Now here’s something you wouldn’t expect. Coca-Cola is being sued by a non-profit public interest group, on the grounds that the company’s vitaminwater products make unwarranted health claims. No surprise there. But how do you think the company is defending itself?

In a staggering feat of twisted logic, lawyers for Coca-Cola are defending the lawsuit by asserting that “no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking vitaminwater was a healthy beverage.”

Does this mean that you’d have to be an unreasonable person to think that a product named “vitaminwater,” a product that has been heavily and aggressively marketed as a healthy beverage, actually had health benefits?

Or does it mean that it’s okay for a corporation to lie about its products, as long as they can then turn around and claim that no one actually believes their lies?

In fact, the product is basically sugar-water, to which about a penny’s worth of synthetic vitamins have been added. And the amount of sugar is not trivial. A bottle of vitaminwater contains 33 grams of sugar, making it more akin to a soft drink than to a healthy beverage.

Is any harm being done by this marketing ploy? After all, some might say consumers are at least getting some vitamins, and there isn’t as much sugar in vitaminwater as there is in regular Coke.

True. But about 35 percent of Americans are now considered medically obese. Two-thirds of Americans are overweight. Health experts tend to disagree about almost everything, but they all concur that added sugars play a key role in the obesity epidemic, a problem that now leads to more medical costs than smoking.

How many people with weight problems have consumed products like vitaminwater in the mistaken belief that the product was nutritionally positive and carried no caloric consequences? How many have thought that consuming vitaminwater was a smart choice from a weight-loss perspective? The very name “vitaminwater” suggests that the product is simply water with added nutrients, disguising the fact that it’s actually full of added sugar.

The truth is that when it comes to weight loss, what you drink may be even more important than what you eat. Americans now get nearly 25 percent of their calories from liquids. In 2009, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health published a report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, finding that the quickest and most reliable way to lose weight is to cut down on liquid calorie consumption. And the best way to do that is to reduce or eliminate beverages that contain added sugar.

Meanwhile, Coca-Cola has invested billions of dollars in its vitaminwater line, paying basketball stars, including Kobe Bryant and Lebron James, to appear in ads that emphatically state that these products are a healthy way for consumers to hydrate. When Lebron James held his much ballyhooed TV special to announce his decision to join the Miami Heat, many corporations paid millions in an attempt to capitalize on the event. But it was vitaminwater that had the most prominent role throughout the show.

The lawsuit, brought by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, alleges that vitaminwater labels and advertising are filled with “deceptive and unsubstantiated claims.” In his recent 55-page ruling, Federal Judge John Gleeson (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York), wrote, “At oral arguments, defendants (Coca-Cola) suggested that no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking vitamin water was a healthy beverage.” Noting that the soft drink giant wasn’t claiming the lawsuit was wrong on factual grounds, the judge wrote that, “Accordingly, I must accept the factual allegations in the complaint as true.”

I still can’t get over the bizarre audacity of Coke’s legal case. Forced to defend themselves in court, they are acknowledging that vitaminwater isn’t a healthy product. But they are arguing that advertising it as such isn’t false advertising, because no could possibly believe such a ridiculous claim.

I guess that’s why they spend hundreds of millions of dollars advertising the product, saying it will keep you “healthy as a horse,” and will bring about a “healthy state of physical and mental well-being.”

Why do we allow companies like Coca-Cola to tell us that drinking a bottle of sugar water with a few added water-soluble vitamins is a legitimate way to meet our nutritional needs?

Here’s what I suggest: If you’re looking for a healthy and far less expensive way to hydrate, try drinking water. If you want to flavor the water you drink, try adding the juice of a lemon and a small amount of honey or maple syrup to a quart of water. Another alternative is to mix one part lemonade or fruit juice to three or four parts water. Or drink green tea, hot or chilled, adding lemon and a small amount of sweetener if you like. If you want to jazz it up, try one-half fruit juice, one-half carbonated water.

If your tap water tastes bad or you suspect it might contain lead or other contaminants, get a water filter that fits under the sink or attaches to the tap.

And it’s probably not the best idea to rely on a soft drink company for your vitamins and other essential nutrients. A plant-strong diet with lots of vegetables and fruits will provide you with what you need far more reliably, far more consistently — and far more honestly.

