Soft drink is the worst possible thing to be drinking

[Risingblade]

If I could I'd replace my blood with coke.

If I could I'd replace my coke with blood.

Does it have to be human blood?

 

[Brotha Desmond]

Two 355 mL of soda a day is an extra 280 calories coming solely from HFCS. If no other aspect of your daily routine was changed, aside from the two cans of soda a day, then you will gain weight. If you don't exercise more to compensate for the extra intake if high glycemic sugar, then you will naturally just put on fat.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

And yes, I mean even over alcohol.

Every so often on my facebook feed a post pops up saying how bad soft drink is which I conveniently ignore.

It wasn't until recently that I saw for myself how bad drinking even one can of coke a day is for you.

I've never been much of a soft drink fan, of course whenever I got Maccas or some other fast food I'd get the post mix coke and drink that.

But the supermarket near my house went on sale and they had 30 packs of Coke for $17 so I thought looks like an awesome deal I'll buy some.

Now almost a month later I am fatter than I have ever been and the only change in my lifestyle has been having one or 2 cans of coke a day.

For reference, I am fairly fit, Ive been going to the gym for a year and a half now and in that time have shifted from being a 63kg skinny nerd to almost 100kgs (bigger nerd) and I take protein and pre-workouts and all the supplements to do it.

After my coke binge though, I have large, noticable rolls of fat on my stomach that I can grab a whole handful of and my chin has gotten a lot fatter.

So I feel like I should spread the word to all regular soft drink drinkers out there, my brief exposure to it short term has done me the world of harm, so I can't imagine what its doing to anyone who drinks it all the time.

From today I am saying no more soft drink, I'm cutting it from my system completely (and I guess I have to start running now too... I HATE running).

Does anyone else have any revelations with food that they have come across that would be worth sharing?

For those of you who have trouble with reading: Gained 30kgs from a year of gym, put on some flab from coke with no specific kg gain mentioned!

As a soda drinker, my body is in relatively good shape though I do feel I need to cut my sugar intake as I'm getting closer to 40. However, you might want to take into account everyone's body is different and you aren't a normal soda drinker. So your body isn't used to using that type of energy source and probably is storing it away for future use. I'd also say its probably mostly water retention as fat buildup by sugar isn't that quick.
Also age is another factor. If you've just hit one of your 7 year marks or are within that period within 1-3 year plus or minus, your body will react differently to different things. Plus you're taking supplements and stacking protein, which sugar can replace easily as energy since sugar breaks down faster. Therefore you also might be storing the protein and/or supplements (no clue what supplements you're taking) as your energy source is now sugar fueled. Carbs take precedence and don't usually cause you to be fat, its what you eat around those carbs is usually what ends up stored as fat. So I'd say that since you already have the energy stores needed to fuel your daily routines, cut out the soda yes. But don't say that necessarily soda causes fat, rather changing your diet to something you don't use normally will cause a change in your physical makeup if you don't do something extra on top of that.
As I mentioned though, your body is different than others and will consequently react differently to different things. Thats why a blanket statement such as yours is a little bit biased and without any real evidence to the contrary without a nutritionist or doctor's consultation and evaluation added in. Just as my views and observations can be questioned because I claim to be neither of the formerly mentioned careers/degrees.

 

[Billy D Williams]

You say you drank 1-2 cans a day, so I just averaged it out to 1.5 cans of soda a day. A can of coke has about 140 calories, 140x1.5=210 extra calories a day. Over the course of 30 days that amounts to 6300 calories, and one pound of fat is equal to 3550 calories, so that means you would have gained about 1.75 pounds if were to believe your numbers. I'm sorry but I call bullshit, soda is bad for you but you cant gain the amount of weight the OP is claiming by adding 1-2 a day in just a month. Either he drank a lot more or his lifestyle changes where much more significant that he thinks.

 

[TheIceQueen]

People that say "I have super fast metabolism hurr hurr I can eats whatever I wants lol~" are so full of shit. You are NOT some kind of super-human being with a genetically superior body. You have the EXACT same internal organs as other people, you just live a different LIFE.

Actually, that's not true. Genetics play a very important role in the biological basis for weight. Generally, it's considered to be at 50% of the factors.

