What Happens if You Drink Coke on a Regular Basis

Sugar-rushes and caffeine-highs followed by a depressing energy crash are what happens to your body if you drink a Coke right now, but plenty of people actually seem to be okay with that. Some of you think it’s alarmist to compare a caffeine and sugar rush to doing drugs, and some just don’t really care about the slump they’ll find themselves in after drinking 39 grams of sugar, but what makes us really worried about a soda-slurping habit is what happens over the long term.

Here’s a quick snapshot of you, in a few years, after drinking Coke on a regular basis:

You’ll Be Fatter: According to research in the Nurse’s Health Study, which monitored the health of 90,000 women for eight years, drinking a single soda every day of the week added 10 pounds over a four-year period.

You’ll Probably Have Diabetes: In the Nurses’ Health Study, women who said they drank one or more servings a day of a sugar-sweetened soft drink or fruit punch were twice as likely to have developed type 2 diabetes during the study than those who rarely consumed these beverages.

You’re Much More Likely to Develop Heart Disease: According to a study published in 2007 in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association, subjects who drank a soda every day over a four-year period had a 25% chance of developing high blood sugar levels and a 32% greater chance of developing lower “good” cholesterol levels. The Nurses’ Health Study found that women who drank more than two sugary beverages per day had a 40% higher risk of heart attacks or death from heart disease than women who rarely drank sugary beverages.

You’re Probably Also Less Healthy In Other Ways: Several studies, including the 2007 study published in Circulation, suggest that diet sodas have some of the same effects on health as regular sodas, despite having none or very little of the sugar. Why? Drinking soda is typically part of an overall lifestyle that’s not very healthy: We know you don’t like us to compare drinking caffeine and sugar to substance abuse, but when it comes to your lifestyle, some think that soda is just like a gateway drug. (From blisstree.com)

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20 Worst Beverages in America

Sugary drinks are the bane of our diets, and even some “health drinks” and “energy drinks” are full of sweet, empty calories. Men’s Health came up with a jaw-dropping list of the 20 worst beverages in America right now, and created some pretty shocking photos to show just how much sugar you’re sipping. Even if you’ve got a sweet tooth, we don’t know many people would like to get their daily sugar allowance through a straw. Check out the astonishing list below:

1. Worst Beverage in America – Cold Stone PB&C (Gotta Have It size, 24 fl oz); Sugar Equivalent: 30 Chewy Chips Ahoy Cookies

2. Worst Smoothie – Smoothie King Peanut Power Plus Grape (large, 40 fl oz); Sugar Equivalent: 20 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

3. Worst Drive-Thru Shake – McDonald’s Triple Thick Chocolate Shake (large, 32 fl oz); Sugar Equivalent: 13 McDonald’s Baked Hot Apple Pies

4. Worst Frozen Mocha – Così Double Oh! Arctic Mocha (gigante, 23 fl oz); Sugar Equivalent: 41 Oreo Cookies

5. Worst Frozen Fruit Drink – Krispy Kreme Lemon Sherbet Chiller (20 fl oz); Sugar Equivalent: 16 medium-size chocolate eclairs

6. Worst Float – Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream Soda (vanilla ice cream and cola) (large, 28.6 fl oz); Sugar Equivalent: 9.7 Fudgsicle fudge bars

7. Worst Margarita – Traditional Red Lobster Lobsterita (24 fl oz); Carbohydrate Equivalent: 7 Almond Joy candy bars

8. Worst Frozen Coffee Drink – Dairy Queen Caramel MooLatte (24 fl oz); Sugar Equivalent: 12 Dunkin’ Donuts Bavarian Kreme Doughnuts

9. Worst Hot Chocolate – Starbucks White Hot Chocolate with Whipped Cream (Venti, 20 fl oz); Sugar Equivalent: 9 Strawberry Rice Krispie Treats

10. Worst Lemonade – Auntie Anne’s Wild Cherry Lemonade Mixer (32 fl oz); Sugar Equivalent: 11 bowls of Cookie Crisp cereal

11. Worst Espresso Drink – Starbucks Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha with Whipped Cream (Venti, 20 fl oz); Sugar Equivalent: 8½ scoops Edy’s Slow Churned Rich and Creamy Coffee Ice Cream

12. Worst Juice Imposter – Arizona Kiwi Strawberry (1 can, 23 fl oz); Sugar Equivalent: 7 bowls of Froot Loops

13. Worst Functional Beverage – Arizona Rx Energy (1 can, 23 fl oz); Sugar Equivalent: 6 Cinnamon Roll Pop-Tarts

14. Worst Kids’ Drink – Tropicana Tropical Fruit Fury Twister (1 bottle, 20 fl oz); Sugar Equivalent: Two 7-ounce canisters Reddiwip

15. Worst Beer – Sierra Nevada Bigfoot (1 bottle, 12 fl oz); Carbohydrate Equivalent: 12-pack of Michelob Ultra

16. Worst Soda – Sunkist (1 bottle, 20 fl oz); Sugar Equivalent: 6 Breyers Oreo Ice Cream Sandwiches

17. Worst Bottled Coffee – Starbucks Vanilla Frappuccino (1 bottle, 13.7 fl oz); Sugar Equivalent: 32 Nilla Wafers

18. Worst Energy Drink – Rockstar Energy Drink (1 can, 16 fl oz); Sugar Equivalent: 6 Krispy Kreme Original Glazed Doughnuts

19. Worst Bottled Tea – SoBe Green Tea (1 bottle, 20 fl oz); Sugar Equivalent: 4 slices Sara Lee Cherry Pie

20. Worst Water – Snapple Agave Melon Antioxidant Water (1 bottle, 20 fl oz); Sugar Equivalent: 2 Good Humor Chocolate Éclair Bars

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Cool experience this week -- I'm now caring for four generations of people within the same family.

