Do you find yourself reaching for a soda during the day thinking “I am tired and I have been good and I deserve a diet soda”? After all, there are no calories and no carbs, right? it must be good.

Let dig into this question because what could be so bad in a soda, I mean everyone drinks it right? The food industries say its good for your right? I just need the caffeine, a little pick me up. So let’s look at what you get in a soft drink.

Reg cola; Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup and/or sucrose, caramel color, phosphoric acid, natural flavors, caffeine.

MMMM sounds yummy, what harm can High Fructose corn syrup do? or Sucrose?

High fructose corn syrup is a food syrup which is made from the starch of corn and contains varying amounts of maltose and higher oligosaccharides, depending on the grade. Corn syrup, also known as glucose syrup to confectioners, is used in foods to soften texture, add volume, prevent crystallization of sugar, and enhance flavor. Wikipedia

So is High Fructose Corn syrup good for you? High Fructose corn syrup — can contribute unwanted calories that are linked to health problems, such as weight gain, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and high triglyceride levels. All of these boost your risk of heart disease.

Next is

Caramel color, it’s manufactured by heating carbohydrates, either alone or in the presence of acids, alkalis, and/or salts. Caramel color is produced from commercially available nutritive sweeteners consisting of fructose, dextrose (glucose), invert sugar, sucrose, malt syrup, molasses, starch hydrolysates, and fractions thereof.

Let’s move on to

phosphoric acid,  Phosphorus is found naturally in many foods and phosphoric acid is used as an additive, so most people get enough in their diet. Your body needs phosphorus, but too much of it can cause problems. Studies suggest that excessive phosphorus intake can put you at risk for osteoporosis and heart disease.

Natural flavors.

In the case of a natural flavor, the original source must be a plant or animal. By contrast, the original source of an artificial flavor is a man-made chemical. Even though the term “natural” has no formal definition, people often interpret it to mean healthy. Although natural and artificial flavors differ by source, both contain added chemicals.

So we must ask our selfs natural flavors of what?

last for regular soda is the caffeine, Most of the caffeine in soft drinks comes from factories in China. Naturally extracted caffeine is burned out from heated-up coffee beans. But most of the caffeine used in soft drinks is actually synthetically produced in Chinese pharmaceutical plants.

This is why I am here, To make healthy living REAL, I am gonna say it like it is, and it may seem harsh.

I am not a fan of soda, there is nothing attractive to drinking a nice fresh crisp drink of chemicals.

Let’s move on to Diet soda.

Diet cola; Carbonated water, caramel color, aspartame, phosphoric acid, potassium benzoate (to protect taste), natural flavors, citric acid, caffeine

This time most of the ingredients are the same EXCEPT the soda industry is doing you a favor and removing the corn syrup and adding some Aspartame, isn’t that nice of them?

Now there are no carbs and so calories so why not?

Aspartame is one of the worst artificial sweeteners you can ingest and has been associated with dozens of potential health risks.

Researchers discovered that there were not only no benefits from consuming “diet” foods and drinks containing these artificial sweeteners (known as “non-nutritive sweeteners,” since they offer no calories), but those were associated with “increases in weight and dozens of potential health risks. Like brain tumors, Epilepsy and even Alzheimer’s disease,

Aspartame is a neurotoxin. made up of three chemicals: aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol.

Sounds delicious, and it’s so thoughtful of those companies to do that for you. But hay there are no calories and no carbs.

Potassium benzoate helps fight food spoilage, and it can contribute to food’s flavor, but like any food additive, it can cause allergic reactions.

and Finally Citric acid is a weak organic acid that has the chemical formula C ₆H ₈O ₇. It occurs naturally in citrus fruits. In biochemistry, it is an intermediate in the citric acid cycle, which occurs in the metabolism of all aerobic organisms. More than a million tons of citric acid are manufactured every year. Wikipedia

Im pretty sure there is no one standing around squeezing oranges to put the citrus acid in your soda which means it comes from a lab.

So the next time someone offers you a nice refreshing can of chemicals, Please take a few minutes and think about what you are getting for that.  and ask your self who is benefitting from you consuming that delightful treat?

Bottom Line Soda is No soda in any form is not good for you. and drinking this beverage can and will hinder your weight loss and health goals.  Soda is not what it used to be, and the only people benefiting from the consumption of it are the companies themselves.

Looking for a healthy alternative for energy to help you make it through your day?

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