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TOP 10 SODA Myths That Are LIES
Some myths are just wrong! We are here to set the record straight! Here is our Top 10 List of Soda Myths that are Lies!
10. The Myth That Carbonated Drinks Weaken Your Bones Is A Lie!
Carbonated drinks, such as soda, do not weaken your bones. That means that the carbonated water you drink or the Kombucha or even the sparkling wines you like do not weaken your bones either. The myth that carbonation weakens your bones is a total lie. There is way too little of the stuff that can be potentially harmful to your bones in carbonated beverages. Even if you drank three or four glasses of soda a day you would be fine! No crumbling bones for you! When you drink soda you do not need to fear that your skeleton will eventually crumble like the ruins in a Laura Croft Tomb Raider movie, because they won’t! You can jump on the bed and your bones won’t fail you. You can swing from the trees like Tarzan and your bones won’t fail you. You can even go to space and your bones will not fail you because you drank a soda. Soda is not what would cause your bones to weaken. Just let that myth go because it is one big fat lie!
9. The Myth That Diet Soda Makes You Crave Sweets And Treats Is A Lie!
That’s right folks, you heard it here, diet soda does not make you crave sweets and treats even though you heard through the grape vine that it did. The reason diet soda will not make you desire sugary foods is because it is already sweet enough! By drinking something that is sweet you are decreasing your desire for sweet foods because you are actively consuming something sweet already. Like – have you ever heard that people who drink hot chocolate crave sweet food? No! Absolutely not! Hot chocolate is already super sweet and it is enough to satisfy any craving you have for sugar. If the concept that hot chocolate makes you crave sweets seems ridiculous then so should the idea that drinking diet soda makes crave sweets. It is no secret that sodas, even diet sodas, have a sweet taste. So, with that in mind we must understand that the soda itself satisfies our cravings! You may be a little sad to find out that the myth that diet soda makes you crave sweets and treats is a lie because you had been using it to validate the reason for having a chocolate bar with your soda… But, you don’t need to validate anything! Eat your candy or your chocolate bar with your soda! Go ahead! Nothing wrong with that! Just know that you are eating it because you want it and you feel like it and not because the soda is making you do it. Soda is not that powerful. You are in control of your cravings!
8. The Myth that Diet Soda Is Totally Harmless Is A Lie!
Okay, we love soda. It tastes good. It quenches your thirst. When it is nice and cold it cools your body down too from the inside out. It is so easy to grab and go. It is easy to share (just buy a case and bam you are ready to share), and it is a fun product! Soda is fun because there are cool advertisements and ‘camps’ surrounding the soda you drink. Like, are you a Coke or a Pepsi person… that sort of thing. Each of these aspects makes drinking soda a pleasure. That being said, the bigs companies that sell you soda may have also given you the impression that the diet sodas or zero calorie sodas were totally harmless. You may have thought that those specialty sodas were like equivalent to drinking a very well flavored water. Sadly, this is totally not the case. Though the diet sodas are not as bad as some people make them out to be there certainly are not as good as some people make them out to be either. There is acid in the diet sodas that can cause acid reflux or esophageal hernias, and also tooth decay. Icky, icky, icky! But, again, you already knew that about soda! You know that soda is not water! Duhhh! Nothing is like water but water! So to think that you are totally out of harm’s way when you drink a diet soda is false. You may not be in harm’s way but you are not out of it either. Makes sense?
7. The Myth That Soda Will Give You Energy Is A Lie!
This is about the truth and if we are talking about the truth then we need to talk about how soda does not give you energy. Yes, there is caffeine in soda, but it is basically there to make the drink taste better and it is not really there it pump you up and wake you up. If you are looking for a drink that will wake you up try coffee! Or you know, even a green tea will do it! Not a soda. In fact, drinking soda can bring you down. Yup! That’s right, a soda can suck the energy right out of you. When you drink soda you are not only consuming caffeine but sugar. The sugar can give you a mini boost which you may think is super great and fun and all that until you then have the downer. Some people call this sugar shock. You will lose the “sugar high” and go into “sugar shock” which will feel more like a lethargic droopy downer. Boy does that suck! Too bad eh, wouldn’t it have been great if the sugar kept you up high all the time? But alas, no, you must come down. Nothing like the roller coaster of sugar to confuse us. So, now you know, soda does not have enough caffeine in it to give you energy!
6. The Myth That Soda Keeps You Up At Night Is A Lie!
Since soda does not have enough caffeine to pump you up in the morning it also does not have enough to keep you up at night. However, the sugar in the soda may give you a sugar high which would mean you do not want to go to sleep right away… but once you get that sugar downer you will be ready for sleep whenever! So if you are having trouble sleeping maybe you just are not waiting long enough after having consumed your soda. Not like five hours later, if you had to wait five hours then yeah, soda would be impacting your sleep. But, your sugar high and low should not take that long if it is even happening at all and you should not have trouble falling asleep because of your soda. If you are having trouble catching your Z’s as they say then try counting sheep and if that doesn’t work for you then maybe there is something you need to address in the good old fashion therapy way. Do you have anything on your mind? Do you want to talk about it? If you have nothing at your mind eating away at you and you still cannot fall asleep they hey, maybe it is just that you are not sleepy!? Whatever the reason you could have for not being able to fall into sweet sweet slumber just know that it is not because you had one soda with dinner or even two or three or four sodas and you sat and watched television. The soda does not keep you and will not keep you awake!
