Who doesn’t love sugary, carbonated beverages? It can be difficult to resist the sweet blast of flavor we get from each sip of soda pop. It is more dense with sugar than most desserts, and we don’t have to slow down for chewing either. Pure, unadulterated fizz and divine taste! Yes, it’s strangely amazing… And yes it’s bad for you! Let’s breakdown why that is, and how we can still find ways to include it in our diet so that we don’t have to completely drop one of the most delicious creations of man-kind.
Sugar doesn’t make us feel full!
For anybody trying to control their weight and stop it from rising, sugar is scary. It doesn’t make us feel full, so this in combination with its addictive nature is just one ingredient in a recipe for disaster. Where any sort of meat or strong protein is almost immediately satiating, sugar almost has the opposite effect. This is why you and I- and young children- only know to stop eating when that stomach ache comes. That, or the guilt becomes overwhelming! By the way, if your interested in the most satiating macronutrient protein, please take a look at my blog post here. In it, I cover the best sources and how to utilize it fully to naturally make our diets healthier without much effort at all.
Soda Can Be Difficult To Digest
Fructose Vs Liver
Soda is packed full of the simple sugar, fructose. For reference, we can typically assume the presence of fructose when sucrose is used (table sugar). Fructose can only be digested by our liver. When our liver is overwhelmed by a large amount of fructose in a short period of time, it converts fructose into fat. To make matters worse, the fat produced by this process is visceral fat (belly fat), not ‘skin fat’. Belly fat is linked to type 2 diabetes and heart disease, so it’s something we need to avoid. Here is a scientific article from the National Institute of Health which goes through the nutritional issues of soda. The majority of it is dedicated to proving that those who consume soda do not adjust their caloric intake to all the extra calories. Basically, they consume more calories which inevitably causes weight gain.
Insulin Spikes and Resistance
Consuming too much fructose also increases our resistance to insulin. This in turn makes our insulin levels spike. Glucose gets stuck in your bloodstream rather than getting distributed to your cells when your body doesn’t react properly to insulin,. Just like with belly fat, this is linked to type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Leptin: The Hunger Hormone (Weight-Gain)
Evidence shows that consuming too much fructose contributes to resistance of the hunger hormone, leptin. Leptin has been gaining a lot of popularity with recent weight-loss products. This is because it has a strong correlation to our cravings and how our body digests food. Take a look at my blog article about some of these products for further information.
Soda is Terrible for dental health
Soda contains both phosphoric acid and carbonic acid. This creates a highly acidic environment in your mouth. This coupled with sugar- the best food source for the detrimental bacteria in your mouth fuels tooth decay.
What about diet soda?
Diet soda has an insane amount of conflicting evidence. Every single article you find with a quick google search offers the same disclaimers: more studies are needed and the results are inconclusive. Here’s what we know:
- Like regular soda, diet soda is nutritionally empty and terrible for your dental health
- Like regular soda, diet soda can have caffeine and can be addictive
- Artificial sweeteners in diet soda can impact your metabolism as they can be foreign to our digestion system
That’s about it. The negative effects you may find on the internet include addiction, mental health issues, the psychological effect of ‘rewarding yourself’ for drinking diet soda (consuming more sugar), and of course the slew of issues regular soda causes outside of fructose problems. Almost all issues that differ from regular soda are not proven and should be taken with many grains of salt.
BUT I STILL WANT SODA!!!
Me, too! With all things considered, soda in moderation is okay to consume. In particular, it’s really important to consume smaller portions of it at a time. Typically, the mantra with diets for cheat meals is that we should go hard at them and only have one cheat meal per week. I would argue that soda is the opposite. A little bit of sugar just amounts to extra carbs to burn. Don’t overwhelm your liver, keep your teeth healthy, and watch the amount you consume. If you have any issues with blood sugar, then I would recommend avoiding sugary drinks in their entirety and maybe try diet soda.
Soda is delicious, and there’s no reason to completely cut it from your life unless one serving puts you in medical danger, or you don’t trust yourself to consume it in small servings. It is a wonderful treat to have sparingly throughout my months- especially on nights when I want to drink alcohol!
