What are the Benefits of Soda? There Are None!
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Most of us with a sweet tooth understand how hard it is to resist the urge to drink soda. However, that one can can be far more detrimental to your health than you think! As soda drinking becomes more frequent, the negative effects will soon follow on both a short- and long-term basis.
Lona Sandon, RD, assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center stated that one of the worst risks a regular soda drinker will face is the excess calories, whether you drink diet or regular. “The calories in regular soda are coming entirely from added sugar, and you’re not getting any value in terms of vitamins or minerals, or even good quality carbohydrates,” she says. As studies show, tits consumption can be linked to tooth decay and diabetes which, she suggests, could be from phosphorus or that drinking soda instead of other beverages like milk cannot give you the nutrients necessary for healthy bones.
Sugar-Free and Diet Soda
If you’re thinking you’re safe from these negative effects because you drink sugar-free and diet sodas, think again. Sugar-free and diet sodas may not have calories but they will not help you lose weight. In fact, most of the same negative effects that regular soda may cause, like heart disease and depression, can also be caused by sugar-free and diet sodas. However, Sandon suggests an initial switch to diet from regular as a first step to weaning off of it entirely.
There are plenty alternatives and ways to wean yourself off of this habit – drink water first, try seltzer, unsweetened tea, track your calories for motivation, or just go cold turkey! Whatever you decide, remember that your body is like a machine. It can only work at its best if you feed it the best that you can.
Source: www.cnn.com
