Sodas...good or bad?

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so my dad is completely against sodas and i could care less if i drink one or not. my brother drinks them til he throws up. what do you think about sodas?

Welcome to Roadfood. 
 
Just out of curiosity, how old is your brother?  I have never heard of anyone drinking anything non-alcoholic until they threw up, unless they were allergic to it, or too young to know better.  I can understand your dad's attitude towards sodas if your brother is creating problems by drinking them in excess.
 
There are such a wide variety of sodas available, from ones made from completely natural ingredients including fruit juices (for example, IZZE: http://www.izze.com/products/#izze ) to those that are totally artificial, that, barring a medical reason or being too young to know better, it is impossible to draw any sort of a conclusion.

Sell them.

Considering they have no redeeming feature, except for taste (basically liquid candy) and to cut the grease of fast food (primary purpose for colas), it's probably best to minimize their consumption.  Ever seen how much sugar is in a typical sugar based soda?  My dentist has a display in his waiting room with just the sugar content shown in several common soft drink bottles.  I can't think of anything worse tasting than diet drinks.   
 
Personally, I occasionally like the aromatic flavors of some root beers, the strong ginger flavor of an occasional Blenheim ginger ale and an occasional Polar orange dry, but I can take or leave about any other flavor.  I'd much rather utilize my (empty) caloric consumption elsewhere. 

http://www.rodale.com/soda-health-problems
http://www.livestrong.com/article/417019-health-problems-from-drinking-diet-soda/
http://www.healthcorps.org/healthy-topic-blog/drinking-soda-really-such-bad-habit
http://www.emedexpert.com/tips/soft-drinks.shtml
'Nuff said!
Listen to your Dad!

JayMoses

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so my dad is completely against sodas and i could care less if i drink one or not. my brother drinks them til he throws up. what do you think about sodas?

Sodas are bad.  Candy bars are bad.  Cigarettes are bad.  Booze is bad.  Never did drugs, but I hear and see that they are REALLY bad for you.  Furthermore, one can catch very unpleasant diseases from 'loose' women.
 
So, your Dad is right. 
 
Were I you, I'd become a Mormon; at least they seem happy to do without some of life's bad, but pleasurable, things. 
 
Life is tough and then you die.  This is true for everyone, including Mormons.  My advice if you don't want to convert:  moderation in everything, including moderation.  Yes, that's an old saying but everyone has to hear it for the first time.  As you are young, this probably is your first time.  Just don't "do drugs". 
 
Live long and prosper!

As I told my stunned, speechless doctor:  "Everything you say is bad for me tastes infinitely better than what you say is good for me.  Therefore, I'd rather live a shorter life enjoying the foods I love, than to live a longer life depriving myself of them."
 
Julia Child to Larry King when asked to what she attributed her longevity:  "Red meat and gin."
 

But Julia didn't drinks soda and she was a practitioner of "all things in moderation"

That's arguable, but it doesn't really matter.  My 103-year-old grandfather enjoys a Double Cola and Moon Pie for dessert at lunch and dinner, took up golf 5 years ago, and gave his doctor the one finger salute after being lectured on diet .  Unlike Julia, however, granddad prefers red meat and bourbon.

I attribute my size to two things..a lack of exercise and a life jammed with regular (not diet) soda.  During my teaching years I would easily consume a 6 pack during the working hours..Pepsi or Mtn Dew, Then do several more in the course of the afternoon and evening. I love almost all soda's, but Sprecher's Cherry Cola and Orange Cream top my list right now.  MOXIE is great, The 'Hot" Ginger  Ales are a nice treat, as is a real frosted glass mug of the original A & W or DAD'S Root Bear.
In the past couple of years I have cut-back on that amount big-time. but still don't 'move' much.
I guess if you are going to have a vice, Soda is as good as any !