Resveratrol, an ingredient in Yoli “Truth”, has been shown to possibly prevent aging and increase vitality!

We all know that obesity is one of the most alarming health issues people across the world are experiencing. Today, resveratrol supplements are used as an effective weight loss tool. As a matter of fact, it’s one amongst the leading weight loss supplements out there in the market. It works by increasing our metabolism rate. Increase in metabolism rate helps an individual to burn fat at a faster rate, thereby leading to weight loss.

Besides weight loss, aging is one of the bothersome issues that we are currently engulfed with. As such, aging is a natural process, but we hate to admit this reality of life, considering the fact that we live in an image conscious world, where everyone wants to look and feel good all the time. Coming to resveratrol, it works as an anti-aging tool as well. This is welcoming news for all those people who are spending a fortune on anti-aging products. CLICK HERE TO SEARCH FOR PUB MED RESULTS

Luckily, Yoli has placed resveratrol into it’s flag ship product “Truth”. Could the truth prevent some effects of aging? Only time will tell.

Several researches have concluded that resveratrol halts the aging process to a great degree, due to its natural health beneficial properties. While these studies were mainly concluded on animals, one can’t defy real life experiences. You will find many individuals out there singing praises about resveratrol. In fact, resveratrol was also discussed in one of the most popular television show featured by Orphan Winfrey.

Only a short time before the conception of Yoli, resveratrol was stumbled upon by scientists looking for a way to activate the anti aging gene. Surprisingly, resveratrol (up until just recently) was known to have high concentrations in red wine. However, in order to receive the benefits of resveratrol from the red wine, you would have to consume up to or around 1,000 glasses of red wine in a single day.

WHO WANTS TO DRINK 1,000 GLASSES OF WINE DAILY?

Now I don’t know about you but  thoughts like that could have when mentioned in public, have you skipping and jumping or even stumbling  your way to some AA meetings.

One of the recent studies also unveiled the fact that it can boost one’s endurance level. Boost in energy is a certain bonus, even if you are taking the supplement to reduce your body weight.

Let there be no doubt, resveratrol could be a house hold name in the near future. How would you prefer to catch this wave of opportunity? Would you want to be in the front of the wave ready to ride it as your ship comes in, or would you rather say “I saw it coming in and side stepped it”.

Don’t let this be a coulda shoulda woulda kinda moment.

READ FULL STORY HERE.

Yoli was a huge hit at the OC Throwdown in Orange County, CA.  This was a CrossFit competition.  Hundreds of athletes were consuming Yoli throughout the day.

Check out some of the footage from the event below…(watch closely for a couple of Yoli sightings in the the competition area.

Scotty “The Blast Cap King” Lawrence represented Yoli in the masters division at the event. He tied for 1st place in his division. I think the 4 Yoli Truths per day had something to do with his win…

Here a few photos of the many athletes and CrossFit enthusiasts that were enjoying Yoli.  They were all looking forward to getting their hands on some Yoli Fun Sports Blast Drinks…

Scott and I had a great time and I was able to meet so many wonderful people at the event.  Scott and I plan to continue to use CrossFit events to share Yoli with the masses.  They certainly love it.  It should be even more exciting once we can get our hands on Yoli Fun the new Sports Drink.

After attending this competition, I fell in love with CrossFit.  I’m going to start training this way in 2010.  Awesome fun!

Disclaimer: Yoli products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Compared with soda, juice carries more calories and as much sugar. There’s also evidence that high consumption increases the risk of obesity, especially among kids.

By Karen Kaplan

November 8, 2009

To many people, it’s a health food. To others, it’s simply soda in disguise.

That virtuous glass of juice is feeling the squeeze as doctors, scientists and public health authorities step up their efforts to reduce the nation’s girth.

It’s an awkward issue for the schools that peddle fruit juice in their cafeterias and vending machines. It’s uncomfortable for advocates of a junk-food tax who say they can’t afford to target juice and alienate its legions of fans. It’s confusing for consumers who think they’re doing something good when they chug their morning OJ, sip 22-ounce smoothies or pack apple juice in their children’s lunches.

The inconvenient truth, many experts say, is that 100% fruit juice poses the same obesity-related health risks as Coke, Pepsi and other widely vilified beverages.

