Soda pop finally getting the recognition it deserves

Page 3 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

clamum

Lifer
Feb 13, 2003
26,256
406
126
I drink quite a bit of pop and I'm skinny as hell. I love it too much to give it up... mmm, especially Coke. Drinkin one right now. :D
 

MrDudeMan

Lifer
Jan 15, 2001
15,069
94
91
Originally posted by: sdifox
Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
Originally posted by: jagec
I barely drink it. Root beer occasionally, maybe a coke once on a blue moon. It just isn't that great. Fruit juice tastes much better.

What's sad is how much of the stuff kids drink.

fruit juice is just as full of sugar, and without the fibre found in the actual fruit. it's just as bad or worse in some cases.

Doesn't that depend on what kind of fruit juice? I blend my own, the fruit is just blended. Everything is still there, just liquified.

Yes, it does depend on what kind of juice. People who say natural fruit juice is bad for you are only validating their addiction to soda.
 

TheNinja

Lifer
Jan 22, 2003
12,207
1
0
I find the title to be the funniest (and sadly how our society now views everything)

"Soda making Americans drink themselves fat"

It's not MY fault, the SODA is making my drink myself fat!
 

alien42

Lifer
Nov 28, 2004
12,868
3,298
136
Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
Originally posted by: jagec
I barely drink it. Root beer occasionally, maybe a coke once on a blue moon. It just isn't that great. Fruit juice tastes much better.

What's sad is how much of the stuff kids drink.

fruit juice is just as full of sugar, and without the fibre found in the actual fruit. it's just as bad or worse in some cases.
you can not compare the natural sugars in fruit juice to the processed sugar in soda.

 

uclaLabrat

Diamond Member
Aug 2, 2007
5,632
3,045
136
Originally posted by: alien42
Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
Originally posted by: jagec
I barely drink it. Root beer occasionally, maybe a coke once on a blue moon. It just isn't that great. Fruit juice tastes much better.

What's sad is how much of the stuff kids drink.

fruit juice is just as full of sugar, and without the fibre found in the actual fruit. it's just as bad or worse in some cases.
you can not compare the natural sugars in fruit juice to the processed sugar in soda.

Of course you can. They're the same freaking sugars.

Sucrose is a dimer of glucose and fructose. Your body metabolizes simple carbs all the same. Complex carbs (starches) need to be enzymatically hydrolyzed, which takes time. But chemically, they all go to the same place.
 

Excelsior

Lifer
May 30, 2002
19,047
18
81
Originally posted by: Amused
Another "blame food" argument for obesity.

Wow.

Fact: Sweetened soda has been around for over 100 years.

Fact: Bottled soda Has been around since the late 1800s

Fact: Bottled soda really took off in the 1950s. My parents stopped at soda shops daily when they were kids in the 40s and 50s.

Fact: When I went to school in the 70s, we had soda.

Fact: The obesity epidemic did not start until the 80s, and really took off in the early-mid 90s.

There is no correlation here, folks. Soda is NOT the cause of obesity in our society.

And as for the HFCS causes obesity theory, it's bunk. It affects the body NO differently than table sugar. Not a single valid study using HFCS has shown anything to the contrary.

Yeah...and if anything correlates to the obesity epidemic it'd be the low-fat craze that started in the 80s and went into the 90s.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
I used to drink Mountain Dew quite a lot. It wouldn't be uncommon to buy 10 or more 2 liters during a grocery shopping trip. I used to drink 3 glasses of Mountain Dew while at college per meal and then even more later while at my apartment. Note that this even includes breakfast :p.

Soda's practically addicting and it's not really the sugar. I love the feel of a fresh, cold Mountain Dew tingling my tongue :eek:. Now I don't drink any soda at all. Sometimes I'll drink milk or simply lemonade or water (sometimes with decaffeinated iced tea mix mixed in, but I limit this to once a day max).
 

