Drinking Soda Impacts Your Health Negatively In Many Ways

Drinking a can of soda is more than just fattening. It has a number of harmful effects on your body which you can see in this interesting infographic below.

Don't be fooled by the zero calorie stuff either. That is just as bad if not worse. Artificial sweeteners have the effect of slowing down metabolism (thus you burn calories slower) and they trick your brain into thinking a sugar rush is coming, which never does, and that triggers increased hunger. You may drink less calories, but you'll eat more and burn off less. And you'll still have some of the harmful effects described below.

Bottom line, drink water.

Via: Term Life Insurance

Get Healthy In 2011 With The Daniel Plan

We go to Saddleback Church and they are in the very early stages of the Decade of Destiny program that is a 10 year program to help us improve our lives. It covers finances, spiritual health, physical health, emotional well being, etc.

This past weekend on January 15, they kicked off the physical health portion of the program with The Daniel Plan. It is based on the story of Daniel that can be found in Daniel 1:8-16 where Daniel and his friends were eating healthier food than the King's men were and by that simple act, they "looked better and healthier." You can watch the entire program at their media page.

That is the key to this whole program. Forget what you have heard about counting calories. 200 "twinkie calories" are not the same as 200 apple calories. Soft drinks don't have empty calories, they have toxic calories. Empty implies they have little to no effect on your body other than adding a few calories to your intake. The chemicals in soft drinks though, from high fructose corn syrup to artificial sweeteners are toxic to your body and brain. Your brain is 2-3% of your body mass but uses 20-30% of your blood flow. Whatever you eat, your brain gets a disproportionate percentage of it.

Yes, exercise is still important, but you don't have to go crazy. Walking several miles a week, maybe for a total of 3-4 hrs, including some brisk speeds thrown in for several minutes each time you walk, is sufficient to get your body to start burning excess fat.

You also don't have to go vegan or vegetarian. This isn't about eating rabbit food or starving yourself to death. It is about getting rid of foods that are bad for you, things like enriched white flower, processed sugar, artificial simple carbohydrates (as opposed to natural simple carbs in foods like apples, cranberries and strawberries) or anything with trans-fats.

I was blessed to figure out a lot of this on my own and take it to heart as I lost around 60lbs in total. I have been hovering between 158-162lbs for the last 18 months compared to 220lbs when I started. Yes, I run like crazy, but I love it and no longer do it just to lose weight or keep trim. It is the exercise I enjoy. My eating though was just a lot of common sense stuff. I cut out soft drinks, coffee, white bread, candy, fast food, quick nukable meals, etc. I replaced that with things like naturally caffeine free teas from Celestial Seasonings, gallons of water, whole wheat bread (never eat "multigrain" as that is a meaningless word and can be 99% white and 1% something else), fruits (not dried as dried fruit isn't very filling so you eat more to get full, which isn't good), nuts like pistachios and raw almonds - I eat at least 3lbs a week of each. I try to eat a salad at least 4 days a week for lunch, one that is loaded with red grapes, feta cheese, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and whatever else looks good as I am making it.

There is much more, but the point is, I was unknowingly well on my way to being on the Daniel Plan, and it isn't painful. The amount of willpower is small compared to other diets of bland foods, paltry servings and questionable nutritional value, other than being low in calories or fat, neither of which guarantee weight loss. In fact, eating too few calories or good fat will pretty much guarantee you won't lose weight because your body will go into a self-preservation mode and horde fat. Just like you need money to make money, you need to eat fat to burn fat. It just needs to be the right kinds of fat. Sorry, twinkies won't cut it.

The Daniel Plan was put together by three doctors. Dr. Daniel Amen, Dr. Mark Hyman and Dr. Mehmet Oz. The best way to understand what it is about is to go to the Daniel Plan about page and see what it involves. Then watch the videos. Chances of getting cancer, Alzheimer's, heart disease, diabetes, dementia and more can all be reduced just by changing the food you eat.

The next thing you need to do is start changing what you eat. We officially started by picking up a copy of Dr. Amen's Change Your Brain, Change Your Body Cookbook and trying some of the recipes in there. We've only done a few at our house. Some are awesome while others were just "eh" but that is how most cookbooks are. The difference is this is full of healthy foods that will go a long way towards helping you lose weight and maintaining a healthier body - and brain!

The year is just getting started. Regardless of your religious beliefs, The Daniel Plan is something you should give a serious look at. Getting healthy isn't just about living longer, it is about dramatically increasing the quality of life while you are alive.

Get Out There And Exercise!

I used to joke that I wasn't really concerned about dying and would be ok with a big greasy cheeseburger in my hand and a smile on my face the moment I passed, but no more. I am not concerned about dying though, it is the quality of life!


In the early winter of 2008/2009 something clicked in my brain after a checkup at the doctor's office. All of my blood pressure was fine (a bit low actually, but not a problem), triglycerides and cholesterol was good except my "good cholesterol" or HDL, which was low. She told me the only way to fix that was to eat more fish and chicken and exercise. Well, I don't eat red meat The only meat I eat is fish, chicken and occasional pork. So that wasn't going to do anything. That meant exercise.

I was also overweight, technically obese at 5'11 or so and 220lbs. So, I decided to start exercising.

Being cheap and lazy, I wasn't going to go to a gym. I knew I didn't have the will power to make that work. So, I started using a treadmill we had that was not getting much use. I hated it for the first month or two, often skipping planned sessions, but I stuck with it. Then the snow melted (was living in New Jersey at the time) and the weather was decent and I found I actually enjoyed running outdoors.

I lost 60 lbs in six months and have kept it all off. I run 3-4 times a week. I also changed my diet, but didn't actually go "on a diet." More on that in another post.

So, how does that affect my quality of life? I used to get a cold at least 2 times a year and was always feeling run down. Not sickly, just blah. Since I dropped the weight and keep in shape, I haven't had a cold at all. I got some weird cough a few months ago, but it was just annoying and didn't cause me to feel bad at all. It was also odd because the cough would totally disappear when running. I guess the adreneline acted as a cough suppressant. I no longer keep any cold medicine on hand "just in case." My existing supply expired and I just chucked them. They never used to expire before I needed to use them.

I feel more alert and alive all of the time, not just the days I exercise.

I have been blessed that I don't appear to have any underlying health issues. Some people do what I do, or more, and still struggle with issues like high blood pressure or high cholesterol levels. You do what you can. I'd argue those people are still better off for all they do than if they just vegged out in front of the TV with a bag of chips like I used to do. (I still veg out, but it is with grapes, carrots, almonds and pistachios now.)

So get up and figure out what you like. Running, biking, swimming, elliptical machine, basketball, whatever. Do something to get your heart rate up for at least two to three hours a week. Trust me, in three months, you'll feel a difference. In a year or so, you'll wonder why you waited so long.