 
Let's face it, .... probably at least 8 out of 10 RoadFood joints serve a lot of food that dieticians would consider pretty bad choices.   Getting all health nut about sodas seems a little strange for a site that does hot dog eating tours as well as other "tours" of what most dietiticans would consider pretty bad stuff 
 
Glenn
 
 

You have a point, Glenn.  People will slam sodas and then consume other other foods/beverages that are as bad or worse.  And all with a straight face! 

MellowRoast


You have a point, Glenn.  People will slam sodas and then consume other other foods/beverages that are as bad or worse.  And all with a straight face! 

 
But people will rarely have a burger or hot dog or other "bad" food 6 or more times a day. Soda isn't a problem on its own, consuming to excess is the issue, I know several people who consume  a couple of 2 liter bottles of soda a day. That is about 16 servings. I don't know any who routinely eat 2 pizzas or 16 hot dogs a day. I get the point that none of it is health food, but soda is something people do to extremes quite commonly.

Everything in moderation. Including moderation.
 
My grandparents grew up in the Great Depression. Christmas time meant one bottle of soda being shared with 5-8 siblings, and it was a Big. Deal.  As a result they always had plenty of soda around.
 
I am looking forward to Green River on tap very soon!

MellowRoast


You have a point, Glenn.  People will slam sodas and then consume other other foods/beverages that are as bad or worse.  And all with a straight face! 

 
There's something worse than soda?   What else has zero nutritive value which is also unhealthy?

mjambro

MellowRoast


You have a point, Glenn.  People will slam sodas and then consume other other foods/beverages that are as bad or worse.  And all with a straight face! 

There's something worse than soda?   What else has zero nutritive value which is also unhealthy?

Coffee loaded with artificial sweetener, for one.  Coffee has no nutritive value. (Caffeine is not a nutritional requirement.)  Which is why I cannot remember the last time I had a cup of coffee.  Perhaps it was over 50 years ago.

Actually, coffee has been reported in numerous sources to have health benefits including reduced likeliness of developing 2 diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and dementia with fewer causes of certain cancers, heart rhythm problems, and strokes (similar deface vs. caffeinated).
 
More specifically, its minerals such as magnesium and chromium help the body use the hormone insulin, which controls blood sugar (glucose) where in type 2 diabetes, the body loses its ability to use insulin and regulate blood sugar effectively.  Of course, as with everything, moderation is key since excessive consumption can contribute to high blood pressure and irregular heart rates, but the benefits typically greatly surpass the negatives.
 
That said, I only drink perhaps 1-2 cup / mo, but there are some potential benefits to drinking coffee vs. no benefits for traditional sodas.
 

The thing that gets me about those who are "anti-soda" due to the product being unhealthy is that , at least from what I have seen in my neck of the woods, many of the very same people continue to smoke cigarettes/cigars and drink those energy drinks as if it was water.  My neighbor is like this.  A few months ago he gave up drinking soda "..they are very bad for one's health and I want no part of it"  so he says YET he continues to drink can after can after can of Red Bull and smokes 3 packs of Marlboros Reds a day. Dittos with my 32 year old boss..he wont touch a soda at all but Rockstar..its all the way baby and he smokes Black & Mild Cigars.
 
..am I missing something ????

~This is not directed at anyone or to any specific comment~
 
Just because someone you know lives to a ripe old age while doing something detrimental to their health, it's probably unwise to draw the conclusion that  it's perfectly safe to do harmful things to yourself.  

Just don't get caught in NYC with any soda larger than 16 oz. or, uncle Bloomberg will throw your butt in jail.

mjambro


Considering they have no redeeming feature, except for taste (basically liquid candy) and to cut the grease of fast food (primary purpose for colas)....

 
How much more of a redeeming feature do you need? It's always been about taste for me and I've been quaffing pop ever since the ten ounce returnable bottles were sold from ice water coolers and cost ten cents including the two cent deposit. I've been averaging two cans per day since my teens. And no I'm not at all overweight. I do things like walk to places such as supermarkets and carry the groceries back home and climb stairs instead of taking the escalator (when I'm not actively working out in a gym).