With so much focus on the outsized role that sugary drinks play in the country’s collective weight gain — and the accompanying rise in conditions including diabetes, heart disease and cancer — it’s time juice lost its wholesome image, these experts say.

“It’s pretty much the same as sugar water,” said Dr. Charles Billington, an appetite researcher at the University of Minnesota. In the modern diet, “there’s no need for any juice at all.”

A glass of juice concentrates all the sugar from several pieces of fruit. Ounce per ounce, it contains more calories than soda, though it tends to be consumed in smaller servings. A cup of orange juice has 112 calories, apple juice has 114, and grape juice packs 152, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The same amount of Coke has 97 calories, and Pepsi has 100.

And just like soft drinks, juice is rich in fructose — the simple sugar that does the most to make food sweet.

UC Davis scientist Kimber Stanhope has found that consuming high levels of fructose increases risk factors for heart disease and Type 2 diabetes because it is converted into fat by the liver more readily than glucose. Her studies suggest that it doesn’t matter whether the fructose is from soda or juice.

“Both are going to promote equal weight gain,” she said, adding that she’s perplexed by the fixation on the evils of sugar-sweetened beverages: “Why are they the only culprit?”

OJ FOR THE MASSES

Juice is a relatively recent addition to the human diet. For thousands of years, people ate fruit and drank mostly water.

But in the early 1900s, citrus growers in Florida were harvesting more oranges than they could sell. Then they had an epiphany: promote juice.

“You consume more oranges if you drink them than if you eat them whole,” said Alissa Hamilton, author of the book “Squeezed: What You Don’t Know About Orange Juice.”

The U.S. Army was instrumental in turning orange juice into a commercial product.

It originally served a powdered lemonade to ensure soldiers got enough vitamin C, but it tasted “like battery acid,” Hamilton said. So, during World War II, the Army commissioned scientists to invent a system for freezing OJ in a concentrated form. The patent wound up with Minute Maid, which sold cans of frozen juice concentrate in grocery stores.

In the 1950s, pasteurization technology developed by Tropicana made orange juice even more consumer-friendly because it could be sold ready to drink in cartons, like milk.

TV fitness pioneer Jack LaLanne and other health experts touted juice as a natural medicine, and decades of advertising helped secure its place at the breakfast table. Today, roughly half of all Americans consume juice regularly, according to NPD Group, a market research firm.

The Juice Products Assn. emphasizes the value of the vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients in juice, especially when so many Americans eat so little fresh produce.

“If someone can add a glass of fruit juice at breakfast, that’s an important addition to the diet,” said Sarah Wally, a dietitian for the trade group.

But scientists are increasingly questioning whether the benefits outweigh the sugar and calories that come with them. “The upside of juice consumption is so infinitesimal compared to the downside that we shouldn’t even be having this discussion,” said Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist at UC San Francisco.

WEIGHT FACTOR

Researchers haven’t published head-to-head comparisons of how juice and soda contribute to weight gain, but there is evidence that high juice consumption increases the risk of becoming overweight or obese, especially among kids.

One of the earliest studies, in 1997, examined 168 preschool-age children in upstate New York. Kids who drank at least 12 ounces of juice a day were 3 1/2 times more likely than other kids to exceed the 90th percentile for body mass index, qualifying them as overweight or obese.

A 2006 study of 971 low-income youngsters found that each extra glass of juice a day caused children who were already overweight or obese to gain an extra pound each year.

The link between juice and weight gain isn’t always found, however. In a 2008 review of 21 studies, six supported the connection and 15 did not.

In fact, several researchers have linked juice to healthier diets and lower weights. A 2008 report of 3,618 children ages 2 to 11 found that kids who drank at least 6 ounces of juice a day consumed less fat and more vitamins and minerals than kids who drank no juice at all.

But many experts say the data simply reflect a correlation between juice and healthful diets, not a causal relationship.

“Kids who drink more juice are more likely to be eating breakfast, and kids who eat breakfast tend to weigh less than kids who don’t,” said Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University.

There’s also concern that children who drink lots of sweet beverages such as juice will develop a lifelong preference for sweeter foods. A 2004 Dutch study found that 8- to 10-year-olds preferred sweeter drinks after consuming a sugary orangeade for eight days. They also drank more of it as they acclimated to its sweet taste.

