gerald-g-fast-food-drinks-ff-menu-5-300pxCutting back on added sugar from soda can do wonders for your health. Here are 8 ways to make it happen.

Please read her article, I want her to get full credit, but here is a summary: scale back slowly with a schedule, find tasty alternatives, say “no soda” at certain events, break your soda routine, tell your friends and family so they can hold you accountable, and allow yourself to have a few sodas a month.

So You Want to Stop… Drinking Soda➚ (~1100 words)
from MyFitnessPal.com➚ by Elle Penner

Elle: Back in 2006 I decided I wanted to rid myself of a dependence on artificial sweeteners, so naturally I started with soda. Over the course of about a year I went from drinking 2-3 sodas per day to 2 to 3 per month. I still very much enjoy a cola with my cheeseburger and french fries, but now that I drink it so much less frequently, I have no problem treating myself to the real deal. – Elle Penner, M.P.H., R.D., is the Senior Registered Dietitian and Food & Nutrition Editor at MyFitnesssPal and Under Armour Connected Fitness.

I use the MyFitnessPal app and website to track caloric intake, weight, and exercise. When you sign up you can opt-in to receive health related emails such as this one about cutting back on soda. On the website they have nice area where you can enter a recipe or the link (URL) to a recipe and it will figure out the calories and all sorts of other dietary information for that recipe. Please see this post about how I used their tool to modify a recipe for Buttermilk Waffles to cut the cholesterol from 114 mg to 25 mg without losing any of the taste, texture or quality. – Steve

Is sugar the world’s most popular drug?➚

It eases pain, seems to be addictive and shows every sign of causing long-term health problems. Is it time to quit sugar for good? (~4600 words)

Gary Taubes – theguardian.com – 5 January 2017

 

Why working out is great for health, but not for weight loss, explained in five minutes. (Hint: Consume fewer calories.)

 

 

An excellent choice for replacing soda. YouTube / TED-Ed video (~5 minutes long)

 

Updates

November 8, 2016: Added YouTube TED-Ed video about “If You Didn’t Drink Water?”

January 22, 2017: Added link to article “Is sugar the world’s most popular drug?”

February 1, 2017: Added YouTube Vox video about working out and weight loss.