Stop Drinking Soda... And Twitching

The guy at the desk next to me is spastically shaking his leg so much that the rest of his body is slowly undulating along to the beat. I have observed this in my peripheral all morning and finally glanced over to see if there was something wrong with him. He gazed at his monitor like a glassy eyed jello mold of a human being, twitching and undulating. Then I notice the empty cans of coke on the desk and the one he was nursing. It seems that soda has rendered him into a pudgy quivering pile of festering diabetes. That's when I went into the kitchen and noticed the new delivery of 116 cases of soda.

This got me thinking about how much soda this country must drink. I stopped drinking soda my senior year of high school because I read the label and realized I could be drinking water instead and avoid the pile of crap in each can, but this isn't about being on my slurry free horse. It's about benzine, aspertame, high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavoring, and the fattest country on the planet. So here are a few morsels of truth to think about over the weekend.

1. Americans consume over 600 12-ounce servings (12 oz.) per person per year. Judith Valentine

2. The relationship between soft drink consumption and body weight is so strong that researchers calculate that for each additional soda consumed, the risk of obesity increases 1.6 times. James A Howenstine M.D. A Physician’s Guide to Natural Health Products That Work

3. Coca-Cola paid the Boys & Girls Clubs of America $60 million to market its brand exclusively in over 2000 facilities.

4. Adolescents who consume soft drinks display a risk of bone fractures three to four-fold higher than those who do not. James A Howenstine M.D. A Physician’s Guide to Natural Health Products That Work

5. In a study of 91,249 women followed for eight years, those who consumed one or more soft drinks per day were twice as likely as those who consumed less than one per month to develop diabetes. American Journal of Public Health

6. A child sized portion of soda at McDonalds is now 12 ounces. They just came out with the "Hugo" weighing in at 42 ounces. No doubt an homage to Hurley from Lost (who is the best damn thing about that show).

Enjoy the weekend!