Why Drinking Just One Can of Regular Soda a Day Will Kill You

Don't you just love those attention-grabbing headlines? They're fun to write once in a while, just to make sure your audience is listening.

The truth is, drinking one can of soda a day will most likely not kill you, though it could contribute to a myriad of other health problems.

But hyperbolic headlines aside, here's an example of how easy it is for someone to pack on the pounds from just drinking one regular soda a day. Before that, though, it's necessary to jump ahead and say what's NOT the moral of the story: Drink diet soda.

Diet soda has more dangerous, toxic chemicals than the periodic table of elements and can leach calcium from your bones, so don't go assuming that after reading this you can chug diet soda until the cows come home.

So here's how one can of soda per day can lead to someone becoming obese:

One can of coke has 140 calories, all of which are from simple sugars. Drink one every day and that's 980 calories per week and 3,920 per month.

There are 3,500 calories in one pound of fat. You do the math. Actually, I've been doing it so far, so I'll finish the fat formula. Just from drinking one can of coke every day, you'll put on over one pound a month, which of course is over 12 pounds a year. After making lifestyle choices like this for a few years, it's easy to see how someone can put on 40 pounds or more in a short time.

This of course assumes that someone's basal metabolic rate (calories burned at complete rest) plus activity level equals the amount of calories consumed, i.e. take in 2,000 calories, burn the same amount. Considering that 66% of adults in the U.S. are either overweight or obese, you can assume that it's not just the can of coke that's tilting the scale towards rapid weight and fat gain.

Most nutrition-illiterate individuals aren't just guzzling one-12 oz. can of Coke; they're filling up their Big Gulps and parking as close to the front door as possible and getting no exercise.

Please do your part in helping educate your friends and family how harmful junk food and a sugar-rich diet is for them and for the country. Almost 20% of the U.S. economy is devoured by health care costs. It shouldn't be only up to wellness coaches to lead Americans towards a health paradigm shift that emphasizes prevention; it should be up to all of every single one of us that gets it.

I think using the can of Coke example is an easy way to show someone how easy it is to pack on the pounds. The Centers for Disease Control predicted that by the year 2050, a full one-third of U.S. adults  could be diabetic. Obesity and diabetes are highly preventable. Now is the time for the U.S. to make a radical shift in consciousness towards health.