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,920
2,161
126
I have non-diet sodas maybe once a week. The rest is sugar free. The invention of Coke Zero helped a lot with that.
 

ric1287

Diamond Member
Nov 29, 2005
4,845
0
0
Originally posted by: MrDudeMan
Originally posted by: sdifox
Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
Originally posted by: jagec
I barely drink it. Root beer occasionally, maybe a coke once on a blue moon. It just isn't that great. Fruit juice tastes much better.

What's sad is how much of the stuff kids drink.

fruit juice is just as full of sugar, and without the fibre found in the actual fruit. it's just as bad or worse in some cases.

Doesn't that depend on what kind of fruit juice? I blend my own, the fruit is just blended. Everything is still there, just liquified.

Yes, it does depend on what kind of juice. People who say natural fruit juice is bad for you are only validating their addiction to soda.


so is 100% juice good or bad then? uclaLabrat claimed its all the same sugar which i am finding hard to believe.
 

oznerol

Platinum Member
Apr 29, 2002
2,476
0
76
www.lorenzoisawesome.com
Jesus christ, there sure are a lot of soda haters here.

It's a junk food, and junk food is fine in moderation. Pizza and a can of Pepsi is an insanely good combination - not 5 days a week, but once in a while with regular exorcise won't make you a fat ass.

Mountain Dew contains vegetable oil. I liked it until I read the ingredients. Now any time I try to drink it I think about drinking a bottle of olive oil and it grosses me out. Oh well.
 

foghorn67

Lifer
Jan 3, 2006
11,883
63
91
Holy crap! a ton of self-righteous fear mongering soda blamers.
I drink soda a fair amount, and are not overweight.
Just to scare you guys:

pssstt. There are millions of soda drinkers that are healthy. Oh my.
 

uclaLabrat

Diamond Member
Aug 2, 2007
5,632
3,045
136
Originally posted by: ric1287
Originally posted by: MrDudeMan
Originally posted by: sdifox
Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
Originally posted by: jagec
I barely drink it. Root beer occasionally, maybe a coke once on a blue moon. It just isn't that great. Fruit juice tastes much better.

What's sad is how much of the stuff kids drink.

fruit juice is just as full of sugar, and without the fibre found in the actual fruit. it's just as bad or worse in some cases.

Doesn't that depend on what kind of fruit juice? I blend my own, the fruit is just blended. Everything is still there, just liquified.

Yes, it does depend on what kind of juice. People who say natural fruit juice is bad for you are only validating their addiction to soda.


so is 100% juice good or bad then? uclaLabrat claimed its all the same sugar which i am finding hard to believe.

100% juice is generally better, not for the sugar in it, but for everything else. If it's only sugar, it's empty calories. This may not matter, if it's below your daily requirements. Pure juice generally has other vitamins, etc. in it that make it "more healthy"

This is a common misconception, that "processed" foods are "bad" for you, while natural foods are "good" for you. Refined sugar has all the same sugar that natural sugar has, it just has less of the fiber and other stuff, which your body needs. So, the argument goes that you need to consume more of the refined stuff to get the same nutritional value as the unrefined stuff, which is true. This leads to excess calories, and therefore weight gain.

There's so much hype and marketing in nutrition, it's ridiculous.
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,562
9
81
Sorry Amused, but you're just wrong.

I'm about 6', and at my heaviest I weighed 210lbs and had 36" waist. A couple years ago I realized how tubby I was, and decided to lose some weight. I dropped to 170 in about six months and kept it off, and I can now fit back in my 32" waist pants. How was I able to drop 40lbs? Must have been all that exercise, right? Nope, I didn't change my activity level at all. What changed was cutting out pop and reading the label on everything I buy at the grocery store. Anything and everything has HFCS in it now, and avoiding those products where it's high on the ingredient list is solely responsible for my weight loss. I still eat as much as I always have, it just isn't filled with HFCS.
 

CPA

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
30,322
4
0
Originally posted by: BoberFett
Sorry Amused, but you're just wrong.

