How Much is Too Much: Soda.

The past week has been interesting; I have been going from meetings to meetings all week long. Needless to say, the week has past by very quickly for me. The project I am currently working on involves meeting with the scientists and lawyers. I can tell you that I have learned more about biology, chemistry, and communication law more than I would ever had in college.

It is nice to be in the same room as all these experts, and be able to ask them questions and get straight answers. One thing that was intriguing to me was the myth about having to drink 8 glass of water a day. The scientist indicated that most human body requires 2000 cc of water a day, but it doesn’t limit from obtaining water from drinking it. The water can come from the food you eat, for example: fruits. If you are not dehydrated, you don’t need to drink 8 glasses of water, it’ll make you swell up. However, most people are dehydrated these days, hence we need to take in more water.

You know some people drink coffee of caffeinated soda to stay awake during the day? And then these people will have consume more to maintain the same buzz they get from these caffeinated drinks? What I have gathered from the discussion is that caffeine does not give you energy, it’s the sugar that does. What is energy? It is essentially calories. Sugar has calories, and 1 can (12Oz.) of regular Dr. Pepper has 40 grams of sugar, which converts to 150 calories.

Caffeine on the other hand, does not give you energy. It is a stimulant that makes people go hay wired in their brain.  And ahhhhh….. But what about the 5 hour energy thing? I’ll ask my scientist friends about that later, since it claims that it only has 5 calories.

Personally, I don’t drink much soda. Maybe it’s because my mother has ingrained the idea of drinking soda is bad for your body, and too much sugar makes your skin ugly. (Some Chinese myth I guess) My mom is not the only one that tells me that, even my uncle (who’s Chinese also) said too much soda could prevent your body absorbing calcium, and it weakens your bone. I will have to research more about that. Although I have read somewhere on parenting about children obesity, cavity problems, bone structure issues relating to soda.

There is nothing wrong for drinking soda, I drink soda when I have greasy food. But not 32oz., you know, one of those giant mugs, by 10am in the morning. More soda by lunch, and then 3pm hits, more soda, and then even more soda by dinner time. Think about it 12 oz of regular Dr. Pepper has 150 calories, 32 oz in the morning. You do the math, that is a lot of empty calories that you do not need. So, where does all the extra calories/pounds go? Your waist, thigh, mid section, under your chin and etc. Why are American are comparably heavier than the rest of the world? Excess soda is part of the answer.