Step Away from the Soda...

I've become a regular drinker of iced tea. It's actually beneficial. It's high in antioxidants, the nutrients that help prevent the top killers of Americans: heart disease, cancer, and stroke, plus other degenerative diseases such as cataracts. Caf or decaf, both are rich in antioxidants. An excellent, health-enhancing substitute for sodas.

I think I might know why diet soda drinkers have problems. Many of the folks that I know who drink diet drink what seems like gallons of it along with tons of salad covered in dressing. I am certainly uneducated in this area, but it seems to me that consuming large amounts of anything is not good, especially after hearing about folks dying of drinking too much water lately.

The best advice I have received was from a nurse back in the 70's. She taught me to drink water at least every other drink.

LOL! One of my favorite lines (and I use it in my sig on other sites; I think it is a Russian proverb) is:

"Everything in moderation...including moderation."

8^)

I'm not a super heavy Cola drinker (at least not as much so as years past), but my body clock starts to take a nose dive around 3 in the afternoon and I need a boost. The coffee pot's long been put away by that time. So if the sodas are not so good, then what's a good and healthy substitute that will provide a little boost until the 5 o'clock whistle blows?

And somehow I don't think the answer is Red Bull or Rock Star...

Hey doc Robin, Is a gallon of sun tea made from tap water too much? I used to drink soda instead of coffee in the morning. I drank about 10 cans of soda a day, diet of course. Do I have to go to moderation on the tea?

God am I in trouble < Grin >. As bad as it may be I still drink a couple of cups of black coffee in the morning and a couple of liters of Dr. Pepper during the week ...

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I would've thought that most people in the age demographic of this website remember when having a soda was an occasional refreshment. For example, when I grew up in a small New England town, drinking soda was generally reserved for quenching a summer thirst at the beach along and an exceptional snack like an ice cream. What happened?

In raising my children, I have continued the basic habits of our youth for meals. Of course, this is easier in the country where I live where the main drink used to quench thirst is believe it or not water. In France, no one would think of having a sweet drink at a meal. Water is served at every meal along with for adults the occasional glass of wine or two in the evening. At the same time snacking between meals is relatively unknown except for schoolchildren of a certain age that traditionally have a snack when they return home from school (though certainly not a soda). On the other hand, I have noticed in Greece where I spend my summers that, under the influence of returning Greek-Americans, soft drinks are sometimes given to children at meals in certain segments of the population. As a result, childhood obesity is now becoming an issue in Greece.

The answer to the diet soda question is simple. Most people who drink diet soda live in a world of self-deception. They drink a diet soda with the 1200 calorie Mickey D's meal they consume with it. It is almost like saying that if no one sees you the calories don't count.

Then there are non obese drinkers of diet soda who are careful with everything they eat. They have it with a salad with a moderate amount of light or no-cal dressing like Walden's.

Obesity is all about calories unless you have Prader-Willi Syndrome or another disorder that causes massive weight gain on minimal calories.

I dont want to get off the suject, but i noticed a few people saying they use the soda or other drink for a energy boost,

perhaps for energy your looking in the wrong place,

perhaps you should be grabbing a glass of water,and a piece of fruit,

after my second daughter, i had a lot of what i called babyfat left, what was really bad habbit fat.

I went to a clinic for help. and i know i had heard it before meny times thro my life drink lots of water

8 or more glasses a day, and eat six small meals.

well i paid good money to be thought this once again, but this time i listened, they told me for the first month all they wanted me to do is make sure to drink at least 8 glasses a day of water, make sure to eat 3 small meals and that when the box says 1 cup is one serving then you only give yourself one cup.

and to make sure i eat three small snacks between those meals, meaning a piece of fruit, a cup of yogert a hard boiled egg and so on, not a donut. and take a ten minute walk a day.

at the time i drank a lot of soda so and really ate like one oversized meal a day, but i did what they told me replaced the soda with water and made myself eat, much to my surprize i had more energy then ever had, and the first three weeks i lost about 5 lbs a week, and it just kept comming off,

my main point being is the soda isnt giving you a real boost anyways its giving you a sugar or caffine rush and when its over you feel even more drained and that makes you get up for anouther soda. makes them a lot of money but what does it really do for you.

If I'm at an Asian restaurant, I request boiled water, otherwise I request water with no ice.

21% of the sugar in the American diet comes from soft drinks. Soft drinks contain large amounts of phosphorus, which can throw off the body's calcium/phosphorus ratio (twice as much calcium as phosphorus), decreasing calcium as well as reducing your body's ability to use it.

Diet sodas that are low in calories are high in sodium. Too much salt in the diet may cause more calcium to be excreted in the urine and increase the risk of osteoporosis.

Nothing tastes better than a nice tall glass of water!