Anatomy Of A Soda

How much soda is consumed each year in the United States? I did a little digging on the internet awhile back and the number I kept seeing was 15 billion gallons of soda are sold each year. Of course, as we all know sodas contain sugar – either artificial or in the form of high fructose corn syrup – pick your poison! Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you already know sodas are bad for you – but most people drink it anyway. What I want to explain is: “why” you shouldn’t.

I am a “why” person. And the better I understand “why” I am supposed to be, or not supposed to be, doing something, the more compliant I can be. So let me try and fill in the “why” for you by explaining a little bit about how the body (your anatomy) responds when you drink soda – maybe this will help you “kick the habit!”

First of all, as you may or may not know, I like to think in terms of the pH of the body and the foods we put in our body. Simply put, the pH is described as “acidic” (bad) or “alkalizing” (good). An acidic pH feeds cancers and chronic degenerative diseases and health conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, cardio vascular disease, osteoporosis, digestive disorders, anxiety, depression, obesity and auto-immune diseases just to name a few. An acidic internal environment of the body keeps these diseases alive. None of these diseases and health conditions can survive in an alkaline environment. So wouldn’t it stand to reason that the level of your body’s pH would be important?

Sodas are extremely acidic. In fact it truly is one of the most poisonous things you can put in your body. And diet sodas are even worse – the artificial sweeteners they use are poison and very toxic to your nervous system. You are giving a double assault to your body every time you drink a diet soda. Actually a triple assault because that “diet” soda can also cause you to gain weight.

When you consume a soda, it causes the body to be acidic. When the body is acidic it causes inflammation in the body – every time, anywhere. When there is inflammation in the body, a gland in your body, called the adrenal glands, has to work. You have 2 adrenal glands, one sits on top of each of your kidneys. The adrenal glands are vital to your life – you can not live without at least one of them. One of the things the adrenals do is tells the liver to release glucose into the body. Glucose is the body’s natural and vital energy source. Our brain needs a great supply of glucose. Another thing the adrenals do is produce the body’s cortisol. Cortisol is the body’s natural “anti-inflammatory.” Remember the inflammation that the soda causes in the body because it’s acidic? Well the adrenal glands have to work very hard when you are drinking that soda! If your body is acidic, you are throwing the adrenal glands into a state of “hyper-activity” or another term would be adrenal stress. Keep in mind also, that there are many, more things in our American diet (and life!) that cause the body to be acidic too, so even if you drink “just one” soda a day, or even a week, your body is still very acidic. If the adrenals are stressed they cannot optimally perform all of the other functions they are called to do. In addition to regulating glucose and cortisol, they also produce a hormone called aldosterone that helps regulate the fluid levels in your body – including the blood (think high blood pressure, or edema!). They also produce brain chemicals that work with other brain chemicals that regulate your mood and sleep. And cortisol has an affect on the reproductive hormones as well.

So now can you see why drinking soda (or any sugary drink – including “Red Bull” “Gatorade” etc.) can cause a multitude of health problems? Think about what I just told you some of the functions of the adrenal glands are and now you can see how things like diabetes, obesity, anxiety, depression, hypertension, cardio vascular disease, auto-immune diseases, and cancers can come about simply due to sodas and our acidic, toxic, stressful, inflammatory diet in general.

I hope this answers your “why” you should not drink soda – and more importantly, why you should not feed soda to your children! Parents, please don’t put sodas and sugary drinks (including fake juices) into your baby’s bottle. Most poisons are cheap, soda is no exception. Just because it’s “cheap” is absolutely no reason to drink it. The replacement? WATER!

To learn more about how the adrenals and 3 other major organs or systems of the body work to either support your health, or hinder your health I encourage you to sign up for my monthly newsletter, and pick up a copy of my book “Are You Being Deceived About True Wellness, Unveiling the Confusion, Myths and Deceptions that Prevent You from Achieving True Health” – you just might have an “ah ha” moment!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *