When you eat healthy, you get results. It’s true, but many people fail because they don’t consider what they drink as part of the program. Soda can be devastating to a diet. Soft drinks, whether or not they contain sugar can undo all you’ve tried to achieve. Even in sit down healthier eating restaurants in Raleigh, NC, soda is often one of the drink choices. If you want the best results and to be your healthiest, you have to quit soda, even sugar free soft drinks.
Soft drinks are as addictive as cocaine.
Quitting soft drinks isn’t easy. The sugar in the soft drink gives you an adrenaline rush. Some drinks also contain caffeine, which also gives an energy boost. Studies show that the effect of sugar on the brain is similar to that of cocaine and while can be just as hard to quit. It’s more than just the sugar in the drink. Soft drinks contain high phosphorus levels that actual can leach the bones of calcium. When you have high phosphorus and high calcium levels in the blood, it can create calcium deposits in the eyes, lungs, heart and blood vessels.
Switching to diet soda isn’t the answer.
One study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society showed that people who drank diet soda all had bigger waistlines. In fact, in the study, waist measurements increases were three times as much as people who didn’t drink diet soda. The bigger the person, the bigger the increase. Waistline measurements indicate visceral fat—belly fat. That’s the fat that can cause the most health problems. Diet cola also affects your weight in another way. The brain detects sweetness of the drink via the taste buds and sends a message to the body to prepare for sugary treats and boost the insulin. When no calories arrive, it disrupts the creation of the hormone that tells the body its satisfied and to quit eating.
Start weaning yourself from soft drinks.
It will be tough to switch off soft drinks, but it’s possible to do without feeling too many side effects. If you can do it all at once, good for you. Otherwise, start making the substitutions slowly and build. What you find to fill the void may not be as satisfactory first, but after a month or two, you’ll barely crave that can of soda. Find an unsweetened drink you like. Green tea has no calories and can even help you lose weight. I’m a water fan, but you have to be careful if you drink bottled water. Some bottled water is nothing more than water from the tap of a city that’s bottled. A water purifier is often a good investment if you have city water or well water may have chemicals.
- It may be easier to switch when you realize that soda actually speeds up the aging process. Is that soft drink worth looking older or feeling older?
- Track your calories from soft drinks. If you’re drinking full sugar soft drinks, you’ll be amazed at how many calories you can save by switching to a non-caloric drink. Just don’t make it a diet soft drink or expect a larger waistline.
- When you’re thirsty, try a bottle of water first to see if it helps. Often, you’ll find that it does just fine in quenching your thirst. Other times, you aren’t thirsty, but want a sugar boost. Grab some fruit.
- If you’re not ready to give up diet soft drinks, consider how those sweeteners are made. They’re all made in a lab and contain ingredients the body wasn’t created to digest. They play with your natural brain functions. If it’s a substance pretending to be a food, don’t eat it.