I'm about 6', and at my heaviest I weighed 210lbs and had 36" waist. A couple years ago I realized how tubby I was, and decided to lose some weight. I dropped to 170 in about six months and kept it off, and I can now fit back in my 32" waist pants. How was I able to drop 40lbs? Must have been all that exercise, right? Nope, I didn't change my activity level at all. What changed was cutting out pop and reading the label on everything I buy at the grocery store. Anything and everything has HFCS in it now, and avoiding those products where it's high on the ingredient list is solely responsible for my weight loss. I still eat as much as I always have, it just isn't filled with HFCS.

If you're reading labels then you're most likely watching calories. In other words, your caloric intake is less than it used to be. Of course, you will lose weight. Amused wasn't saying, drink as much as you want, it won't hurt you.
 

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,920
2,161
126
Originally posted by: BoberFett
Sorry Amused, but you're just wrong.

I'm about 6', and at my heaviest I weighed 210lbs and had 36" waist. A couple years ago I realized how tubby I was, and decided to lose some weight. I dropped to 170 in about six months and kept it off, and I can now fit back in my 32" waist pants. How was I able to drop 40lbs? Must have been all that exercise, right? Nope, I didn't change my activity level at all. What changed was cutting out pop and reading the label on everything I buy at the grocery store. Anything and everything has HFCS in it now, and avoiding those products where it's high on the ingredient list is solely responsible for my weight loss. I still eat as much as I always have, it just isn't filled with HFCS.

I did the same thing- cut out processed foods. Dropped 20 lbs in 2 months too. Fairly easy diet to stay on as you have a lot of food choices.

The hardest thing to cut was pasta :( All that starch = sugar to the body.
 

bunnyfubbles

Lifer
Sep 3, 2001
12,248
3
0
Originally posted by: BoberFett
Sorry Amused, but you're just wrong.

I'm about 6', and at my heaviest I weighed 210lbs and had 36" waist. A couple years ago I realized how tubby I was, and decided to lose some weight. I dropped to 170 in about six months and kept it off, and I can now fit back in my 32" waist pants. How was I able to drop 40lbs? Must have been all that exercise, right? Nope, I didn't change my activity level at all. What changed was cutting out pop and reading the label on everything I buy at the grocery store. Anything and everything has HFCS in it now, and avoiding those products where it's high on the ingredient list is solely responsible for my weight loss. I still eat as much as I always have, it just isn't filled with HFCS.

Wow that totally explains my roommate who drinks at least 2 regular sodas every day and doesn't do anything to watch his diet. He's actually an inch taller than you but weighs 20lbs less...

Certainly one proven case out of all 6 billion+ humans implies it to be true for everyone :roll:
 

TheAdvocate

Platinum Member
Mar 7, 2005
2,561
7
81
Originally posted by: Amused
Another "blame food" argument for obesity.

Wow.

Fact: Sweetened soda has been around for over 100 years.

Fact: Bottled soda Has been around since the late 1800s

Fact: Bottled soda really took off in the 1950s. My parents stopped at soda shops daily when they were kids in the 40s and 50s.

Fact: When I went to school in the 70s, we had soda.

Fact: The obesity epidemic did not start until the 80s, and really took off in the early-mid 90s.

There is no correlation here, folks. Soda is NOT the cause of obesity in our society.

And as for the HFCS causes obesity theory, it's bunk. It affects the body NO differently than table sugar. Not a single valid study using HFCS has shown anything to the contrary.

Where the hell have you been? I've been missing out on my daily dose of Ego driven Objectivism. I even thought of you while I was playin Bioshock.
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,562
9
81
Originally posted by: CPA
Originally posted by: BoberFett
Sorry Amused, but you're just wrong.

