Liquid Sweets Vs Junk Food!
The Battle of the Junk Foods!
I really think that the fact that Oreos and Coke are far from healthy is something that many of us can agree is true. But, let’s really look at “junk food” in general. You may have many times com across instances that you have been limited by yourself or by a parent to the amount of junk food you can eat. But, if we are drinking our sugar packed fizzy drinks how much does limiting our other junk foods help?
I use to To one of the millions of people out there that enjoy their favorite sugar pack fizzy drinks all the time. But ,when I finally to really start to pay attention to my weight and health I was surprised as to just how much sugar is packed into our everyday foods.
The Bitter Truth
Here in this post we are going to stick with two extremely well known unhealthy treats that are very far from being healthy. Oreos and Coke are extremely popular all over the world and we all know that these two should really be limited in our everyday diets. But, just how bad are they?
The Numbers
I know there are a ton of people out there that can go through en entire 2 liter of Coke a day, I should really know because I use to be one of them years back. But, when you look at these numbers you should know that Coke isn’t the only unhealthy drink out there. The only reason I use it, is that everyone knows it. Many of the prepackaged sweet drinks available can be just as unhealthy and in some cases significantly more unhealthy than Coke. So, it is a good practice to really look at the grams of sugar and calories in your drinks. Just so that we can understand and picture quantities: 4 grams of sugar equals about one teaspoon of white processed granulated sugar.
What about zero calorie sugar substitutes?
We cover this briefly in another article. If you would like to read a little more about that you can read that article here. “Why Am I Not Losing Weight“.
Oreos Vs Coke
| Oreos (Regular pack) | Coke (2 Liter) | |
| Serving Size | 3 Cookies | 12 fl oz |
| Calories | 160 Calories | 140 Calories |
| Sugar Content (Grams) | 14 Grams | 39 Grams |
| Sugar in teaspoons | 3.5 Teaspoons | 9.75 Teaspoons |
| Whole Package | 12 Servings | 6 Servings |
| Calories per Pack | 1,920 Calories | 840 Calories |
| Grams of Sugar per Pack | 168 Grams | 234 Grams |
| Teaspoons Of Sugar per Pack | 42 Teaspoons | 58.5 Teaspoons! |
The Facts!
Here you can see that both of these foods are extremely unhealthy. And just for comparison let’s just look at a few foods that I think just about anyone can agree are healthy. Let’s look at lettuce, blue berries, and strawberries. Yes, fruits do contain sugar and some people do have to limit even their natural sugars. But, natural sugars are far healthier than processed.
| Lettuce | Blueberries | Strawberries | |
| Serving Size | 89 grams | 148 grams | 147 grams |
| Calories per Serving | 12 Calories | 85 Calories | 48 Calories |
| Calories Per Pound | 61.16 Calories | 260.51 Calories | 148.11 Calories |
| How Many Pounds of Food For 1,000 Calories | 16.35 Pounds | 3.84 Pounds | 6.75 Pounds |
| Just Some Fun Facts “What you get for 1,000 Calories” | Over 15 “Full” Heads of Lettuce | About 1,063 Blueberries | About 252 Strawberries |
Wow!
As you can see from out second table. Junk Food can be incredibly unhealthy.
But Let’s Get Back On Topic
Ok, we all know that healthy food are so much better than junk food. But, getting back on topic let’s look at the first chart and look at the numbers.
Calories and Sugar!
As you can see “junk food” literally comes packed with calories. If you think about it, it’s sort of amazing that so many calories can be packed into something. The argument here in the amount of calories really depends on how much you really like Oreos and how much you enjoy your unhealthy sweet drinks.
Limiting
When we try and look at the amount that we consume can depend mainly on how much we really enjoy the food. But, if we take two people that truly enjoy their Oreos and someone that enjoys their 2 liters.
I’m going to use a 32 Coke here for example, because they are available at just about any fast food restaurant. I use to drink several of these a day because it felt it was just so easy.
