Confessions of a Soft Drink

by Debbie Moody 

(First published in 1986 in Today's Herbs, a newsletter published by Woodland Books with Louise Tenney, editor.  Reprinted about 10 years later in The Enrich Magazine.  Since then it has been reproduced many times without acknowledgment of or permission from the author. This is one of only two Internet sites with authorized permission to reprint this article.) 

Hello.  I am a humble, effervescent liquid.  Humble?  Well, that is debatable.  Actually, I am quite proud of myself.  Allow me to brag a little.

I fizz, sparkle, and bubble my way into thousands of people all over the world, every day.  I HAVE MUCH POWER!  I cause masses of humanity to make beelines for snack dispensers in plush, high-rise buildings.  I stir men, women, and teenagers to dash into their cars late at night to speed to their nearest 24 hour convenience store.

To give me an appetizing brown tint, I contain caramel coloring, which has genetic effects and is a cancer causing suspect.  I sometimes have polyethylene glycol as one of my ingredients.  Glycol is used as anti-freeze in automobiles, and as an oil solvent. 

The bubbles and fizz with which I potently burn human insides is caused by my phosphoric acid.  The phosphorus in the acid upsets the body's calcium-phosphorus ratio and dissolves calcium out of the bones.  This can eventually result in OSTEOPOROSIS, a weakening of the skeletal structure, which can make one susceptible to broken bones.  Also, the phosphorus fights with the hydrochloric acid in human stomachs and renders it ineffective.  This promotes indigestion, bloating and gassiness in many individuals.

I offer a selection of three types of sweeteners, according to the customer's preference.  The sweeteners are:  Saccharin or Aspartame in the diet type, and sugar or corn syrup in my regular drinks.  These substances enhance my appeal and come disguised as 'good' for everyone.  However, tastes can be deceiving!  Let me explain.

SACCHARIN is an artificial sweetener which has raised some concern about cancer in laboratory animals.  There are warning labels on containers in which saccharin is an ingredient.  ASPARTAME,  the more common "diet" sweetener, has been linked to convulsions, depression, insomnia, irritability, weakness, dizziness, headaches, mood changes and mental retardation.  SUGAR and CORN SYRUP can induce both HYPOGLYCEMIA (low blood sugar), and HYPERGLYCEMIA (high blood sugar), in susceptible individuals.  Hypoglycemia has been linked to mental illness and hyperglycemia to diabetes.  Sugar gives you a lift or burst of energy, then sends you crashing down to severe fatigue.  To get another charge, more sugary drinks are consumed.  This pattern exhausts the adrenal glands and leaves a person with a chronic tired feeling.

GORGEOUS!  THAT'S WHAT I AM!  I come dressed in a shiny metal can in various colors and tints.  Sometimes I am silver, sometimes gold, sometimes blue, red, etc.  I beckon and dazzle shoppers as they stroll past me in the supermarket.  On a HOT DAY, I am especially ATTRACTIVE, and hands reach for cases of me to share with friends at picnics and parties.  However, I am very tricky.  My thirst quenching liquid, which is alluringly encased in a the aluminum can, contains traces of the same metal.  The acid in the soft drink eats away the aluminum , which floats around until it is ingested by the consumer.  Aluminum is a very toxic substance and builds up in the human body.  It has a particular affinity for the brain and has been linked to the degenerative senility affliction, ALZHEIMER'S; Disease,

Many times humans think they can LOSE WEIGHT by drinking me in the "diet" form.  NOT SO!

My high sodium content helps them retain water in their bodies, and they become edemic.  The kidneys and bladder do not function properly after a long habit of soft drink intake.  The sugar in me destroys the beneficial flora in the colon and constipation results.  This locks the toxins in the body so they cannot be eliminated properly.  The blood is not pure, as a result, and the cells  are
affected.  In order to lose weight, fat must be flushed from the cells.  The enzymes responsible for aiding the process of fat release are paralyzed when they are poisoned, and so cannot do their job.  People DEFEAT THEIR PURPOSE when they try to lose weight by drinking me.

In conclusion, I would like to admit there is not a smidgen of humility in me.  I am very EGOTISTICAL!  I am MASTER over much of the decision-making ability of the human race.  HA!  You don't believe me???  Look on school campuses, in city parks, at ball games, in business offices, at street corners...anywhere there are people...SEE YOU AROUND!

Subject: WATER OR COKE ?? 

WATER
1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.
2. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger.
3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as much as 3%.
4. One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of Washington study.
5. Lack of water is the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.
6. Preliminary research indicates that 8 to glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.
7. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy, short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer
screen or on a printed page.
8. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%,
and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.

