Of course, generally speaking, you tend to be healthier when you lose weight. But the one thing you must stop drinking if you want to lose weight is not only bad for weight loss, it’s very bad for your health, regardless of how much you weigh.
It’s a superstar of beverages. Water not included, it’s the fifth most popular drink in the world, after tea, coffee, orange juice and beer. Each person in Canada drank 67 litres of it in 2017, on average.
Stop Drinking Soda Pop & Improve Your Weight Loss & Health
While we’ll talk about some of the more serious problems with pop below, there’s one problem that’s difficult to spot. Even if you’re steadfast in tracking everything you eat and how many calories you consume, many people miss the boat in tracking calories from what they drink. When it comes to pop, that can be a serious omission.
A regular 355ml pop can have anywhere from 100 to 200 calories. All those calories are from simple carbohydrates; sugar to be exact. That means, unless you’re active enough to burn them off right away, there’s a good chance those calories will be stored in fat cells. You’d have to walk for an hour to burn off the calories in one can of pop.
But that’s just the first of many reasons why you should stop drinking pop to help you lose weight and be healthier.
Diet Pop Too. Before we get into it, it’s important to note that diet pop is just as unhealthy as regular pop. While diet pop replaces sugar with artificial sweeteners, they can have many of the same ill effects on your health and weight as sugar.
1. It Does Nothing Good for You
Not only does pop give you a massive dose of empty calories, it doesn’t benefit you in any way. Yes, some may drink caffeinated pop for a shot of energy, but you can get that from tea or coffee, and you can control the amount of sugar in those drinks.
Pop doesn’t really quench your thirst (in fact, it can cause dehydration), it doesn’t cool you down any more than water can and there’s virtually no nutritional value, unlike some fruit juices (many of which are almost as almost bad because of their sugar content).
2. Don’t Get Us Started on How Unhealthy It Is
OK, we’ve started already. We’ve told you before about how the poor health effects of pop can shorten your life.
Here’s a quick review of why pop is so unhealthy:
a. Increased Risk of Diabetes– Just two cans of pop can increase your risk of type 2 diabetes by 25%.
b. Linked to Cancer and Vascular Diseases – The agents in pop used to get its darker colours, including ammonia and sulfites, produce methylimidazole, which has been linked to lung, liver and thyroid cancer.
c. It Lowers How Much Magnesium Your Body Absorbs – Magnesium helps detoxify your body. Reduced levels expose you to the risk of environmental pollutants including chemicals, heavy metals and other toxins.
d. It Rots Your Teeth – And not just because of all the sugar. Pop is very acidic, with a higher pH level than battery acid. Poor dental health can lead to gum disease, lung infections and diabetes, among others.
e. It Lowers Your Bone Density – By affecting the absorption of calcium, many varieties of pop, including colas, lower bone mineral density.
f. It’s Linked to COPD – A university study in Australia concluded that “there was a positive association between the consumption of soft drinks and asthma/COPD” (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).
3. It Works Against Weight Loss
Even if you don’t count all the excess empty calories, pop can still ruin your weight loss program. The sugars in regular pop and the artificial sweeteners in diet pop can put your metabolism on a roller coaster ride.
First, the blast of sugar and sweeteners affects insulin production in ways that can spike your blood sugar levels. But pop also interferes with the hormone production that regulates your metabolism. That can result in fatigue and the lowering of your metabolism to the point where you’re not losing weight even on a calorie-reduced diet.
Cutting pop out of your diet may not be easy. Sugar can be addictive. It stimulates the same pleasure centres of the brain as cocaine and heroin.
If you find it difficult to stop drinking pop, the nutritional consultants at Herbal One can help you. The sooner you get that help, the better. Call or visit your nearest Herbal One Centre today.