What Happens When You Drink Soda

I think this article is a MUST for anyone tempted to drink soda:

What Happens To Your Body If You Drink A Soda Right Now??
by Wade Meredith on December 8th, 2006


Have you ever wondered why Coke comes with a smile? It's because it gets you high. They took the cocaine out almost a hundred years ago. You know why? It was redundant.

• In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don't immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.
• 20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (There's plenty of that at this particular moment)
• 40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.
• 45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.
• >60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.
• >60 Minutes: The caffeine's diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you'll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.
• >60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you'll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You've also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.
• This will all be followed by a caffeine crash in the next few hours. (As little as two if you're a smoker.) But, hey, have another Coke, it'll make you feel better.

*FYI: The Coke itself is not the enemy, here. It's the dynamic combo of massive sugar doses combined with caffeine and phosphoric acid. Things which are found in almost all soda.

Nutritional Shortcuts

You will never weigh everything!

I'm busy, you're busy...I like to tell my DH that even we SAHM's are more busy then anyone else (our job is 24-7). That being the case, the idea that you'll measure every single thing you'll eat or drink is unrealistic. The trick to life-long change is Ease With Your Lifestyle. If preparing food on Saturday and freezing the food for the coming week is best for you, do it. If sticking your car, pocket book, brief case, desk, etc is better for you? Do it! There is no right or wrong. Everyone was led down a different path, even though we all ended up with those extra pounds. So you're path to being healthy won't be the same as anyone else.

So, how do you know you're eating the right portion size without breaking out the scale for every meal? Well, there are tricks we nutritionists use. It's really the easiest way...but you must be honest with yourself. If you'll eat 2 servings it's ok, just exercise that much more to burn the extra calories. So you don't need to close one eye and stand on your left foot with your right fingers crossed in order to say it was a single serving.

Here are the visual tricks to determining Serving Size:

• A rounded handful - one 1/2 cup vegetables or fruit, 1/2 cup of cooked rice or pasta, or a snack serving of crisps or pretzels
• Woman’s fist - another way of visualising a serving of vegetables, or one piece of whole fruit
• Small handful or golf ball - 1/4 cup of dried fruit
• A matchbox - a 1 oz serving of meat, or a serving of cheese
• Deck of cards, or the palm of your hand (excluding fingers) - a 3oz serving (recommended serving) of meat, fish or poultry, or ten chips/french fries
• Thin paperback book - a 8 oz serving of meat
• Check book - a serving of fish (approximately 3 oz)
• Tennis ball - 1/2 cup of pasta, or a serving of ice cream
• Computer mouse - a medium baked potato
• Compact disc - one serving of pancake or small waffle
• Thumb tip or one dice - one teaspoon of margarine
• A ping pong ball - two tablespoons of peanut butter
• Small milk carton - 8 oz glass of milk
• A baseball - 8 oz cup of yogurt, one cup of beans, or one cup of dry cereal
• If you have certain foods you tend to eat all the time (like for me it's sesame seeds) then weight those once. I buy my seeds in bulk, then weight them into individual Ziplock baggies. No need to weight every time, once is enough!

Oh - when you're at a resturant or a family dinner here is what I suggest:

• Always get dressings on the side. Even dipping each forkful will give you less dressing then they usually put on. Try to stick to the vinegrettes, but if you MUST get the ceasar then dip or use the biggest spoon and put 1 1/2 spoon fuls on your salad ONLY.
• As soon as you're plate is placed in front of you ask for a doggie bag. Immediately bag up at least 1/2 of your food. It's appaling the size of the plates here in America. You'll be less tempted to over eat if the food simply isn't there.
• Always leave food on you're plate....trust me, the starving children in China won't care.
• If you're going to a family dinner, and you know they'll hound you into eating high-calorie foods, ask for a desert plate and use this instead of a full dinner plate. It will help you to minimize the damage of those high cal foods.

Free Meal Plans

Now that you have a better understanding of how to determine the nutritional value of the food you usually buy (and the holes of extra calories) You can begin to plan out what you will eat for the coming week.

I can not begin to tell you how important planning and journaling is. For some of us, the fact that we have to keep a log each day is enough to keep us from straying (how harsh is it to have to fill that log with the crap you wanted to eat). So loging or journaling can help us stay on the straight path, but more than that - if you hit a plateau one of the reasons might be that you're eating more calories than you THINK you're eating. Looking back through your logs can help you to develop a clearer picture of the amount of cals.

• You can take your log and compare it to the food Calorie Lists here:
  Mike's Alphabetical Food Calorie Chart
• or You can use a Calorie Calculator to type in the food and it will calculate the calories and fat.
• You can determine Your Recommended Caloric Intake here.
• You can determine your Recommended Serving Sizes based on your Recommended Caloric Intake here.
• What actually Counts As A Serving Size. As stated in the previous post. This is the hardest part...Who would have thought that 1 Slice of bread is 1 Serving Size...who makes a sandwich with only 1? That means you need to multiply the calories by 2!! This link will give you the foods list that equal 1 serving size.
• Here's some Menu Plans for a 2200 - 2400 calorie a day diet (what most of us SHOULD be eating, most deprive the body short-circuiting the metabolism): Life Styles Management
  Pyramid Diet (using the FDA Recommended Daily Allowences listed on the Nutritional Labels for a diet) just scroll to the bottom of the screen for the Meal Plans.
  