Doctors and health officials have been persuaded to de-emphasize juice in recent years.

The American Academy of Pediatrics’ nutrition committee revised its policy in 2001 to recommend that children ages 1 to 6 drink no more than one 4- to 6-ounce serving of juice a day and older kids have no more than two.

“Because juice is viewed as nutritious, limits on consumption are not usually set by parents,” the committee wrote in “The Use and Misuse of Fruit Juice in Pediatrics.”;107/5/1210 “Like soda, it can contribute to energy imbalance,” causing the weight gain that leads to obesity.

The government’s 2005 dietary guidelines recognize that juices can be good sources of potassium, but recommend whole fruit for the majority of daily fruit servings to ensure adequate intake of fiber.

In October, the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children introduced vouchers for fresh produce and reduced the juice allowance. That’s a change Billington and his colleagues in the Minnesota Medical Assn. had been pushing for since 2006.

“Having apple juice and eating an apple are not the same,” he said.

CONCENTRATED SUGAR

Indeed, as scientists zero in on the causes of rising obesity rates, sugary drinks have emerged as a primary culprit.

Calories consumed in liquid form don’t give stomachs the same satisfied feeling as calories eaten in food. People offset an afternoon snack by eating less at dinner, but they don’t do that with beverages.

“The studies are pretty clear,” said Dr. Barbara Dennison, a research and policy director at the New York State Department of Health in Albany. “You just don’t compensate for those calories.”

Making matters worse, the human body is ill-equipped to process the sugar that is concentrated in a glass of juice.

When fructose is eaten in a piece of fruit, it enters the body slowly so the liver has time to convert it into chemical energy. But a single glass of apple juice has the fructose of six apples.

“If you overdose on fructose in a liquid, the liver gets overwhelmed,” Lustig said. As a result, he said, the fructose turns to fat. “Eating fruit is fine. Drinking juice is not.”

Still, the halo surrounding juice remains strong.

As soda is singled out for its role in the rise of obesity, juice is offered as the sensible alternative. In Los Angeles and elsewhere, it is taking the place of soft drinks in school vending machines alongside water and milk.

Brownell of Yale has waged a high-profile campaign to fight obesity with “sin” taxes on soda and other sugary drinks. It’s already an uphill battle, and he said he’s loath to provoke the tens of millions of Americans who consider their morning juice sacrosanct.

Dr. Frank Greer, who spent 10 years on the American Academy of Pediatrics’ nutrition committee, said he “can’t imagine” the group would ever downgrade juice to the status of soda.

“It’s such a normal part of the American diet,” Greer said. “A glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice for breakfast, my goodness!”

November 13th, 2009 – Will the Soda Pop?

November 2nd, 2009 – What Soft Drinks are Doing to Your Body

October 21st, 2009 - Sweetened beverages linked to weight gain in girls

October 7th, 2009 – Watchdog bans ‘keeps you perky’ vitamin water adverts

September 24th, 2009 – Big growth forecast for US children’s healthy drinks market

September 17th, 2009 – Bubbling Over: New Research Shows Direct Link Between Soda and Obesity

September 8th, 2009 – Obama Says New Tax on Sugary Drinks Worth ‘Exploring’

August 31st, 2009 – New York City Campaigns Against Coke and Other Sugary Drinks – NYTimes.com

August 26th, 2009 – New Report Highlights Role Of Drinks In Daily Calorie Intake

August 24th, 2009 – American Heart Association says soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages are the number one source of added sugars in the American diet.

Disclaimer: Yoli products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

With Yoli bringing their signature Truth Citrus Health Drink to the marketplace, the data continues to stack up against the sugary beverage market.  Stories, studies and governments abroad are finally catching on to what all these beverages that are loaded with sugar and fructose are doing to our bodies.

FRIDAY, Oct. 30 (HealthDay News) — Here’s a new reason to put down that sugary soft drink: Research suggests that a diet high in fructose, a common sweetener, boosts the risk of high blood pressure.

High-fructose corn syrup is found in many processed foods and beverages. Americans consume 30 percent more fructose now than 20 years ago, and researchers have linked higher fructose consumption to the growing obesity epidemic. But scientists weren’t sure if a connection existed between fructose consumption and high blood pressure.