And now for the properties of COKE  /DIET COKE   :
1. In many states (in the USA) the highway patrol carries two gallons of coke in the truck to remove blood from the highway after a car
accident.
2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of Coke and it will be gone in two days.
3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl and knobs and let the "real thing" sit for one hour, then flush clean .
The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china.
4. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a rumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.
5. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion.
6. To loosen a rusted bolt: Apply a cloth soaked in Coke so acid in Coca-Cola can dissolve the rust.
7. To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of coke into a load of greasy clothes, add detergent and run through a regular cycle.
The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains.
8. It will also clean road haze from your windshield.

For Your Info:
1. The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its pH is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about 4 days. Phosphoric acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major contributor to the rising increase in osteoporosis.
2. To carry Coca-Cola syrup (the concentrate), commercial trucks must use the hazardous material place cards reserved for highly corrosive materials.
3. The distributors of Coke have been using it to clean the engines of their trucks for about 20 years! Now the question is, would
you like a coke or a glass of water?

Please Share This With Others!

Soda Diabetes and Weight Gain

A 2007 study from the Harvard School of Public Health  (reported in the the American Diabetes Association's 64th scientific sessions) found that Women in the study who drank at least one sugar-sweetened soda a day were 85% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who drank less. There are18.2 million Americans — 6.3% of the population — with diabetes in 2002, and it is the nation's fifth-deadliest disease, says the American Diabetes Association.

The same study found that the women most prone to gaining weight had increased their consumption of sugary soft drinks from less than one a week to more than one a day. On average, those women gained 9-10 pounds in a four-year period. But women who cut their intake of soft drinks gained an average of 3 pounds or less.

Soda anyone?

What Happens To Your Body Within An Hour Of Drinking A Coke

By: Source: http://www.mercola.comJanuary 12, 2008

Do you want to be healthy? Drinking soda is bad for your health in so many ways; science can’t even state all the consequences. Here’s what happens in your body when you assault it with a Coke: Within the first 10 minutes, 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. This is 100 percent of your recommended daily intake, and the only reason you don’t vomit as a result of the overwhelming sweetness is because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor. Within 20 minutes, your blood sugar spikes, and your liver responds to the resulting insulin burst by turning massive amounts of sugar into fat. Within 40 minutes, caffeine absorption is complete; your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, and your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. Around 45 minutes, your body increases dopamine production, which stimulates the pleasure centers of your brain – a physically identical response to that of heroin, by the way. After 60 minutes, you’ll start to have a sugar crash. Sources: Nutrition Research Center October 24, 2007 How many sodas have you had today? How about your kids? As of 2005, white bread was dethroned as the number one source of calories in the American diet, being replaced by soft drinks. The average American drinks more than 60 gallons of soft drinks each year, but before you grab that next can of soda, consider this: one can of soda has about 10 teaspoons of sugar, 150 calories, 30 to 55 mg of caffeine, and is loaded with artificial food colors and sulphites. Not to mention the fact that it’s also your largest source of dangerous high-fructose modified corn syrup. Let’s take a look at some of the other major components of a can of soda: Phosphoric Acid: Which can interfere with the body's ability to use calcium, leading to osteoporosis or softening of the teeth and bones. It also neutralizes the hydrochloric acid in your stomach, which can interfere with digestion, making it difficult to utilize nutrients. Sugar: It is a proven fact that sugar increases insulin levels, which can lead to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, weight gain, premature aging and many more negative side effects. Most sodas include over 100 percent of the RDA of sugar. Sugar is so bad for your health in so many ways, I even created an entire list outlining 100-Plus Ways in Which Sugar Can Damage Your Health Aspartame: This chemical is used as a sugar substitute in diet soda. There are over 92 different health side effects associated with aspartame consumption including brain tumors, birth defects, diabetes, emotional disorders and epilispsy/seizures. Caffeine: Caffeinated drinks cause jitters, insomnia, high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, elevated blood cholesterol levels, vitamin and mineral depletion, breast lumps, birth defects, and perhaps some forms of cancer. Tap Water: I recommend that everyone avoid drinking tap water because it can carry any number of chemicals including chlorine, trihalomethanes, lead, cadmium, and various organic pollutants. Tap water is the main ingredient in bottled soft drinks. Clearly, the over-consumption of sodas and sweet drinks is one of the leading causes fueling the world-wide obesity epidemic. One independent, peer-reviewed study published in the British medical journal The Lancet demonstrated a strong link between soda consumption and childhood obesity.  They found that 12-year-olds who drank soft drinks regularly were more likely to be overweight than those who didn't. In fact, for each additional daily serving of sugar-sweetened soft drink consumed during the nearly two-year study, the risk of obesity jumped by 60 percent. Here’s another sobering fact if you’re struggling with weight issues: Just one extra can of soda per day can add as much as 15 pounds to your weight over the course of a single year! Other statistics on the health dangers of soft drinks include: One soda per day increases your risk of diabetes by 85 percent Soda drinkers have higher cancer risk. While the federal limit for benzene in drinking water is 5 parts per billion (ppb), researchers have found benzene levels as high as 79 ppb in some soft drinks, and of the 100 brands tested, most had at least some detectable level of benzene present Soda has been shown to cause DNA damage – courtesy of sodium benzoate, a common preservative found in many soft drinks, which has the ability to switch off vital parts of your DNA. This could eventually lead to diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver and Parkinson's If you are still drinking soda, stopping the habit is an easy way to improve your health. Pure water is a much better choice, or if you must drink a carbonated beverage, try sparkling mineral water with a squirt of lime or lemon juice. There is absolutely NO REASON your kids should ever drink soda. None, nada, zip, zero. No excuses. The elimination of soft drinks is one of the most crucial factors to deal with many of the health problems you or your children suffer.

