Soda and the American Diet

SUGAR IS EIGHT TIMES AS ADDICTIVE AS COCAINE

Recent studies have shown that almost 90 percent of kids and 50 percent of the US population drink soft drinks at least once a day. And only one can per day increases a child’s chance of obesity by 60 percent and increases an adult woman’s chances by 82 percent. So, with over one billion cans of Coke alone sold daily, it is safe to assume the number one cause of obesity is sugar sweetened beverages. Clearly, the benefits of removing both regular and diet soft drinks from the American diet are innumerable.

When your biology is affected by drinking too much sugar two things happen. First, your body becomes insulin resistant, and you have to pump out more insulin to keep your blood sugar normal. Diabetes occurs when the body cannot produce enough insulin and glucose levels in the blood increase. Since liquid sugar (fructose from soda) is absorbed more quickly and mainlined to the liver, blood sugar and insulin are increased. The second biological response is that the body becomes leptin resistant. Leptin is the hormone produced by fat cells that tells the brain we have had enough food. Leptin resistance means your brain stops being able to read those signals and you just keep eating with increased cravings.

Believe it or not diet sodas are worse. Even more addictive than regular soft drinks, artificially sweetened drinks are hundreds of times sweeter than regular sodas. Artificial sweeteners trick the metabolism into thinking real sugar is on the way and causes the body to pump out insulin, which also leads to belly fat. Artificial sweeteners slow down your metabolism, which causes you to burn fewer calories, make you hungry and increase your cravings for more sugar and starchy carbs. And the average diet soda drinker tends to consume 3 sodas per day! The bottom line is that diet sodas are no substitute and actually worse for you than regular sodas in the fight against diabetes.

To put it simply, regular and diet soft drinks are no longer acceptable in the American diet. They should be removed in order to improve our health and avoid the numerous health issues associated with obesity.