HOW BAD IS DRINKING SODA, REALLY?

I drink coke like its my job and i am pretty fast and getting faster. I drink coke with dinner before a race, for lunch, or anytime i eat out. Occasionally i will have sweet tea, but i just love coke with my meal. I don't think it hurts you one bit. Your body gets used to it and adjusts. Its a good source of calories too when you are running higher mileage. Just make sure you drink plenty of powerade and water as well and you will be straight.

For those concerned about calories, why not just switch to diet? That would fix the calorie problem. Then all you have to worry about is all that aspartame. No one's brought up the varieties of cancer those of us that ingest that artificial stuff day after day will have in time...

I like diet sprite because it fills me up with a meal and has no calories. I don't know why the rest of you like soda so much... I'd really rather have gatorade or juice, but those things have lots of calories. I like to save my calories for real food with some nutrition to it.

By the way most of you need to eat healthier. If my hypothetical spouse were an athlete, he'd be living on veggies, fruit, sparing lean meats, and whole grain stuff. I make mean tofu/veggie lasanga. You just have to get in the habit of eating healthy, less processed foods, and I SWEAR your tastes will change. The idea of a sugary soda or a big mac (gag) will no longer be appealing.

Also for those of you with a fast food/hamburger addiction I recommend the book "Fast Food Nation"... You will be scared out of your mind to ever go near a fast food joint again.

mzungu wrote:

so many threads on this board eventually bring up "what the kenyans do," so i'lll do it for this one. they drink soda like crazy. this past summer i lived with a bunch of kenyan road whores, and those guys bought 4 things in large quantities - corn meal, rice, milk, and generic sodas. i would guess some of them were at the 3-4 cans a day level. they were a bit perplexed that i didn't drink soda - unless it was free at races. again, i'm not saying that we have to mimick what they do, but soda doesn't seem to be hurting them too much. another thing i noticed was a couple of them taking playstations to kenya - maybe the end is near.

mzungu

This is an example of how Kenyans can get away with more than those of us lesser talented. I think it's better to examine the habits of those successful runners who do not have the innate advantages (genetic and environmental) that the Kalenjin do. We should try to learn from the successful Japanese, Russians, Portuguese, etc. inmho.

high co2 is lost in burping. You cant absorb co2 through your stomach

I hear you j I drink a few litres a week. Its kind of hot down in austin you might have to cut back. That caffeine will get you

Soda is a gateway drug. Oh yeah, it's great at first. You love it. It's a way of life. You're on top of the world. You're in command. You're "the man". Then it slows. It's not enough. You need more and more to get the same effect. Soon you're downing Ho-Ho's and RingDings. Before you know it your chasing Twinkies with a quart of Yoo-Hoo. And then it happens: The "lost weekend" in Vegas when you max out the Mastercard and find yourself in a cheap motel surrounded with empty Hostess Fruit Pie wrappers and a bathtub filled with Zima. But that doesn't stop you. No. Eventually you wind up in the county morgue with a tag on your toe and Doritos crumbs under your fingernails.

Yeah, it can happen to you.

JimFiore,

Great post. Very Portland Runneresque of you. Does he teach a class or something?

JEH,

You are lucky to not have the withdrawl symptoms many suffer. That way you won't even have to ween yourself. It sucks to have to remove life's simple pleasures but it is probably a good idea - at least a serious cutback. And Dr. Pepper is sooo good.

Seems to me JEH if you can eat healthy for 3-4 months then why not continue after that? No one says you have to eat perfectly all the time. Save one day each week to eat serious crap. Ultimately the decisions might be made for you - as you get older you may discover that you can't afford 1000 calories in a day just for sodas - I know I can't now, but in college, we used to go to Burger King at 3 a.m. for Whoppers with cheese. If I ate like I did in college I'd be the pre-Subway Jared.

Flagpole Willy wrote:

Great post. Very Portland Runneresque of you. Does he teach a class or something?

I've been writing humor for 30 years or so. I just don't do it on discussion groups that much. Actually, I don't write nearly as much funny/snide/dark stuff as I used to. It's mostly "serious" stuff these days (associated with work). I started a semi-underground funny newspaper thing back in high school. Every now and then an item will just hit me a certain way and I'll pop something out (like Nate Flarn of SAT fame). Some folks think my stuff is funny, some think it's weird, other people think it sucks. That's life.

Either way, I really do believe that soda is a gateway drug (of sorts).

JimFiore, can you be my sponsor? It was like you looked deep into my soul. My habits (sigh)... have even started to affect my work performance and the way co-workers see me. When I walk down the aisle, they all fill up their candy dishes with leftover chocolates from the holidays. Leftover Krispe Kremes from morning meetings find their way to my desk before I even arrive for work.

