My wife, currently enrolled in an online nursing program, has spent the past semester working to kick her soda addiction (if you live in the northeast like I do, please feel free to call it "pop"). A typical day usually merits four to five cans, or about 600 empty calories. So far, between her studies, her clinical work, and her inability to find time to eat more than one meal a day, she's actually burning more calories than she's taking in; but she knows that trend can't continue for much longer.
Nursing classes turn people into overly well-informed individuals, particularly when it comes to illness and nutrition. At the first hint of a cold she rushes into the room with holistic and medical remedies that are sure to prevent any future sneezes. She's insisting that baby spinach become a regular item on our daily menu. My last paper cut required a 10 minute exercise in sterilizing the "wound" and bandaging it.
Then she tried to take away my diet soda.
I told her she had crossed the line. "What's wrong with diet soda? No calories, less caffeine than a cup of coffee, no sugar, no fat. You've taken away burgers, and pasta, and ice cream. Leave me and my diet soda alone!"
Then she went through the dangers of diet soda.
1. It actually promotes weight gain. I had no idea. Evidently there's some research suggesting that drinking artificially sweet beverages either confuses your insulin production, or leads your body to drop its metabolic rate, which will eventually cause more food to be stored as fat. Another theory is that people who drink diet soda feel that they can binge on less healthy fare with the "extra" calories saved from regular soda. This last theory makes the most sense to me, or at least it's one I'm definitely guilty of.
2. Your bones go kaput. The phosphoric acid in any kind of soda pushes calcium out of the body before it can be fully absorbed (or put to use). Better alternate between soda and milk (note: do not mix together).
3. Your kidneys will hate you. While diet soda has no significant nutritional drawback, the amount of chemicals necessary to imitate sugar means that your body has a ton of garbage to filter out.
4. Your body isn't evolved. Think about it. For tens of thousands of years, humans have subsisted on meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit. Suddenly, the Egyptians created beer, the English (or Chinese) created tea, and John Pemberton created Coca Cola. Now there are millions of food items out there that have chemicals, additives, or other synthetic components that can easily confuse your body. While I already mentioned your kidneys, what, exactly, does your body do with potassium benzoate? Or phenylalanine? Or aspartame? Most of these things have only been around for a few decades, yet we expect our body to treat them as naturally as a filet of salmon.
I haven't completely kicked the diet soda addiction yet, but I do try to limit myself. In the past, when I was thirsty I would reach for a can of soda, drink it, and then be just as thirsty. Now I go for a bottle of water, or a glass of home brewed iced tea and lemon. I'll sneak in my diet soda at restaurants or movies. Turning it into a "special occasion" treat makes it much easier to manage.
Nursing classes turn people into overly well-informed individuals, particularly when it comes to illness and nutrition. At the first hint of a cold she rushes into the room with holistic and medical remedies that are sure to prevent any future sneezes. She's insisting that baby spinach become a regular item on our daily menu. My last paper cut required a 10 minute exercise in sterilizing the "wound" and bandaging it.
Then she tried to take away my diet soda.
I told her she had crossed the line. "What's wrong with diet soda? No calories, less caffeine than a cup of coffee, no sugar, no fat. You've taken away burgers, and pasta, and ice cream. Leave me and my diet soda alone!"
Then she went through the dangers of diet soda.
1. It actually promotes weight gain. I had no idea. Evidently there's some research suggesting that drinking artificially sweet beverages either confuses your insulin production, or leads your body to drop its metabolic rate, which will eventually cause more food to be stored as fat. Another theory is that people who drink diet soda feel that they can binge on less healthy fare with the "extra" calories saved from regular soda. This last theory makes the most sense to me, or at least it's one I'm definitely guilty of.
2. Your bones go kaput. The phosphoric acid in any kind of soda pushes calcium out of the body before it can be fully absorbed (or put to use). Better alternate between soda and milk (note: do not mix together).
3. Your kidneys will hate you. While diet soda has no significant nutritional drawback, the amount of chemicals necessary to imitate sugar means that your body has a ton of garbage to filter out.
4. Your body isn't evolved. Think about it. For tens of thousands of years, humans have subsisted on meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit. Suddenly, the Egyptians created beer, the English (or Chinese) created tea, and John Pemberton created Coca Cola. Now there are millions of food items out there that have chemicals, additives, or other synthetic components that can easily confuse your body. While I already mentioned your kidneys, what, exactly, does your body do with potassium benzoate? Or phenylalanine? Or aspartame? Most of these things have only been around for a few decades, yet we expect our body to treat them as naturally as a filet of salmon.
I haven't completely kicked the diet soda addiction yet, but I do try to limit myself. In the past, when I was thirsty I would reach for a can of soda, drink it, and then be just as thirsty. Now I go for a bottle of water, or a glass of home brewed iced tea and lemon. I'll sneak in my diet soda at restaurants or movies. Turning it into a "special occasion" treat makes it much easier to manage.
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