's motd Tues. March 2, 2010 - Sodas

[Guest guest]

P-F-F-F-F-F-F-T!

Tuesday, 02 March 2010

Oh, you've heard that sound before...many times. In fact, I'd say you've heard it thousands of times. Maybe 50,000 times during the course of your life! It's the sound you hear when you open a can of soda or diet soda.

It's the sound that releases a carbonated mist from a can of soda that can spin a web around you. Once the p-f-f-f-f-f-f-t sound passes, you turn that ice-cold can of soda up to your lips and...drink! Ahhhhh.A lot of you wrote me in January and told me, ", this year I'm gonna give up those sodas I drink so many of, once and for all!" So my question is...have you?When I was a kid back in New Orleans, everyone drank Coca-Cola. They came in these cute, shapely little light-green bottles filled with that sweet brown cola. Sometimes I drank a Coke in the morning right after breakfast. Then I'd have several more while at school. When I got home from school and began my homework, I got out the bottle opener and had another bottle of Coca-Cola sitting on my desk as I studied. Lenny and I had to drink milk at dinner but after dinner, nothing hit the spot like a bottle of ice-cold Coca-Cola! I continued drinking lots of sodas through my high school and college years.

In the 60s, the first diet soda entered the market. It was called Tab. (Anybody remember?) Tab contained no sugar and was sweetened with an artificial sweetener called cyclamate. To be honest, I never particularly cared for those diet sodas. They seemed to leave this funny metallic aftertaste in my mouth. But it seems I was in the minority. Other people fell in love with diet sodas. And it wasn't long before every soft drink company had their own lineup of diet sodas.Now the big question has always been, which of them is better for you...regular or diet sodas? But wait. Did you know it takes about 33 feet of sugar cane to sweeten one cola. (I'm not making this up!) We know that sugar is not great for out bodies. And too much sugar does all kinds of terrible things to our insides, like leading to diabetes.

On the other hand, diet sodas are sweetened chemically. There are all kinds of artificial sweeteners on the market these days. And if you take time to read the ingredients on a typical bottle of diet soda and look them up on the Internet, well, I don't think you'll be too happy about those manmade chemicals you're pouring into your body. And hey, the body doesn't function too well with your dumping a bunch of chemicals into it!So, regular soda or diet soda, which of them is better for you? Well, truth is...neither of them are really good for your body. See, you can easily get hooked on these sodas, just like I once was. Some of you write and tell me how many cans of soda you drink a day and I'm shocked to see that some folks drink more than 40 cans of soda in just one week! And if that includes you, then I'd say you're really hooked on sodas, whether they're of the regular or diet variety.

How did I kick my soda habit? Well, I just went "cold turkey" and kicked the habit in 60 days. And yes, once in a while, I'll have a glass of Coca-Cola poured over some crushed ice. I'll go outside, sit in my swing in the backyard and drink it while reminiscing about the old days in New Orleans when I was a kid.Remember, it's all about moderation. I've always said that you can have whatever you want to eat or drink but...in the right size portions. You just can't overdo it!

And by the way, when it comes to beverages, remember the one that comes from Heaven...water! It contains no sugar, no chemicals, no artificial colors or sweeteners and...it's just heavenly for your body!Love,