Are Soft drinks really that bad for you??

I saw a male client a couple of weeks ago. He leads a healthy lifestyle, goes to the gym everyday, eats fairly healthily BUT when I asked him if he drank enough water throughout the day...His reply was, yes I do and I also drink at least a litre of coke a day.  He then added it was pepsi max though so that's okay he said..

He was originally about a stone heavier and a friend of his told him that the best way to curb his appetite was to drink pepsi max. He thought this was a good idea and so he did. He lost the weight but then continued to drink on average 10 litres of Pepsi Max a week. He doesn't have any other real vices so perhaps this is something that should be overlooked, that's obviously his choice and not mine but I felt it important to share a few little facts with you about just HOW BAD SOFT DRINKS really are!!!

Now, we all know that Soft Drink is full of sugar and bad for our teeth – but the fact is, the dangers of Soft Drinks are far worse than this. So, in answer to the Question – Is soft drink really that bad for you? The answer is YES! and not only is it YES, it’s probably much worse than you even realise.

Did You Know:

That soft drinks have extremely high levels of Phosphoric Acid in them, which not only imbalances minerals in your body, but it also leeches calcium and magnesium from your bones – which is your bodies way of trying to restore the imbalance.

If you drink “diet” soft drinks (or “diet”anything for that matter) with the thought that your making a healthier choice….think again! Aspartame (which is the artificial sweetner used in these drinks) has a list of 92 known side effects ranging from things such as headaches and dizziness to Parkinson’s disease and Brain tumours! I will do a more in depth blog on the dangers of aspartame – but if you already drink these drinks – STOP and do some research!!

Sugar is the most highly addictive substance on the planet and Soft Drinks are loaded with it! Aside from what it’s doing to your teeth – sugar addiction has been linked with insomnia, PMS, immune deficiencies, impotence and memory loss. Now the problem with a sugar addiction – unlike many other addictions like drugs, cigarettes and gambling is that sugar is socially acceptable and

very difficult to get away from (but not impossible!) Soft Drinks cause our immune system to be depleted for up to 3 hours after consumption – and we wonder why we are always getting sick!!

Drinking from can’s is by far the worst – because on top of all the other nasties you are also adding the fact that aluminium is known to be dangerous to our health – again that requires a whole other blog post to go on about that one! Finally, The carbon dioxide which is put into the liquid to make the bubbles is a leading cause of blood acidosis – Which in simple terms is turning your blood into an acidic state. 

Here is a quote from Hayley Wallace N.D’s Book – ‘Finding Wellness’ on exactly what happens in our bodies when we consume Soft Drinks: “One 350ml serving of caffeinated soft drink delivers a sugar fix equivalent to about 9 teaspoons of sugar straight into the blood stream. It acidifies instantly and without an immediate emergency response from the body, it would kill you in a matter of minutes. To counteract the sudden radical rise in blood acidity and reestablish blood pH to a safe level before you drop dead, you’d have to quickly drink 32 glasses of alkaline water after each serving of soft drink. Considering that this is not possible, the body reacts swiftly by drawing huge amounts of organic calcium from the bones and teeth and delivers in to the blood stream to neutralise the excess acids and quickly restore alkaline balance.” The calcium is then excreted from the body through our urine.

So after these few facts we can now ascertain that soda drinks are really not good for our health and they shouldn't really be allowed on the supermarket shelves as they will prematurely age us and cause sickness and disease.....but, unfortunately they are here to stay in every consumer place possible including the 'health promotional bright orange lucozade' we find in the gym (doesn't the colour raise a red flag!).... so it is up to you to make the choice to bypass that entire aisle in the supermarket and choose a better option. Have water or go and make a fresh juice instead! If you really can't stand the taste of water and miss the bubbles try carbonated water. And if you miss some sort of flavour try adding squash by ROCKS which is also void of any nasty flavourings and Aspartame.