Before you take another sip from your soft drink, here are few facts about
pH of Soda = pH of Vinegar
Soda is the most acidic beverage you can buy, with a pH of about 2.5, about the same as vinegar. Why does that matter? Acid oxidizes whatever it comes in contact with. If you put soda or vinegar on metal, it will rust it quickly. You could clean a car engine with soda.
Drink Soda, Leach Calcium
If you drink soda, which also contains high levels of phosphorous, you will leach calcium from your bones. Dr. Michael Murray from the Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine concluded, “It appears that increased soft drink consumption is a major factor that contributes to osteoporosis.” Furthermore, Dr. Elson Haas, author of The Detox Diet
states, “Tooth loss, periodontal disease, and gingivitis can be problems, especially with a high phosphorus intake, particularly from soft drinks.”
Soda Will Dissolve your Tooth Enamel
According to Dr. James Howenstein, author of A Physician’s Guide to Natural Health Products That Work, the high sugar content of soda is high. He states, ”In an interesting experiment the sugar from one soft drink was able to damage the white blood cells’ ability to ingest and kill bacteria for seven hours.” Dr. Marion Nestle from his book Food Politics states, “Sugar and acid in soft drinks so easily dissolve tooth enamel.”
Soda Increases Risk for Obesity by 1.6 times
Dr. Nestle also concluded, “The relationship
between soft drink consumption and body weight is so strong that researchers calculate that for each additional soda consumed, the risk of
obesity increases 1.6 times.”
Children Who Drink Soda Break Bones More Easily
Our children aren’t safe, either. Dr. Nestle states, “Adolescents who consume soft drinks display a risk of bone fractures three to four-fold higher than those who do not.” Dr. William Duffy from the Naval Research Institute states, “The high sugar hides the acid. Children little realize they are drinking this strange mixture of phosphoric acid, sugar, caffeine, coloring, and flavoring matter.” Greg Critser from his book Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World states: “A joint study by Harvard University and Boston Children’s Hospital researchers in February 2001 concluded that such excess liquid calories inhibited the ability of older children to compensate at mealtime, leading to caloric imbalance and, in time, obesity.”
Diet Soda Isn’t Any Better
Diet soda is worse. Carol Simontacchi from her book The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children states, “One liter of an aspartame-sweetened beverage can produce about fifty-six milligrams of methanol. When several of these beverages are consumed in a short period of time (one day, perhaps), as much as two hundred fifty milligrams of methanol are dumped into the bloodstream, or thirty-two times the EPA limit.” So, you’re poisoning your body, too.
And when it comes to saccharin, which is a non-caloric petroleum derivative estimated to be three hundred to five hundred times sweeter than sugar: “More than a dozen animal tests over the last thirty years have demonstrated the carcinogenic effects of saccharin in the bladder and other sites, particularly female reproductive organs, and in some instances at doses as low as the equivalent of one to two bottles of diet pop daily.”
With diet soda, you’ve gone from high calories to poisonous levels of methanol and an increased chance of developing cancer. Not a very good trade.
Caffeine
Jean Carper from her book Food: Your Miracle Medicine : How Food Can Prevent and Cure over 100 Symptoms and Problems states, “tests at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine by Roland R. Griffiths, MD, show caffeine withdrawal can strike people who drink a single cup of strongly brewed coffee or drink caffeinated soft drinks everyday. Further, Dr. Griffiths discovered that caffeine-withdrawal symptoms include not only headache, but also fatigue, mild depression, muscle pain and stiffness, flu-like feelings, nausea and vomiting.
And for women: “Those consuming at least one cup of a caffeine-containing beverage per day, such as coffee, tea or soft drinks, were more prone to PMS. And the more caffeine they consumed, the more severe their PMS symptoms.” Caffeine causes withdrawal with symptoms mimicking the flu and for women it makes PMS even worse. But could caffeine really jeopardize the future of the human race? “A study on the relationship between caffeine and fertility found that just one caffeinated soft drink per day was associated with a reduced monthly chance of conception of 50 percent.”
Asthma and Rashes
There’s the preservative sodium benzoate used in soda. Dr. Marcia Zimmerman, author of The A.D.D. Nutrition Solution : A Drug-Free 30 Day Plan states, “Sodium benzoate is used as a preservative (microbial control) in foods, including soft drinks, fruit juices, margarine, confections, pickles, and jams. Sodium preservatives add sodium to the diet and reduce the availability of potassium. Some reported reactions to sodium benzoate include recurring urticaria (rash), asthma, and eczema.”
There is absolutely nothing good or redeemable about soda. The sooner you can remove it from your diet, the better.
Challenge: Did you know that you should be drinking ½ your body weight in ounces of water a day. But if you’re not up to par don’t start drinking your allotted amount. Let’s say that you currently drink 4 cups a day and your goal is to drink 9 cups. Start drinking 5 cups until you can consistently do this for a week. Then go up to 6 cups until you can consistently drink 6 cups for a week. Keep doing this process until you reach your goal.
“The nutritional suggestions in this material are not offered to treat, mitigate or cure disease, and should not be used as a substitute for sound medical advice. This information is designed to be used in conjunction with the services of a trained, licensed healthcare practitioner.”
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