It’s a strong word. We don’t like to admit we might have one. It sounds like we are a victim if we admit we have an addiction.
- I get a desperate message from a middle-aged lady – ‘please help me, I finally realized I am addicted to Coke (soda kind) and I want help.’
- While visiting my über health conscious friend I noticed a big 2 L soda in her kitchen. “What’s that for?” I say. “Oh, it’s my husband’s, he can’t stop.” They have six kids, homeschool, and eat the most pristine diet you can imagine while avoiding toxins everywhere, including vaccines and medicines. Yet the man of the house, the role-model, consumes this toxic beverage.
- At the check-out of a local major grocery store, a mom with a four-year-old daughter finds a bottle with her name on it in the conveniently placed refrigerator. “Look, it’s got your name on it!” I’m floored that she would think giving poison to her daughter is an acceptable demonstration of her love.
- Same day, as I arrive at my car I see a somewhat frantic fifty-something woman getting in her car and opening her soda and taking a calming swig. Ahhhh. Apparently just what she needed.
It seems there is an epidemic! But no one wants to admit it.
A nation of soda addicts.
But it’s got my name on it…
It’s made in Georgia…
How can it be bad if it tastes so good???
I’ve been drinking it all my life – how does it hurt me?
A recent Gallup poll revealed that 63% of the US population has woken up to realize that soda is not good for you. But the fact is the average American consumes 44 gallons per year! I’m not consuming any, so someone somewhere must be consuming my share.
It’s one thing to know better, but quite another thing to consistently do better. Especially in a culture that bombards you with messages like ‘you only live once’, ‘just do it’, etc.
Addiction. Pure and simple. The fifty something woman: Addiction. Her brain is not in control of that process. I soooo wanted to take a picture if her to add to this blog. I refrained. Maybe next time.
The mom with the four-year old daughter? Addicted. She wanted the cold gassy beverage so she pretends it is a good treat for her daughter.
What kind if a sick world do we live in where major corporations can poison our children and we help them?
There are known carcinogens in many (if not all) of the sodas. Obesity linked to soda consumption – and DIET soda consumption can actually cause you to GAIN weight – AND have been shown to cause Neurologic damage!
How can these beverages continue to be sold and consumed as if they were harmless?
ADDICTION. Wake up. Get help. Conquer it. You owe it to those you love and who love you. Don’t force them to care for you through debilitating illness or mental disability which results from your long-term addiction. Take action. Start by reading this article that tells what it is doing to your brain and body. Stop giving it to your children – or any children you love!
The first step is to recognize and call it what it is. The second step is to tell someone and ask for some accountability. Once you decide you want to break this addiction, you will find a way.
Understand that you have been conned. There is a $76 Billion industry trying to keep you addicted.
Spread the word. Big corporate bosses, dressed up in suits and packaging their products – WITH YOUR NAME ON IT – have an interest in keeping you and yours addicts. BREAK FREE!
Let me know if I can help. I’d love to help conquer this addiction one person at a time!
I shared your post on my husband’s FB wall…we eat so clean…organic, local, non gmo, unprocessed whole foods. I’m so careful with what I buy so my family’s options on a daily basis only include real food. Since I spend so much time and energy on ensuring they get nourishment and not empty (or toxic) calories, it is SO HARD for me knowing my husband is addicted to soda. I try to tell him that it really is an addiction and once he breaks it it won’t have ahold on him (I don’t crave it after not touching it for several months), but he can’t let go! Thanks for writing this post, and I totally agree! 🙂
You are not alone! My good friend is in the very same situation! One thing that might be helpful is KNOWING that these products are DESIGNED to be addictive. They have scientists with PhDs trying to figure out how to get and keep us hooked! If we can help our men to see that this is war – and they are being targeted by an enemy intent on destroying their health – maybe that will motivate them to FIGHT BACK! Really, if they can just live for three days without it, my guess is that it would get easier and easier after than. Like a drug addiction – three days of cold turkey!! EFT/Tapping can be very helpful. I’ll find the link and post it for you.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2005/05/04/turbo-tapping.aspx
I’ve worked with one client through this method and think it can be of great assistance to the cold turkey stage!
I’ve tried telling him that it is an addiction, and that those corporations spend lots of money on research to find out how to get people addicted to their products, using fetal cells and chemicals meant to create the response in that (addiction) part of the brain. I don’t EVER buy soda, but when he goes to Chipotle (If I happen to send not enough lunch), he gets soda with it. And I’m not positive but I believe he frequently goes to convenience stores to pick up his sugar fix (since I don’t give him sugar in his lunch besides the homemade yogurt I put in there), and I’m pretty sure he gets a soda to wash down his candy bar. It hurts me so bad to see that he doesn’t care like I do. In most every other aspect of our lifestyle he is right with me so I know it is a true addiction. Right down to the fact he never tells me when he gets a drink during the day. ;(