The Dangers of Soda Consumption

Part 2

An in Depth Interview with Holistic Nutritionist Mike Adams

In Part 1 of this interview series, Mike touched in on some of the many dangers that drinking soda offers your health. He also informed us of some very interesting points and the relation between soda and some of the different injuries that we are seeing in the sport. In this second installment, Mike is going to shed some light on more of the different diseases that drinking soda can contribute to. We will take a look at how it contributes to Type II Diabetes and even how it affects brain function. Since Diabetes, especially Type II is so prevalent in many lifters; I thought this would be a good eye-opener for those who drink soda. Now since many of you reading this article do have children, I decided to ask Mike some questions on how drinking soda in their younger years affects growth development. This affects children on a skeletal and neurological level as well. I am sure you are going to be intrigued by some of the information in the second part of this interview. So enough with my banter let’s get to the juicy stuff!

Mike Adams is “The Health Ranger”

Anthony: Can you explain how soda destroys your teeth? Is it a synergistic combination between sugar and Phosphoric Acid? What is your take on this Mike?

Mike: That is an excellent question. The blame lies here with the sugar and the Phosphoric Acid just like you mentioned. Now here is how it works. The sugar damages your teeth right at the surface. This allows bacteria to grow and also wears away at your enamel. That right there will cause cavities alone. To make this even worse the phosphoric acid lowers bone density along your jawline and throughout the roots of your teeth. So the Phosphoric Acid is what’s going to cause your teeth to be weakened and to actually fall out. So if you combine these two as you suggested then you get cavities and weak roots.

Mike:  Now this is how a lot of people lose their teeth at a young age. So as you can see soda pop consumption can destroy your dental health from numerous angles.

Anthony: Wow that is so interesting Mike. I know our readers will find this very informative especially those that drink diet soda thinking that they are doing their teeth a service all the while they are not.

Mike: Yeah that’s true

Anthony:  In the sport of Powerlifting, Diabetes especially Type II is a major problem among many athletes especially those in heavier weight classes. Many of the Powerlifters that I have done nutritional analysis with are actually Diabetic, while many more are very Insulin resistant. They are basically on their way to welcoming Diabetes into their life if they don’t clean up their eating and lifestyle. Now I would like you to elaborate for the readers on high fructose corn syrup and how it contributes to Type II Diabetes?

Mike: There is no doubt in my mind that high fructose corn syrup directly contributes to Type II Diabetes. Now how this works is in two ways. The first is the fact that it raises and spikes your blood sugar. Like you mentioned this leads to Insulin resistance. So the hormone that is supposed to clear the sugar from your bloodstream and carry it into the cells is no longer being listened to by your cells. Basically, when you have Insulin resistance you have pre-Diabetes. Now, athletes can get away with this for a little while when they are compared to sedentary individuals. But once they stop exercising it can blow up into full-scale Type II Diabetes very quickly. So along with this you also get included with the package is an increased rate of heart disease, obesity, and moodiness. Now, this is one thing you will notice with a lot of people. Moodiness is something that you find often and is no doubt caused by the blood sugar swings that soda contributes to. Now with Powerlifters for example many people think that this moodiness is contributed by illegal steroid use. In reality, it is often not and it’s actually the soda pop they are drinking that is causing these mood swings. So it’s not the “Juicing”, it’s the soda. So in reality you have to get off the sodas to stabilize your moods as well as your mental function. Let’s not forget to also stabilize your blood sugar levels.

Soda and Diabetes go Hand in Hand!

Anthony: Mike you hit this one on the head for sure. It is true a lot of lifters do get mood swings. I have seen this first hand. Of course, the public or anyone around these individuals will go and use the blame game of steroid abuse but the reality is that this is not what’s doing it. Good old soda is more of a culprit than anabolic steroids!

Mike: Yes that is what I am trying to point out here. I know that Diabetes is more prevalent in Powerlifting circles as well when compared to other sports.

Anthony: I have told readers that soda contributes to obesity and weight gain. Can you explain to the readers in detail how this works?

Mike: Ok this is how soda contributes to weight gain. You see your body is made to process complex carbohydrates that are slow burners.

