12 Steps to Whole Foods

Bye-Bye, Stimulants — Hello, Green Smoothies
Why Soft Drinks Are Bad for You
Since 1978, males age 12-29 have tripled their soda consumption,
now drinking 160 gallons per year on average—that’s almost half a
gallon per day. Girls’ consumption has tripled, and the average
person drinks 3 quarts per week. One 12-oz. can of soda contains 10
spoonfuls of sugar, and diet sodas are high in sodium and the toxic
chemical sweetener aspartame, which contains wood alcohol and is
linked to more health complaints to the FDA than all other food
additives combined.
Reasons to quit drinking soda now 1 :
1. Children who drink just one soft drink a day are 60% more
likely to become obese than those who don’t, according to a
2001 study by Harvard University and Boston Children’s
Hospital.
2. A huge body of published research links the rise in soft drink
consumption to osteoporosis and bone fractures, as soda is
high in phosphorus and robs the body of calcium. Kids who
drink sodas have a three to four times higher risk of bone
fracture than those who don’t.
3. Dr. Judith Valentine (Ph.D., C.N.A., C.N.C.) says that virtually every child she has treated who
complains of stomach problems has been easy to treat: get the child off soft drinks, and the symptoms
disappear. Sodas increase stomach acid levels, irritate and erode the gastric lining, and burn out tissue
binders, “eating away at your liver like Hannibal Lecter,” according to Barnet Meltzer, M.D.
4. Sugar and acid in soft drinks (an array of chemicals including synthetic acetic, fumaric, gluconic, and
phosphoric acids) dissolve tooth enamel.
5. The sugar from one soft drink damages the white blood cells’ ability to ingest and kill bacteria for seven
hours, according to the research of James Howenstine, M.D.
6. Carbonation robs the red blood cells of their ability to exchange oxygen, which sets back an athlete or
anyone who needs stamina and energy.
7. Caffeine withdrawal symptoms (experienced by people who drink as little as a single cup of coffee or
soda per day) include headache, fatigue, mild depression, muscle pain, flu-like symptoms, nausea, and
vomiting, according to a study at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine by Roland R. Griffiths,
M.D.
8. According to the Johns Hopkins study, women who drink caffeinated beverages are more prone to
PMS: the more they drink, the worse PMS symptoms are.
Why should you stop eating sugar now? Because sugar…
1. Is more addictive than cocaine.
2. Makes you fat.
3. Ages you perhaps more than anything else, decreasing tissue elasticity.
4. Makes you tired.
5. Controls your behavior, making you moody or anxious.
6. Destabilizes your blood sugar, notably causing energy crashes.
30 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw