Drinking pop

How long do we have to go without drinking pop?

My surgeon would say a year. I have been drinking 1 or 2 a week for about a month.  I open it and put it back in the fridge.  Then I usually don't finish the whole can in a day and throw it out.  However, when this last one is gone, I will not be repurchasing.  Here are the reasons why:  If I have the gurgles, it's caused from Aspartame.  Coke Zero (my choice) has aspartame. This was so enlightening to me because I hate the gurgles.  They don't happen very often, when I drink a Coke or Diet Coke, it does.  I do not want that to happen.

The other reason I am totally giving it up is the bone issues we can have.  We are already facing possible osteo because we don't absorb calcium and trying to get in enough calcium is hard for some of us (I hold my hand up here).  So, carbonated beverages will only make this issue worse for us.

I may try the ones made with Stevia but I'm not going to get hooked on them.

Think about it!

I've tried the one with stevia, and to me, it's nasty. Actually, I really don't like stevia in anything. It has a bitter aftertaste to me. I don't drink carbonated beverages regularly.  I keep a couple gallons of Splenda sweetened Kool Aid in a dispenser in the fridge, and I take it with me in bottles.

I will be on the Splenda bandwagon for life...but I do have the occasional sugary sweet.

 

AC's totally right about the calcium.  Carbonated drinks leach calcium from your bones and DSers are prone to issues without that on top of everything.

Curses! Foiled Again!

Darn you people, I completely forgot the calcium leech issue. Just when 7Up comes out with the new 10 line of soda's less sugar, fewer carbs.... I won't even drink perrier anymore. Thanks for the reminder... Really it's appreciated.

Google this and read about the whole calcium/phosphoric acid thing.  You will find your Perrier and 7Up is fine.

I had my first one in the hospital.  Some tolerate soda well and others don't.  The most important thing is sugar free.  Then it's better for the calcium issue to drink any color but brown.  I drink less than I did before I just try to avoid the brown ones.  Now if diet coke goes on sale I still get it...I just don't drink it all the time.

I was never much of a soda drinker pre-op...

But I did find out that it was close to a year before the canned ones weren't too hard on my system. I could handle the fountain ones fine even fairly early out.

 

study, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Institutes of Health, found "no evidence" that an occasional cola would harm bones.

Some doctors and researchers have hypothesized that the caffeine, phosphoric acid, sugar or even carbonation in some sodas may weaken bones by discouraging the body's absorption of calcium.

But others say the effect of cola -- if there is one -- is simply that people who down a lot of it often don't consume enough calcium-rich foods and drinks such as milk. A 2001 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition of 32 adult women found that caffeine did slightly increase the amount of calcium excreted from their bodies, but concluded that the effect on bone health was "negligible." The main effect of soft drinks appeared to be that they displace healthier beverages, says Robert Heaney, lead author of the study and a bone biology expert at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. The study was funded by Creighton and Dairy Management Inc., a dairy-industry group.

Dr. Heaney's study found no effect from phosphoric acid, an ingredient in cola that some scientists believe prevents calcium absorption.

A 2004 report by the U.S. Surgeon General on bone health and osteoporosis agreed that while caffeine and phosphorus may disrupt calcium absorption, those effects are small enough to be overcome by getting enough calcium in the diet.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119248988392159947.html?mod=rss_Today's_Most_Pop%20ular

Herman,

That's an old study - over 10 yrs

Here are some newer links to newer studies:

http://www.everydayhealth.com/osteoarthritis/1113/sugary-soft-drinks-worsen-osteoarthritis-in-men.aspx

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/carbonated-water/MY01892

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/84/4/936