In a new study, Dr. Diana Jalal, of the University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Center, and colleagues studied 4,528 adults without a history of high blood pressure. They examined their fructose intake and found that those who consumed more than 74 grams of fructose per day — that’s the equivalent of the amount in 2.5 sweetened soft drinks — boosted their risk of high blood pressure by 28 percent to 87 percent, depending on the level of hypertension.

“These results indicate that high fructose intake in the form of added sugars is significantly and independently associated with higher blood pressure levels in the U.S. adult population with no previous history of hypertension,” the study authors wrote, adding that future research is needed to determine if lowering fructose intake will also lower blood pressure.

The study findings were scheduled to be presented at the American Society of Nephrology’s annual meeting, held Oct. 27 to Nov. 1 in San Diego.

Disclaimer: Yoli products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

One of the great scams of the industrial food cartel is the so-called “fresh” orange juice sold in supermarkets.

Some reality checks:

1. There is more vitamin c in a single orange than in a full glass of industrial orange juice.
2. Truly fresh orange juice only lasts a few days. It if last for weeks (or months), it’s an industrial product.
3. Until the Florida orange growers launched a campaign in the early 20th century to deal with their surplus crop, the only people who drank orange juice were Floridians who had a tree in their backyard. There is nothing particularly healthy or natural about drinking orange juice — and the industrial product is a total waste of money.

Dr. Mercola’s Comment on Orange Juice

It may come as a surprise that your carton of 100% pure, not from concentrate orange juice is nowhere near akin to sticking a straw in an orange and taking a sip.

Many popular orange juice brands have to be chemically altered using ethyl butyrate — a compound that’s added to perfume as well as orange juice — in order to make it taste and smell like oranges!

Further, many commercial orange juices are contaminated with mold from damaged fruit that is processed. So if you drink commercial orange juice regularly you will be exposed to these mold toxins.

You know you are buying a heavily processed juice if the “Best Before” date is 60 or more days in the future. Real fresh-squeezed orange juice will only last for a few days.

So if you simply must have orange juice, squeezing your own at home would be about the only way to get the real thing.

But drinking orange juice, whether fresh-squeezed or not, is not as healthy as it sounds. In fact, orange juice is actually one of the top five “health” foods I recommend avoiding.

Why Orange Juice is Not Healthy

Many people start their day off with a glass of orange juice, typically thinking the vitamin C and other nutrients it contains are a smart and healthy choice.

But a glass of juice, whether fresh-squeezed or not, has about eight full teaspoons of sugar per eight-ounce glass! This is nearly as much sugar as is in a can of soda (one can typically has 10 teaspoons of sugar).

When the sugar is combined in its natural form in the whole fruit it causes far less of a problem as the fiber tends to slow its absorption and prevents over consumption.

But process the fruit sugar out of the fruit and remove the fiber and you have an entirely different setup.

The sugar in orange juice is typically a fruit sugar called fructose, which many mistakenly believe is a “healthy” form of sugar. But fructose is every bit as dangerous as regular table sugar since it will also cause a major increase in your insulin levels.

Fructose Will Spike Your Insulin Levels Upward

You should certainly be aware of the dangers of high fructose corn syrup, well please understand that simple fruit sugar extracted from fruit has virtually identical side effects and negative effects on your biochemistry.

The starch-derived (corn) fructose used to sweeten soft drinks and all kinds of processed foods is refined, man-made and metabolically different than the natural kind already in fruit. That’s why your body converts the starch-derived fructose in processed foods to brown adipose tissue and trigylcerides that contribute to diabetes, hypoglycemia, obesity and cardiovascular disease.

On the other hand, fruit fructose, along with all the nutrients, vitamins, minerals, water, other mono-, di- and olgio-saccharides and fiber found in fruit, are converted to blood glucose.

This does not mean it is “healthy,” however, because it will cause a major spike in your insulin levels. This is important because elevated insulin levels are one of the primary drivers for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and weight gain.

This may be why drinking fruit juice has been linked to an increased risk of diabetes, while fructose itself has been shown to increase your triglyceride levels. In one previous study, eating fructose raised triglyceride levels by 32 percent in men.

Triglycerides, the chemical form of fat found in foods and in your body, are not something you want in excess amounts. Forty years worth of research has confirmed that elevated blood levels of triglycerides, known as hypertriglyceridemia, puts you at an increased risk of heart disease.

