elfs | Okay, no more pop for me...

First, there's a study that shows that the increase in processed carbohydrates, especially those from corn syrup, precisely parallels the growth of type-2 diabetese in this country.

Part of the problem is sheer obesity: between 1980 and 2000 the average American consumed an extra 500 calories per day and 428 of those calories came in the form of corn fructose from soft drinks. But there's also evidence that the insulin spikes caused by high sugar intake can lead to insulin resistance.

Then, this study comes out showing that discouranging kids from drinking carbonated beverages discourages obesity in elementary school children. A group of kids who swore off pop had a 0.2% decline in obesity; the control group had a 7.5% increase.

Omaha and I recently started making lemonade at home rather than buy and drink so much pop. We ran the numbers and discovered that a 12-oz glass of lemonade, if using the recipe recommended in our cookbooks, ran to 116 calories of refined sucrose. That's almost as much as a can of Coke, at 120 calories. In contrast, a cup of coffee (for me) has about 20-30 calories, since I take a heaping teaspoon of sugar in it.

Great Ceasar's ghost, a bottle of Sobe Green Tea has 225 calories of high-fructose corn syrup.