Okay, no more pop for me...

[elfs]

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.

Comments

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Heck, I was that kid when I was in high school. Caffiene first thing in the morning and all day through, Nytol to get to sleep. It's a horrible cycle. I'm pretty disciplined about it these days, avoiding drinking anything caffeinated after 5pm. I sleep better when I limit my caffiene intake even further, but it's a terrible addiction to break especially when it's widespread, legal, and pervasive. That's why I think this break is going to be harder than just saying, "Okay, that's it."

I'm so glad I never had an opportunity to try cigarettes when I was in high school.

It's only when I go out to eat that I often slip. I hate when I do that because I can't sleep and I'm not allowed to use Nytol with my allergy medicines, the latter without which I'd be miserable most nights.

Love the Laughing Man icon.

[cleverfox.livejournal.com]

When I was in University for a year, I was up to about four liters a day. As soon as I got to school in the morning, I'd down a liter before my first class. One between first and second, one after lunch and usually one or so when I got home. After about eight months I realized what this was doing to my body, since I was waking every morning with stomach pains and having a great deal of difficulty getting more than three hours of sleep or so a night. So I quit cold turkey.

I missed a week of school because I was shaking all the time, I had cold sweats and I was alternating between insomnia and sleeping 16 hours at a stretch. I have never felt anything so terrifying as that kind of withdrawl. So I started drinking it again, but I limit myself to a can a day or so now.

Let's hear it for the nice legal addictions.

[http://users.livejournal.com/dominic-m-/]

Im like you with caffine...It doesent affect me too much but I do enjoy it in the morning when I have a headache. And believe it or not but caffine seems to possibly help put me to sleep now and then.