Whole Fruit is a Better Choice than Juice

If you love orange juice, a healthier choice would be to eat a fresh orange rather than drink the juice. (or try the Yoli Truth Citrus Health Blast)

If you are overweight, have diabetes or high blood pressure, however, you are best off avoiding fruits or limiting them to a small handful of berries a day. If you are currently healthy, a small amount of fruit should not be a problem as long as you follow the guidelines of your nutritional type. (again – Yoli Truth is a better option as it has no sugar)

Another study…

Since we’re not big juice drinkers in our house, OJ usually only makes its way into our fridge when guests come to visit. Even then, it still takes us a few weeks to polish off the carton. I never thought much about keeping the OJ for a few weeks. After all, it still tastes good—and we usually finish it before the expiration date. Then I read this study that showed opened OJ loses all antioxidant benefit after just one week! Seriously?

Sometimes there are clues when a food passes its prime: lettuce wilts, bananas turn brown. Other foods will look and smell OK long after their health punch has dramatically declined. “Certain nutrients are unstable when exposed to oxygen (from the air), heat (from cooking) and light,” says Carol Johnston, Ph.D., R.D., chair of the Department of Nutrition at Arizona State University. Keep track of how long you store the following nutrient-rich foods.

Orange juice: 1 week
One cup of OJ can offer a full day’s dose of vitamin C. But OJ that has been opened loses all antioxidant benefit after just one week. To get the most vitamin C, buy frozen concentrate and drink within a few days. Frozen concentrate is exposed to less light and air.

Justin’s comment…

I think its clear that big industry has been pulling the wool over our eyes or years. This is exactly why Yoli has come to market. To expose big industry’s deception and to give you and I a REAL healthy alternative to the beverage options in the marketplace today.<

Disclaimer: Yoli products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Soda, pop, cola, soft drink — whatever you call it, it is one of the worst beverages that you could be drinking for your health. As the debate for whether to put a tax on the sale of soft drinks continues, you should know how they affect your body so that you can make an informed choice on your own.

Soft drinks are hard on your health

Soft drinks contain little to no vitamins or other essential nutrients. However, it is what they do contain that is the problem: caffeine, carbonation, simple sugars — or worse, sugar substitutes — and often food additives such as artificial coloring, flavoring, and preservatives.

A lot of research has found that consumption of soft drinks in high quantity, especially by children, is responsible for many health problems that include tooth decay, nutritional depletion, obesity, type-2 diabetes, and heart disease.

Why the sugar in soft drinks isn’t so sweet

Most soft drinks contain a high amount of simple sugars. The USDA recommendation of sugar consumption for a 2,000-calorie diet is a daily allotment of 10 teaspoons of added sugars. Many soft drinks contain more than this amount!

Just why is too much sugar so unhealthy? Well, to start, let’s talk about what happens to you as sugar enters your body. When you drink sodas that are packed with simple sugars, the pancreas is called upon to produce and release insulin, a hormone that empties the sugar in your blood stream into all the tissues and cells for usage. The result of overindulging in simple sugar is raised insulin levels. Raised blood insulin levels beyond the norm can lead to depression of the immune system, which in turn weakens your ability to fight disease.

Something else to consider is that most of the excess sugar ends up being stored as fat in your body, which results in weight gain and elevates risk for heart disease and cancer. One study found that when subjects were given refined sugar, their white blood cell count decreased significantly for several hours afterwards. Another study discovered that rats fed a high-sugar diet had a substantially elevated rate of breast cancer when compared to rats on a regular diet.

The health effects of diet soda

You may come to the conclusion that diet or sugar-free soda is a better choice. However, one study discovered that drinking one or more soft drinks a day — and it didn’t matter whether it was diet or regular — led to a 30% greater chance of weight gain around the belly.

Diet soda is filled with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, or saccharin. These artificial sweeteners pose a threat to your health. Saccharin, for instance, has been found to be carcinogenic, and studies have found that it produced bladder cancer in rats.

Aspartame, commonly known as nutrasweet, is a chemical that stimulates the brain to think the food is sweet. It breaks down into acpartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol at a temperature of 86 degrees. (Remember, your stomach is somewhere around 98 degrees.) An article put out by the University of Texas found that aspartame has been linked to obesity. The process of stimulating the brain causes more cravings for sweets and leads to carbohydrate loading.