What Happens to Your Body When You Drink a Coke

Here is a very interesting summary of what happens to your body when you drink a Coke or any other caffeinated sugary soft drink.

•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. (And 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 liver 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, electrolytes, and water.

•> 60 minutes: As the rave inside you dies down, you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, peed 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 hydrating your system, or building strong bones and teeth.

This timeline of consumption is from blisstree.com.

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Blueberries Anyone?

By Dr. Case www.forahealthyfuture.com

It is hard to hate a blueberry. That small, sweet bead of a fruit is sweet and delicious, and now new research shows it is good for you as well. Blueberries have been known to be good for your heart and brain function, but emerging research is also showing them to help prevent diabetes, arthritis, and belly fat.

One study presented at a Dieticians of Canada conference showed that men who drank a cup of wild blueberry juice every day for 3 weeks had less inflammation and insulin sensitivity, two factors that, when abnormal, can contribute to arthritis and diabetes. In fact, most of the men noticed a slight improvement in glucose and insulin control. This is why a professor at the University of Prince Edward Island in Canada suggests people eat half a cup of fresh or frozen wild blueberries a day. Previous research from that same university found that feeding wild blueberries to rodents with high blood pressure helped lower their blood pressure. It has not been determined if it has the same affect on humans.

Another study conducted by the University of Michigan and presented at Experimental Biology 2009 showed that rats who were bred to be obese had lost abdominal fat, lowered cholesterol, and improved glucose control and insulin sensitivity after eating blueberries for 3 months. Fat in the belly area pads internal organs and releases inflammation-producing hormones. More common in men than women, experts have long been convinced that those who carry excess weight in the belly region are at higher risk for some pretty serious health problems, even if they have a normal body mass index.

The most amazing thing about the University of Michigan study was the benefits occurred even when the diet was not all that heart healthy, though the benefits of the blueberries were higher in those that ate a low fat diet. Besides all the other benefits to health, the group that ate a low fat diet had a lower body weight, lower total fat mass and reduced liver mass than those who consumed a high fat diet. An enlarged liver is linked to obesity and insulin resistance, something lots of us deal with – fatty liver disease and metabolic syndrome are common because of diets high in fat. The researchers believe that their results show blueberries may have an impact on how the body stores and processes glucose for energy; and this reduces the risks of developing diabetes or heart disease.

Another study that looked at how blueberries affected men who are at a risk for heart disease backs up the University of Michigan study. A researcher at the Cardioprotection Research Laboratory found that blueberry intake affected the genes related to fat burning and storage. By looking at muscle tissue, they were able to see genes that were altered in relation to glucose uptake. It is believed that the naturally occurring phytonutrients in blueberries called anthocyanins are what makes them help ease these serious health conditions.

Overall, it is important to realize how diet can have a tremendous impact on your health. Fruits and vegetables can do wonders for our health, and they don’t come with a two-page list of side effects. To me, with low calories and no side effects, blueberries seem to be an easy, natural way to improve your health, especially if you are at risk for heart disease. There are a lot of ways to enjoy this delicious fruit. Fresh out of the container, in juice or on cereal, in muffins, even distilled into a compote. The great thing about blueberries is that they keep their nutritional value, even after being frozen. When you buy blueberries, look for ones that are fresh, locally or organically grown, with a firm feeling and lively color. The deeper the color, the more antioxidants the fruit brings to the body. To get the best bang for your buck, grab the wilder variety of blueberry whenever you can. The berries come in two types – ones grown out in fields or existing in the wild (low bush variety), or those grown in greenhouses (high bush variety). The wild variety are smaller, tend to taste better, and have more antioxidants than the greenhouse variety. Because they are grown in the wild, they are exposed to more environmental challenges, so they produce more bioactive compounds that benefit people when they eat them. If wild blueberries aren’t in season or available at your store, consider looking for unprocessed wild blueberry juice at a health food store. You can often find wild blueberries in your store’s freezer section as well. Try to buy organic blueberries. A study looking at berries grown in New Jersey found that those grown organically were sweeter and contained up to 50 percent more antioxidants than those treated with chemicals. Another study published in the journal Free Radical Biology & Medicine found that eating blueberries with milk impairs the fruit’s antioxidant power. Enjoy the fruit with a cup of water instead. So the next time you go to the farmer’s market or other fruit store, buy a container of blueberries, your body will thank you.

For more information about nutrition and wellness visit the Chiropractic Rehab Center of Northern Kentucky. www.nkychiropractor.com (859) 331-9566