The following article was sent to me on the internet with no identification of the source, but I believe it is valuable for those suffering with Mutiple Sclerosis, Diabetes, Systemic Lupus, Fibromyalgia, Vertigo, Headaches, Tinnitus, Joint Pain, Cramps, Seizures, Unexplained Depression, Anxiety Attacks, Slurred Speech, Blurred Vision, Uncontrolled Anger or Rage, ADD, ADHD, and Memory Loss.

SWEET POISON!
A MUST READ!

In October of 2001, my sister started getting very sick.
She had stomach spasms and she was having a hard time getting around.  Walking was a major chore. It took everything she had just to get out of bed; she was in so much pain.

By March 2002, she had undergone several tissue and muscle biopsies and was on 24 various prescription medications. 
The doctors could not determine what was wrong with her.
She was in so much pain, and so sick she just knew she was dying.

She put her house, bank accounts, life insurance, etc., in her oldest daughter's name, and made sure that her younger children were to be taken care of.

She also wanted her last hooray, so she planned a trip to Florida (basically in a wheelchair) for March 22nd.

On March 19 I called her to ask how her most recent tests went, and she said they didn't find anything on the test, but they believe she had MS.  I recalled an article a friend of mine e-mailed to me and I asked my sister if she drank diet soda?
She told me that she did.  As a matter of fact, she was getting ready to crack one open that moment.

I told her not to open it, and to stop drinking the diet soda!
I e-mailed her article my friend, a lawyer, had sent.
My sister called me within 32 hours after our phone conversation and told me she had stopped drinking the diet soda AND she could walk!  The muscle spasms went away. She said she didn't feel 100% but, she sure felt a lot better. She told me she was going to her doctor with this article and would call me when she got home.

Well, she called me, and said her doctor was amazed!
He is going to call all of his MS patients to find out if they consumed artificial sweeteners of any kind. In a nutshell, she was being poisoned by the Aspartame in the diet soda ...and literally dying a slow and miserable death.

When she got to Florida March 22, all she had to take was one pill, and that was a pill for the Aspartame poisoning! She is well on her way to a complete recovery. And she is walking! No wheelchair!

This article saved her life.
If it says 'SUGAR FREE' on the label;
DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!
I have spent several days lecturing at the WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCE on 'ASPARTAME,' marketed as 'Nutra Sweet,' 'Equal,' and  'Spoonful.'

In the keynote address by the EPA, it was announced that in the United States in 2001 there is an epidemic of multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus. It was difficult to determine exactly what toxin was causing this to be rampant. I stood up and said that I was there to lecture on exactly that subject.

I will explain why Aspartame is so dangerous:
When the temperature of this sweetener exceeds 86 degrees F, the wood alcohol in ASPARTAME converts to formaldehyde and then to formic acid, which in turn causes metabolic acidosis.. Formic acid is the poison found in the sting of fire ants. The methanol toxicity mimics, among other conditions, multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus.

Many people were being diagnosed in error.  Although multiple sclerosis is not a death sentence, Methanol toxicity is!

Systemic lupus has become almost as rampant as multiple sclerosis, especially with Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi drinkers. 

The victim usually does not know that the Aspartame is the culprit. He or she continues its use; irritating the lupus to such a degree that it may become a life-threatening condition.
We have seen patients with systemic lupus become asymptotic, once taken off diet sodas.

In cases of those diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, most of the symptoms disappear. We've seen many cases where vision loss returned and hearing loss improved markedly.

