Go on – admit it.
How many sodas have you had today?
If you can hand-on-heart say ‘none’, then this article isn’t for you. You’re good to go, hon.
But if soda’s your crutch – for the sake of your health and weight loss – I encourage (implore) you to stay seated.
And, if you said, “IT’S NOT MY CRUTCH!!!” you darling, definitely need to hang about.
It seems like every other day a new study warns of another potential health risk linked to soft drinks. Here’s today’s : Mum’s Death Blamed On Coke.
The research is breathtakingly compelling. Both regular and diet sodas have been linked to obesity, elevated blood pressure, kidney damage, and certain cancers.
Specifically though, let’s talk about weight loss.
The Lancet, the British medical journal, published an independent, peer-reviewed study that demonstrated a strong link between soft drink consumption and obesity. They found that 12-year-olds who regularly drank soft drinks were significantly more likely to be overweight than those who didn’t.
Just one can of soft drink per day can add as much as 15 pounds to your weight over the course of a single year. A single year!
Here’s why you should think, long and hard, before reaching for ‘the real thing’.
(The team at coke are good marketers. They’d also have us believe we can ‘Open Happiness’. I mean, come on!)
Nutritionally-speaking soda has zero nourishment for your body. Zip.
Not only does it contain no nutrients, it has anti-nutrients. The worst of these being high fructose corn syrup. HFCS was added into soft drinks in the 1980s, and it’s thought the prevalence of childhood obesity stems from this shift.
HFCS does some nasty things inside you. For example, it interferes with your production of leptin, which is an issue if you want to lose weight, because it’s leptin that sends the “I’m full” signal to your brain. When you consume soda, your brain no longer receives the message and that’s why you crave more food.
I see this in the women I coach. Most of my clients get a significant portion of their daily hydration from soft drinks.
As one client puts is, “I get stressed, I reach for a coke. I want some chocolate, I reach for a coke, I don’t feel satisfied so I reach for a third can, and then have the chocolate anyway. And then another coke, of course.”
Diet coke.
If you’re high-fiving yourself because you’re a ‘diet coke girl’, un-high-five yourself. Some of my heaviest clients drink copious quantities of diet coke.
For many women ‘calorie-free’ equals ‘guilt free’. Our bodies, it seems, would disagree.
Upgrade your fuel.
My plan isn’t to nag you into changing your soda habit.
My cunning plan is to give you the facts. You’re a big girl now so you can decide for yourself exactly how you want to hydrate your one and only, miraculous body.
Once upon a time, a can of diet coke lived permanently in my hand. Then I learned the facts and I knew deep down I should quit. I didn’t want to – no one wants to give up a crutch.
If you are serious about your health and if you’re serious about losing weight I encourage you to stop drinking soda for 21 days.
No tantrums. No sulking. No sneaking. Just do it. What’s 21 short days out of your lovely, long life? And notice how your grateful body responds.
Moderation is key.
I live in the same world you do. Sometimes nothing beats a rum and coke with friends as you watch the sun set. Pure magic.
But honey, there’s a world of difference between drinking the occasional soft drink and main-lining cans of the stuff every day to “get your fix”.
Love etc, Avril