Anthony: Mike this is why I am such a big proponent of consuming Low Glycemic Index carbohydrates when trying to optimize my lifter’s performance and allow them to burn fat as well.

Mike: Yes they are burned slowly and absorbed slowly. From this, it basically provides stable blood glucose over a long sustained period of time. Now soda on the other hand is like rocket fuel. They burn hot and fast. Actually, they burn much too hot and fast. Soda jacks up your blood sugar very rapidly and your body was not designed to handle this very efficiently as a result of this extra blood sugar. Now if your pancreas is working properly it will produce Insulin that will cause all the extra blood sugar to be stored as fat. Now through a liver process, all the extra sugar is converted to body fat and stored in your body. Now getting rid of that body fat is a very difficult thing to do. Now no one likes to cut weight because dropping body fat is a process that sucks.

Anthony: Yeah I hear you on that one. Trying to get some lifters to eat clean so that they can get into a lower weight class is like pulling teeth, believe me!

Mike: Now if we look at high fructose corn syrup, it is basically a high Glycemic index sugar. Actually, it is hard to find a sugar anywhere that has a higher Glycemic Index than high fructose corn syrup. Now let me compare this to a metaphor. If you take your car and it’s a diesel pickup and you fill it with diesel fuel, then it runs correctly. Now if you took your pickup over to your local airport and filled it up with jet fuel what do you think would happen to the engine of that truck?

High Fructose Corn Syrup is Poison!

Anthony: I would guess that it would destroy the engine.

Mike: Exactly it would burn out the engine! Now that is the same thing that is happening to the human body because it is not made to handle that form of carbohydrates and sugars. This is what happens when you drink soda that contains high fructose corn syrup.

Anthony: Mike that is an excellent example that you put forth and hopefully this will open the eyes of our readers that do drink soda especially those that consume way too much.

Mike: Well that is the purpose, to help open up the eyes of people that are unaware of this information.

Anthony: I have pushed my readers to understand that a calorie is not equal to a calorie. How a calorie from soda is not going to benefit your performance like a calorie from a yam. Can you explain how soda’s empty calories will actually decrease their performance?

Mike: That is a very good question. Let me explain this. Now the processed food industry basically wants the general public to think that a calorie is a calorie. Now, where you get calories from directly affects your body. The calories from a yam are probably one of the best sources of caloric energy and complex carbohydrates that a powerlifter could consume.

Anthony: I fully agree with this Mike as I include plenty of yams and sweet potatoes in the plans of my athletes because of all the numerous benefits they offer their performance and health.

Mike: Now there is a product out there by Jay Robb called Yam It. This will provide slow-released sustained energy for any athlete. This is an excellent product for this purpose. What your readers need to know is that calories from yams are loaded with trace minerals which you are not getting from sodas or processed foods. This is one of the best sources of natural calories. What you need to understand is the difference between consuming calories from processed foods and sodas and consuming calories from nutrient-dense healthy whole foods. One good comparison for this would be drinking coca leaf tea versus smoking crack cocaine. Now coca leaf tea in its natural form is completely safe. I personally drank coca leaf tea while I was hiking in the Andes Mountains in Peru. Now even though I drank this tea I certainly would not smoke crack cocaine even though it’s from the same plant. You see crack cocaine is dangerous while drinking the coca leaf tea is safe!

Coca Leaves and Crack Cocaine are Not the Same!

Anthony: Mike that is a very funny comparison but in reality you couldn’t have better described the difference between processed low-quality garbage foods and natural healthy clean foods.

Mike: Yes and believe this or not this is the same story with sugars. If you take it in its natural form, that is fine. For example, corn is healthy for you. But on the other side of the coin if you take corn and extract the high fructose syrup, this then is like crack and you don’t want to be consuming that. The source of calories matters as well as the processing too. Natural whole foods are the only way to go, so stay away from processed foods and junk.

Anthony: I would like to touch on the topic of children and soda. It seems that kids are one of the largest consumers of soda and drink quite a bit of it daily. Can you elaborate on how damaging this is for a child in their growing years?