People use me to feel better about themselves - because they know I can't turn down a snickers bar no matter how many Halloweens ago it was collected. And, I am seen as some sort of human garbage disposal. When there is leftover pizza, all eyes turn toward me... there's really a lo of pressure. I need help.

Dietician K - My spouse IS practically a registered nutritionist. As you might surmise, sometimes opposites attract in some ways. My eating is one of the few ways I have to drive her crazy. Clearly, though, you have no idea of my affliction if you EVER think I would choose to eat a broccoli sprout over a HO HO!

To the rest (Flagpole Willy), thank you for your words of concern and kind advice. Perhaps a miracle will come my way.

OK, I'll be your sponsor. It's a ten step program. First, read the book "Fast Food Nation" as dietician k recommends. That is a GREAT read!

Second, you need to make your peace with all people from whom you've nicked a candy bar, leftover doughnut, or what-have-you. They may look at you strangely, but hey, just tell them it's a religious thing and they'll back off.

Third, remember that junk food is "bigger than you", unless of course you keep eating it, in which case you'll be bigger than a house.

Fourth, stay away from people who reinforce your addiction. This is particularly difficult as there's an entire industry devoted to this (see step one). When possible, mutter expletives under your breath whenever you see the guy who refills the snack machines.

Fifth, look in the mirror and repeat to yourself "I am a man. I am not a human garbage can." This is sometimes more effective if first you take all of your clothes off, slather butter on your face, and then plunge your head into a bucket of confectioner's sugar.

Sixth, start eating dark chocolate. REALLY dark chocolate. It's the only way. It'll make you feel like you're on top of the world. You're the man. Yeah, that's all you need. Just dark chocolate.. and maybe the occasional chocolate Zinger.. Yeah, that's the ticket.. Uuhhh, gotta go now, there's a, uh, thing that I have to do. Uh, yeah. Um, it has nothing to do with dark chocolate though. Really. Uhh, anyone seen my Mastercard??

here's a blurb on Fast Food Nation, in hopes that some of you fast food eaters might actually read it... definitly worth your time:

Fast Food Nation

The Dark Side of the

All-American Meal

By Eric Schlosser

To a degree both engrossing and alarming, the story of fast food is the story of postwar America. Though created by a handful of mavericks, the fast food business has triggered the homogenization of our society. Fast food has hastened the malling of our landscape, widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled the juggernaut of American cultural imperialism abroad. That?s a lengthy list of charges, but Schlosser makes them stick with an artful mix of first-rate reportage, wry wit, and careful reasoning.

Schlosser's myth-shattering survey stretches from the Californian subdivisions where the business was born to the industrial corridor along the New Jersey Turnpike where many of fast food's flavors are concocted. He hangs out with the teenagers who make the restaurants run and communes with those unlucky enough to hold America's most dangerous job -- meatpacker. He travels to Las Vegas for giddily surreal franchisers' convention where Mikhail Gorbachev delivers the keynote address. And he ventures to England and Germany to unlock the rate at which those countries are becoming fast food nations.

Along the way, Schlosser unearths a trove of fascinating, unsettling truths -- from the unholy alliance between fast food and Hollywood to the seismic changes the industry has wrought in food production, popular culture, and even real estate. He also uncovers fast food chains' enormous efforts to reel in the youngest, most susceptible consumers and hone the institutionalized exploitation of teenagers and minorities. Schlosser then turns a critical eye toward globalization -- a phenomenon launched by fast food.

Fast Food Nation is a groundbreaking work of investigation and cultural history, likely to transform the way America thinks about the way it eats.

If you have a major sweet tooth, substitute your pure sugar consumptions with honey. Honey has vitamins and anti-oxident properties and also known to be an aphrodisiac. Also, there are studies that show that honey may act as a probiotic which enhanced the growth of good bacteria in your system which helps with digestion and nutrient absorption.

I bought one of those brita water-filter pitchers and I pour honey on the bottom with lemon and I just pour tap water into the pitcher. The honey sinks to the bottom and right amount dissolves into the water when I pour out to drink. Great way to save money and it is a really good after-workout drink as well and drink before bed. It really makes me sleepy and calm for some reason.

Why don't you ask JEH what he ran while still competitive. I think if you don't already know you'll be surprised. Specificlly ask him what he ran at Mt. Sac 2 years ago I think?

Maybe he would have been faster maybe slower? I personally ran in the mid 24's in cross this year, ran in the 14:30's my soph year and am averageing 100+ a week right now: consuming 8 - 10 12oz'ers a week of Mt. Dew. (I'm also a little tired right now too maybe I should cut back - hahaha!)