According to a new study published in the journal Nutrition, the lion’s share of calories, in American adult and adolescent diets, comes from — soda. Yes soda. Source
Let’s take a closer look at Americans’ beverage of choice.
An average 12 oz. can of soda has 150 empty calories. Empty, because all of those calories, derived from sugar, provide the body with no nutritional value and in fact actually deplete the body of vital nutrients. Just one can contains 39 grams of sugar, of which 70% or 22 g is fructose, the remaining is glucose.
Most sodas are sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup although there are some that are sweetened with cane sugar under the guise of being “healthier”. Doesn't matter to your body though, as both HFCS and cane sugar are about 50% glucose and 50% fructose and have to be metabolized the same way.
To learn more about the skinny on sugar, you can read my article Soda, Sweets & Sugar.
When giving up an unhealthy habit, like drinking soda, it is often recommended to replace it with a healthy habit. I don't recommend replacing regular soda with diet soda as artificial sweeteners like aspartame, ace-K and sucralose have metabolic consequences of their own. Although some would argue going from soda to diet soda is a move in the right direction.
Instead, I recommend you skip the middleman and replace your soda with sparkling water or club soda. And for those times you are needing some “flavor” you can liven it up with citrus fruits, low in sugar, like lemon and lime, then sweeten with a touch of stevia.
Admittedly, I was never a regular soda drinker, but, I did have quite the addiction to Diet Pepsi. I kicked the habit cold turkey and replaced the diet drinks with iced tea and this easy recipe for simple soda.
Ingredients
- 8 oz. Club Soda
- 1 small lemon
- 1 small lime
- Liquid Stevia (to taste)
Directions
- Using a juice press, squeeze the juice from both the lemon and lime.
- Fill a pint glass with ice.
- Add club soda, lemon juice & lime juice. Stir.
- Add stevia drops a few at a time until desired sweetness. Stir again.
- Enjoy!