No More Excuses

Hey Everybody,

Well it's 10am (est) have you worked out at all today? No? What about yesterday? Awww your son had a snuffly nose? Your hubby went out with his friends leaving you home with all the tired and grouchy kids? Awww I feel ya.....but....what exactly is your excuse? That's life, and no one said the road would be smooth sailing (how boring would that be). You'll always have a sick kid, or hubby (even worse :D), you'll always have a mile high stack of laundry, you'll always have to make dinner, and call your sisters-cousins-best friend.

Lack of motivation is the number one excuse EVERYONE uses. Sure some may think they are motivated, but if they were then their ass wouldn't be sitting at a computer desk right now.

So, here's my #1 wight-loss secret....

YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORKOUT FOR 2 HOURS AT A TIME TO LOSE WEIGHT!
That's right....you should be doing about 45 minutes of cardio-respiratory exercise every day. BUT, this includes walking at a clip through the mall, or parking further away from work. Playing with the kids can be considered cardio, heck even sex is considered cardio...the actual definition of Cardio Respiratory exercise is any movement that utilizes several muscles at the same time for an extended period of time...So the treadmill, elliptical, stepper and Rower are cardio exercises that burn lots of calories (on average about 400-600/hour the same as about 1 meal)...So you should be doing continuous movement for a minimum of 45 minutes a day....but it's difficult to put aside an hour a day, things can get in the way....but you can easily find 10-15 minutes....that's right. You don't have to do the 45 minutes all in one lump, you can split it up throughout the day. You can easily find 15 minutes 3-4 times a day!!!!!!NO MORE EXCUSES, if you can find time to pee, you can find time to exercise....if you can find time to read this post, then you can find time to exercise!

Tip of the Day

Don't Discount Chores!!

Believe it or not, you do actually burn calories while doing everyday chores. Why not put on some music and boogy while doing them and increase the caloric burn!

• Bed rest, sleeping = 60 per hour
• Taking a shower - 65 for 15 minutes
• Eating a meal (sitting down) = 70 per 30 minutes
• Reading, Watching TV, Sitting (some brain activity) = 75 per hour
• Sewing (sitting down at a sewing machine) = 80 per hour
• Grocery Shopping, loading puchased groceries in your vehicle, carrying them into your home, and putting them away = 90 per hour
• Basic House Cleaning; making beds, cleaning bathroom, light vaccuming, empty small trash containers (not breaking a sweat) = 95 per hour
• Quietly standing in line = 100 per hour
• Arguing on the phone or with neighbor (standing, swinging arms) = 105 per hour
• Sexual intimacy = 108 per hour
• Playing with your dog; throwing rawhide, playing tag, playing fetch = 115 per hour
• Chasing after kids, during daily activity (Heck I have 2 kids I should know!) = 120 per hour
• Driving a vehicle in moderate to heavy traffic = 120 per hour
• Going for a walk (moderate movement) in the park = 130 per hour
• Horseback Riding = 130 per hour
• Going for a bike ride, (6 mph). Once warmed up, you want to work at about a level 5 out of 10 for 20 - 30 minutes, without stopping = 135 per hour
• Mall shopping; swiftly walking through stores at an active pace, trying on clothes, carrying packages, (not resting on benches) = 135 per hour
• Bowling or Ballroom dancing = 145 per hour
• Wrestling = 180 for a 10 - 15 minute match
• Heavy housework; scrubbing floors on hands and knees, stripping paint, hand-washing walls, cleaning the garage. (Using a lot of up and down motion with the body.) = 225 per hour
• Yoga, breaking a sweat = 230 per hour
• Weeding a garden (stooping and bending), bagging up discarded weeds, and carrying them away, breaking a little sweat. = 230 per hour
• Playing Golf, riding in a golf cart between holes = 250 per hour
• Softball, soccer or free-style swimming = 260 per hour
  *Swimming for pleasure, no time limits, no stress. This can only be considered aerobic if it is continuous for 20 - 30 minutes without stopping, going for an intensity of a level 5 = 260 per hour
• Lawn mowing, using a push mower, (bending down often to remove rubbish from the way) gathering up leaves and carrying them away = 295 per hour
• Playing golf, pushing a bag cart (with wheels) and walking between holes, some sweating = 300 per hour
• Martial arts, Tai Chi, or Karate (no rest breaks) = 345 for 1 hour
• Playing golf, lugging your own clubs around at a fast pace, walking between holes, sweating & labored breathing = 370 per hour
• Hiking, Rock Climbing, uphill = 390 per hour
• Dancing to Rock and Roll Music = 400 per hour
• Competitve professional type bowling, one on one (no sitting) = 400 per hour
• Going up and down steep stairs at home or work (12 steps to each set of stairs), not holding on to the banister, not stopping- only counts as aerobic if it is continuous for 20 - 30 minutes = 425 per hour
• Racquetball, football, hockey, basketball = 460 per hour