Moderation
It really is the best to simply cut all processed sugars in your diet on or off a diet. Your body will thank you so much for doing so. You will find that your energy levels will be better. Your Skin will be healthier. And you can greatly reduce your chances at developing so many diseases from diabetes and heart disease to obesity. We have an awesome article thats worth a read. “How to Kick Sugar For Good In Just Two Weeks!“
Liquid Sweets Can Be So Much Harder To Limit!
When trying to limit something you should look at just how simple it really is to overdo it on something. I know that I love Oreos but I know that even I couldn’t eat half the pack a day. There just comes a limit that you find it easy to slow down. But when it comes to liquid sweets like soft drinks. This limiting can become much more difficult because it just so easy to keep drinking them. Let’s go over two excuses that are used way too much!
Excuse #1
I Drink A Lot of Soda Because I’m Thirsty All The Time
This is an excuse used by many that I know and that I even used. There is a difference to being thirsty and staying hydrated to just needing to have something sweet. Like it or not our bodies treat all of our sweet drinks like a drug, and every time we give in to that “thirsty” feeling. We are only giving our bodies another fix of the sweets that it so desires. I know that there are going to be a ton of people that disagree with me here. And I will take into account just one excuse, “sort of”. There are Health conditions that do make you more thirsty, but nothing says it has to be sugar packed drinks.
Experiment
Let’s Prove Just How Thirsty You Really Are!
Side note here:
I know that it maybe hard to think of this, but our bodies have a mind of their own. I’m not talking about alter personalities. But, our bodies have the amazing ability to drastically control our conscious thoughts. How often are your hungry only because you tell your self “body be hungry” or “body, crave a can of Coke NOW!”. I have to be honest and say that I really don’t know anyone that does this. With this in mind “thirst” is the body’s way of telling you that it wants something and this usually is something to drink. And when it is rewarded with a surgery sweet you are always thirsty.
Here you are going to see that the whole thirsty thing is just your body tricking you into wanting more sweets.
Step 1
Get rid of all your surgery drinks. You have to at least get past this step to try this experiment. Yes it may be hard but you are proving thirsty to be just an excuse
Step 2
Have only water. I know that people will say that they don’t like the flavor of water, and this is excuse number two that we are going to disprove. But, by only consuming water our body will have to learn that thirst is rewarded with supplying our bodies with hydration.
Step 3
This is where it really gets hard. Don’t consume sugary drinks for three weeks and you will see that you are no where near as thirsty. If this occurs two things will happen. First, you ditched sugar! Secondly, you trained your body that thirst means hydration and no longer just a fix of sweet.
Excuse #2
“I Don’t Like The Taste Of Water”
This is an excuse that sort of borders passable for a few reasons. First, some water do carry a flavor and I personally find some not good tasting. Secondly, water can sort of be boring.
These only sort of pass because water is to be used to hydrate our selves. Not because we adore the flavor and just can’t have enough of it.
Why Don’t We Like Water?
I understand that there are plenty of reasons why we just don’t like something. I love my veggies but I just can stand spinach. Theres really no reason but it just is. But, when it comes to our sweet drinks we have to take into account of what we covered earlier. Our bodies have an amazing ability to alter or conscious thoughts. If you treat our bodies like a stubborn two year old. Water vs Sweet drinks, Water will lose.
Understanding that our bodies treat sweetness like addictive substance. Understand that the more we consume a sweet the higher tolerance we build against. This leads to us always needs just a bit more sweetness next time. But, here’s the good news we can actually reverse and change this.
Many people can actually alter their tastes away from sweets. If you can mange to cut sugar for just three weeks you will notice that your tastes will change. You will notice that foods that you use to add sugar to will need much less and drinks that you use to find not sweet enough will become too sweet.
Conclusion
I know that it can sound over simplified to say “Just cut sugar for three weeks”. But, when you do something like this you will notice that diet planning and cutting calories in general become much easier.
In this post I am not saying that Oreos are healthy than Coke because you can see that while just 3 Oreos can contain more calories that an entire can of Coke. But, that can of Coke contains nearly three times the amount of sugar.
So in the end even though both of these foods are very unhealthy. Sweet drinks like juices, sweet teas, and soft drinks can make it far easier to over do it on the calories and sugar.