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Soft Drinks, The regular stuff!
We all know sugar sweetened soft drinks are empty calories and help contribute to the overall obesity problem in the western world. What most of us don’t know is how much of an impact these have and how switching to diet drinks may be an even worse choice.
In 2000 Americans alone spent $60 billion on carbonated soft drinks and billions more on non-carbonated “fruit” beverages. During the same year the average American consumed more than 53 gallons of soft drinks. (Source: National Soft Drink Association). Those 53 gallons are equal to over 283 12 ounce cans each on average.
In 2004, soft drink companies produced enough non-diet soda to provide each U.S. resident with about 395 12 ounce cans, and enough diet soda for about 160 cans each, says the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
North American consumption represents more than 44% of worldwide consumption, Europe, with a per capita average of 12.7 gallons per year, represented 31%. The fastest growth in soft drink consumption is in Asia and South America. (Source Beverage Marketing Press Release June 15, 2001).
During the late 1950’s the typical soft drink order in a casual or fast food restaurant contained about 8 ounces of soda. Today a “child” order of Coke at McDonalds is 12 ounces. A “large” Coke is 32 ounces and about 310 calories.
The average 12 ounce can of soda contains about 40 grams of refined sugar. That’s about 8 Teaspoons! Did you ever consider you were eating 8 teaspoons of sugar with every can of soda pop? For comparison the USDA recommends that for a 2,000 calorie per day diet we should not consume more than 40 grams of refined sugars per day. In addition each can contains about 150 calories with zero nutritional value per 12 ounce can.
You can see how an extra 300 to 400 calories per day can contribute to weight gain.
Dr. Caroline Apovian, an associate professor at the Boston University School of Medicine and director of the Weight Management Center at Boston Medical Center, says one study found that the chance of becoming obese increased 1.6 times for each sugar sweetened drink consumed per day.
In addition to the calories, the sugar and the impact on weight gain and obesity, soda contains caffeine. Caffeine as we know is a mildly addictive stimulant drug that keeps us coming back for more. Research has shown that the caffeine delivered in a single 12 ounce can of soft drink is enough to produce mood and behavioral effects. (Source: Dr. Roland Griffiths in Eileen O’Conner’s “A sip into dangerous territory,” Monitor on Psychology, 32, June 2001.
Fruit Drinks:
Like I said repeatedly in my book “Living To BeYounger”we are literally being marketed to death. I go into great detail about how ad agencies and food companies are packaging products as a healthy alternative to junk foods.
There is no better example than the “healthy alternative” fruit drinks marketed by the soft drink companies. These companies market non-carbonated drinks that pretend to be rich in fruit juice and nutrients, but are basically sugar water. Coca-Cola Co.’s Fruitopia and Hi-C, for example contain only 5% to 10% fruit juice but they contain as much (or more) sugar as the carbonated soda pop. Don’t be fooled by the claims of added vitamins and minerals on these products packages, they are still junk food.
The sweetener commonly used in soft drinks and other foods may lead to more body fat than drinks sweetened with plain sugar. A new study shows that fructose may alter the body’s metabolism in a way that prompts it to store body fat.
Fructose is a sweetener found naturally in fruits and honey and is widely used as a sweetener in soft drinks, fructose is usually found in the form of high-fructose corn syrup which contains 55% fructose.
Researchers say the findings may help explain the recently established link between rising soft drink popularity and obesity rates in the United States and other parts of the world.
In the study, researchers led by Dr. Matthias Tschop of the University of Cincinnati compared the effects of feeding mice fructose-sweetened water, a soft drink flavored with table sugar, a diet soft drink or water. The mice were allowed to drink as much as they wanted of their assigned beverage.
The mice that drank the fructose-sweetened water gained significantly more body fat than the others, even thought they decreased the amount of calories they ate from solid food.
” We were surprised to see that mice actually ate less when exposed to fructose-sweetened beverages and therefore didn’t consume more overall calories,” says Tschop, “Nevertheless they gained significantly more body fat within a few weeks.”
Body fat increased 11% in the fructose group, 5% in the water group, 7% and 8% in the diet and sugar water groups.
Researchers say the findings suggest the body metabolizes fructose differently than other sweeteners or carbohydrates and in a way that favors fat storage.
Between 1970 and 1990 high-fructose corn syrup consumption increased by more than 1000% largely because the nations soft drink producers switched from sucrose (sugar) to high-fructose corn syrup.
Making syrup is the second largest use of corn in North America, feeding livestock is the largest. On average Americans consume 48 pounds of corn syrup a year. (Source Anan Duming, “Junk Food, Food Junk World Watch September / October 1991)
A 2004 report showed that Americans eat 132 calories each day of high-fructose corn syrup and that figure is closer to 300 for the top 20%of Americans.