This also applies to cases of tinnitus and fibromyalgia.
During a lecture, I said,  'If you are using ASPARTAME (Nutra Sweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc) and you suffer from fibromyalgia symptoms:
spasms,
shooting pains,
numbness in your legs,
Cramps,
Vertigo,
Dizziness,
Headaches,
Tinnitus,
Joint pain,
Unexplainable depression,
anxiety attacks,
slurred speech,
blurred vision,
or memory loss
you probably have ASPARTAME poisoning!' People were jumping up during the lecture saying, 'I have some of these symptoms.. Is it reversible?'
Yes!
Yes!
Yes!
STOP drinking diet sodas and be alert for Aspartame on food labels! Many products are fortified with it!  This is a serious problem. Dr. Espart (one of my speakers) remarked that so many people seem to be symptomatic for MS and during his recent visit to a hospice; a nurse stated that six of her friends, who were heavy Diet Coke addicts, had all been diagnosed with MS. This is beyond coincidence!

Diet soda is NOT a diet product! It is a chemically altered, multiple SODIUM (salt) and ASPARTAME containing product that actually makes you crave carbohydrates. 

It is far more likely to make you GAIN weight!

These products also contain formaldehyde, which stores in the fat cells, particularly in the hips and thighs.  Formaldehyde is an absolute toxin and is used primarily to preserve 'tissue specimens.'

Many products we use every day contain this chemical but we SHOULD NOT store it in our body!

Dr. H. J. Roberts stated in his lectures that once free of the diet products and with no significant increase in exercise; his patients lost an average of 19 pounds over a trial period.

Aspartame is especially dangerous for diabetics.
We found that some physicians, who believed that they had a patient with retinopathy, in fact, had symptoms caused by Aspartame. The Aspartame drives the blood sugar out of control. Thus diabetics may suffer acute memory loss due to the fact that aspartic acid and phenylalanine are NEUROTOXIC when taken without the other amino acids necessary for a good balance.

Treating diabetes is all about BALANCE. Especially with diabetics, the Aspartame passes the blood/brain barrier and it then deteriorates the neurons of the brain; causing various levels of brain damage:
Seizures,
Depression,
Manic depression,
Panic attacks,
Uncontrollable anger and rage.

Consumption of Aspartame causes these same symptoms in non-diabetics as well. Documentation and observation also reveal that thousands of children diagnosed with ADD and ADHD have had complete turnarounds in their behavior when these chemicals have been removed from their diet.

So called 'behavior modification prescription drugs' (Ritalin and others) are no longer needed. Truth be told, they were never NEEDED in the first place! 

Most of these children were being 'poisoned' on a daily basis with the very foods that were 'better for them than sugar.'

It is also suspected that the Aspartame in thousands of pallets of diet Coke and diet Pepsi consumed by men and women fighting in the Gulf War, may be partially to blame for the well-known Gulf War Syndrome.

Dr. Roberts warns that it can cause birth defects, i.e. mental retardation, if taken at the time of conception and during early pregnancy. Children are especially at risk for neurological disorders and should NEVER be given artificial sweeteners. 

There are many different case histories to relate of children suffering grand mal seizures and other neurological disturbances talking about a plague of neurological diseases directly caused by the use of this deadly poison.'

Herein lies the problem:
There were Congressional Hearings when Aspartame was included in 100 different products and strong objection was made concerning its use. Since this initial hearing, there have been two subsequent hearings, and still nothing has been done.
The drug and chemical lobbies have very deep pockets.

Sadly, MONSANTO'S patent on Aspartame has EXPIRED!
There are now over 5,000 products on the market that contain this deadly chemical and there will be thousands more introduced.  Everybody wants a 'piece of the Aspartame pie.'

I assure you that MONSANTO, the creator of Aspartame, knows how deadly it is.

And isn't it ironic that MONSANTO funds, among others, the American Diabetes Association, the American Dietetic Association and the Conference of the American College of Physicians?

This has been recently exposed in the New York Times.
These [organizations] cannot criticize any additives or convey their link to MONSANTO because they take money from the food industry and are required to endorse their products.

Senator Howard Metzenbaum wrote and presented a bill that would require label warnings on products containing Aspartame, especially regarding pregnant women, children and infants. The bill would also institute independent studies on the known dangers and the problems existing in the general population regarding seizures, changes in brain chemistry, neurological changes and behavioral symptoms.

The bill was killed.

It is known that the powerful drug and chemical lobbies are responsible for this, letting loose the hounds of disease and death on an unsuspecting and uninformed public. Well, you're informed now!

YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW!

See:  http://www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-information.html
for more information on apartame poisoning.

Darrell Stoddard, Founder - Pain Research Institute  http://www.healpain.net

The above page about soft drinks, Aspartame and artificial sweeteners comes to you from the Pain Research Institute.  For  information about depression, fatigue, the cause of pain, and breakthrough new pain and cancer research, click on the homepage link below.

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