5. The Myth That Soda Made With Cane Sugar Is Better Than The Soda Made With Corn Syrup Is A Lie!
So, you may have noticed that sugar has gotten a pretty bad rep these past few years. Maybe the person you were dating went on a sugar free diet or your mom or even yourself. Maybe you try to cut sugar here and there and think you are having an impact on your body (maybe you are?!) but you cannot really tell. Or maybe you have heard that corn syrup in particular is a big bad monster and needs to die and you try to avoid that at all costs and choose to consume cane sugar or other alternatives instead. Well, the truth of the matter is that sugar can be bad for you, but what is really bad is the liquid sugar – or sugar in liquid form. When sugar is in liquid form is in breaking down differently in the body and it has a fructose level that is just not great for you. So it is not which sugar you are consuming, it is how you are consuming it. As far as soda goes you are already aware that there is some sugar in soda, so this is not a surprise. What you should note here is that the kind of sugar you consume in your soda does not actually make a difference. The sugar in the soda is just like the other sugars in the other sodas. It is what it is. So just drink the soda you like, do not waste your sugar consumption on having a soda you think may be better for you because it is likely not.
4. The Myth That Clear Soda Is Healthier Than Darker Soda Is A Lie!
The color of your soda does not dictate if it is ‘good’ for you or ‘bad’ for you. While the darker sodas can eventually have an effect of darkening your pearly white teeth (as coffee and wine also do) it is not worse than any other soda. What is making darker sodas darker is the type and amount of caffeine in the beverage. It is also the type of flavoring put into the drink. The darker soda is just a different sugar cocktail than the white soda! They are both sugar concoctions and they both can be considered kind of bad for you due to the sugar. So, do not be racist with your sodas. A soda is a soda! One if not healthier than the other. One is not better than the other. Typically, one is not even more caffeinated than the other (other than Mountain Dew which really is the exception). Perhaps there can be a whole movement to set this myth right. It could be led by an internet hashtag that goes #asodaisasoda. Spread the word. A soda is a soda!
3. The Myth That Soda Causes Cancer Is A Lie!
Cancer is a big fat mystery a lot of the time. The reason someone may have cancer can allude them and their doctors. That being said, there are some things that do in fact cause certain kinds of cancer without the shadow of a doubt; like cigarettes. That is proven. But… Soda!? Nope! That is just a lie! The reason this myth was propagated was because of the big bad wolf we call aspartame. Aspartame was given to rats in a study in order to see the effects that it has. What was found was that the aspartame given to the rats caused cancer. So the assumption was made that if you drink soda you may get leukemia and lymphomas. The thing is is that the amount of aspartame that was given to these tested rats was way way way more then what we humans would consume. So the study was totally invalid. Again, it is important to note that some sodas do have aspartame and that it is not the best thing for you. You would absolutely be better to have a glass of water – but woah woah woah, the soda will not give you cancer! You can chill!
2. The Myth That Soda Does Not Hydrate You Is A Lie!
“Don’t have the soda, have a glass of water instead, you need to hydrate!” said every mom ever. Moms may be right… water does hydrate you. Obviously. Water is like one of the best things for us considering our bodies are practically water bottles themselves. But, that does not mean that caffeinated drinks, such as soda, do not hydrate us too. The water in our bodies also comes from the foods we eat! We get water from everywhere! So next time you think that you are not getting hydrated when you crack open that can of soda think again. You are! You are getting hydrated from the soda. Your body is pulling out the water it needs from the drink and getting rid of the rest! Ha ha mom! Take that!
1. The Myth That Soda Makes You Gain Weight Is A Lie!
Soda does not and will not make you gain weight. What makes you gain weight is the hamburger and fries and milkshake you have alongside your soda. Typically the fast food joints we all know and love also sell soda and so the fast food and the soda naturally go together. Therefore, you have been kind of conditioned or brain washed into wanting to have soda with fast food. The day you decide to have a salad may not be the day you plan on drinking soda. That is the problem and that is why this myth exists. If you drank soda while eating salad instead of the fast food you may see that you do not gain weight. If we take this even further and you decide to go on a very rigorous diet and workout everyday but also give yourself the freedom to drink soda then you will very likely lose weight. That would be up to you and how well you are doing your rigorous routine. But, the soda will not slow your weight loss down. The soda you would be ingesting in this scenario is not attached to weight gain or loss or anything. In fact, the soda may help you in a way because it will also be satisfying your the sweet cravings. So if you are drinking soda you may not want to be eating ice cream and chocolate and candy. By reducing all of the sweet foods you may lose weight because, similarly to fast food, sweets can make you gain weight. But, soda can’t! Soda can’t make you gain weight! That is a lie! A lie! A horrible weight lie!