Interesting articles on dangers of soda:

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Interesting article on dangers of soda:

 

Why Soda Pop Drains You Dry

 

Soda pop is not good for you. Of course, you have probably suspected

this, but perhaps you don't know the extent to which drinking

carbonated, caffeinated, sugared, or artificially sweetened beverages

destroys your body.

If you look at the list of ingredients in most soda pops, you will

likely see most or all of these listed:

caffeine

carbonated water

phosphoric acid

sugar

aspartame

acesulfame-k

sucralose

Let's start with carbonated water. As you know, our bodies require

oxygen to remain healthy. For every can of carbonated soda ingested,

the amount of oxygen in the blood is decreased by 25% for up to three

hours. If you are drinking several sodas per day, you are depriving

yourself for a significant amount of oxygen.

Calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus must be maintained in the proper

balance for bone health. When too much phosphorus is in the blood,

calcium is leached from the bones, causing osteoporosis. Even in

citrus sodas which contain citric acid instead of phosphoric acid,

calcium is needed to normalize blood pH. It has been said that the

fastest growing group of people with osteoporosis in this country is

teenagers....because of the huge number of sodas they consume.

As far as caffeine and sugar are concerned, they both cause

dehydration, and the massive depletion of minerals. A study was done

in which two groups of children aged 13-18 years of age were given

one of two drinks, a caffeinated sugar-free drink, or a drink

containing both caffeine and sugar. When caffeine was added, calcium

excretion in the urine increased by 25%. When sugar was added,

urinary calcium loss almost doubled (1). Both caffeine and sugar also

cause dehydration.

Sugar in particular is destructive because its ingestion lowers

immune function by reducing the ability of white blood cells to

ingest and destroy bacteria. This lowered immune function can last

for five hours or more after the ingestions of sugar (2).

Sucralose, also marketed as Splenda, breaks down into small amounts

of 1,6 -dichlorofructose, a chemical similar to chlorinated

pesticides. There has not been adequate testing of this product

before it was released for public use, and many of the post-approval

studies are alarming. To ready about it, go to Sucralose Toxicity

Information Center .

Aspartame, or Nutra Sweet, has an alarming health record. Read my

article about Aspartame . Even though this article is about how

aspartame poisons the pregnant woman and her unborn child, you can

see how it would do similar things in the bodies of others. Also, see

the Aspartame (Nutra Sweet) Toxicity Info Center .

Acesulfame-k is a dangerous chemical. Read Sample Quotes from Cancer

Experts' Letters on Acesulfame Testing .

I hope you will consider giving up the drinking of soda pop. It would

contribute significantly to your level of wellness, and probably help

reverse many existing health problems.

 

 

References:

(1) Massey, L. K. (1988). Acute effects of dietary caffeine and

sucrose on urinary mineral excretion in healthy adolescents. Nutr Res

8(9).

(2) Sanchez, A., et al. (1973). Role of Sugars in human Neutrophilic

Phacocytosis. Am J Clin Nutr 26:180

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The Day I Stopped Drinking Soda Pop

 

I am a dyed-in-the-wool Pepsi lover. In the past, I have drunk a six-

pack a day, or a two liter bottle a day, all by myself. I even love

Diet Pepsi just as much. And, being a nutritional consultant, I am

aware of the dangerous effects of drinking soda. You may have read my

other article on this subject, Why Soda Pop Drains You Dry . For many

people, just knowing that something is bad for us is not enough to

quit. Look at all the cigarette smokers. They know that it causes

lung cancer, but still many of the refuse to stop. I understand about

loving something so much you don't want to give it up. However, on

one fateful day, I was destined to give up soda pop forever.

One morning I woke up with an awful taste in my mouth. I brushed my

teeth, and that didn't seem to help. I went to my refrigerator to get

something to drink, thinking I could wash the taste away. I had made

some herbal raspberry tea the night before, and poured myself a

glass. When I tasted it, I knew immediately that something was

wrong. " Hmmm, what's wrong with this tea? " I thought to myself. It

tasted flat. In fact, it did not taste like raspberry at all.

I grabbed some orange juice. When I tasted the orange juice, I became

even more alarmed. There was no tangy sweetness. It tasted just like

the raspberry tea. Even water did not taste like water to me. I made

myself a sandwich, thinking if I ate something that might remove this

strange taste (or the lack of it) from my mouth. The sandwich tasted

like sawdust.

This was alarming to me because I knew that problems with the tongue

(where the taste buds reside) are often the result of a severe B

vitamin deficiency. But I was taking a multi-vitamin supplement...how

could this be? I was also consuming large amounts of soda each day,

which not only require massive amounts of B vitamins to metabolize

all that sugar, but also deplete the body of massive amounts of

minerals. I realized on that day that not all vitamin supplements are

created equal, and learned about the reasons why Natural is Better

Than Synthetic . I began taking nutritional yeast, which is a

natural, balanced form of the B vitamins. It is very important for B

vitamins to be taken in the proper ratio, and whole nutritional

sources are the best way to insure that the proper ratio is

maintained. Sometimes the vitamins you take don't have that proper

ratio, and so more of the B vitamins are depleted due to this. I put

sixteen ounces of water in the blender, four scoops of " Better Than

Milk " vanilla flavored powdered tofu milk, two bananas, and two

tablespoons of the yeast. This blended up into a nice, frothy shake

which was delicious and helped me to take the yeast, which smells and

tastes pretty strong by itself.

Vitamin A and C are also essential for a healthy tongue, taste buds,

and gums.

But the biggest and best thing that happened to me on that day is

that I gave up drinking soda pop. First of all, until the problem

with my taste buds cleared up, there was no point to drinking soda

because I couldn't enjoy the taste. There was no point in drinking

anything but water, because it all tasted the same.

When your sense organs begin to be affected by your lifestyle, when

you can no longer see, hear, taste, or smell normally, you are in big

trouble. When you have numbness or reduced sensitivity in your

fingers and toes, you are in big trouble. It's time to do something,

because these are really the beginnings of serious disease.

Let me encourage you to take positive steps in your life to change

those things which might cause such symptoms. For the most part, the

functioning of your sense organs can be improved drastically by

making sure your body is getting the right vitamins and minerals, and

is not being poisoned by harmful substances like soda pop. I want to

encourage you with some positive methods I have used to help myself

to give up things that are bad for me, so look for those in future

articles.

Oh, and by the way, after I had spent all day nurturing my body,

giving it only pure water and unprocessed foods, and giving myself a

healthy dosage of B vitamins and minerals, my taste slowly began to

return. Thankfully.