COLUMN: You are what you drink
I’ll be the first to admit that January is rough. The charm of the Christmas season has dwindled, you’re an ice cube by the time you walk to campus, and the stress of a new semester is wearing you thin. Nothing perks up those winter woes better than a refreshing can of Dr. Pepper, right? Wrong.
According to an article on associatedcontent.com, Americans, on average, drink 1.6 cans of soda pop daily. That’s 597 cans of soda per year. Soda has become the largest source of calories in the American diet, which is mind-boggling when you figure that it has no nutritional value.
Here are five reasons to stop drinking soda.
1. Energy suck – It’s funny that people drink pop to give them energy. They can’t go a day without a mid-afternoon can or else they will die.
The ironic thing is they are actually hindering their overall energy level with every sip they take. It may give you a burst of energy at first, but all that sugar and caffeine will lead to a crash later. It also messes with the quality of your sleep.
My tip for those who need more energy is to change your diet. If you are constantly eating nutrient-dense foods, like leafy greens and fruits, your body will have what it needs to get you through the day.
If all we eat are starchy foods and sugar, it’s no wonder we start to crash at 2 p.m. It may be a rough transition, but trust me, you will see that drinking water and eating an orange will give you more “oomph” than any Mountain Dew could.
2. Save your pennies – As college students, we should all be trying cut corners in the money department. Someone who drinks just two cans a day will spend around $206 a year. As prices rise, that amount will easily double or triple. And what are you getting for $206 a year?
3. You are what you drink – You get out of your body what you put into it, and, as I mentioned earlier, soda has no nutritional value. What it does have are dangerous ingredients that have been known to lead to obesity, tooth decay, stomach and digestion issues like gastric lining erosion, headaches, heart disease and weakened bones.
It also increases your risk of diabetes, which is one of the major killers in America today. A Harvard study showed that there is a strong link between soda consumption and bone fractures among teenage athletes.
Girls who drank soda were about five times more likely to suffer bone fractures than girls who didn’t. Another study showed a direct link between tooth decay and soft drinks in nearly 3,200 Americans from 9-29 years old.
4. Good for you and good for Mother Earth – Not only will you be feeling spry, but you will also be reducing your carbon footprint. Even if you recycle your soda cans and bottles, it still takes energy and resources to recycle them. According to the Container Recycling Institute, Americans consume 200 billion bottled and canned beverages in a year, and that number continues to increase.
There is also the cost and fuel usage of transporting it to you. So while you decrease your use of bottles and cans, you should increase your consumption of fruits and veggies. And when you buy local and organic, you are supporting local and sustainable farms.
5. Look good in those skinny jeans – I’ve talked to my fair share of people who have quit their soda addictions. Almost all of them mention losing a significant amount of weight just from eliminating soda from their diet.
My friend Katie Lewis, a professional photographer, lost more than 10 pounds one year just by quitting her Coca-Cola addiction. Another Harvard study shows that 12-year-olds who drank soft drinks regularly were more likely to be overweight that those who didn’t.
For every additional daily serving of sugar-sweetened soft drink consumed in the two-year study, the risk of obesity increased 1.6 times. And don’t think that switching to a diet drink is better. Diet drinks cause bloating, have more sodium, and contain aspartame, which mercola.com lists as a toxic ingredient that can affect your vision and cause seizures and brain tumors.
They can also contain Nutrisweet, which causes excessive hunger and thirst, so you end up consuming more. Some studies show that diet drinks are more likely to lead to obesity than regular soft drinks. Try giving up soda for two weeks and see the pounds start to shed off.
I realize that eliminating soda pop from your diet may seem daunting or even downright impossible, but know that it is doable and worth it. Lewis blogs about her experience and said she found that making her decision public held her accountable and gave her more support and motivation to quit.
Try gradually decreasing your daily consumption one can at a time. You can also start replacing soda with fruit juice, but stay away from juices with artificial flavors and sugars. Add some flavored powders like Crystal Light if you can’t stand the taste of water, but only use those as a transition tool until you can drink water on its own.
My favorite option is to add lemon or cucumber slices to my water. It tastes great and also aids in digestion. Drinking soda every once in a while isn’t going to do much harm, but drinking as little as one or two cans a day could cause some serious damage.
– randi.martin@aggiemail.usu.edu