Mike: Soda is very harmful to the growth of children. I think a study done on this would show that soft drinks are not healthy for children.  Now because of the harm that Phosphoric Acid causes the skeletal system this shows that soda consumption stunts growth in children. Now, this is in terms of their skeletal system but also their neurological system as well. The fact that soda consumption in children causes chronic dehydration and nutrient depletion contributes to these factors. Now I am of the belief that in this country we should ban the marketing of junk foods and soda to children. Now with the soft drink companies, this is their primary market because they are easy to manipulate through influential advertising. Plus typically children really don’t think much about their health and only chose what tastes good right now. This makes them prime targets for soda companies due to these facts. This happens even though the health of these children will be harmed by soda consumption. This will no doubt affect their health in their growing years and in their entire lifetime. I think we should ban advertising to children because of the detrimental effects it has on their health.

Anthony: Is there any link between the increased rate of ADHD and the increased soda consumption among children?

Mike: There is no doubt in my mind that there is a link. This is because ADHD is a disease that we know can be reversed in about two weeks by simply changing the child’s diet. If you remove the soft drinks from the diet as well as the refined sugars and artificial food coloring, then children become symptom-free of ADHD. There is a huge change in these symptoms in just a matter of a few weeks. You see ADHD is diagnosed as a disease based on certain behaviors that are caused by poor nutrition and this can be reversed. In reality, you don’t need to give your kids drugs to enhance their health. What you need to do is feed them real foods and stop feeding them poison.

Anthony: How about the big business of soda in America? Can you explain a little more about what is going on behind the scenes that most Americans are unaware of?

Mike: People need to understand the reason for their marketing. The soft drink industry is a multibillion-dollar business. When you pay a dollar for a soda there is only about three cents worth of ingredients in there. In fact, the can is more expensive than the ingredients in it. It is a hugely profitable business and as a result, these companies spend literally hundreds of millions of dollars on their advertising. Now, this creates a very strong influence between the soda companies and the mainstream media. The media in turn begins to depend on the big dollars from these soda companies spent on their advertising. This then causes the media to stay away from the truth on the dangers of soda because they don’t want to annoy their advertisers of course. Now, this is why we don’t get the whole story in the mainstream media about soda and its dangers. Now the real story in my opinion is the fact that these soda companies are one of the primary contributors to an epidemic of the disease in the western world. They sell products that harm people. Now just like these big tobacco companies, soda manufacturers refuse to admit that their products harm anyone.

The Soda Business is a Billion Dollar Industry!

Anthony:  Yea Mike you really do have to love big business. I guess as long as you make money who cares about people! I guess the bottom line with so many companies and businesses is the bottom line and that is the almighty dollar.

Mike: In fact, I remember reading a quote from who I think was the Vice president of Coca Cola which stated that their drink was a wholesome beverage and provided an excellent source of hydration. They actually think that their products are wholesome beverages. That makes about as much sense as tobacco companies saying smoke cigarettes help you lose weight.

Anthony: That is really absurd, in regards to the amount of deception that goes on in soft drink advertising. How can you promote something that is obviously very unhealthy due to the several different harmful ingredients, and then push it as “Healthy” to uneducated and uninformed consumers?

Mike: Yea you got to love this

Anthony:  Do these big corporate companies fully understand how harmful their products are especially considering their advertising markets to children especially with the presence of soda machines in schools?

Mike: I don’t think that the people that work in those companies understand the dark reality. They are not evil people working at Coke and Pepsi but they have blinders on. They hate to look at the evidence that relates their products and their relation to Diabetes, obesity, and Osteoporosis. They don’t want to admit or hear about the evidence that their products should be categorized as harmful. I think they are in a state of denial much like the tobacco industry has been for decades. The people that work there don’t want to believe that they are doing harm. But remember everyone wants to make money right? So as they are making money they selectively ignore the fact that their products are harmful.

Anthony: Can you explain the link between soda and mental illness?

