Home » Take A Healthy Step, And One Less Sip Of Soda Pop

Take A Healthy Step, And One Less Sip Of Soda Pop

by Kirby Lindsay, posted 27 March 2013

 

The choices of soda pop can be almost too easy - and cheap - to pass up, like this soda fountain with 30 taps in Georgia. Photo by Zach Klein

Making a decision to ‘Get Healthy’ is easy; doing it can be another matter.  Yet, Dietician Kelly Morrow recommended, “if people are wanting to improve their health, they can take a step.”  A simple step can evaluating the soda pop we (and our children) drink.

A Good First Step

Morrow keeps a private practice in addition to teaching for Bastyr University, and practicing (and being a clinic coordinator) the Bastyr Center for Natural Health here in Fremont.

When it comes to soda pop, she has seen evidence.  “There are a lot of studies that have come out,” Morrow said.  Soda pop can have negative impacts on blood pressure, weight, diabetes, etc.  It can increase anxiety.  Soda can put some people at increased risk for heart attacks, although Morrow acknowledged that it depends on the person, how much soda they drink and what conditions they may already have.  “It can be dangerous,” she allowed, but she also observed that, “you can find correlations between anything if you look hard enough.”

Dietician Kelly Morrow has been with Bastyr for 10 years. Photo provided by Bastyr

Still, “if anyone has any issues, soda could exacerbate all of that,” Morrow noted.  The effects of soda pop on humans vary, she observed, “it’s a confluence of different factors.  I think it’s not only the soda,” she said, but moderating the amount we drink can be a good first step toward better health.

“In some ways,” Morrow acknowledged, “I think it is worse if you are overly restrictive with kids.”  Banning soft drinks outright can lead to failure.  After all, Morrow admitted, she’s let her son have soda pop, but she’s also talked with him about it and other ‘soft drinks.’  She has also seen the pretty young women that visit the skate park to promote Red Bull to the kids.

A Hard Habit To Spit Out

Drinking soda can be a hard habit to break.  “It’s cheap,” Morrow observed, “because the main ingredient is corn syrup.  And it’s everywhere,” in huge quantities, often with ‘free refills.’  Morrow recommended considering other options such as sparkling water, or iced tea – and there is always water.

“We don’t have a really strong, healthy food culture,” Morrow observed, and often support for healthy eating, and drinking, can be difficult to come by.  Further, many people reach for a soda pop when hungry and, according to Morrow, “for the people who haven’t eaten enough, drinking soda is like throwing paper and lighter fluid on a fire.”

Pretty and available - with colors nature never intended - soda pop here sold in a candy store. Photo by Mustafa Sayed, Jan '11

“When you take in liquid calories, you don’t register them like food calories,” Morrow pointed out.  Plus, soda pop not only doesn’t satisfy, it can increase cravings for sugared foods, and lead to other unhealthy decisions.  “It’s almost like people are self-medicating,” she mused, “when they are eating a high sugar diet.”

Morrow shied away from referring to intense cravings as an addiction.  “’Addiction’ is kind of complex,” she said, “It used to be thought that you cannot develop an addiction to anything that is not a drug.”  Still, she suggested people look at how much of a problem the habit of drinking soda pop has become – “is it preoccupying your thoughts?  Is it affecting your life?”  Perhaps most importantly, can you say that you took care of yourself today?

It is important, Morrow suggested, “to look at what is going on underneath.”  Why grab a soda instead of water?  She suggested people turn to a familiar, carbonated beverage for reasons that range from sleep deprivation to anxiety to grief and/or shame.

Finding The Way Back To The Classic Tastes

According to Robert Lustig, MD, the human race has never had a time when we’ve had so much exposure to fructose.  We have sugar, and sugar substitutes, in nearly all our foods – and drinks.  “Soda can keep your taste buds trained to want intensely sweet tastes,” Morrow observed, and “foods that are naturally sweet don’t taste sweet anymore.”

An alternative to soda pop - a refreshing glass of iced tea. Photo by The Culinary Geek, Oct '10

Studies show soft drinks as harmful to children, but Morrow referred to another reason to curb their consumption.  “Your taste preferences set pretty early,” she said, “When kids have these things a lot, they develop a taste for more.”

At Bastyr, Morrow has done therapy with clients who want to retrain their tastes to once again enjoy naturally sweet flavors, in balanced quantities.  Consuming soda can damage tastes, she explained, like “if you are listening to speed metal, classical music is hard to hear.”

The high quantity of sugar in most soda pop – including a brand one soft drink manufacturer has introduced as a ‘breakfast’ soda – is well known.  Yet diet versions also retain the super-sweet flavor that can tie our taste buds to super-sweet treats, and consuming foods with high calorie content and low nutrional value.

In addition to sugar, soft drinks contain other chemical components.  Phosphoric acid, an ingredient in colas, actually pulls minerals out of bone.  “For some people,” Morrow observed, “caffeine can cause issues.”  Most people realize it can disturb sleep, but it can also increase anxiety.  “It depends on how efficient your liver is,” Morrow explained, as to how well you will process the chemicals.

The decision to do something better can be as simple as taking a step.  For more information on the effects of diet and nutrition, visit the Bastyr Center for Natural Health on-line.  A commitment to health, before a diagnosis demands it, can be as easy to start as a look at what we have in our glass.


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©2013 Kirby Lindsay.  This column is protected by intellectual property laws, including U.S. copyright laws.  Reproduction, adaptation or distribution without permission is prohibited.

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