I also have a very nice collection of refillable soda pop bottles which I keep in a kitchen pantry:
 

 

 

 
So I say to all the health food Nazis "Get off your butt and walk before I plant my foot there to give you some encouragement!"
 

mjambro

MellowRoast


You have a point, Glenn.  People will slam sodas and then consume other other foods/beverages that are as bad or worse.  And all with a straight face! 

There's something worse than soda?   What else has zero nutritive value which is also unhealthy?

 
Cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, chemical sweeteners and government. And they're all far more harmful than pop.
 

Hepcat


So I say to all the health food Nazis "Get off your butt and walk before I plant my foot there to give you some encouragement!"

 
That's a really unfortunate choice of words directed at people who are interested in healthy eating.
 
 

Alright then. Let me modify it.
 
The two most important facets of healthy eating are:
 
1. Moderation.
 
2. Activity! So leave the car in the driveway unless you're going street racing and just do it!
 

Hepcat
Cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, chemical sweeteners and government. And they're all far more harmful than pop.

Cigarettes and drugs, OK. The other three, I don't think so.

My biggest fear is dying healthy. # 2 is that I'll live long enough to see a fat tax. 

That's a brave cat right there...by all those bottles.

Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle

Hepcat
Cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, chemical sweeteners and government. And they're all far more harmful than pop.

Cigarettes and drugs, OK. The other three, I don't think so.

 
Okay. Let's do some comparisons.
 
First of all, let's crunch some numbers on the empty calories aspect. A twelve ounce Coke has 140 calories, a twelve ounce American lager such as Budweiser has 168 calories, a twelve ounce ale (for those who actually like beer) has 216 calories, a five ounce glass of wine has 100 calories and one ounce shots of whiskey or vodka have 69 calories. One and a half ounce liqueur based shooters have almost 155 calories! But let's look at quantities typically consumed too. Not to many Coke drinkers will sit down and have even three per evening. I certainly don't just because a fellow doesn't want another drink for awhile after a Coke. But it's not uncommon for men to down six to twelve beers in an evening. So how then do the calories compare? Why do you think they call it a beer belly as opposed to a Coke belly?
 
Secondly, alcohol is a mild toxin. Drink too much and it will kill you that day. Sugar, on the other hand, is not a toxin. In fact, your body metabolizes everything you eat down to sugar! The sugar in soft drinks is just empty calories, that's all.
 
With respect to the chemical compounds that serve as artificial sweeteners though, are you fully confident they're not carcinogens or slow toxins of some sort? I'm not. The jury is still out on that question as far as I'm concerned.
 
Sugar has been demonized since the late sixties by the helicopter parents who have found it convenient to use the TV as a babysitter as opposed to shooing their kids outside to play. Is it any wonder then that kids started to be diagnosed as hyperactive of all things in the very late sixties? Whoever heard of a hyperactive kid prior to those years? There weren't any because they were out running around all day. So these days the kids are sitting around in front of the TV and getting fat, and the parents resort to drugging them with Ritalin and lord knows what at the first sign of a pulse. This is called "progress". It is to scream.
 

 

You are comparing moderate soda intake to the behavior of an alcoholic to explain your position on this. Sure there are people drinking too much alcohol, but that is irrelevant to point here. One soda a day is probably not a problem, even though there is as much sugar in that one can as you should have for the entire day, but many have soda at every meal, and many of these people are kids. A big gulp is 3 or 4 cans. A large soda at a fast food place is 2 or 3. We have seen many threads here about refills, where people have 3 or 4 servings of soda at one sitting. That might add 700 to 1000 calories to your meal. The effects of excess sugar are undeniable. The impact of taking in too many calories is clear. I hate to sound like a broken record, but the problem isn't soda, it is the excess consumption of soda, which is very commonplace and a real health concern.

Tony Bad
  I hate to sound like a broken record, but the problem isn't soda, it is the excess consumption of soda, which is very commonplace and a real health concern.

Okay. I have no problem with that. But other people have been arguing that soda is bad per se simply because it doesn't do you any good. That's the kind of killjoy argument with which I have issues, several issues in fact.