Number who are obese goes from 12% to 17.9%.
The number of Americans who think about dieting and losing weight is probably at an all-time high. But surprisingly, so too are the number of Americans who are overweight (BMI >25) or obese (BMI >30): at least 30% of the population. The percentage of children and adolescents who are overweight has doubled since the early 1970s, raising concerns for long-term health effects. Excess weight is a health risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. By mid-1999, there were 7.1 million physician visits related to weight concerns.
Let’s see high-fructose corn syrup production up 1000% from 1970, obesity and overweight doubled since 1970? Tripled in England during the same period?
To my simple way of thinking, “It ain’t the whole answer, but it’s a big part of it”!
For then full FREE Special Report on Soft Drinks and Astounding information Diet Drinks visit this link.
I felt this information was important enough to provide a free excerpt of this chapter of my book, “Living To Be Younger”. People need to know the facts about what their consuming and the impact on their health.
We simply are not getting good information, and the result of that lack of knowledge is becoming more and more evident.
June 7th, 2006
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We love the dense crumb of this Viennese-style cake. Ice cream, chocolate sauce, or berries are all good accompaniments, but whipped cream and jam is our favorite.PREP AND COOK TIME: 2 hours
MAKES: 16 servings
3 1/3 cups cake flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 1 cup butter, at room temperature
3 cups sugar 6 large eggs 1 cup sour cream 2 teaspoons almond extract
1. Preheat oven to 325[degrees]. Butter and flour a 12-cup bundt pan. In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking powder.
2. In a large bowl, with a mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each, then add sour cream and almond extract. Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing well after each addition.
3. Pour batter into bundt pan. Bake until a knife inserted in center comes out clean, 75 to 90 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a rack to cool completely.
Per serving: 414 cal., 37% (153 cal.) from fat; 5.3 g protein; 17 g fat (9.8 g sat.); 61 g carbo (0.5 g fiber); 234 mg sodium; 117 mg chol.
June 1st, 2006
1 Most women overestimate their chance of getting breast cancer. In a survey by the Atlanta-based American Cancer Society, nearly half the respondents thought that American women have a 30-50 percent chance of getting breast cancer, and two-thirds thought that the risk was more than 20 percent. Cancer statistics experts say that among girls born in 2005, an estimated 13 percent will develop breast cancer at some time in their lives.
2 Eighty percent of breast lumps are not cancer. Many are simply fibrocystic changes: Sacs in your breast fill with too much fluid and become hard and may be painful. These changes are common among women of childbearing age, and often fluctuate during the menstrual cycle.
Fibroadenomas are benign tumors common among women in their 20s and 30s. There is usually no treatment for them if they do not grow; if they do, some doctors recommend removing them surgically. A malignant tumor tends to feel like a fixed, hard object and is more irregular in shape, says breast surgeon Gregory Senofsky, M.D., author of The Patient’s Guide to Outstanding Breast Cancer Care (Perigee, 2002). A benign lump is often more round and moves easily from side to side. All lumps, however, should be checked by your doctor.
3 Doing monthly breast self-exams is always a good idea. “Despite the fact that [research] doesn’t statistically show that breast self-exams save lives, I’ve seen cases where young women are the first ones to pick up a breast mass,” says Marleen Meyers, M.D., assistant professor of medicine in oncology at New York University Medical Center in New York City, who encourages all her patients to perform regular self-exams. To see a short video clip about the best way to examine your breasts, visit komen.org/bse.
The American Cancer Society recommends that women 20 and older examine their own breasts every month and that women in their 20s and 30s have their breasts examined by their doctors every three years. Because risk rises with age, women 40 and older should have their breasts examined by a doctor annually and begin getting annual mammograms.
4 About 80 percent of women who get breast cancer have no known risk factors for it. The best way to deal with this is to do what you can to reduce your known risk factors and not worry about what you can’t control. Proven lifestyle factors that increase breast-cancer risk are drinking two to five alcoholic drinks per day, being overweight (particularly if the added weight was put on after age 20) and not exercising.
Risk factors that you can’t control include being a woman; being older than age 50; having a mother, sister or daughter diagnosed with breast cancer at a young age; being Caucasian; getting your first period before age 12; having one of the two breast-cancer genes; and not having children or having them after age 30. To calculate your own individual estimated risk, try the Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool at bcra.nci.nih.gov/brc.
5 You can find out if you carry the breast-cancer gene. But should you? About 211,000 American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, but only 5-10 percent of them are carrying one or more of the inherited altered genes called BRCA1 and BRCA2, according to the Bethesda, Md.-based National Cancer Institute. A woman with one of these altered genes has an 80 percent chance of developing breast cancer sometime in her life.
