What you don’t know about Soda and Energy Drinks!

Sep

My friends and other people ask me why I’m so strict with my diet and what do I drink. I drink 1 gallon of water daily and try to control everything I drink and eat. Sometimes I make disarrangements – who doesn’t? My friends love “unhealthy” food and drinks like Red Bull, Monster and other brands. These kinds of drinks come loaded with caffeine, sugar, vitamins, minerals, and a lot of other stuff. The question I propose you ask yourself is why you shouldn’t drink such beverages? This is my answer to that question, based on Dr. Barry Popkin’s work.

There are many people addicted to sugary drinks such as soda, juices, energy drinks and other similar. It’s thought that these drinks are fattening people more than anything else. Why? “Our evolution over hundreds of thousands of year never prepare us to process liquid calories” according to Dr. Popkin, a professor at the University of North Carolina. “The highly sweetened drinks did not even exist until 150 years ago, and is not consumed in significant amounts until 50 years ago. This is only one point in our chronology of evolution ” says Popkin. He has developed the hypothesis that this habit comes to satisfy our thirst for water and don’t block our hunger for food. Popkin says “people just do not decrease food intake when they taking their calories from this kind of drinks. Since our body is not designed to process liquid calories, a drink with high levels of refined sugar does not satisfy us and we consume more calories. People who include in their diet sweetened beverages consumed 459 more calories (based on a 2,500 calorie diet) if we make the calculation consuming 459 more calories in a week are 3.213 calories you consume nearly a pound (pound is 3,500 calories) you can gain weight rapidly.

How do we solve this problem? Consuming more water. Our muscles are almost 80% water – it’s important that we stay hydrated. And do physical exercise at least 3 times a week, 30 to 45 minutes daily. Some people don’t like to drink water; an alternative may be antioxidant teas which may help against cancer and heart diseases – not sweetened teas like Snapple, Lipton, and others. Another alternative may be coffee (not Starbuck’s coffee). Some people think coffee is for older people but is beneficial for us and have next to no calories. These three drinks are good to replace sugary drinks. I will say other drinks but these ones must be taken with care because too much may not be beneficial: milk and juice (drink the low calorie, more natural type of juice). For those who do not want to stop drinking sugary drinks, diet drinks can help, such as Crystal Light – it only contains 5 calories. But be careful, as you should limit the amount of beverages you prepare like this. Such beverages more than once a day can be harmful. From my own experience, you learn to live without soda and other sugary drink. The hardest part is starting and being patient. When you look, feel different and healthier you will remember me and Dr. Popkin.

The World is Fat by Barry Popkin