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Sad stuff. One of those affected will be my 6 year old nephew. Poor kid is already 83lbs. He drinks nothing but sprite and juice. And it’s causing problems in

Sad stuff. One of those affected will be my 6 year old nephew. Poor kid is already 83lbs. He drinks nothing but sprite and juice. And it’s causing problems in the relationship my wife and I have with him and his mother. Whenever we go out to dinner with my SIL and nephew, my own son tries to order Sprite to drink after he hears his cousin order it. Of course he’s only allowed to drink water so it caused a ruckus the first few times it happened. My SIL said that kids need to “live a little” and that’s why he’s allowed to drink 2+ liters of soda each and everyday.

hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
This is pretty heartbreaking in my opinion. I've heard the phrase "Childhood obesity is one of the easiest diseases to avoid, and one of the hardest to cure." Nearly all obese kids will struggle with their weight their entire (usually shortened) lives, so a parent inflicting that on their kids is ensuring they will have to suffer with that problem a very long time.
dopeboy 3y ago
When I was a kid in the mid 90s, I distinctly remember one of my friend’s parents not letting their kid drink soda. I remember thinking how uncool that was. Turns out those parents were ahead of the curve.
rqtwteye 3y ago
" 2+ liters of soda each and everyday." That's just deadly.
hotpotamus 3y ago
What I never understand about the soda thing is why people don't just switch to the zero calorie versions of them. I drink tons of the stuff myself (Sprite Zero being among my favorites), and while I suppose the science is still a bit out on whether non-nutritive sweeteners are a good replacement, they just have to be better than all that sugar.
- Auracle 3y ago
  I don’t drink a ton of soda but I can’t stand the artificially flavored stuff. One kind - aspartame maybe? - gives me a headache. The others just don’t taste very good. Coke had one out for a while that was half sugar half Stevia. That wasn’t so bad for me. It still had a bit of the aftertaste but it seemed like a good compromise. They discontinued it.
  - phil21 3y ago
    For me the secret is ice coldness. It matters way more for artificial soft drinks than for the sugar based versions, in my opinion. I definitely know what you mean by the aftertaste, and it's minimized by having more ice in the cup than drink. Not that you should be attempting to drink more of the stuff... but I figure it's a form of harm reduction. Sugar is certainly worse for your health if you have this vice.
  - nly 3y ago
    For me it's the opposite. I find Diet Coke delicious, but classic coke i find unbearably sweet and syrupy, and it makes me feel awful and gross afterward.
- Linell 3y ago
  I don't have links or anything handy, so take this with a bit of a grain of salt, but I _have_ seen things that confirm my anecdata that sugar free drinks are pretty horrible for your gut microbiome. I do still prefer them to their calorie-dense versions when I have one, but I think it's worth being very cautious about drinking tons of the stuff and assuming it's at all "better".
- mint2 3y ago
  Perhaps they’re better than sugar, but so far isn’t the science showing them to be also detrimental? After quitting soda and sweetened beverages for a while, my tastes adjusted and now soda of any sort is insipidly sweet and syrupy. Basically the entire history of humanity was spent drinking unsweetened beverages, all of a sudden our species can’t abide to drink plain water?
- 3y ago
brickteacup 3y ago
> My SIL said that kids need to “live a little” he will in fact live (only) a little if they keep feeding him like that
nly 3y ago
There is zero calorie Sprite...

hn_throwaway_99 3y ago

This is pretty heartbreaking in my opinion. I've heard the phrase "Childhood obesity is one of the easiest diseases to avoid, and one of the hardest to cure." Nearly all obese kids will struggle with their weight their entire (usually shortened) lives, so a parent inflicting that on their kids is ensuring they will have to suffer with that problem a very long time.

dopeboy 3y ago

When I was a kid in the mid 90s, I distinctly remember one of my friend’s parents not letting their kid drink soda. I remember thinking how uncool that was. Turns out those parents were ahead of the curve.

rqtwteye 3y ago

" 2+ liters of soda each and everyday." That's just deadly.

hotpotamus 3y ago

What I never understand about the soda thing is why people don't just switch to the zero calorie versions of them. I drink tons of the stuff myself (Sprite Zero being among my favorites), and while I suppose the science is still a bit out on whether non-nutritive sweeteners are a good replacement, they just have to be better than all that sugar.

Auracle 3y ago
I don’t drink a ton of soda but I can’t stand the artificially flavored stuff. One kind - aspartame maybe? - gives me a headache. The others just don’t taste very good. Coke had one out for a while that was half sugar half Stevia. That wasn’t so bad for me. It still had a bit of the aftertaste but it seemed like a good compromise. They discontinued it.
- phil21 3y ago
  For me the secret is ice coldness. It matters way more for artificial soft drinks than for the sugar based versions, in my opinion. I definitely know what you mean by the aftertaste, and it's minimized by having more ice in the cup than drink. Not that you should be attempting to drink more of the stuff... but I figure it's a form of harm reduction. Sugar is certainly worse for your health if you have this vice.
- nly 3y ago
  For me it's the opposite. I find Diet Coke delicious, but classic coke i find unbearably sweet and syrupy, and it makes me feel awful and gross afterward.
Linell 3y ago
I don't have links or anything handy, so take this with a bit of a grain of salt, but I _have_ seen things that confirm my anecdata that sugar free drinks are pretty horrible for your gut microbiome. I do still prefer them to their calorie-dense versions when I have one, but I think it's worth being very cautious about drinking tons of the stuff and assuming it's at all "better".
mint2 3y ago
Perhaps they’re better than sugar, but so far isn’t the science showing them to be also detrimental? After quitting soda and sweetened beverages for a while, my tastes adjusted and now soda of any sort is insipidly sweet and syrupy. Basically the entire history of humanity was spent drinking unsweetened beverages, all of a sudden our species can’t abide to drink plain water?
3y ago

brickteacup 3y ago

> My SIL said that kids need to “live a little” he will in fact live (only) a little if they keep feeding him like that

nly 3y ago

There is zero calorie Sprite...