The combination of food additives like high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, phosphoric acid and caffeine is highly addictive and highly toxic. I could go on for days, but I don’t know where to start or if I could stop, so I’ll just give you a few unbelievable facts, give you a couple visuals to dwell on and hope that it’s enough to light a fire that leads you to do your own research on this source of liquid poison that has infiltrated to somehow become totally accepted and embraced in our culture, and apparently become a major source of our childrens’ diet.
Teens between age 14 and 18 get more calories from soda than any other single food or drink.
I often wonder why we drink soda- of course, I used to do it too. As a kid in high school, it was there, it tasted good, none of my friends batted an eye about drinking it, and it seemed to make a meal more fun, more social somehow. Looking back I’m glad I was raised Mormon because soda was never in the house when I was a child, and the occasional soda out was a real treat. But I wonder even what that amount of soda does to a child. When we did buy the occasional 2-liter of Pepsi for a party and it was leftover, it was such a prohibited item in my mind that it tempted me to taste it- I would literally sneak out of my room at night to take a swig, taste the harsh and sweet at once, and feel the fizzy bubbles on my face. As I got older and started paying more attention to what I ate and drank, it was largely about quantities and calories because I didn’t want to sabotage my efforts at exercise and gain weight. But I still had no idea how dangerous both soda and diet soda are. Even when I drank soda, and even when I was “watching my figure,” I thought diet soda was gross and developed a theory early on about it’s addictive nature. All my friends who drank Diet Coke would crave it to the point of distraction, to the point of getting on their shoes and going to the store with nothing else on the list. (click on this infographic to get a slightly higher-res pic so it’s easier to read)
Taking Responsibility For Your Own Body and Mind
While I think it’s purely despicable what the FDA, the government, the giant corporation and media have done to create this monster, I know that all I can do is make my own choices and protect my own body from these chemicals and protect my mind from their constant marketed lies. They are lies. And they know it. The more we believe marketing claims, the more these companies sit back and count their money, chuckling that they’ve indoctrinated us so well for so long that we are willing to pull the wool over our own eyes. They know it’s especially easy to hook kids, but now that kids are getting so hugely overweight at such young ages, it’s undeniable that something has gone horribly wrong and people are finally starting to wonder what is going on.
So.. What Is Going On?
Well, it’s not just one thing, of course it’s not that simple. I like this video because it explains that the chemicals in soda are just a few of the food additives that contribute to an acidifying diet. There are so many aspects of the modern diet and lifestyle that tend to put our bodies in a more acidic state. The balance between acid and alkaline in the body is extremely important and there are theories that an imbalance in the body’s pH is the cause of most chronic diseases and conditions (especially the “diseases of affluence” like Type II diabetes, hypertension, obesity, cancer, and coronary heart disease.) The aspartame and high fructose corn syrup are extremely acidifying and extremely common in the American diet, but hopefully we can start to spread the news that this stuff isn’t just junk, it doesn’t just make you fat, and it isn’t totally harmless. It’s nothing short of poison.
What is Aspartame Anyway?
Here’s a great article on what aspartame really is- because of course it’s too long to get into here! According to Dr. Mercola, aspartame is suspected to cause cancer, it’s chemical makeup more closely resembles DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, a banned insecticide) than an edible substance once the manufacturing process is completed and can destroy up to 50% of your beneficial gut flora. In case that hasn’t shaken you up, it also doubles your risk of gaining weight.
Aspartame accounts for 75% of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA. Aspartame has been linked to 92 health concerns including brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and chronic fatigue syndrome, Parkinson’s, Alzheimers, lymphoma, diabetes, and fibromyalgia. It is also known to cause headaches, migraines, dizziness, seizures, weight gain, fatigue, insomnia, anxiety attacks, tinnitus, joint pain, and depression.
I found kombucha and herbal tea to be helpful when I was quitting soda. What are some of your favorite tips to help kick the soda habit?
