Just ONE soda can do this to your body
It's 2017, and no one's under any illusions anymore.
Soda's bad, right?
We all know that, yet I bet you've had a soda at some point recently.
Don't be too hard on yourself over it -- soda's a multi-billion-dollar industry, so you're hardly alone.
The reason it remains popular is simple: While we all KNOW soda is bad, most people think an occasional pop might not be too bad. If you're one of them, you might order one, for example, just when you're eating out.
But new research shows how that's exactly when you SHOULDN'T have one!
While there's no GOOD time to drink soda, the foods they're often served with tend to be high in fat and high in protein.
Y'know... fast food. Big Mac and a Coke, right?
Eating any form of high-fat fast food with water would be bad enough, but the study finds that if you suck back a soda while you eat that junk, you're not just getting extra calories from sugar.
This combo also slows the body's fat oxidation by 8 percent.
That's just what it sounds like: How you break down fat. When that process slows, you store more of that unsightly blubber, especially around your middle.
In other words, there's more than a little truth to the old saying, "A moment on the lips, forever on the hips!"
That's not the only damage, either.
In the study, volunteers were given meals with either a sugary drink or a sugar-free one while in a sealed chamber to measure their metabolism. Those tests revealed that the body fails to burn about a third of the calories that come from the drink itself.
And to complete the ugly picture, the body uses less energy overall when digesting a meal with a sugary drink.
Again, that's everything you DON'T want. It means you'll store more energy -- in other words, your body will create more fat -- instead of working off the meal and soft drink.
Don't be tempted into thinking that diet soda is the healthier choice, simply because its immediate effects aren't as bad.
Diet soda is, in many ways, just as unhealthy as regular soda. In some ways, it might even be worse.
Instead of losing weight, diet soda drinkers can often gain it -- and studies show some may have a higher risk of diabetes to boot. One study earlier this year even found that diet soda can triple the risk of one form of stroke and boost the odds of dementia.
Drink water instead. Try infusing fruit or using herbal teas for flavor... or club soda if you need some fizz.