Gee, ya think?

A study has shown that SODA CONSUMPTION IS LINKED TO OBESITY. 

I used to drink up to 8 sodas a day.  In high school my nickname was C.C, as I got through the day on a 6 pack of Cherry Coke and Cherry Pop-Tarts.  (As skinny as I was, I can only wonder what I would have looked like had I eaten HEALTHY.)  At my worst I worked my way through a case of soda in two days.  Unfortunately, this is fairly standard with Americans.

A teaspoon of sugar weighs 4.2 grams, and there's approximately 39 grams of sugar in one 12 oz can of soda.  That works out to just over 9 teaspoons of sugar per can.  At 8 12 oz sodas a day, I was consuming just over 74 teaspoons of sugar a day.  One cup is 48 teaspoons.  That's over a 1 1/2 cups of sugar a day, JUST IN THE LIQUID I WAS CONSUMING.  Not including the crap I was eating.

In all reality, I did have a fairly healthy diet when it came to my regular meals.  It was my snacking that was getting me in trouble, all of my snacks were either sugary or loaded with corn syrup as a stabilizer/preservative.  I'm sure that between my soda intake and the junk I was getting over two cups of sugar a day.  I can't believe I didn't end up diabetic earlier than I did.

Now here's my biggest issue in all of this...my prior diet/habits are STANDARD for most American kids.  Their parents choose to feed their kids crap, because theoretically it's cheaper than eating healthy.  Or they don't want to hear their kids whining for the crap, so they shut them up by stuffing their faces.  It sickens me to see a two year old with a huge can of soda, and the mom thinking nothing of it.  And parents just can't figure out why their kids are fat.

Through all of my terrible habits, I am glad to say that I was pretty selfish about it.  I didn't allow my kids to have soda except on special occasions, and snacks consisted of cheese, fruit, and whole grain crackers.  (At least I tried to.  Sometimes I did let them have some crap, but it was rare.)  Good habits start early, bad habits start even earlier.  I'm praying that I didn't pass my food issues on to my kids.  If I did, I really hope that I can help them understand what lies beneath these habits, and teach them about being HEALTHY.