This has been proven through a variety of twin studies:

Stunkard, A. J., Foch, T. T., & Hrubec, Z. (1986). A twin study of human obesity. JAMA: the journal of the American Medical Association, 256(1), 51-54.

Plomin, R., Fries, J. C., McClearn, G.E., Rutter, M., & Rose, S. (1997). Behavioral genetics. Nature, 388(6638),138-139.

Schousboe, K., Visscher, P. M., Erbads, B., Kyvik, K. O., Hpper, J. L., Henrisken, J. E., and others (2004). Twin study of genetic and environmental influences on adult body size, shape, and composition. International Journal of Obesity, 28, 39-48.

All of these studies proved a strong correlation (0.74) between the identical twin's and their weight with regards to their biological parents, even when said identical twins lived in separate households. On the other hand, with regards to fraternal twins, there was a much lower correlation of 0.32, which went a long way to prove that adopted children often have a weak correlation with their adopted family with regards to body weight, despite sharing genes.

Maes, H. M., Neale, M. C., & Eaves, L. J. (1997). Genetic and environmental factors in relative body weight and human adiposity. Behavioral Genetics (special issue: The genetics of obesity), 27, 325-351.

Now, this doesn't mean that it's not how you live. How you live still factors into it, but so do genetics.

 

[Hazy]

Pretty much, yeah. Even fruit drinks and the like are loaded with sugar.

My advice? Drink nothing but water. Milk is acceptable too, but limit your sugars. Your body doesn't need them.

 

[Hazy]

For those of you who have trouble with reading: Gained 30kgs from a year of gym, put on some flab from coke with no specific kg gain mentioned!

Those are some pretty good gains. What body type are you going for?

Edit: Double post, but I really wanted to know this.

 

[StormShaun]

Worse then alcohol?
I doubt that, with alcohol you can die if you drink too much in a single session.
Even if you do drink a huge amount and DON'T die ... your brain cells are gonna pop like bubble wrap.

Soda ... well if you drink too much, sure you are gonna gain some pounds (Depending on the drink), have bad teeth and probably have some kidney stones waiting for you down the track, but it won't kill ya.

For myself I drink only a single can of Pepsi Max a day ... so far it has proven to be not bad for my health.
As long as I also do my exercise and fitness things.

Other then that I'm pretty great.
I drink it more then alcohol and I FEEEEL great.
Just don't drink too much and possibly swap to a sugar free version.

But I am not a chemist or someone who can tell you in detail more about this. :/

 

[Queen Michael]

If I could I'd replace my blood with coke.

If I could I'd replace my coke with blood.

Does it have to be human blood?

Of course not, friend! As long as it's blood, it's fine.

 

[Moderated]

Never gain weight master race.

 

[chikusho]

For reference, there are around 140 calories in a can of coke.
There are anything between 120 to 220 calories in the same amount of beer. So, it's kind of in the same ballpark on the weight gain department. Only your liver takes a beating from the latter.

One can of coke each day is about an increase of about 1000 calories each week.
An addition of 1000 calories/week to an otherwise unchanged diet/activity should lead to a weight gain of about 1 pound every 3.5 weeks, or 1 kilogram every 7 weeks to 2 months.

So, I find it unlikely that soft drinks are the only thing making you fat. Half a kilo on 100kilo body with regular workouts should not be as noticeable as you are describing.

 

[Andy Shandy]

While I certainly disagree that soft drinks is the worst thing to be putting into your body, drastically cutting down on the amount of it I drink mixed with cutting out a lot of crap I used to eat has helped me to lose nearly 70 pounds in just under 7 months.

 

[Megalodon]

Enriched wheat and high fructose corn syrup are between the two seem to be in most every food available. Both are insanely bad for you and I highly recommend everyone take time to research their effects and how to avoid them.

Nope, enriched flour is just white flour with most of the nutrients lost during refining replaced. Now it's not as healthy as brown flour but it's hardly "insanely bad for you". HFC wouldn't be much of a problem if America (as it's the US that mainly seems to be obsessed with the stuff) stops putting it in just about everything. As with most things, moderation is key.

