In the course of an eight hour day, these people went through several of the beverages, sipping them constantly. The boss himself never went anywhere without his giant cup of diet soda. He was constantly stressed, hair thinning, his nails yellow with fungus (not that soda was causing the fungus – just that he has an unhealthy appearance), and is overweight despite his towering 6'8" height.
 |
| Soda, whether artificially sweetened or laden with processed sugar, has zero nutritional benefits. |
Of the two people who didn't have soda on their desks, I was one of them and the other was a woman who, like me, ate organic, natural foods, exercised and only drank water.
As I began perusing the idea of how many of my co-workers in this small business drank diet soda, loaded with artificial sweetener and offering zero nutritional benefits, I realized that I could enter a restaurant and likely find that more than half the diners were drinking some form of soda or iced tea – diet or sugar-sweetened.
Enter the same homes and one can easily find pantries filled with cases of soda, refrigerators loaded with 2 liter bottles of soda, iced tea and other sweetened drinks.
I've never understood the draw people have to these beverages, nor could I stand the aftertaste left in the mouth no matter what flavor or variety I sampled. Do
these avid consumers of soda realize their breath reeks?
Are there nutritional benefits to diet drinks?
The answer is a resounding "No!" Besides the fact that diet drinks contain zero nutritional benefits, they can cause long-term health problems that affect various parts of the body.
Research from a study of 3,000 women done at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston revealed that those who drank two or more artificially sweetened beverages per day doubled their risk of declined kidney function.
My father died from kidney failure, his mother also died from the same – both were diabetics. My sister, who died from congestive heart failure, also endured kidney failure – resulting a most horrific final week of suffering.
Who wants this?
As a 30-plus year diabetic, my sister had used artificial sweeteners daily. She drank diet soda, used the artificial packets in her coffee and tea and on cereal until about seven years before she died when she was introduced to the natural sweetener Stevia. Unfortunately, the damage to her kidneys was already done.
Other factors contributing to the side effects of artificial sweeteners
If one were to study those who tend to use artificial sweeteners with regularity, other abuses will rear their heads. Over-eating, poor choices in diet, consuming too much sodium, smoking, alcohol consumption, possible drug use, poor sleep habits, high blood pressure and stress are some of the abuses that can take the use of artificial sweeteners to a whole new level of poor health in the body.
 |
| Splenda and Equal are just two of the artificial sweeteners on the market, approved by the FDA that cause a number of serious side effects from long-term use |
If you are replenishing daily fluids with nothing more than soda, whether diet or sugar-laden, you are not hydrating your blood, organs or skin. Eventually, this will take a toll on your health.
What are the symptoms of dehydration?
• Fatigue
• Dizziness
• Slower metabolism
• Muscle weakness
• Short-term memory loss
• Inability to focus on tasks
• Dehydration contributes to join and muscular pain
• Constipation
• Rapid heartbeat
• Low Blood Pressure
• Dry Skin
• Additional strain on kidneys and other organs that need water to flush toxins
• And more
Among the strain on all your organs that rely upon water to hydrate the body, imagine the strain it takes on your kidneys day in and day out over the course of many years.
What about Splenda?
While I am of the belief that no artificial sweeteners are safe for human consumption – don't get me started on the FDA – Splenda pops out as one of the more toxic of artificial sweeteners on the market today. And it's in a lot of foods, from ice cream and cookies to soda, sugar-free candy and more.
Splenda contains sucralose, which is a chlorocarbon. Chlorocarbons have long been known to cause organ, genetic and reproductive damage. Sucralose has shown to shrink the thymus, a gland that regulates the immune system. Sucralose also causes the liver to swell and calcification of the kidneys as well as swelling of the kidneys.
How did sucralose get by the FDA? The company that originally researched sucralose, McNeil Nutritionals, lowered their acceptable levels of sucralose until they achieved one that was acceptable to the FDA, who was intent on getting it approved.
It's like cholesterol levels. A level of 240 was completely acceptable 25 years ago. Now it's considered dangerous because someone who conducted research somewhere said so. Now a level of 240 requires a prescription for a drug that makes the doctors, pharmacies and insurance companies pockets fatter while the patient suffers from side effects and is taking a medication that has never been proven to prevent heart attacks.
So you avoid diet soda, what about soda with sugar?
Soda with sugar is just as bad for you. It's laden with processed sugar, loads of it. It is still empty calories with zero nutritional value. It is not just bad for the body, the liver and the pancreas, but causes numerous dental problems.
Sugar affects the pancreas and excessive use can lead to diabetes at some point. It is shown to be addictive and cause obesity. Again – empty calories.
What is the alternative to soda and other sweetened beverages?
Water. Water. Water.
You still need to be careful about drinking tap water. You can get an analysis of your city's water from the water supplier. In the town in which I live, we receiving warnings all year. In a recent letter I discovered that my mother wrote 35 years ago, she mentioned that the water tasted bad. This has been ongoing for decades!
Filtered alkaline water is the best and you don't have to purchase a multi-thousand dollar system to get good alkaline water either. We purchased a Bawell alkaline water system two years ago. It literally took 5 minutes to set up and has delivered delicious water for us to drink from, brew coffee or tea with and cook. Our pets all enjoy the water as well. We are able to achieve from 7.5 to 10 pH alkalinity.
How do you give up drinking sweetened beverages?
It's very difficult to convince those who drink soda daily that they need to give it up. They are literally addicted to it, whether artificially sweetened or sugar laden. Recently, an acquaintance who has a rare affliction from which she suffers regular attacks posted a query about giving up her cola and asked if another, colorless soda would be just as good. I suggested water instead, without going into the fact she suffers from this serious affliction. I offended her and got a simple, "No Thank You,"comment.
With the affliction she has, I can only imagine how dehydrated she truly is if she doesn't replenish those important bodily fluids with water.
In the end, the drinking of these toxic beverages is so addicting that unless a person faces the fact that they have an addiction to them, much like any other addict, they will prefer to poison their body slowly over the years. The long-term side effects to the excessive use of artificial sweeteners usually doesn't become apparent until the damage to the body is already done.
Most people prefer the Scarlett O'Hara outlook, "I'll think about it tomorrow." Unfortunately, tomorrow maybe too late.
I revert back to my sister. She began smoking menthol cigarettes when she was 15 in 1956, and followed that with consuming diet soda by the time she was an adult. Every day included a pack of cigarettes and diet soda until 1992 when she had a massive stroke and already had been diagnosed with diabetes. She lost all her teeth seven years later and suffered a number of serious diseases and illnesses until she died last year. The suffering she endured from kidney failure is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
What about an alternative sweetener?
If you must sweeten your beverages. Try Stevia. It's all natural and comes in flavored drops, packets and powdered. It doesn't take long to get used to it and a little goes a long way. You can also try buying fresh lemon and dropping a wedge or two into your water. It is absolutely delicious, not tart and helps in excreting toxins out of the body.
No comments:
Post a Comment