Iced Pop

It took many years, but I now know why people put ice in their soda. Horrible habits throughout my younger years prevented such a realization until recently, when I changed diet, I had an epiphany. I used to drink pop in copious amounts and I hated ice in my pop because it watered it down and quickened the loss of carbonation. Now that I don't drink pop daily and I've cut out sugared cereals (except on occasion) I find that there's just too much sugar in them. I had to reduce my intake of those wonderful carbohydrates to realize just how much is in some of the foods I used to love. Now pop is too sweet and syrupy and is merely an occasion. Besides, the high sugar content in pop is a shock to your system, especially if you drink it on an empty stomach. That and the fact that it's bad for your teeth, means pop should be really cut out of everyone's diet. I struggled for a long time to kick my heavy pop addiction. I learned a few things about myself and pop over the years. My huge intake of soda as an adolescent was tied to my other rather large intake of salty snack foods. I rarely drank pop if it wasn't to wash down those foods. My first step was to limit my intake of pop, so I have worked hard to stop snacking so heavily on crap food. I waver on this and have snacks every now and again, but I do try to eat healthier. The other thing I wanted to know was what about pop was so appealing to me? I found that carbonation is what kept me coming back, so now I enjoy carbonated waters instead. I really like the Canada Dry Lime and Raspberry flavored waters.

Did you know that bacteria in your mouth convert the sugars in pop into acid to further erode at your enamel and create opportunities for cavities? Have you ever looked at the ingredients in pop? It always astounds me that it's merely sugar dissolved in acid, unless you are drinking ginger ale or Sprite. Even Gatorade has a low pH. It's amazing that we drink acid as a treat.