Soda

toots99 · July 2009

I used to drink regular soda like crazy, I'm talking a 6 pack a day of Pepsi! Over time, a few years ago, I was able to switch to diet soda (not great, I know, but the lesser of two evils!). Tonight at the restaurant where I work, there was a guy who was drinking Dr. Pepper like a fiend, literally one sip would wipe out a 16 ounce glass. I brought him five of them. I did the math in my head and was astounded:

16 ounces is roughly 200 calories, right?
200 calories x 5 glasses = 1000 calories (in one sitting!)
If he did that four times a week, he'd gain just over a pound a week.
That would be about 60 pounds a year that he'd put on just from Dr. Pepper alone!

I was shocked when I broke it out like that and was like "NO WONDER I HAVE SO MUCH WEIGHT TO LOSE!" :laugh: I'd done that for years! I just wanted to somehow tell him something like "Sir, please don't drink this, Dr. Pepper isn't worth it...it's so bad for you! and you're going t be so mad at yourself when it catches up to you!" :laugh: But of course I couldn't and had to silently keep bringing him more. :drinker:

BrendaLee · July 2009

That's kinda sad...

verifire · July 2009

when i worked at Starbucks people would order giant frappuccinos with whipped cream for their children. some of them have more than 2,000 calories each! apart from the fact that they were giving espresso to small children, many of the children were already overweight. it's difficult to see people making bad decisions for themselves when they will be burdened with the results, but it's even worse to see them carelessly burdening their children who don't know any better!

toots99 · July 2009

I mean, I know I haven't been perfect....but you never realize how bad you or others eat until you do something like logging every little bit of food on here. Then you see just how badly you were setting yourself up for failure.

amandadaisylotus · July 2009

Right?! There's nothing like actually looking up the calories in a favorite dish. My favorite at Chili's, their chicken crispers.... 1780 CALORIES!!! My jaw actually dropped. Its nice to be able to honestly look at my diet before and see just why I got so big.

I also agree on the "don't feed your kids crap" thing. When I was in middle school, I was allowed to eat super sized meals or multiple big kids meals (depending on the toy available). I should not have been allowed to eat that. Plus, when we went to Golden Corral, if I didn't eat more than two plates I got yelled at about "not getting their moneys worth." :grumble:

Teaching your kids habits like that is why America in general is so obese. Those bad habits followed me all through high school and into my first few years of college. I'm on Diabetes meds, though I don't "technically" have Diabetes (yet). I weighed in at an astonishing 303 pounds (at 5' 9" I should be between 130 and 170).

But thanks to the interwebs and this wonderful site, all that's changed. Its slow going, changing my attitudes and habits about food, but I'm doing it.

11 lbs gone, 142 to go! :happy:

SatelliteCrush80 · July 2009

I'm definitely in agreement about people feeding their kids crap. I was in McDonalds the other night (Yes, I know...pot, kettle, etc. but I was ordering myself a Happy Meal.) when I saw a lady with two young kids. One of the kids ordered a Super Sized chicken sandwich value meal. The chicken was grilled, but DAMN! I was so shocked and it broke my heart. This kid wasn't overweight or anything, but with those eating habits that early...I wouldn't be surprised i he gets there.

thumper44 · July 2009

We were talking about this in another thread. I agree it's the parents who make the bad decisions for their kids. Myself like others took those habits into high school and adulthood where it caught up to us.

I was a little sick when I finally looked up how many calories my Mcdonalds breakfast was. Way over my daily limit now.
Big mac combo's are approx 1500 calories.

Back to the Dr. Pepper.. .
1000 Calories was just his drink, what about his dinner.
What's even more sickening is
In his drink, there was:
350mg of sodium
270g of sugar.

1cup of sugar = approx 191grams.

He almost had a 1 1/2 cups of sugar in his pop.

toots99 · July 2009

Right! His liquid alone was 1,000 caories...not including the Caesar salad, pizza with pepperoni and sausage (granted, he didn't eat it all by himself, but still) and his shared desserts of berry cobbler and chocolate brownie, both with ice cream.

Just his soda would take a day and a half to exercise off! Astonishing.

XFitMojoMom · July 2009

When I was vacationing in St. Pete's, FLA with my kids... I just could not understand why I couldn't find a decent restaurant which served non fried foods anywhere. It was shocking. In Canada, Mc D's offers Happy meals with apple wedges instead of fries... and they also offer grilled cheese (when I asked for a grilled cheese happy meal they looked at me like I had 8 heads)

Now, I'm not saying I'm a perfect parent. Sometimes convenience foods are required. But I've tried to cut out the KD, and I'll make my own using organic whole wheat or spelt pasta, organic cheese. I try to get nitrate free hot dogs or turkey dogs. But every now and again, the convenience foods win out.

I'm just surprised that people do not educate themselves before eating something so mindlessly.

thumper44 · July 2009

When I was vacationing in St. Pete's, FLA with my kids... I just could not understand why I couldn't find a decent restaurant which served non fried foods anywhere. It was shocking. In Canada, Mc D's offers Happy meals with apple wedges instead of fries... and they also offer grilled cheese (when I asked for a grilled cheese happy meal they looked at me like I had 8 heads)

Now, I'm not saying I'm a perfect parent. Sometimes convenience foods are required. But I've tried to cut out the KD, and I'll make my own using organic whole wheat or spelt pasta, organic cheese. I try to get nitrate free hot dogs or turkey dogs. But every now and again, the convenience foods win out.

I'm just surprised that people do not educate themselves before eating something so mindlessly.

I don't have kids, but I agree convenience will win sometimes, and then you still have choices, as you mentioned, grill cheese, applie slices.
Even looking at the nutrition value for mcdonalds stuff.
If you have a burger, perhaps take away 1/2 of the bun, no fries, and diet coke or water. it's still not bad.

Unfortunately there's alot of people who eat mindlessly and don't know calorie counts. This needs to be taught more in schools along with no smoking.
When I was growing up, I might have heard a little bit about nutrition in health class, but there wasn't enough of it to stick.

vanessadawn · July 2009

We use to have McDonald's as a treat, we were from a small town so it was something special. I think a few exceptions should be granted, and hopefully on a whole you will instill good eating habits for the majority of their diet.

JoyousMaximus · July 2009

I know I was allowed to eat whatever I wanted growing up and we always had ice cream and soda around because my dad liked it. I'm really not suprised that both me and my brothers have weight problems. I'm finally in my healthy weight range but both my brothers are morbidly obese. (We don't know how much one of my brothers weighes because the scale only goes up to 350)

It makes me SO sad when I see obese kids with obese parents. I read that a parent with weight issues is less likely notice their child is overweight. :sad:

toots99 · July 2009

As a kid, too, I was allowed to eat ice cream and drink soda all I wanted. I'm 36 now...maybe parents back then didn't know how bad for you it is? Like smoking, back when they didn't know smoking was bad for you....

Soda

Replies

Categories