinkers, which was almost everyone.
One of the first things I learned when I started in that office was the perfect combination of 2-liter bottles of soda for the monthly meeting: at least two bottles of Diet Coke, a caffeine-free Diet Coke, and sometimes a Sprite… diet please.
A few years later, I was horrified by the staggering occurrence of cancer among the staff in my office. At one point, 40 percent of my co-workers had beat, or were battling cancer of some sort. The only thing that they all had in common was their consistent intake of soft drinks.
When multiple people around you start coming down with a life-threatening illness, you start to look for patterns to avoid. I’m not a doctor and I’m not a scientific researcher in the purest sense, but these experiences did peak my interest in the topic of these beverages.
What I found was that there’s an overwhelming number of potential health risks associated with consuming soft drinks. Damage to a person’s teeth and kidneys are often mentioned, along with a higher incidence of diabetes and obesity. But something that I didn’t expect to find was that a single can of soda drastically changes the PH balance of the body. It causes the body to be more acidic, which supports cancer.
To add insult to injury, “Soda pop beverages contain some of the most harmful synthetic sweeteners in existence. Many brands of soda pop contain the artificial sweeteners aspartame and saccharin, both of which are cancer causing.”
Like Big Tobacco, soda companies seem willing to profit at any cost, even if that cost is human life. It’s naïve to believe these companies don’t know how harmful their products are for their customers. They won’t stop selling it until their customers stop buying it.
Stop Drinking This Stuff
If you have a soda addiction, you may find yourself humbled by the idea of giving it up. Keep your eye on the prize. These products certainly do not promote health. On the contrary, these beverages are some the worst possible consumables for your health. Save your money, save your health, drop the pop and stop sipping that soda!