How and Why to Quit Soda

Soda, pop, soft drink…whatever you want to call it; it’s a drink that we grew up with and learned to love. It’s tasty with any meal and snack but has anyone ever discussed the stress that these drinks create in your body? Once the sweet, bubbly taste passes your tastebuds and enters your system, a chain of events take place that creates stress and inflammation. Overconsumption of soda leads to insulin resistance which is the culprit of most chronic illnesses.

Let’s talk about how the sugar in soda is processed in the body.

When you eat carbohydrates, your saliva containing amylase breaks it down into glucose (sugar), glucose then travels to your stomach and small intestine where it gets absorbed by your intestinal walls and released into your bloodstream. The blood carries the glucose to the cells all over your body and insulin helps absorb it for energy.

While this is one way to get energy; the issue with ingesting sugar in liquid form, like soda, is the speed at which you absorb it into your blood.

Sugar makes it into your bloodstream very quickly and too much of it will cause a sudden spike in your blood sugar levels. High blood sugar levels can damage your organs and blood vessels. That’s why we have our beloved pancreas that can produce insulin to bring blood sugar back down.

The problem is when you have a lot of sugar at once your body overcorrects in its desperation to bring your blood sugar levels back down. Insulin pulls too much sugar from your blood, and you end up with low blood sugar.

This is what we call a SUGAR CRASH. This is the vicious cycle a lot of people find themselves in…

You have too much sugar > your blood sugar levels jump up immediately > your body produces insulin to deal with the problem > insulin causes your blood sugar to crash > you end up sluggish and mentally foggy > you get sugar cravings as your body tries to convince you to bring your blood sugar back up > repeat cycle.

The longer this vicious cycle goes on, the more desensitized your cells becomes to insulin and over time this progressive desensitization is called insulin resistance and it’s the root of most chronic disease and symptoms like:

• Weight gain/obesity
• Heart disease
• Stroke
• Diabetes
• Fatty liver disease
• Poor oral health, including cavities and tooth enamel damage

“That’s easy then I’ll just start having diet sodas…” Pump your brakes!

Diet sodas seems like a good way to kick sugary drinks but they have several downsides. Diet sodas are still linked to disorders like kidney disease, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease and it still contains various acids that can harm your dental health. Diet sodas can also affect your brain health.

Aspartame, a sweetener commonly found in diet sodas, plays a role in some mental disorders changing the concentrations of brain chemicals which in turn plays a role in your mood, memory, sleep, and attention! Aspartame in high doses can also cause irritability, depression and poor memory.

Yikes!

How to quit soda

If you’re missing the different flavors soda provides there are ways to get around it.

Our favorite hack is to find a good clean electrolyte powder like Re-lyte or LMNT (no affiliations) that come in different flavors and mix it with carbonated water. Please make sure to use carbonated water or seltzer; tonic water can have sugar in it!

Glycine is a common protein and in powder form has a sweet taste and also can be added to carbonated water to create a sweet “soda”.

I like to add lemon/lime Re-lyte powder with glycine to my soda water and I have that daily.

You can also start having agua fresca and other low sugar drinks. Below are some recipes by KissmyKeto.com for you to try. For us, this is too much work and the electrolyte powder is sufficient, but others may find it useful!

Água fresca

Preparation time: 10 minutes; Serve: 8
Net Carbs= 4.4g/serving

Ingredients:

• 1lb. cantaloupe flesh
• 2 ½ cups cold sparkling water
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons powdered erythritol

Instructions:

• Combine all ingredients in a food blender.
• Place a mesh strainer over a large bowl.
• Strain the mixture pressing down any pieces of cantaloupe.
• Fill the serving glasses with ice. Pour in the agua fresca.
• Serve immediately.

Pink grapefruit soda

Preparation time: 10 minutes; Serve: 4
Net Carbs: 3.3g/serving

Ingredients:

• 1 pink grapefruit, juiced
• ½ lemon, juiced
• 20 drops liquid stevia
• 3 cups sparkling water
• 1 pinch salt

Instructions:

• In a small bowl, combine grapefruit juice lemon juice, stevia, and salt.
• Divide the mixture among four serving glasses.
• Add a few ice cubes into each glass and fill the glasses with sparkling water

Ginger ale

Preparation time: 10 minutes; Serve: 4
Net Carbs: 2.5g/serving

Ingredients:

• 1 lemon, juiced
• 4 cups sparkling water
• 2 tablespoons powdered erythritol
• 22-inch pieces ginger, peeled, and minced
• Mint, as desired
• Ice cubes, as desired

Instructions:

• Peel and grate the ginger. Place it in a muslin or cheese cloth and squeeze until you have around 2 tablespoons of liquid ginger juice.
• In a jug, mix ginger juice, lemon juice and sparkling water.
• Stir in erythritol, add ice cubes and mint and serve immediately.

Sparkling Pomegranate

Preparation time: 5 minutes; Serve: 4
Net Carbs: 3.2g/serving

Ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• ½ cup fresh pomegranate juice
• ½ cup sparkling water
• 20 drops stevia
• ½ cup freshly brewed green tea, cold

Instructions:

• Combine all ingredients in a jug.
• Serve over ice.

Hopefully, this post opens your eyes to the dangers of soda and diet sodas. It was never explained to us growing up how damaging these beverages are. Removing these from your diet is a huge and crucial step in your wellness journey; hopefully the tricks and hacks we provided can ease the transition for you!

If you’re on a mission to kicking your sugar addiction and would like some help and support on your journey, reach out to us! If you’re interested in learning more about sugar read: 3 Things You Need to Understand About Sugar