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> About 15 years ago, I stopped drinking soda. Not out of a desire to be healthy or loose weight[...] Same thing happened to me at probably around the same tim

> About 15 years ago, I stopped drinking soda. Not out of a desire to be healthy or loose weight[...] Same thing happened to me at probably around the same time. I realized I could just have a lollypop, and it would be a tenth of the sugar. Most of the sweetness in soda doesn't even get a chance to touch your tongue before it's going down your throat. If I want candy, I should just have a piece of candy. If I'm thirsty, I should have a glass of water. Also, the carbonation in soda enables them to get twice the sugar into it. Drinking a flat soda is like drinking maple syrup.

BeetleB 2y ago
I drink 250 ml soda cans/bottles. 25-28g of sugar. Be aware that a lot of candy has similar amounts of sugar. M&M packets have even more.
- malfist 2y ago
  The typical soda in the US is either 12oz (can) or 20oz (bottle). A 12oz coke has 39g of sugar. A 20oz bottle of coke is 65g. Coke isn't close to the worst offender and this ignores soda at restaurants when 28oz is often the smallest you can buy
  - BeetleB 2y ago
    > The typical soda in the US is either 12oz (can) or 20oz (bottle). True but you can get 250ml cans in most grocery stores. Also, there are plenty of places I shop at where the smallest Hershey's bar or M&M packet is the King/share size one. The M&M one has 57g of sugar. Difficulty in buying smaller portions is not unique to soda.
chrisco255 2y ago
It's probably a risky line of thinking, if you're addicted to sugar, to substitute in some other source of sugar. Best to avoid pastries, lollipops and sugary sodas.
- Supermancho 2y ago
  It's a risky way of thinking to reduce every act to a moral choice. ie I could have used the energy that I burned making this post, to hand out a dollar to a homeless person. Beyond how ridiculously reductive this becomes, it's impractical. You have to have carbs for your brain to run.
  - brippalcharrid 2y ago
    The human brain can run on up to 70% ketones overall (this is not only safe, but it appears to have additional therapeutic benefits) and your body can synthesize glucose in your liver and kidneys from fats and proteins though gluconeogenesis to supply the remaining parts of your brain that can't metabolize betahydroxybutyrate, acetoacetate and acetone.
  - eru 2y ago
    I agree with almost everything you say. However: > Beyond how ridiculously reductive this becomes, it's impractical. You have to have carbs for your brain to run. No. People live on no-carb diets just fine and enter ketosis. (And in any case, the comment you replied to only talked about sugar, not carbs in general.)
    - vixen99 2y ago
      Not just any no/low carb diet: 'A low-carbohydrate diet based on animal sources was associated with higher all-cause mortality in both men and women, whereas a vegetable-based low-carbohydrate diet was associated with lower all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality rates.' https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2989112/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2989112/ It is of course rather difficult if not impossible, to have a vegetable diet completely devoid of carbohydrates.
      - eru 2y ago
        The number of people in this study is surprisingly large! Alas, it doesn't have much bearing on the part of the comment I wanted to focus on 'You have to have carbs for your brain to run.' Because the diets in question here still have some carbs. (And the changes in mortality rates are fairly modest, too.) What I wanted to say is that even if you eat no carbs at all, you brain will still get its energy. You won't just keel over after a while, like if you didn't eat anything at all henceforth. Of course, there might be second order health effects, like the study you linked suggest.
hgomersall 2y ago
If I go to a restaurant with fill your own drinks (rare in the UK), I generally get soda water with about 10% coke. It's remarkable how much it tastes (to me) just like coke, albeit palatably sweet. I always thought the sugar tax should be a sweetness tax to change people's perceptions.
- lhoff 2y ago
  I also do this, usually with sprite or fanta and I think its more refreshing this way

BeetleB 2y ago

I drink 250 ml soda cans/bottles. 25-28g of sugar. Be aware that a lot of candy has similar amounts of sugar. M&M packets have even more.

malfist 2y ago
The typical soda in the US is either 12oz (can) or 20oz (bottle). A 12oz coke has 39g of sugar. A 20oz bottle of coke is 65g. Coke isn't close to the worst offender and this ignores soda at restaurants when 28oz is often the smallest you can buy
- BeetleB 2y ago
  > The typical soda in the US is either 12oz (can) or 20oz (bottle). True but you can get 250ml cans in most grocery stores. Also, there are plenty of places I shop at where the smallest Hershey's bar or M&M packet is the King/share size one. The M&M one has 57g of sugar. Difficulty in buying smaller portions is not unique to soda.

chrisco255 2y ago

It's probably a risky line of thinking, if you're addicted to sugar, to substitute in some other source of sugar. Best to avoid pastries, lollipops and sugary sodas.

Supermancho 2y ago
It's a risky way of thinking to reduce every act to a moral choice. ie I could have used the energy that I burned making this post, to hand out a dollar to a homeless person. Beyond how ridiculously reductive this becomes, it's impractical. You have to have carbs for your brain to run.
- brippalcharrid 2y ago
  The human brain can run on up to 70% ketones overall (this is not only safe, but it appears to have additional therapeutic benefits) and your body can synthesize glucose in your liver and kidneys from fats and proteins though gluconeogenesis to supply the remaining parts of your brain that can't metabolize betahydroxybutyrate, acetoacetate and acetone.
- eru 2y ago
  I agree with almost everything you say. However: > Beyond how ridiculously reductive this becomes, it's impractical. You have to have carbs for your brain to run. No. People live on no-carb diets just fine and enter ketosis. (And in any case, the comment you replied to only talked about sugar, not carbs in general.)
  - vixen99 2y ago
    Not just any no/low carb diet: 'A low-carbohydrate diet based on animal sources was associated with higher all-cause mortality in both men and women, whereas a vegetable-based low-carbohydrate diet was associated with lower all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality rates.' https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2989112/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2989112/ It is of course rather difficult if not impossible, to have a vegetable diet completely devoid of carbohydrates.
    - eru 2y ago
      The number of people in this study is surprisingly large! Alas, it doesn't have much bearing on the part of the comment I wanted to focus on 'You have to have carbs for your brain to run.' Because the diets in question here still have some carbs. (And the changes in mortality rates are fairly modest, too.) What I wanted to say is that even if you eat no carbs at all, you brain will still get its energy. You won't just keel over after a while, like if you didn't eat anything at all henceforth. Of course, there might be second order health effects, like the study you linked suggest.

hgomersall 2y ago

If I go to a restaurant with fill your own drinks (rare in the UK), I generally get soda water with about 10% coke. It's remarkable how much it tastes (to me) just like coke, albeit palatably sweet. I always thought the sugar tax should be a sweetness tax to change people's perceptions.

lhoff 2y ago
I also do this, usually with sprite or fanta and I think its more refreshing this way