Mike: In my opinion, there is a direct relation between soda consumption and mental illness. You see the brain is a physical organ that requires nutrients from the blood in order to function correctly. Now just like any other physical organ, it needs healthy nutrients, not unhealthy ones. Now many of the ingredients in soda are converted into your blood and assimilated and then brought to the brain. So everything that you drink in soda is impacting your brain health. When you have too much sugar in your blood it impairs brain function. Now when your blood sugar drops and leaves you in a state of Hypoglycaemia then your brain function really drops and suffers. Now believe this I am not joking here but this is where we get a lot of criminal and aggressive behavior in young males. It also leads to poor cognitive function and poor memory. If we look at one study it showed that 25% of prisoners in U.S. jails suffer from Hypoglycaemia which is a blood sugar disorder. It is in my opinion that soda consumption helps create Hypoglycaemia and other blood sugar problems that directly lead to criminal behavior in young males. Now here is something that you may find interesting. What if it’s actually our diets that are creating criminals? If so we could actually prevent crime by choosing what foods that we promote to our population. I think we could dramatically curb criminal behavior by looking at nutrition. You see what you have to realize is that the brain and anger are directly impacted by food.

Anthony: I have had one of my athletes who is a student actually tell me that since he stopped drinking soda which was about 4‐5 cans per day, he actually noticed a big improvement in his concentration skills. Can you explain this link?

Mike: It’s not surprising to hear this result so quickly when the soft drinks were discontinued from his diet. Now soda can affect your concentration and ability to focus. The blood sugar swings that are caused by drinking soda dramatically affect not only your concentration but also your mood. Now this one is very important for Powerlifters. Soda can affect your moods and this is not the best thing for you especially in many situations like when you are in a relationship for example. You can dramatically improve your relationship with your girlfriend or wife because you are now not suffering from these mood swings that are causing problems in your relationship. You have to realize that blood sugar drops will make you annoyed and irritable and then you just pass this on to those around you. If you are aggressive and irritable all the time this will harm your relationships with family and friends. Improving your moods and relationship with your loved ones is just another of the many benefits that stopping soda consumption and poisoning your body with these chemicals can offer you.

Anthony:  You know Mike it sounds funny when you say that but it is very true. There are a lot of guys that do get mood swings quite often. One minute they are happy the next they are fighting for something that is really petty and stupid. Now many people may think that this guy may just be a real jerk but in reality, the reaction to these blood sugar drops can affect some people more than others. This in turn can really change the personality of a person if they are doing this several times per day. When you are spiking your blood sugar and insulin through the roof 5‐8 times per day which I know to a nutritionist sounds crazy, this can dramatically affect the mood of that particular person. But causing these spikes and then the blood sugar lows that follows is exactly what is happening to many people. Once they change their diet, they find themselves a different person altogether.

Part II Overview

In this part, Mike covered a lot of controversial topics that are not readily discussed in mainstream media. Of course, you know that I am going to bring you the truth no matter how dark it may seem. The reality of “Big Business” behind soda as well as their marketing and intended audiences is something that many will find disturbing. But this is the reality of not only soda companies but many others. In the end, they don’t care what happens to you or your long term health down the road. So the reason why I chose many of the questions I did for this interview especially in this second part, is to help educate you on the reality not only of the dangers soda poses to your body, but also the dirty reality of what goes on behind the scenes. Many are not familiar with this reality especially those who are younger. Mike’s comparisons on the reality of processed foods and soda versus whole natural foods can be quite humorous. But in all honesty, he couldn’t be closer to the truth than his statements. These foods and drinks are literal poisons that will destroy your health and performance if you consume them as a regular part of your diet. I want you to understand that in the end, big companies don’t care about you the consumer, and the bottom line is the net profit at the end of the day. It is a sad reality indeed but this is how many businesses operate. So it’s is your responsibility as an adult to help make the right choices not only for yourself but also for your children. The health situation among those in America is one of the worst in the world and this is directly related to your nutritional and lifestyle choices. I am going to say this once so pay attention, you have to make a choice. You can either clean up your diet or feed your body healthy foods that nourish it and keep you in a healthy state. Or you can pollute your body with processed foods and harmful drinks only to live a life full of disease. What you can look forward to is a quality of life that is very poor and dependant on pharmaceuticals just to keep you alive. If that is what you truly want for yourself and your family then ignore all the warnings that I put forth because when you do too little, too late, you are the one that is going to have to live with your choices!

If you have any questions or comments you can contact me at:

Aricciuto@NutritionXP3.com