Getting this test can have repercussions: A positive result could be emotionally difficult for you and your family. You will need to talk to your doctor about more monitoring (e.g., more frequent mammograms) and cancer-prevention choices (taking the drug tamoxifen, for instance, has been shown nearly to halve the number of breast cancers in high-risk women). Plus, a negative result may give you a false sense of security. To learn more about genetic testing or to find a genetic counselor near you, visit the National Society of Genetic Counselors at nsgc.org.
6 Your breast-cancer risk factors should be considered when selecting birth control. Studies are mixed on whether use of oral contraceptives increases breast-cancer risk. (The two kinds of oral contraceptives available in the United States include a combination of estrogen and progesterone and the minipill, which contains the synthetic form of progesterone only.) “Although there is no hard evidence that women who use oral contraceptives have an increased risk of breast cancer, if my patient has a family history of breast cancer or a relative with the breast-cancer genes, I suggest that she find another birth-control method to avoid possibly compounding her risk,” Meyers says.
7 Breast size has nothing to do with risk, but height and weight do. Excess weight, not breast size, is a risk factor, particularly in postmenopausal women–and not just for getting breast cancer, but for dying of it. Thirty to 50 percent of all cancer deaths among postmenopausal women in America may be attributed to being overweight, according to the American Cancer Society. Estrogen is stored in fat tissue, so heavier women produce more of the female hormone which can spur developing cancers. And, because breast tumors are harder to detect in obese women, cancer is often found at later stages.
The risk of dying of breast cancer is also associated with height, which may be related to growth factors early in life. Women who are 5 feet tall or shorter are at less risk of death from the disease than those who are taller.
8 Exercise may lower your breast-cancer risk, and will help prevent a recurrence if you do get it. “In premenopausal women, exercisers have lower levels of estrogen and progesterone,” says Anne McTiernan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Prevention Center at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and co-author of Breast Fitness (St. Martin’s Press, 2001). Similarly, a woman’s cancer risk may be higher if her estrogen level is extended during her lifetime (in other words, if she began menstruating early, had no pregnancies and/or experienced delayed menopause). Progesterone, too, may have an effect, as it was recently discovered that postmenopausal women taking hormone replacement therapy that consisted of synthetic estrogen and progesterone had a higher cancer risk than women who took estrogen only.
Even a small amount of exercise offers protection–one study showed that as little as 1 1/4-2 1/2 hours of brisk walking a week reduced a woman’s breast-cancer risk by 18 percent.
9 Having dense breasts when you’re older is a risk factor. Women who are 40 or older with dense (highly glandular) breasts do have an increased breast-cancer risk. “There are more lobules and cells that are active in dense breasts than in fatty breasts, and a greater prevalence of cancer in that type of tissue,” says Wendie Berg, M.D., Ph.D., a radiologist in Lutherville, Md. Most young women have dense breasts, but as they get older, their breasts become more fatty. Breast density can only be measured on a mammogram, says Berg, who is leading a clinical trial of ultrasound screening for women at high risk for breast cancer.
10 If you have dense breasts or a high risk of getting breast cancer, ultrasound may be used as a supplement to mammograms for screening. Women who have known cancer risk factors, or who are 40 or older with dense breasts, may want to get an ultrasound as well as a mammogram as often as every six months to a year (it’s increasingly being covered by insurance), Berg says. “A screening ultrasound has been shown to detect small (1-centimeter), invasive breast cancers not seen on mammography, usually before they have spread to the lymph nodes,” she says. “In extremely dense breast tissue, at least half of invasive cancers are not seen on mammography.”
COPYRIGHT 2005 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group
May 27th, 2006
Smoking and other substance-related habits when coupled with a sedentary daily routine may create health-related problems in the end. A fitness-oriented life can often counteract the unhealthy effects of such habits. One such technique is to do exercises that improve the health of our lungs.
Lungs are an important part of our body. We breathe in and out a massive amount of air each day, and the lungs process it to supply oxygen to our blood. Poor breathing habits and lack of exercise may result in poor oxygen supply to the blood, which in turn means less energy to our body tissues.
The various lung exercises expel the air in the lungs, including the bad air that remains languishing due to poor breathing. Aerobic exercises, including just a morning jog - are a good way to keep fit. Breathing exercises done regularly exercise lungs which provide a steady stream of oxygen-rich blood to our brain and muscles.
Being in good health is the first step in living a good life. Getting fresh air everyday, with proper breathing that goes deep down in the lungs is what the author has found rejuvenating and de-stressing. The lung exercises expel the bad air, and fills up the lungs with good, fresh air. The effects can be felt immediately - lightness, refreshed mood, and loads of energy.
The various drug-related habits are sometimes just a byproduct of other problems and issues that are left unsolved. These could be personal, family related, or social. A resolution of these issues may allow the user to come out of such habits. Recreational use is of course a different issue.
By Tima
May 18th, 2006
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