How soda derails your fitness efforts
IF you’re on a fitness journey and labour in the gym, then when you’re finished choose to drink a soda instead of a glass of water, you will be doing your body more harm than good.
Dr Alfred Dawes — general, laparoscopic and bariatric surgeon — says consuming lots of soda while exercising will only diminish the efforts you put into the workout.
“The 150 calories in that 12-ounce can of soda not only wipes out all that exercise, but the high sugar content causes a rapid rise in your blood glucose level. Your pancreas, struggling to bring that blood glucose back to normal, shoots out a high level of insulin that converts some of that sugar into fat to be stored. With each sugar surge like that, the stress on the pancreas gets worse and worse. Eventually the organ gets burnt out and can’t produce enough insulin to control the blood glucose. You then develop diabetes,” he said.
Dr Dawes further explained that the 31 grams of sugar in the average can of soda is your total sugar requirement for the day, which means if you eat any other form of sweet food you will surpass your daily required intake.
“That means if you eat sweets, have sweetened fruit juice, have pastry, or even take certain medications, you are over the limit and are at increased risk for obesity and cardiovascular disease.”
Dr Dawes said sugars are empty calories and promote inflammation in the body. High consumption of sugar is one of the major public health problems facing most countries battling the obesity epidemic.
“It is tempting to supersize a fast-food meal as you get an oversized cup of soda for only a few dollars more. But these big cups of sugar, coupled with the high-calorie meals served at fast food joints, can give you your entire daily allowance of calories in one sitting. For persons who drink more than a bottle of soda a day, they could be adding hundreds of calories to their intake and this results in obesity even if you don’t eat heavily.”
Dr Dawes said there has been a proven link between soda consumption and the risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease.
Another big problem with respect to sodas is the false sense of security with diet beverages.
“The jury is still out on the health benefits of these sugar-free alternatives by themselves. They allow people to eat badly and wash it down with a diet soda believing they are eating healthily. The artificial sweetners such as aspartame have long been suspected to not be as healthy as previously thought, but sufficient evidence for banning them is lacking. Natural alternatives such as stevia have not found wide acceptance,” he said.
— KIMBERLEY HIBBERT
