I got a forward today which is generally the points mentioned below, originally posted in 2006 by a man named Wade Meredith. I don’t generally believe too many things I get as forwards these days, so my first reaction was to verify it with Google. What I found was that there seems to be a lot of truth in these statements.
Of course I guess we should all know that an excess of sugar in your body is a problem waiting to happen, especially when it’s coming from sweets, junk foods, soft drinks, fast food and the like – we can just look at the tipping scales and rising number of diabetics for confirmation of that. But I think it’s also important to remember that if you try to ban your child from ever having access to sweets and feed them sugar-free, fat-free everything, these things trick your body and it takes a lot longer to feel satisfied from them than if you were eating normal food. Instead, how about trying for balanced diets full of natural, wholesome foods which you either grow yourself, or buy locally. I know it takes more time to cook dinner at night than pick up something from the fast food place down the street, but your family and your bodies really will thank you for it in the end! And if you need any further confirmation about just how bad fast food is for you, have a look at Super Size Me.
Here’s just the trailer in case you’ve never heard of the film…
- In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.
- 20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat.
- 40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.
- 45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.
- >60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.
- >60 Minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.
- >60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.
This will all be followed by a caffeine crash in the next few hours. (As little as two if you’re a smoker.) But, hey, have another Coke, it’ll make you feel better.
*FYI: The Coke itself is not the enemy, here. It’s the dynamic combo of massive sugar doses combined with caffeine and phosphoric acid – things which are found in almost all soda.