Carbonation depletes calcium

Beverages with bubbles contain phosphoric acid, which can severely deplete the blood calcium levels; calcium is a key component of the bone matrix. With less concentration of calcium over a long time, it can lower deposition rates so that bone mass and density suffer. This means that drinking sodas and carbonated water increases your risk of osteoporosis.

Add in the caffeine usually present in soft drinks, and you are in for even more trouble. Caffeine can deplete the body’s calcium, in addition to stimulating your central nervous system and contributing to stress, a racing mind, and insomnia.

Skip the soda and go for:

• Yoli
You knew I was going to add this…Incorporating wholesome Vitamin C and a proprietary blend of some of the most popular ingredients of the day: acai, goji, pomegranate, resveratrol, white tea extract, Alkaplex, a ph enhancing ingredient, plus live probiotics and enzymes, Yoli Blast Caps deliver to the market a healthy alternative to all of the nutrient deprived, sweetened beverages most people are consuming nowadays.

• Fresh water
Water is a vital beverage for good health. Each and every cell needs water to perform its essential functions. Since studies show that tap water is filled with contaminants, antibiotics, and a number of other unhealthy substances, consider investing in a quality carbon-based filter for your tap water.

On the go? Try using a stainless steel thermos or glass bottle, filled with filtered water. Enhance the flavor of your water with a refreshing infusion of basil, mint leaves, and a drop of honey.

• Fruit Juice
If you are a juice drinker, try watering down your juice to cut back on the sugar content. Buy a jar of organic 100% juice, especially cranberry, acai, pomegranate, and then dilute three parts filtered water to one part juice. You will get a subtle sweet taste and the benefit of antioxidants. After a couple of weeks, you will no longer miss the sweetness of sugary concentrated juices.

• Tea
Tea gently lifts your energy and has numerous health benefits. Black, green, white, and oolong teas all contain antioxidant polyphenols. In fact, tea ranks as high or higher than many fruits and vegetables on the ORAC scale, the score that measures antioxidant potential of plant-based foods.

Herbal tea does not have the same antioxidant properties, though it is still a great beverage choice with other health benefits, such as inducing calming and relaxing effects.

If tea doesn’t satisfy your sweet tooth, try adding cinnamon or a little honey, which has important health benefits that refined sugar lacks. Drink up!

I hope you find the ways and means to avoid soft drinks. I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

May you live long, live strong, and live happy!

Disclaimer: Yoli products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Junk food is almost as addictive as heroin, scientists have found.

A diet of burgers, chips, sausages and cake will program your brain into craving even more foods that are high in sugar, salt and fat, according to new research.

Over the years these junk foods can become a substitute for happiness and will lead bingers to become addicted.

Dr Paul Kenny, a neuroscientist, carried out the research which shows how dangerous high fat and high sugar foods can be to our health.

“You lose control. It’s the hallmark of addiction,” he said.

The researchers believe it is one of the first studies to suggest brains may react in the same way to junk food as they do to drugs.

“This is the most complete evidence to date that suggests obesity and drug addiction have common neuro-biological foundations,” said Paul Johnson, Dr Kenny’s work colleague.

Dr Kenny, who began his research at Guy’s Hospital, London, but now works at Florida’s Scripps Research Institute, divided rats into three groups for his research, due to be published in teh US soon.

One got normal amounts of healthy food to eat. Another lot was given restricted amounts of junk food and the third group was given unlimited amounts of junk, including cheesecake, fatty meat products, and cheap sponge cakes and chocolate snacks.

There were no adverse effects on the first two groups, but the rats who ate as much junk food as they wanted quickly became very fat and started binging.

When researchers electronically stimulated the part of the brain that feels pleasure, they found that the rats on unlimited junk food needed more and more stimulation to register the same level of pleasure as the animals on healthier diets.

Why junk food really is addictive

Ice cream and chocolate bars are addictive because the mix of ingredients in them activates our “bliss point”, according to Professor David Kessler, a leading scientist.

Snacks, cereals and ready meals can trigger the brain in the same way as tobacco, according to the former head of America’s food standards watchdog.

