By drinking only 12 ounces of POP, doesn’t matter if its regular or diet, it increases your risk by 50% for:

1.     An increased waistline (most of us probably knew this one)

2.     An elevated blood pressure

3.     Elevated blood sugar levels

4.     Elevated blood fat or triglycerides

5.     Reduces the HDL (the good) cholesterol

Unfortunately, these symptoms are what makes us at a higher risk for heart disease and diabetes. Another issue regarding POP, is that the sugar content in it creates hunger. That in turn creates yet another problem which is a gain in your weight. Thus, the merry-go-round ensues.

So far, I haven’t fully conquered eliminating this from my daily diet. As for any substitues, I don’t drink coffee or tea. I do like plain cold water, juices and lemonade. However, with the lemonade in particular, there is the issue of sugar again. Oh well, its a work, or should I say sometimes a battle, in progress and I will get past this as well.

Update:  Since the writing of this post and with limited information, it has recently been discovered that there is a protein in the kidney that is activated and linked in some way with regard to drinking pop.