Neither of those foodstuffs is the devil. Deep fried Mars bars, deep fried Butter (which is apparently a thing), KFC double downs and nergy drink (Monster, Relentless etc.) all have a better claim to being "insanely bad for you" than either foodstuff you mentioned.

Welllllllll metabolism is fairly variable. Personally I am quite skinny, I am known to eat a whole lot almost scaring my friends at times and I am often told that they would kill for my metabolism. (Now here's the kicker)

So I ended up testing it. Turns out that my metabolism is different from average, I am actually ever so slightly below the average basal metabolic rate. I just happen to exercise a lot and I don't eat candy or drink soda except for at rare occasions. I even tried to see if I could gain weight by simply adding another meal to each day. I gained 5kg in a few months.

Just because that's the way it was with you, doesn't mean that it's always the case. I have a friend who has gone to a nutritionist to determine his metabolism. Without any significant exercise, he burns 5000 calories a day to maintain weight.

Slightly tangental, but I wouldn't trust the reliability of that diagnosis at all, given the admittedly limited information provided. Nutritionist not a protected term, anyone can cliam to be a nutritionist without any kind of porfessional acreditation. Dietitian is the proper, trustworthy title.

 

[spartan231490]

I have a friend who has gone to a nutritionist to determine his metabolism. Without any significant exercise, he burns 5000 calories a day to maintain weight.

Slightly tangental, but I wouldn't trust the reliability of that diagnosis at all, given the admittedly limited information provided. Nutritionist not a protected term, anyone can cliam to be a nutritionist without any kind of porfessional acreditation. Dietitian is the proper, trustworthy title.

The person he went to had professional accreditation, knowing him and his family, he probably went to the best available dietitian in the Boston area. Also, I've seen what he eats in a given day with no exercise, 5000 is, if anything, an under-estimate. He smokes my 3000 a day before lunch.

 

[Megalodon]

I have a friend who has gone to a nutritionist to determine his metabolism. Without any significant exercise, he burns 5000 calories a day to maintain weight.

Slightly tangental, but I wouldn't trust the reliability of that diagnosis at all, given the admittedly limited information provided. Nutritionist not a protected term, anyone can cliam to be a nutritionist without any kind of porfessional acreditation. Dietitian is the proper, trustworthy title.

The person he went to had professional accreditation, knowing him and his family, he probably went to the best available dietitian in the Boston area. Also, I've seen what he eats in a given day with no exercise, 5000 is, if anything, an under-estimate. He smokes my 3000 a day before lunch.

Fair enough, because nutritionist happens to be one of those titles claimed by charlatans, I tend to view anything said by someone claiming to be a nutritionist as suspect.

 

[Risingblade]

If I could I'd replace my blood with coke.

If I could I'd replace my coke with blood.

Does it have to be human blood?

Of course not, friend! As long as it's blood, it's fine.

Meet me in back alley in 20 minutes with 10 litters of coke and a bucket of fried chicken >.>

 

[Phantom Kat]

I can think of worse things to be drinking. Bleach and anti-freeze spring to mind.

I have a lean build and fast metabolism anyway so gaining weight isn't really a concern of mine.

 

[Kolby Jack]

All you've proven is that soda is bad for YOU, specifically, to drink every day. Beyond that you have nothing. 1) you don't have a large sample size of test subjects, 2) you didn't perform any other experiments with, say, gatorade or tea or beer or any other drink you may not drink a lot, 3) You can technically drink any liquid, including poisonous ones, so your claim of it being the "worst thing you can drink" is already illegitimate.

This is just bad science; like, "Super-size Me"-level science (aka, piss poor). I'm not about to claim soda is good for you or even that it isn't bad, but everyone is different and has different levels of tolerances. I USED to drink soda every day as a kid, and I was a skinny kid. These past few years, I generally only drank soda once or twice a week, yet I've GAINED weight. Soda was keeping me thin! I knew it!

 

[lunavixen]

I still drink coke (both normal and diet), maybe 1 can every 1 or 2 days, my weight has stayed stable for the last 5 years. Soft drink as an occasional thing is alright, it's when you're having large quantities and have a sedentary lifestyle is where things take a turn for the worse. Those protien shakes aren't good for your body fat levels either, especially if you're not doing a decent amount of cardio to go with it.

Everything in moderation.