{"id":5737,"date":"2015-04-07T13:24:51","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T17:24:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/?p=5737"},"modified":"2015-03-25T13:25:11","modified_gmt":"2015-03-25T17:25:11","slug":"lose-the-soda-lose-the-weight-why-drop-soda-from-your-diet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/2015\/04\/lose-the-soda-lose-the-weight-why-drop-soda-from-your-diet\/","title":{"rendered":"Lose the Soda, Lose the Weight – Why Drop Soda from your Diet?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Macro<\/a>We all know that choosing to drink a soda over a glass of water is not the best choice, but there is something so addictive about those sugary bubbles and soda is sometimes hard to resist.\u00a0 Because soda is an addiction<\/a>, however, there are some things we think you should know about how soda affects your body.\u00a0 Similar to smoking or drinking alcohol, it feels good to consume soda.\u00a0 Unfortunately, an increasing amount of research is beginning to decry the negative effects of soda consumption, especially if you drink it on a regular basis.\u00a0 In fact, evidence shows that your health will likely improve dramatically once you begin choosing a cool glass of water over a Coke or even a Diet Pepsi as almost every organ in the human body responds negatively to the consumption of soda.\u00a0 Take a look at how soda affects these vital organs and we think you will agree… it may be time to quit.<\/p>\n

Heart: <\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>A 2012 Harvard University study determined that consuming sugary drinks significantly increases a person’s risk of chronic heart disease and participants in the study who drank the most soda were 20% more likely to have a heart attack.\u00a0 In other words, choosing to drink water instead <\/a>of soda is one of the best things you can do for one of the most vital organs in your body.\u00a0 Another similar study published in 2011 discovered that sugary beverages raise blood pressure as well and the increase has a direct link to the amount of soda you consume.\u00a0 If you want to be heart healthy, soda is off the menu.<\/p>\n

Bladder:\u00a0<\/strong> <\/em>Because soda is a diuretic, it will make your bladder work harder, causing you to urinate more frequently and urgently.\u00a0 Soda can irritate your bladder as well, leading to an increase in bladder or urinary tract infections.\u00a0 Drinking clear fluids, like water or seltzer water, will keep your bladder cleaner, allowing it to function better.<\/p>\n

Bones:\u00a0<\/strong><\/em> <\/strong>If you want strong and healthy bones, giving up soda is step number 1.\u00a0 Soda can weaken bone health and increase your risk of osteoporosis.\u00a0 In addition, the less soda you drink, the more milk you may drink and such calcium rich drinks actually benefit your bones, making you stronger and healthier.<\/p>\n

Kidneys:\u00a0<\/strong> <\/em>Studies have shown that drinking a lot of soda can increase your risk of kidney disease and even ultimately increase your risk of renal failure.\u00a0 Diet sodas are just as damaging and researchers from the Nurses’ Health Study found that women who drank a substantial amount of diet soda every day had decreased liver function compared to women who did not drink soda at all.\u00a0 Bottom line:\u00a0 your kidneys don’t need all the sugary soda and don’t know how to process it.<\/p>\n

Weight Loss:\u00a0<\/strong> <\/em>If strong and healthy organs aren’t enough to convince you to quit drinking soda, would you believe that cutting soda from your diet is one of the easiest ways to lose weight?\u00a0 According to certain weight loss experts, dropping just one large Coke from your diet a day could reduce your annual caloric intake by over 200,000 calories.\u00a0 This is the equivalent of losing 60 lbs. of weight – in just one year!\u00a0 Even diet soda drinkers run the risk of weight gain, so don’t be fooled.\u00a0 Some studies have shown that there is a possible link between diet soda and increased appetite, leading to increased weight gain.\u00a0 Either way, the evidence is clear.\u00a0 A good way to overcome being overweight is to replace your daily soda with water.<\/p>\n

For those of us who love our soda, quitting can be just as hard as quitting smoking or letting go of other addictive behaviors and substances.\u00a0 The benefits, however, are indisputable.\u00a0 Losing the soda in your diet will not only help you feel better, it will help you live better… and living better is always the best choice.<\/p>\n

For more information on Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina health insurance coverage, the Marketplace and healthcare gov<\/a>\u00a0 to apply for your subsidy, please visit our website at www.nchealthplans.com<\/a> or call our toll free number 888-765-5400 and speak with one of our experienced and professional agents.\u00a0 Let us help you navigate through the Health Care Reform changes in accordance with the new regulations of The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obama care<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all know that choosing to drink a soda over a glass of water is not the best choice, but there is something so addictive about those sugary bubbles and soda is sometimes hard to resist.\u00a0 Because soda is an addiction, however, there are some things we think you should know about how soda affects […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,635],"tags":[415,358,366],"class_list":["post-5737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health-and-nutrition","category-preventive-care-2","tag-blue-cross-blue-shield-nc","tag-heart-health","tag-weight-loss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5737"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5745,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5737\/revisions\/5745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nchealthplans.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}