Professor Kessler, ex-commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), claims that manufacturers have created combinations of fat, sugar and salt that are so tasty many people cannot stop eating them even when full.

He argues that manufacturers are seeking to trigger a “bliss point” when people eat certain products, leaving them hungry for more.

“It is time to stop blaming individuals for being overweight or obese,” he said. “The real problem is we have created a world where food is always available and where that food is designed to make you want to eat more of it. For millions of people, modern food is simply impossible to resist.”

While at the FDA, Prof Kessler was well known for his criticism of the tobacco industry, which he accused of manipulating cigarettes to make them even more addictive.

In a new book, The End of Overeating, he suggests precise combinations of fat, sugar, salt and texture have been used by foods manufacturers to make products “hyper-palatable”.

Heinz tomato ketchup and Starbucks white chocolate mocha Frappuccino are cited as examples of the thousands of modern foods that have been engineered to stimulate feelings of pleasure.

“The right combination of tastes triggers a greater number of neurons, getting them to fire more,” he said. “The message to eat becomes stronger, motivating the eater to look for even more food.

“Many of us have what’s called a ‘bliss point’ – the point at which we get the greatest pleasure from sugar, fat or salt.

“As more sugar [and fat or salt] is added, food becomes more pleasurable until we reach the bliss point, after which it becomes too sweet and the pleasure drops off.”

Prof Kessler, who ran the FDA from 1990 to 1997 and is now professor of paediatrics, epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, added that at the optimum point, food stimulates many people’s appetites instead of suppressing it.

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As parents we have to keep a close eye on the messages that our kids are getting. Unfortunately, advertisers are taking advantage of our children when watching TV…

There are good kids programming out there that don’t run these types of commercials and some that are commercial free.

Junk food gets air time on kids’ channels

Nearly all the food advertised on leading television channels aimed at toddlers to tweens is unhealthy, newly released research shows.

Brian Cook, a research consultant at Toronto Public Health, analyzed advertisements shown on Teletoon and YTV over four days in January during children’s peak viewing times geared to kids ages two to 11.

The preliminary results, released on Wednesday at a conference about public health nutrition reform hosted by the Centre for Science in the Public Interest, show that food ads made up the single largest category, at 37 percent. And an overwhelming number of them – 95 percent – were for unhealthy foods.

Breakfast cereals with high sugar and low fibre content represented the single largest percentage of unhealthy food ads, representing 28 per cent.

The remaining three categories each represented 24 percent of the ads: fast food restaurants and meals, snack foods, and high-fat, sugary or salty spreads, soups or pastas.

Milk and juice made up the bulk of the five percent of ads for healthy foods.

The sample was based on 41 hours of programming, of which 16 hours had channel promotions in place of product advertising.

The data was collected after Canada’s leading food and beverage companies launched, in April 2007, the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, a voluntary code to promote healthier dietary choices and lifestyles to children under the age of 12.

By February, 11 of the 16 companies had already implemented their commitments; the remaining companies have agreed to have their commitments fully implemented by the end of 2008.

Among the core principles, they have committed to devoting at least 50 per cent of their ads to promote products that represent healthy dietary choices or include healthy lifestyle.

Cook said there are too many gaps in the industry initiative to make it effective.

“The self-regulatory route just doesn’t work,” he said in an interview, pointing to a recent analysis conducted by Dr. David McKeon, medical officer of health at Toronto Public Health.

Cereals defined as “healthier dietary choices” for children include Froot Loops, Reese’s Puffs, Corn Pops, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Alpha Bits and Kool-Aid Singles.

Janet Feasby is vice-president of standards at Advertising Standards Canada, a national advertising industry self-regulatory body overseeing the initiative. She said the current approach is sound because products that make the cut for a healthier dietary choice must meet established scientific and government standards.

They include foods that meet the standards for participating in the Heart & Stroke Foundation’s Health Check program and foods that meet criteria for nutrient content claims in Canada’s Food Guide, namely those with “free or “low” claims for calories as well as fat, saturated fat, trans fat, sugar and salt.

“This is an industry initiative that they’ve taken on their own to be responsible and to make a difference in the childhood obesity issue,” said Feasby.

The preliminary findings are part of a broader global project coordinated by Australian researchers looking at TV food ads to children in 12 countries.