I'm about 6', and at my heaviest I weighed 210lbs and had 36" waist. A couple years ago I realized how tubby I was, and decided to lose some weight. I dropped to 170 in about six months and kept it off, and I can now fit back in my 32" waist pants. How was I able to drop 40lbs? Must have been all that exercise, right? Nope, I didn't change my activity level at all. What changed was cutting out pop and reading the label on everything I buy at the grocery store. Anything and everything has HFCS in it now, and avoiding those products where it's high on the ingredient list is solely responsible for my weight loss. I still eat as much as I always have, it just isn't filled with HFCS.

If you're reading labels then you're most likely watching calories. In other words, your caloric intake is less than it used to be. Of course, you will lose weight. Amused wasn't saying, drink as much as you want, it won't hurt you.

I don't pay attention at all to the calorie count. I simply avoid foods with HFCS. Now by it's very nature HFCS is dense calories, so it's quite possible I'm eating fewer calories. But I eat the same things, eat just as much, and feel just as full as I always have.



Originally posted by: bunnyfubbles
Wow that totally explains my roommate who drinks at least 2 regular sodas every day and doesn't do anything to watch his diet. He's actually an inch taller than you but weighs 20lbs less...

Certainly one proven case out of all 6 billion+ humans implies it to be true for everyone

And I'll assume you and your roommate are in your early 20s? Good for you. I used be able to drink a gallon of pop every day and stay thin as well. When I hit my 30s I started getting fat, and avoiding HFCS simply caused me to lose weight. I guess you're saying my experience won't work for any of those fatasses out there, because I have some kind of mutant gene? Wow, I'm like a superhero or something. The Amazing Weightloss Man!
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,562
9
81
Originally posted by: Fritzo
I did the same thing- cut out processed foods. Dropped 20 lbs in 2 months too. Fairly easy diet to stay on as you have a lot of food choices.

The hardest thing to cut was pasta :( All that starch = sugar to the body.

I still eat pasta about once a week, my daughter loves spaghetti. I just spend about an extra $1 per jar of spaghetti sauce and get something decent where HFCS isn't the first ingredient. For christs sake, why is HFCS the first ingredient in tomato sauce? It's f'ing TOMATO sauce! A little bit of conscious shopping and eating will go a long way for a lot of people.
 

Kadarin

Lifer
Nov 23, 2001
44,296
16
81
I cut out a lot of soda and replaced it with water, and I'm also making an effort to eat healthier food. The sodas I do drink are almost always diet. I rarely eat fast food these days, and when I cook frozen dinners, I get ones that have a balance of meat, potatoes or rice, and vegetables (preferably a mix of veggies). I'm 5'7" and weigh 196 lbs, but I fit into a 33" waist (and it's getting loose). I workout 3-5 times a week, and have a pretty muscular build. My one real vice is eating M&Ms at work, and the occasional Haagen-Dazs ice cream...

I'd be interested in seeing the results of a comprehensive study on diet drinks to see what effect they have on the metabolism, and how they affect weight loss.
 

ViRGE

Elite Member, Moderator Emeritus
Oct 9, 1999
31,516
167
106
Originally posted by: Amused
Another "blame food" argument for obesity.

Wow.

Fact: Sweetened soda has been around for over 100 years.

Fact: Bottled soda Has been around since the late 1800s

Fact: Bottled soda really took off in the 1950s. My parents stopped at soda shops daily when they were kids in the 40s and 50s.

Fact: When I went to school in the 70s, we had soda.

Fact: The obesity epidemic did not start until the 80s, and really took off in the early-mid 90s.

There is no correlation here, folks. Soda is NOT the cause of obesity in our society.

And as for the HFCS causes obesity theory, it's bunk. It affects the body NO differently than table sugar. Not a single valid study using HFCS has shown anything to the contrary.
Amused, I don't think most sensible people are blaming soda solely for the obesity epidemic; there are clearly several contributing factors to it. But soda is one of those factors, it is full of empty calories that don't fill most people up. Replacing it with something that contains fewer/no calories will help to combat the problem.
 

RiDE

Platinum Member
Jul 8, 2004
2,139
0
76
I wonder what happens when people run of things to blame and point their finger at.